We are very excited to be bringing you this feature interview with none other than the very talented Star Slinger. He will be coming to the Decibel Festival in Seattle, Washington this week to debut his very own club night tour Jet Jam, for the first time in the United States. He will be stopping in at Nuemos in Seattle this Thursday September 27th to take the stage with Shlohmo and Baths.
Jet Jam is a brand new “eclectic dance party,” conceived and hosted by UK producer Darren Williams aka Star Slinger. His goal is to “simply throw parties where people let their hair down.” He says, “we don’t care about genre, the BPM of the tunes, just having ourselves a merry-ass time.” Sound likes fun, right?
First off will be Shlohmo, with Baths up second and closing things out will be Jet Jam host himself, Star Slinger, whose 2011 Decibel Festival set was heralded as a highlight by nearly everyone in attendance. With recent SS remixes for Drake, Jessie Ware, LOL Boys, Danny Brown gaining critical acclaim, you can expect a fresh finale to this stacked bill.
Listen to Star Slinger’s newest track Take This Up, which was just released a couple weeks ago as a free download, while you check out our interview with him!
Tell us a little about yourself?
I’m 26, from the UK, traveling DJ/Producer type person. I also run my own club night called Jet Jam.
How did you get started in music?
Early on it was instruments, keyboards, guitars, bass guitar – I played in a couple bands while at school with friends, but also had a computer and I’d mess around on Fruity Loops for hours. I used to listen to a lot of BBC’s dance music radio shows like Pete Tong’s Essential Selection, Danny Rampling & Judge Jules etc. Also used to swap happy hardcore rave tapes with other kids at school, so that got me into electronic music and I was hooked since then. My parents got me turntables, I’d throw school discos at school. Got into a lot of rap music specifically Three 6 Mafia and Memphis stuff around 2005, but also Kanye’s sampling style too. I bought some classic Yamaha NS10M studio monitors and got good at making the music I wanted to hear. Genre-hopping is a big part of what I do and I like it that way. Put out my first release under Star Slinger guise in 2010 online.
When your not producing, what kind of music do you listen to?
It depends on mood, but right now on my iTunes you’d find Jessie Ware, Bondax, Breakbot’s new album, Armand Van Helden’s old stuff.
What was your favorite performance ever and why?
Its hard to say because so many things can make a show amazing. It can be time/place, the pure scale of the event etc, or if its a night I’ve put on for my JET JAM parties. So I felt really proud throwing my first original party. We booked Bondax for one of their first out of the country shows over in Ljubljana, Slovenia at the club where me and my girlfriend first met. We had Blacksmif open up proceedings, the whole thing felt a bit special even though the set I played wasn’t my favourite. I also think Music Hall of Williamsburg on Halloween 2011 was an awesome show. It sold out & on my last song I invited everyone on stage, had like 200 people from the crowd jump up and dance around me performing “Punch Drunk Love.” Check out a video of that performance below!
What is one thing everyone should know about you?
That I’m from the UK, and feel very european at heart.
What do festival goers have to look forward to at your performance at Decibel Festival?
All vibes, no attitude! A fun & broad selection for the party palette. A celebration.
Connect with Star Slinger
