Hi Derek! How are you doing today?

All good here. Mad busy as usual, but I'm getting used to that. I could complain, but I don't think anybody would listen, haha.

Can you give us some background on yourself? Where do you currently reside and how you got into electronic dance music?

I live in Houston, Texas, USA, Planet Earth (most of the time). I was born in Houston, raised in Virginia for the better part of ten years, then moved back to Houston, finished high school and started college. Before high school was over my friends and I played in a band, but mostly just in the garage. Shortly after the rave scene blew up in Houston we started our electronic music education and, one thing leading to another, became self-proclaimed djs. Not long after I began college (for a degree in composition with many mechanically taught theory classes) I dropped out and eventually started making dance music. Here I am now.

When did you first start djing and producing?

I first started djing in the summer of '99 when my best friend/neighbor got a set of Gemini direct drive turntables and a very modest mixer. That was a great summer, albiet a loud one. I continued djing at home and at small parties, events and coffee shops/bars around town over the next couple of years. It wasn't until probably '02 that I started playing around with drum machine and sequencing programs for fun; just making awful loops and ominous sounds. I think I may still have some of these old projects on a hard drive somewhere, though I shutter to think of what they sound like to my current ears. At any rate, I began seriously making music in '03 and actually finishing songs by the time '04 rolled around.

What would you consider your “big break”?

I guess currently my big break could be considered the EP I released on Bedrock in 2004, though there were perhaps several other things that happened in that same year which contributed to people taking notice of me.

What are some of your proudest accomplishments?

Musically, it's hard to say. There are many things that I've felt proud about over the past few years, but I feel like I'm still waiting for something to catch me and be like "damn, this is my proudest moment ever". I will say that when I was a kid I won first prize in the school science fair for a windmill made of Tinker Toys which was hooked to a small motor running to an amp meter displaying how kinetic energy can be converted to electrical energy. That was one of my proudest memorable moments, even though I had a lot of help from my father building the windmill.

What projects are you currently working on?

Currently I'm working on raising awareness of a new radio show with production partner Joshua Michael entitled "Man To Man With Master Lux". It airs on Proton Radio every 2nd Thursday of the month at 12am EST. Unblushing promotions aside, I'm also working on a couple of remixes for Morphosis Records and Balkan Connection as well as a downtempo album that's seemingly going to take forever to finish and new original material which will be released on our new record label called "Master Lux Co." (www.masterluxco.com)

What projects do you have coming up?

I've got a few remixes recently finished which are set for release on labels such as the newly formed 'microCastle Music', Eelke Kleijn's 'Outside The Box Music', Randall Jones's 'Mynt Music', and of course the burgeoning 'AlterImage Recordings'. I've also signed tracks for releases on Olaris Records, microCastle Music, and an EP on Proton Music (out likely June 17th) which will hopefully show a bit of a different style than what many people might have seen from me. Aside from that, the biggest project I have coming up is the new Master Lux Co. label with partner Joshua Michael. We're hoping to have our first release by June's end and are currently working out release schedules and making sure we roll out a kick-ass website where people can come to easily add content to the site, download free mixes (as well as bootleg remixes) and give us ideas on what they want from us. Ideally it will be more than just a label, but kind of a mixed media company in which the masses have a more direct control over what the company gives back to it's supporters. It's definitely a big project with what I'm sure will be a long and perhaps arduous process woven in. But it should be a lot of fun as well. :-)


Anything else to say to the people in NYC for your May 22nd gig at Pacha?

Get ready for some loud, fresh beats that nobody else has heard yet. I can't wait!