- Who are you?

The future of house music (or so I've been told)...  in the form of a little Kewpie-doll faced White girl.

- What do you do?

What I love; making and playing the music for the people.

- Where are you from?

I grew up in an diverse music filled little city in Illinois called Champaign... but my heart is in San Francisco.

- What are you doing in Berlin?

Infiltrating Europe with more bass and all things Dirtybird and J.Phlip.

- What did you listen to growing up? AND WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE?

From my parents record collection I loved to play Prince & Michael Jackson of course!  Also, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Led Zepplin, etc.

My own tape and CD collection when I was younger was quite diverse.... Beatles, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Van Morrison, Cypress Hill, LL Cool J, TLC, Tupac, Biggie, Outkast, cheesy RnB like New Edition, etc.... Twista, Lauren Hill, Common, old Weezer, The Roots, Atmosphere... Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, and Diana Ross for singing into my hairbrush and dancing in the mirror  :)

Then one day I won a Ben Watt Lazy Dog mix cd on the radio - and that was how I learned about what "house music" was.

I wanted to be a major league baseball player when I grew up.... foreal!  For the Chicago Whitesox!  hahahaaa  Or else I wanted to be an astronaut, which made absolutely no sense because I got airsick on every airplane until 8th grade LOL!  As it turns out I never grew up.

- Where would say your biggest musical influences lie? Both in genre, location, and stage of your life?

When I first started DJing I was heavily influenced by the local DJ kids in my hometown as well as big names in Chicago and my Chicago homies.  I started out playing really housey, funky, chunky, deep, and disco-y.  Then I met the Dirtybird kids and made my way out to San Francisco a few times.  San Francisco totally flipped my musical world.  I saw crowds going bonkers to these absolutely insane techy, grimy, dirty, silly, and even straight up weird tunes.  The dirtybirds had this whole hip hop influence thing going too which worked so good for me, because it brought me back to my hip hop roots, which was what I thought I wanted to play when I first started DJing.  But I fell in love with the art of long mixes and layering tracks - I couldnt handle the short choppy mixing style of hip hop.  This discovery of hip hop influenced house music was like the best of both worlds for me!

With production now I am very influenced by the music my friends are playing and making.  Whatever else I'm listening to whether it be dubstep, hip hop, or even indie rock influences my sound as well.

- What has been your first big breakthrough as an act?

It might sound silly but it was probably that DJ contest I won in LA through BPM Magazine back when I was 21.  It put me on tour with Colette and Reid Speed and sent me to Miami for my first WMC.  I'm not sure if it was a major breakthough or what but it definitely launched me into the world of dance music.  I definitely became a part of the massive global connection and scene we have going on after that contest - it got me out of Champaign :)

- What would you rate as the best experience that you’ve had in the music scene so far?

Being able to move people with music is always amazing - but getting to be a part of Dirtybird is a dream come true.

- What’s the single most exciting thing about dance music at the moment in your opinion?

I LOVE all the genre melting and merging going on right now.  I dont know how to categorize half the music out there right now - but if it's hot shit that's all that matters really!

- Is there a different reaction to your sets in clubs in different countries across the globe?

Ya... I'm still feeling out if Europe can handle it when I start playing ghetto or silly.  I think it kinda depends on if the crowd is really familiar with the Dirtybird sound or not.

- Is there an all-time favourite track you wish you'd produced?

DJ Slugo - "Wouldn't You Like to Be a Hoe" has somehow become a staple in my sets.  I've tried to retire it but it always gets requested.  If I could take credit for that tune that would be the hotnessssss!

- What do you have going on for the rest of 2010?

I'm hanging out in Berlin and touring Europe until October.  I have a bit of a break in my schedule at the moment - I will be focusing on original tracks.  I don't have a whole lot of original work out yet as I have only been releasing music for a year and a half... and I seem to have been remixing a lot lately.  I am really looking forward to all of my upcoming Europe gigs but in particular Eastern Electrics in London is going to be insane!  As well as a really sick gig on the French island of Corsica and my first Berlin show at Watergate!  Then I gotta figure out how the hell im going to get back to San Francisco in October LOL ... I can't miss the final Dirtybird Golden Gate park party of the year!!!!!  Quack!

- Which DJ would you most like to punch and why?

I can't tell you that or i would get beat the fuck down... I would probably get beat the fuck down if I publicly announced that I dont give a fuck about the guy :)  OK I personally wouldn't have any reason to punch him... but people feed into so much hype and bullshit sometimes when I just don't see what the big deal is??  BORING!!!!!

- What’s the most ridiculous promotional thing you’ve done?

Once I was sponsored by Lacoste (not by my choice) and they sent me a bunch of really ugly clothes... so I sold them all to the used clothing shop cuz they gave me MAD MONEY for that shit!!!!

www.jackmode.de

The Jackmode Show ft J.Phlip will air Saturday July 3rd at 22:00.