In particular, for John Digweed, who fronts the ubiquitous Bedrock label - one of dance music's most prominent names - the release of the recent Bedrock Layered Sounds Volume 2 is as much a reflection of where the label is at in 2005 as it is a broadsheet for Digweed's own present sound.

Having come out pretty much unscathed following the saturation of the progressive house market in the last few years, the label surprised the expectations of many with what was arguably its best release in a long long time, Guy Gerber's 'Stoppage Time'. Since then, with one or two exceptions, it has avoided the big room prog numbers which defined the label in its earlier years while still continuing to cater to the dancefloor. Add to that a new single "Santiago" by Digweed (in partnership with Nick Muir) as Bedrock the artist, forthcoming in the latter half of 2005 and it's unlikely interest will be waning anytime soon.

On the Bedrock club night front, while the low-key night at Herbal in London back in June had some of the Bedrock faithful wondering whether their beloved night was bound for Hell not Heaven, Digweed is adamant there'll still be more yabba dabba doo times ahead.

RA checked in with John Digweed for a light-hearted chat about all things Bedrock (including the Flintstones!) and this weekend's SW4.

The venue for SW4, Clapham Common seems to have a bit of resonance for some of the guys playing at the event. Danny Rampling reminisced about the illegal Summer of Love rave days there back in the day. Carl also mentioned a car park gathering there of ravers who were supposedly biting the heads off pigeons. Do you have any great memories or anecdotes associated with Clapham Common?

That Welsh Labour MP going for a walk at 4am always springs to mind.

After the event at Clapham Common, yourself and Sasha are going to play a back-to-back set (something of a rarity these days and especially so in the UK) at the Brixton Academy. It will be the first time that both yourself and Sasha have played together at such a renowned legendary live venue. What's one of the best live performances you've seen at the Brixton? Any thoughts on playing there?

The last gig I saw there was New Order. It was just after we had remixed Crystal – a lot of huge bands have played there and I am really looking forward playing there with Sasha.

Now that Sasha is using the Maven and Ableton Live, is playing back-to-back with him any different to say the Twilo days when you were both on decks?

Yeah, because of the Maven and Ableton gear it’s very different but it’s all good because I know my way round all the Ableton gear a little bit and we can actually be doing a lot more at the same time rather than Sasha playing a record, then me playing a record, then him, then me. It’s an organic and more experimental way of doing it and when it works it can really kick ass.

"...we can actually be doing a lot more at the same time rather than Sasha playing a record, then me playing a record, then him, then me. It’s an organic and more experimental way of doing it and when it works it can really kick ass."

I also guess playing back-to-back with Sasha and his new set-up is also a lot less risky than in the days of old. It’s pretty unlikely that we’ll find him throwing his computers in the pool should things at a gig turn sour in the future, wouldn’t you say?

Yeah, you’d be pretty mad to throw that gear in a pool! Having said that, if it crashes we're in trouble!

The word ‘Bedrock’ means ‘foundation’ and interestingly enough, the name of Sasha’s latest concept ’Fundacion’ is the Spanish word for ‘foundation’. Have you given him any stick about this? We’ve always known you guys were close…

Not yet but thanks for the heads up! What can I say, he catches up in the end. I’ll have to move on to something else now!

Your appearance at SW4 will be your first in London since the relatively low-key Bedrock night at Herbal in June. What was the impetus behind that night at Herbal in June? Will you still be throwing the occasional party at Heaven or will smaller, exclusive events like the Herbal night be the mainstay of Bedrock in London in the future?

The gig at Herbal was to serve quite a specific purpose really. I really enjoyed the small party I did for my Choice album launch and it’d been ages since October and our last party at Heaven. This was just to say hi to everybody, thank them for still being keen to turn out and showcase some of the label’s artists like Jonathan Lisle and the Weird Continental Types. Bedrock the club night will always be a big thing hopefully. There may be fewer of them, but they’ll still happen and when they do you’ll know about it!

"Bedrock the club night will always be a big thing hopefully. There may be fewer of them, but they’ll still happen..."

The Bedrock Layered Sounds Volume 2 compilation has just come out. Yourself and Phil Thompson, who we tend to associate with the early Bedrock days, compiled mixes for the first Bedrock Layered Sounds compilation. However, which artists do you think are representative of the current and future sound of Bedrock? What releases can we expect over the next 12 months on both the main label and the Breaks offshoot? Will there be any new faces in the Original Series?

I love this album because the label has never been so varied in terms of sound and the album is a great reflection of that. People like Luke Fair, Weird Continental Types, Guy Gerber and Terry Grant are all superb and really define where we’re going with Bedrock Records. Forthcoming there’s new stuff from me and Nick Muir as Bedrock, a new artist Gutterstylz, more Pole Folder and some other twists and turns you’ll have to watch out for that are all in progress at the minute.

The Pole Folder album came out earlier this year and while the album was received well, I think many felt that it would have had more impact had it come out earlier. There are obviously a variety of people not just yourself involved in the label management but do you ever feel slightly miffed when releases “miss the boat” with the public due to a delay in the release schedule?

When the schedule’s as busy as the Bedrock one all things like this are difficult and things crop up which frustrate. You want to have everything in place and give everything the best chance possible. It’s always a tricky balancing act but Pole Folder’s album in particular I think will get to more and more people over time. The one resounding piece of feedback on Zero Gold is that it has gotten better and better each listen from everybody I’ve spoken too. It’s a great album with a timeless quality, as he’s not gone out to produce club hits so it should stay around for a long time!

"Forthcoming there’s new stuff from me and Nick Muir as Bedrock, a new artist Gutterstylz, more Pole Folder and some other twists and turns..."

Only a few short years ago when the last Bedrock single from yourself and Nick Muir came out I think for many DJs, getting their hands on the new Bedrock acetate was still very much a priority. Have you cut or will you even be bothering to cut any acetates of the new Bedrock track this time around, even if purely for aesthetic or collective purposes?

No, CDs are the new acetates.

Is the new Bedrock track the same one you mentioned you were testing out in an interview with RA way back in December 2004 or is this a completely new piece? Does it have a name yet? Should we pencil this in as the ideal stocking stuffer for 2005 i.e. an official release date sometime around Christmas?

It’s a brand new track and it’s called Santiago. Due for release some time in October so you’ll have to look for something else for Christmas.

Are you at all concerned by the loss of sound quality on tracks in mp3 format given producers like yourself spend hours, days, weeks labouring over the mix down and the mastering only for it to ultimately end up being played by a vast majority of people as an mp3 with inferior sound quality?

Most people who are really serious about their music will always go for a good quality mp3 when it’s available over a lesser one but I think the thing with the mix down is that you have to start high and then any drop off isn’t too bad. If you are satisfied with something poorer then any drop off is going to bring it really low and bad. That’s all very technical language isn’t it!

Deep Dish seem to be playing only tracks on CDs these days. How about yourself? Any chance you’ll be ditching your record bag in the near future? How many essential 12”s have you managed to whittle it down it to these days?

I play the vast majority of stuff from CD these days – simply put, it means you can take a lot more music to choose form a lot more easily. That said, I still buy hundreds of pounds of vinyl a week and rip from it to CD.

Do you think the next generation of DJs who start off using Ableton Live or other digital mixing software without ever having messed about on a pair of turntables/CDJs can acquire other necessary DJ instincts and skills like track sequencing, understanding track structure and the art of building a set? In a recent interview with Satoshi he thought that, while beatmatching itself is no longer a primary focus of DJing the process of learning how to do it is still necessary for the reasons cited above. Would you agree or disagree?

I’d have to agree. It’s one of the fundamentals of what we do so whether you want to do something seamlessly or roughly, it helps to at least try and learn to do it as it informs a lot of other things you mention above. Dance music has always been driven forward by the development of technology but it will be a sad day when people lose sight of where it all comes from.

"Dance music has always been driven forward by the development of technology but it will be a sad day when people lose sight of where it all comes from."

What do you think is currently the best music producing software/hardware setup? I also heard from Satoshi that Guy Gerber’s “Stoppage Time” was made solely using Ableton Live in 6 hours.

That’s true – Ableton has to be this year’s winner; it really is outstanding technology.

Apple’s G4 and G5 processors used by many well-known producers like yourself have long been regarded by the music industry as the best for music-making. Do you have any particular thoughts on Apple's choice to use Intel Processors in their next series of desktops and Powerbooks?

You’re losing me…….you’re losing me…..way too techy for me……!!!

There have been a few articles in the mainstream press about the decline in artist album sales since with the advent of mp3 players and stores like iTunes, people are choosing to buy individual songs from albums rather than the whole album as there are usually "filler" tracks on a lot of albums. Do you think dance music compilations like “Bedrock Layered Sounds” and the “Original Series” are the last frontier in the album sales industry?

At the end of the day you have to listen to who you’re selling to and iTunes makes things available in such a way that people have greater choice over what they include and exclude than ever before. There shouldn’t be fillers and if they’re not bought, then that’s highlighting that people won’t buy rubbish music.

"...artists know they have to...have a breadth of skill. You only have to look at somebody like Mylo to see how that can be embraced. I think dance is increasingly about developing artists rather than focusing on single deals and one hit wonders."

What impact do you think such purchasing trends will have on the dance music industry? Is it even more of a disincentive for labels to invest money in new artists or try to develop artists with a view to releasing an artist album? Can you see artist albums by dance artists eventually becoming extinct?

I think the nature of the relationships between artist, label and distributor will have to evolve over time and we’re certainly going into a period where these relationships will be difficult to establish because they’re changing. I think as far as dance producers go though, artists know they have to move more towards album projects and showing they have a breadth of skill. You only have to look at somebody like Mylo to see how that can be embraced. I think dance is increasingly about developing artists rather than focusing on single deals and one hit wonders.

Finally, Bedrock is also the name of the town where the cartoon family The Flintstones lived. We have a bit of a wager going on at RA and were wondering, which Flintstones character you most relate to or like most?

Betty.

John Digweed. From the town of Bedrock. He's a page right out of history.