Looking into 2011: Jody Wisternoff (Way Out West)

“Many gig offers come to me directly through Facebook, Twitter or through email so I can justify the amount of time I spend on social network sites as work. As for Myspace, it’s dead. These days, if I get a personal message through Myspace you have to wonder what kind of nutter sent it.”

24 years after he broke through to the DMC Hip Hop finals as a fresh faced 13 year, Jody Wisternoff remains one of dance culture’s biggest stars, touring the world relentlessly spinning the progressive house he went on to help popularise with Way Out West.

Despite his high profile superstar DJ status he admits he considers it ‘super-important’ for DJs to stay on top of their web 2.0 activities these days ‘even if you have artist management’.

“How long do I spend on social networking? I dread to think, pretty much all day, with the occasional break for making music,” he laughs.

“In this day and age I think it’s extremely important to have an online identity, unless you decide to go down the Banksy/Burial path and be mysterious,” he continues.

“I tend to use Twitter at least once a day, but the things I say are either informative or funny (I like to think). People who tweet daily routine stuff just to keep up an online profile really piss me off, as do boasters.

Facebook I still find really useful, especially the fan site because it’s great for promotion and syncs with Twitter but I do think it has privacy issues and will probably be superseded,” he predicts.

“I also think programs like next big sound are really important these days,” Jody adds, “I’ve heard that more and more promoters are using this to gauge the popularity of DJs when deciding who to book, and its really useful to be able to see on the world map where your fans are.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): What kind of year are you expecting in 2011: how optimistic/ pessimistic do you feel?

Jody Wisternoff: “Right now I’m feeling very optimistic. My wife is due to give birth to our second baby in July, and we are going to Disneyworld for three weeks next December so all is looking good.”

Skrufff: What musical trends do you expect to be big for next year? Is the rise of David Guetta/ Black Eyed Peas: a good thing for club culture?

Jody Wisternoff: “I think the resurgence of the 90s house sound that’s happened will continue to be big in 2011, and I reckon we will hear some really cool, non cheesy vocal tracks. The atmospheric dubstep stuff Is really interesting me right now (Clubroot etc) and I reckon Ill be playing some of this stuff in my sets as it seems to fit really well. Hopefully the craze for white noise will end soon, and people will start to use crash cymbals again. Also, I feel that producers are starting to become a lot more subtle with their use of sidechain compression right now which is a good thing. As for Guetta and the Swedish House Mafia etc, there will always be the devil’s music and the majority of the population don't have cool taste, so it’s not going away anytime soon.”

Skrufff: How concerned are you about potential economic difficulties in 2011; what impact do you anticipate for club culture?

Jody Wisternoff: “I tend not to worry myself too much with things I cannot control, so no not really. Club culture will hopefully continue to recover next year, and I’m gonna’ work my hardest to help this along in my own little way.”

Skrufff: Students rioted in England, Greece, and Italy in 2010: how much do you believe the world is entering a new era of protest/ politicisation: how much (if at all) do you feel more radicalised/ concerned/ threatened?

Jody Wisternoff: “Well, as a parent, all this stuff is going to become much more of an issue for me and my kids in the future. Right now I’m not loosing sleep over it, but I have found myself watching the news every day, which I never used to do before. Maybe all this energy will spawn a new form of music?”

Skrufff: What changes do you anticipate in clubs in terms of CDJs/ turntables/ etc: when was the last time you played vinyl?

Jody Wisternoff: “Many clubs now have (Pioneer) CDJ2000s , but until they are the absolute standard, I am still going to be burning CDs instead of relying just on the dongle (USB stick). As for vinyl, I only ever play it when I do old skool rave sets. I do miss the muscles that came with all the record box carrying though.”

Skrufff: How many records do you now own (and where do you store them?):

Jody Wisternoff: “A shit load! They cover three of the walls in the studio, doubling as acoustic absorbers due to their density; they totally dominate the wine cellar, and have rendered the studio bathroom useless too.”

Skrufff: How much money do you typically spend on music each week? How does that compare with the peak of how much you spent weekly on vinyl in the past?

Jody Wisternoff: “I used to spend hundreds a week on vinyl (massive records R.I.P.) , so It really is a huge saving compared to online. I do miss the social aspect of record shopping though, It was a nice excuse to get out the house.”

Skrufff: What are you key musical goals for 2011?

Jody Wisternoff: “To release a big track every 3 months, and start doing Score.”

http://soundcloud.com/jodywisternoff/

http://www.facebook.com/jodywisternoff (Jody on Facebook)

http://bit.ly/TFkGy (Youtube)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff