Lets start from the beginning... You are French but now live in London. France, with Paris in particular, has produced a long list of great electronic acts and producers over the years but what were your early musical influences?
Paris definitely has a great number of DJs and producers that really made an impact on the scene over the years. Growing up there, was therefore the major reason for what I am doing today. There are several artists who really triggered that interest of mine for it. When I started to go out, it was the DJs who really took the sound of Paris to the next level and beyond borders like Dan Ghenacia, who really gave the city an amazing place to gather and listen to new sounds and an amazing kind of house music throughout the "Kwality" party he used to host at Batofar; Ivan smagghe and his famous sets of original divers stuff was another rendez vous for me and my friends. The music in these parties was so consistently good and the vibe at its best there... And of course in other clubs like The Rex, thanks to DJs like: Jerome Pacman, Jef K, :TERRY:, Chris Carrier and of course Laurent garnier, I built a mad love for House Music. But it's really when I got to the UK in London that things took another dimension!
How old were when you left Paris and what drove you to join us on this side of the pond?
I left Paris when i was 19, just for a change of scenery and to give myself a real challenge I guess... I had dropped out of school and wasn't keen on the possibilities I was seeing available to me back then.
You are now part of the Rebel Agency. How did joining them come about?
Well when I got here, when I started playing out and doing parties, I got to work and developed great friendship with the founders of the label and its agency. It's really when I started to play for Derren Smart at the T Bar where I'm sure you know the whole of the best djs and artists where regularly playing... Among them where Damian Lazarus, Matthew Styles and Jamie Jones, who were a great source of inspiration and a total help in pushing me forward in the belief of my music. The some years later I got offered to be part of what I believe is one of the two strongest teams of acts this scene has to offer. I'm really happy to be a part of this group! It's like a big number of mates now and all bringing our little something to the game.
Ah ah... Well it's a particular favourite of mine too! Jamie is a great friend of mine and we had been talking for some time now to work on something together. He called me up and told me that he was at his place with Lee and Rob and what was meant to be a get together after their gigs/trip, naturally turned into a studio session with all four of us overnight, through what I have to say was one of the funniest moments I ever spent in a studio! Big Ass Biscuit was written the next evening, same scenario but throughout the session we realised that the vocal we were editing suddenly started to sound like "is Clive alright". When we first had a laugh about it there was just no other way to hear this vocal, and Clive Henry who is a dear friend ours and one of my favorite DJs was then totally implicated into this track. After lots of fun about it seemed totally normal to call him at this late late hour of the night for a friendly recorded phone call... Jamie put the phone on speaker mode and linked it to the mic and we all know the result of that! Ah ah, it still makes me laugh today, it was too much fun!!
At East Project we believe there is only good and bad music. Sometimes people spend too much time trying to pigeonhole their music and events, whereas we see it more as representing a vibe. What can the EP crowd expect from an FB Julian set?
Well, thank you for including me in your good book of music then, lol.. I play various styles of deep house mainly that is really inspired by my view of parties and after parties, which I got to develop in the many years I have been playing for Kubicle (the party I'm resident for). The aim being to just have a great time behind the decks and keep a smiling crowd having a great night out with new sounds to discover.
And lastly, What is your drink of choice on a night out?
To be honest I don't really drink alcohol. I mainly stick to soft drinks when I'm out but I have to admit I love golden tequila.
Thank you and see you at the PARTY!!
East Project with Robert James, FB Julian, Rich Nxt and Samu.lFriday 8th June 2012
Venue TBA - London
9pm - 6am
