DJ/Producer Jason Busteed is an international house music artist, whose productions have been charting the Beatport Dance charts, while his sets have been rocking clubs and festivals around the world.
Released on Unleanr’s recent Miami VA EP, his latest track Eyes Wide juxtaposes heavy-hitting beats and fizzing syths with a sugary-sweet vocal, creating a track that really stands out from the crowd.
Hi Jason, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today! How has the year been treating you so far?
Hi! My pleasure, So 2023 so far has been a bit of a mixed bag, but I’ve been concentrating more on making new music and working with some other artists on Collabs
Where do you think the impulse to create music comes from for you?
So I’ve been DJing for well over 20 years, when I play I see how people react to the music, the feelings the power in the music and the vibe, and I wanted to put my touch on that and not just by DJing I wanted people to be Dancing to something I created, and up until 2016 I didn’t have the resources, I feel the music is either in you or it’s not, mine comes from the Heart and I don’t follow any genre, what comes out of me just comes naturally.
You hail from Cork, what was the local scene like there when you were coming up?
Ok the Cork scene, coming up the place to be to go, Was Sir Henry’s, Greg and Shane (Fish go deep) used to host a night called ‘Sweat’ following on from there, they’re used to a host of nights here and there, I used to hold a residency in a place called ‘SUAS’ it was a rooftop venue and the Vibe up there was something else! Unfortunately now anything that ever was is all but gone, there’s a few nights here and there but nothing like it was.
You’ve cited artists like Masters at Work, Frankie Knuckles and Armand van Helden as important to you – what is it about these legacy artists that makes their music stand the test of time?
These were artists that really stood out to me when I was collecting records at the time, the feeling in their music just reached out and grabbed a part of my soul, Timeless tracks that I’d reckon anyone would agree still sounds fresh to this day.
You’ve won a few DJ competitions in your time – what’s your secret??
Track selection. It always was and always will be about the music, in this game the music comes first, and of course good technical ability, I’ve entered a few that you had to play live so being able to read the room is a big help, take in the vibe around and go from there, maybe have a couple of tracks in mind that you can’t start with rather than a specific set and just go with the flow.
How did you hook up with Doc Brown and Unlearn for the new EP?
So I’m on an Artist Blueprint course with Grahame Farmer from Data Transmission, it really helps a lot with how to run your socials, content, pitching and the like, and he had Doc on for an A&R session on Twitch and I sent a track, Doc listened and said he was feeling the track and would have some A&R notes to help get it over the line, so I contacted him Via Instagram and it went from there. Doc is one of the good guys in this industry, really helpful and has an ear for Great music.
Tell us about your current studio set up – any particular bits of go-to kit you find yourself returning to?
Okay my studio set up, I’ve only recently upgraded thankfully to a New iMac 24” my go to is Ableton live and the Ableton push 2, mungo to plug in would be ‘Diva’, 2 pioneer studio monitors, Sennheiser hd 25 headphones, all of my music up to last year was made in a 4ftX6ft utility room, on a basic windows desktop, crappy speakers, and a Cheap midi keyboard, I was squished in there with a washing machine a dryer and laundry everywhere. Now im fortunate enough to have my own room with custom built units that house all my studio equipment , Decks, and records.
What are some of the things you learned from working with other artists throughout your career?
I feel you need to work with someone who’s on the same level as you in terms of what they want and where they want to go, I had a previous Alias called ‘Natural Angle’ there were 2 of us but it didn’t work out long term unfortunately, But it led the way for me to be where I am now. I think collabs are huge and help to network to right people, Also I’ve found there’s no place for Ego, let that go.
Which artists are currently exciting you?
I would have to say the likes of Darius Syrossian, Blond-ish and Cinthie.
What should we expect from you for the rest of 2023?
As for me for 2023, I’ve been working with a fantastic vocalist, I’m almost finished the track and it has me really excited. I have a couple of upcoming releases also, one that’s on ‘CUFF’ that I’m really buzzing for, I’ll be putting one out on my own label also mid summer, Lefty shades Records. I’m also currently working on a collab with a writer from back in the day, he’s given me free range to work with one of his vocals which is pretty cool! 2023 is looking pretty exciting.