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 Following our asot 2024 audio interviews with Solarstone and Cold Blue, is here a written interview session from asot 2024 with the one an only John Askew!
At the ASOT 2024 event we also got a chance to have a talk with the VII 'main' architect, respected and renowed dj/producer, 'the boos' John Askew. Here's the interview with him, enjoy!
Q:
Hi John, first, thanks a lot for having the possibility to sit down here and have a talk with you. You recently played at ASOT in Rotterdam, how was it?
A:
It was epic. I really enjoyed it. The sound in there was amazing, which considering how vast the spaces are is quite an achievement. To get it so tight sounding…very impressed.
Q:
How are you, what have you been up to lately?
A:
I’m good thanks. I’ve been working hard on label stuff, management and work on my new album which is now finally finished after so many years.
Q:
Can you tell us a little about the music you played at ASOT, tell us about some new or exclusive tracks that were in your set?
A:
The majority of what I played was music from my labels VII and Deep In Thought. I guess stand out tracks of note of my own were a couple of the key singles from my new album. I played a demo of a track with Shelby Merry called Steady & Stronger which is out next month on Black Hole (who are also releasing my album) and then a few singles on VII, one called Push It, which is my current favourite instrumental track to play out and then a really high energy almost disco meets trance meets tech collab with Sinful Biz called I Want Your Soul. That track has been rocking the floor at all my recent shows.
Q:
You can’t say John Askew without mentioning VII in the same sentence 😉 How did that whole idea/concept and movement came up, and why?
A:
I think the story has been pretty well documented over the years but essentially I spent many years working in an A&R role for several labels, Discover, Discover Dark, Perfecto, Perfecto Fluoro, Perfecto / Armada and basically in the end I just wanted to create my own imprint so all this A&R work I was doing was for a label that I had ownership of. The concept of the label is pretty simple – it’s my seven fav producers at any given time and we exclusively release the music of those seven.
Q:
Speaking of the VII brand, it has been making some massive waves and impacts since its beginning in 2016, and the last few years is has also started to be rocking it’s own events and stages around festivals and clubs, have you planned more of that and further new expansions as well to the concept?
A:
Yeah we’ve done some great parties, either hosting stages at big festivals like Tomorrowland or EDC Las Vegas, EDC Orlando, Luminosity and this year we’re at UnKonscious in Croatia on July 19th - but it’s our stand alone events that are my personal favourite. I love being in warehouse raves more than being in festivals. I prefer night to day. Coming up we have Croatia on July 19th and VII London on November 30th but we’re also doing two VII satellite warehouse events with Simon Patterson and I playing B2B all night. One in Birmingham on July 6th and one in Los Angeles on August 24th.
Q:
AA Meeting, the producer and DJ duo consisting of you and Activa, has already had a few solid releases and performances. Is that a name where we’ll see more releases and performances in 2024 and further on, or do you prefer/want to keep it more ‘exclusive’?
A:
Yes there is more music coming and we are also planning an 8 to 10 track mini album which I guess will be out next year or maybe 2026.
Q:
The VII sister label Deep In Thought had a sort of ‘quiet’ year release wise in 2023, why did it had that? And will we see some more activity again on that label front in 2024?
A:
To be honest it went quiet because I wasn’t feeling any of the demos I was being sent and I wanted to evolve what started as a vocal trance label into being something way more edgy and underground. Also it went quiet because it was Covid and I was happy to just take a lot of time off and just get stoned and be in my studio making music. 2016 / 17 / 18 / 19 were all heavy years of hard touring and Covid was a welcomed break and a time to really immerse myself in making music and being creative.
Q:
The cool and epic VII t-shirts design, who creates those designs, and where does the inspiration/ideas come from?
A:
I create them, sketch out the ideas and then give them to a far more talented designer to make them really pop. The inspiration can come from anywhere.
Q:
If anyone has been watching your recent post/stories etc., no one can deny having seen and heard, that your finally working on a new album :) How is it coming a long so far?
A:
It’s finished. The second single drops on May3rd.
Q:
What can we expect to hear on the new album in terms of sounds/genres?
A:
Overall I would say the album is pretty dark. Genres, it’s hard hitting, high energy tech trance, some techno, some breaks, some down tempo music, some big riff trance, several amazing vocal collabs. It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make and I’m very proud and pleased with it.
Q:
Is it only solo productions on it, or do you also have some collabs included, and with who?
A:
There are vocal collabs with Shelby Merry, Manika, Lyonheart, Rufus, Sinful Biz. There’s a few that have my own vocals too. But the rest is just me.
Q:
Can you say anything about when we can expect the release of it?
A:Currently we are aiming at September 6th.
Q:
John, thanks a lot for this interview, do you have any last things you want to tell the listeners out there?
A:
Keep it real and never stop dancing.
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John's latest single 'Push It' can be purchased HERE
John's ASOT 2024 set can be found HERE
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