67. Judge Jules

Judge Jules

Despite his all-conquering Judgement Sundays events, 44-year-old Judge Jules still cites the show he does on BBC Radio 1 each week as his first and foremost love. Now the only man on the ...


 

Style: Trance.
Best known for: BBC Radio 1.
Tune of 2011: Max Graham feat Neev Kennedy 'So Caught Up (Joint Operations Centre Remix)'.
Breakthrough DJ/Producer of 2011: Arty

What's the future of DJing? 2011 has seen me using USB sticks for the first time. If you had told me this five years ago, I would have laughed in your face.”
Favourite app? Rave Box, it's a mini synth loaded with '90s rave samples and loops that you can mash together. Hours of borderline-annoying fun.”
Discovery of the year? Ancient 'carved into the rocks' city Petra in Jordan really has to be seen. I was inspired to go there, as a bolt-on to a DJ trip, by An Idiot Abroad
Rediscovery of the year? Earlier in the year I dug out 'Hazel' by Loop Da Loop to use in a bootleg. I hadn't heard it for over 10 years. Awesome track from the '90s
Awkward Moment? At my weekly night in Ibiza we have Storm Troopers dressed up wandering the club. One managed to fall off the stage in front of about 3000 people, and when the costume came off I realised it was one of my mates, wincing in agony.
Style or substance? I think it's all about the balance. This is a vastly competitive business and one has to tick all the boxes.
Pet Hate? Spam. Say no more.

Despite his all-conquering Judgement Sundays events, 44-year-old Judge Jules still cites the show he does on BBC Radio 1 each week as his first and foremost love. Now the only man on the station to champion trance, he also does so on his own internationally-syndicated radio show, The Global Warm Up, which can be heard across the US, Russia, Europe and the Middle East.
This year his Judgement Sundays bashes have played out at Eden once again; at a number of global festivals but, for the first time, also at super club, BCM Mallorca, each week throughout the summer.
“The challenge for someone like me who has been doing this for years is always going to be to re-invent yourself to a new audience,” the Judge tells DJmag. “Out there it's a slightly younger market than Ibiza, so it's been important to me for that reason.”
Though he's always released a steady number of his own trance-y productions in the past, this year Jules has upped the ante. “It's like your business card now; everyone needs to produce,” he says, before speaking of the influences and inspirations he has picked up on his extensive DJ travels in the last 12 months. Though this non-stop jock (he's done around 150 shows since last year's poll) lets on that he can't really fit much more into an already bulging schedule, he's still found time for one more wholly new and ambitious project.
“I'm working on a club-wear-focused clothing brand,” he reveals. KRISTAN J CARYL