Words by: Justin “Duhrdy” Duhr

Everyday Junglist: First off, Jeremy, what's your musical background?

Sinistarr: My instrumental musical background is miniscule at best. I pretty much trained myself to play piano, mostly by ear. No one else in my family is musically trained - my mother's a nurse, and father an engineer - however, the are avid music collectors.
I grew up listening to the radio, hearing everything from New Kids to R.E.M. My earliest run-ins with electronic music were the mixshows on the local stations (WJLB FM) in Detroit, when they played house, techno and ghettotech over the weekend (ghettotech is sped up techno rhythms with a heavily-influenced hip-hop and funk backing - for those who don't know). My parents are from Liberia in West Africa, so I got even more exposure to other realms of music with their collecting, due to the mass amounts of tapes and CDs they bought and collected by themselves or got from friends of the family. The first tape I bought was Soul II Soul, which brought me closer to UK music more than anything else I listened to at the time.


EDJ: How did you first get into Drum & Bass? What are some of the tracks that you'd say were instrumental in you getting into the scene?

SS: I first got into Drum & Bass back in high school (2000) -- I kind of knew what it was, but didn't know the whole genre and subculture... My big experience with it was watching two movies -- B.U.S.T.E.D. with Goldie and David Bowie, and Blade, where I heard Ni Ten Ichi Ryu from Photek. The first CD I bought was the American/English compilation "Jungle: Sound Of The Undergorund". Back when MTV2 was awesome, I used to stay up late on the weekends and watch AMP - the late-night Dance/Electronica music video block. From there I found out about names like Aphrodite, Roni Size, Dieselboy, and so on.
As for a certain track, there was never just one, I will name two however - "Social Skills" by Datcyde & Ill-Esha - upon hearing that tune for the first time on Dara's Breakbeat Science mix CD, I pretty much had it on repeat for about a good 2 hours! The other tune that did it for me was "Time" by Makoto; the way he brought together jazz and drum & bass with a straight, fast tempo moving beat and the vocal talents of Cleveland Watkiss was nothing but intriguing to me.



EDJ: When did you first start producing? What were you trying to accomplish when you wrote your first few tracks?

SS: I started producing in 2003. I got turned on to Fruity Loops by a friend of mine, who used it and some MIDI gear. The first tune I did was a drum & bass tune, but I was basically writing almost every other genre under the sun around that time, mainly house and techno. My main goal in writing a tune was to show it off to my friends, who gave me a lot of positive as well as negative feedback, and to send to other people around the states via AIM, in hopes that they would play it and enjoy it also. There were no strings attached, it was all pretty much a way of testing my skills. Somehow it still is the same today!


EDJ: What's your studio setup like? What pieces are used most?

SS: My setup is very basic, as i'm in a small space -- Macbook Pro running Logic, Reason, and Bias for pulling samples, etc. I have a M-Audio Oxygen 8 v2 for the solo parts -- looking to get some hardware pretty soon... I use Roland MA-8 monitors also. And I use pretty much everything, because I have to.


EDJ: How much time do you tend to spend making a tune? Is there a specific process you go through?

SS: Beats vary...could take me three days, four weeks, or seven hours. It all depends on the vibe at hand, and what point I'm trying to reach. I would tell you how I make a tune, but that would ruin the fun, wouldn't it????


EDJ: Of all your releases, which tune did you enjoy making the most? If different, which of your releases do you take the most pride in and why?

SS: Once again, there's never one tune that I can single out as my favorite. The two I can think of that I absolutely loved making the most are Detroit Diesel and Black Diamonds w/ Kiat, with Diesel being the big one of the two....those 12 notes have become a riff that's purely next level to me, and set the blueprint for what's to come.



EDJ: Would you consider yourself a DJ or a producer, first and foremost?

SS: DEFINITELY DJ, as all of us are! I have always been a DJ, producing came with the territory.


EDJ: Is there a particular city, event, or gig that stands apart from the rest as your most memorable experience?

SS: Native in Los Angeles, July 4th 2008 - One of my first big out of town shows, fresh off Fabio picking up Detroit Diesel. It wasn't a big show, but vibe was amazingly OFF THE WALL. Topping it off was Fabio playing the tune on BBC Radio 1 the weekend of the party. Definitely was a great great time.


EDJ: Can we get a current top 10 from you?

SS: Notion - iota (phunkficiton)
HLZ - Clampdown (36hz)
Insiders - Trust (Integral)
Cloak & Dagger - Full Clip (dub)
Ed Oberon - Uptown (Creative Source)
Sinistarr - Sky (Prestige Music)
ASC - Iris (Nu Directions)
Mosus & S.P.Y. - Saudade (Nu Directions)
Kiat & Motive - Rockers (dub)
Aspect & Gremlinz - Armshouse (dub)


EDJ: So what can the general public expect from Sinistarr for the rest of '09 and beyond?

SS: I'm workin on playing shows and making beats, nothing more I can ask for....


EDJ: Any plugs?

SS: One serious one -- BUY BLACK DIAMONDS ON HOSPITAL!!!

Nu Directions Ten Year Anniversary 12" Series #4 (ND.TEN004) w/ 734, CD with 734/Anorak (Finally! ...for those who know)

"Sky" on Prestige Music 12" EP

Creative Source 12" - Detroit Diesel

Anti-Personnel w/ Mixmaster Doc possibly by the end of this year, look out for more releases on Sonorous and Peer Pressure Recs, got some digital releases comin.

EDJ: Shouts?

SS: Katie, Matt & Kyle @ Peer Pressure Recordings, Dave Shichman @ Driven AM, Mixmaster Doc, Sol.ID, HLZ, Kiat, Ulterior Motive, Guy Commix, Ed Oberon, Alley Cat, Mosus and Agzilla. EDJ of course for reaching out!!!!