Paolo Mojo is set to travel to the USA for the second time. His first time around was a successful trip, so the Liverpudlian is vowing to set the US crowd alight one more time, as he has done for the UK crowd in the last couple of years. In light of his upcoming tour, we though we might ask him a few questions so those who have yet to see him, especially in the US, can get to know him a bit more.

To those unaware of your work - how would you describe your sound?
Sleazy house music. Nothing too clean. All sorts of genres as long as the bass and the drums are sorted. I love switching between genres during my sets although I don’t always consciously realise I am doing it - I always look for that little element in any track that makes it work, something daft or unexpected, be it a vocal or a noise or just a mood.

So do you think it's important to maintain variety in your sets?
Personally yes very much so. The DJ’s I appreciate all do this... from Tenaglia to Lee Burridge (who is my favourite DJ in the world at the moment... he just consistently astonishes me with his tunes) to people like Zidan @ TLV ... they all demonstrate a real love for music by the variety of sounds they play. There’s obviously also a skill to doing this well, which I think is an element of good DJ’ing. There’s nothing worse than an assembly line3 hour prog set

You are set to tour the USA for the second time in NYC on Sept 19th, are you looking forward to the different environment?
I am very much looking forward to returning and playing NYC... which has a special relationship with dance music and clubbing. It’s one of the classic cities to play. There seems to be a lot of interest from people over there too which is great.

Do you feel you need to vary your sets from the UK to the US or other areas?
Yes I do think so, actually good question. Recently I have found the US and Canada to be very good at getting into the deeper stuff, while the UK has been a little slower. Places like Ireland are always very enthusiastic... some other places like it more progressive... some like it housey. It’s very dependent on the club, and luckily I have no problem switching emphasis.

You have recently started to produce music - how do you compare this to DJ'ing? Do you plan to further your production?
Its a different yet obviously related discipline ... its something that’s a lot newer to me than DJ’ing so its very exciting getting to grips with it all. DJ’ing gives you the understanding or the instinct maybe to know what will work on a track and that’s just as important. I’ve definitely made strides in a short space of time, but you literally learn something new every time you work on something

How is the label going - what plans have you got for the label?
Lots of good stuff... however the name will be changing shortly

Are their any producers in particular you would like to work with if you plan to go to the studio again?
No one in particular.

What albums and mix cd's have had an influence on you?
Prince sign o the times, 808 state ex:el / new build, William Orbit strange cargo hinterland... tyrant, Joni Mitchell, Danny Tenaglia Athens, so much stuff really... vertigo mix tapes from Liverpool inspired me a lot when I was a kid to get going with the DJ’ing, even though they sound dated now I loved his style at the time. We are talking from 1990 to 1992 for vertigo he was a resident at the Merseyside academy a kind of cream forerunner

Do you think the music a few years ago was better than it is today?
No I really don’t. I think what you may want to call 'progressive house' was more inspirational 5 years ago.... as a genre its very tired at the moment due to extensive sub standard tracks. But I don’t pay much attention to labeling things anyway. There’s plenty of good music out there. I think it’s quite a creative time for house music if you look for it.

Outside the studio - what do you like to get up with in your spare time? Can you walk the street of Liverpool without getting swamped by adoring 16-year-old female fans?
Haha - I hardly go to Liverpool anymore, I live in London. I don’t think I have ever had someone come up to me on the streets and swamp me thank god. I think that’s some way off yet.