FP: The new LP is, regarding the sound and style, directly linked to the limited Warp EP's Hangable Autobulb. And you're known for working on musically quite different things, how did the album come about?
RDJ: That's stuff, or at least, a small part of what I have been doing this year. I never put out stuff that I recently did up to these releases. It's always been about two or three years old.

FP: It's a different step, you've evolved, musically.
RDJ: Yeah, it's like, I've been living with loads of people, listening to lots of different music, so it's all come out different from what I usually do. I reckon my stuff always sounds like what's current, I am into usually what's going on at the time. But when you're living with loads of other people you can't get away from loads of music. You kind of get influenced. I pretty much enjoyed it, but I'd like to move out and be on me own again. I'd like to be inspired of my own, instead of being inspired by other people.

FP: Do you get influenced by the other Rephlex acts?
RDJ: Not really, no, I don't get influenced by anything.

FP: They all say they've been influenced by you though.
RDJ: Yeah, so I shouldn't be influenced by them, I get inspired by the people, but I don't get influenced by them. If I hear something that's good, than it really makes me wanna do my own thing, it does not make me want to copy their ideas.

FP: What was the most interesting musical thing that happened to you last year?
RDJ: I reckon probably people on the Internet, like I've been linking up with software bots, getting customized programs and stuff, to do certain things.

FP: What kind of things?
RDJ: Like, sort of sound processing software, loads of really complicated signal processors. I'm really getting into those things and doing a lot of research myself. Like getting back into programming as well. Like trying to make my own programs and coming up with mad things. I've got another four months of research to do, I reckon, before I'm ready.

FP: What do you use? As in, computers?
RDJ: I use like Macs, a couple of Macs.

FP: And software?
RDJ: The main thing I use is like stuff that I've got written for me. Basically I got in contact with loads of people, told them who I was, hoping that some of them would be like fans of my work, and one guy, who got back to me, was like my favorite programmer, who was really up for doing anything basically, and did loads of software, customized stuff for me. I got my own sequencer like totally sorted out, and hard disk recording totally customized the way I want it to be basically. I am lucky, like what I've used all over the years, customized equipment, I can't stand using equipment that's designed by someone else. Makes you working in their way sort of thing. Something like Cubase is a really good tool, but then it's got loads of edges that you just have to go along with, and it forces you to go along with it in ways you wouldn't normally go with. So you're lucky if you got someone who can basically rewrite it so that it works more smoothly the way you want it to.

FP: What would you say are the main edges of Cubase? The problems.
RDJ: I don't know, I think its the whole way it looks. I haven't got a problem with it at all, the structure. But the way it looks makes me wanna do very logical things, cause it's a very logical program. And if you use it that way its very good, but if you want to do more live stuff, it's not geared towards it at all. Makes you work rigidly.

FP: You mind if I smoke?
RDJ: Not if I can have a cigarette.

FP: The record with Mike Paradinas, Mike & Rich, is an older one as well, isn't it?
RDJ: Yes, its about 2 and a half years old now.

FP: But Rephlex finally gets to the point where it can release new stuff as well.
RDJ: Yeah, we've been putting out more than anyone else recently, and we've almost got to the end of our schedule. That long list of people we've signed up years ago.

FP: I remember having been at Grants about half a year ago and he had this huge list.
RDJ: Only about five of that left I think.

FP: The Seefeel thing.
RDJ: Yeah, its really sorted at the moment, if something comes along which we think is good it can come out straight. Things like the Squarepusher record, he just couldn't wait anymore. We want to keep it very current, not on a list sort of thing. A lot of things are of on their own, so if they come out a year late it doesn't make that much of a difference, things like that stand the test of time, but I think they loose a bit of impact if they come out later.

FP: Are you going to do some things on Rephlex soon?
RDJ: Yeah, I did an Analogue Bubblebath 5 and a Caustic Window album that's been on white label for about 2 years, but I'm not going to release it, cause I don't like it, no, I do, but not all the tracks, I want better ones on that. Quite often, if you make records, very soon after you did the tracks, you change your mind about them.

FP: You're doing more live gigs now as well.
RDJ: Yeah I played last week. But we want to get a ship, and play there, letting it dock at different harbors. Play a gig, and then sail to the next port. I got to get it sponsored, cause it's very expensive. I reckon its the thing you could get on national news if you did it right. Some scam. Would be quite a mad thing to do basically.

FP: We had quite a lot of that stuff in the German techno scene. Like Ravecrusades and stuff.
RDJ: Did they sail around.

FP: Yeah, in the Mediterranean sea.
RDJ: They had a rave on the sea? I did not want to do that, though it might be quite a good laugh, there are no laws on the sea, so it could go on forever, but I don't want to go on forever, I only want to play an hour and a half. I like to DJ, then it gets quite rough.

FP: What do you DJ?
RDJ: Music I like.

FP: What do you like?
RDJ: Everything I reckon. All styles of music. Basically anything that's original. Like it's been made for the right reasons.

FP: Who would you rate as some of the most original people?
RDJ: I only really like a few people at the moment, and that is Luke Vibert and Squarepusher. I like Drexciya as well but I haven't heard their new record though. Those two are my favorites really, they are doing their own things, not copying anyone else.

FP: Why did you call the LP Richard D. James?
RDJ: Have you got the artwork?

FP: No.
RDJ: See, on the single there is a gravestone of my brother, who died at birth; he was called Richard James. And like my mom got really upset about it. When she had me, as a baby, she called me Richard David James, the same name basically. So I always felt guilty about it cause I nicked his name. So the single is basically him, and the album is me.

FP: When did you find out about that?
RDJ: Well I've always known it ever since I was little, and it used to freak me out, cause my mom had a photo of this gravestone in her room, and when I looked at it when I was young, I didn't understand, why is there a gravestone with my name on it? I didn't realize, until I was older, who it was. The photo just freaks me out a bit. It's not everyday that you can look at a gravestone with your name on it.

FP: Did you get that photo your mother had or did you get a new one?
RDJ: No, I've never seen the grave, it's in Canada, so it is a real old photograph from the 60s.

FP: There still is the question why you do call it like that then.
RDJ: Well, because. Richard D James is the difference between me and him. Like the D makes the whole difference, and I did it for him cause I always felt guilty, and its like I wanted to give him something back, something he would be remembered by. So I wanted the photo. I'm not really fucked up about it but it's always like been on my mind kind of thing: pointing out the difference between the two.

FP: Doesn't sound much like a guilt work though. The music is quite happy.
RDJ: Yeah I'm not sad about it. In fact I am rally happy about it. Like I have always felt, it silly saying it, but, I've always felt like I've been looked after by him. Like the luck I always have, like everything always goes right for me. And I have always felt protected by some sort of presence. Whether it's me or it's my brother I always felt it's my brother. And I had some weird dreams about him and stuff. Whoever put those ideas in my own mind I don't know, but I always felt like that, well, for about ten years at least.

FP: How come it's that short?
RDJ: Just the attention span these days has gone real downhill. I think a record should be that length. Just with techno it got longer cause people started putting albums out on 12 inches, to make them louder, and everyone got into that idea, that all techno albums have got to be two records. I think its more of a normal thing to do.

FP: Just not from the CD perspective.
RDJ: Well I never listen to CDs more than half an hour, even if I like them. I would listen to them in two parts. Never from start to finish. You just get distracted.

FP: Why is that so?
RDJ: You'd just get distracted. Half an hour in my home and then someone phones me up, or knocks on my door. That kind of thing. Even if not I'd get bored after half an hour cause I want to do something else, and if it's really good it makes me wanna do my own stuff.

FP: If you do tracks yourself they might at least take you longer then half an hour.
RDJ: I reckon so, yeah.

FP: And it will make you listen to it longer.
RDJ: Yeah, but I'm really into the idea of making tracks shorter, and more complicated. Putting more into it. I like really minimal things as well, but for me personally, for my own music, that's not what I want to do for the next foreseeable future. So I'm quite happy with that.

FP: It sounds like a very fractured album too.
RDJ: You get bored of listening to the same sound. If I listen to, lets say a jungle track, after about three minutes, I want to hear another break, even if its doing those different things. I get bored of the sound. Want to do something else that keeps you interested.

FP: Is it basically the sound that interests you?
RDJ: No, everything interests me, melody as well, it's all important, but even if you change the music all the way through, using the same sound gets boring. So I keep the track as long as I can, and change the sound when I don't like it anymore.

FP: You still produce at home. Where are you going to move?
RDJ: I'm looking for a warehouse in London, something I can drive my tank in, without collapsing. But they are all like sold, like its getting really trendy to buy warehouses. There is not a lot left. I found one the other day, but I had to buy it, the next day and it was a quarter of a million pounds, and I can't really deal with spending that many pounds in 12 hours.

FP: So you still have your tank?
RDJ: Yeah, it's at my sister's house. I chased sheep around in it the other day on the countryside.

FP: Doesn't she get strange looks for it?
RDJ: She really likes it, all her friends are coming to see it, she parks it in front of the house, with all the guns sticking out. And she uses it an really gets into it.

FP: Still a strange story, this tank.
RDJ: Yeah, that was probably why I bought it. A good tool. I think its the coolest car of all time. When you see it driving around it's just really little. But it's pretty big as well sort of thing. A little tank but bigger then any car. I was watching my dad driving it the other day and thought it was so cool. So I'm glad I bought that. It's like a giant remote controlled car, it's got big antennas at the back and you think there must be someone hiding with the control box.

FP: Can you actually drive around in it on the street? Legally?
RDJ: Yeah, well you can if you passed your driving test, I haven't, but I still drive it on the roads, but you may drive it with another driver, and nobody knows who's in it. I've seen loads of police, but they just laugh. They never pull you over if you got your insurance. It is really cheap, apart from the petrol, 3 miles a gallon. But yeah, in the country nothing ever happens. When you bring it to London they will probably get worried that you are going to drive through the house of parliament with it. You got to be careful, cause there are restricted areas in London, for like terrorists and stuff, and they might probably think you've got a bomb in it. It can easily go through like car blocks and stuff. They will probably get really worried.

FP: Probably. Would have to tell them first?
RDJ: Yeah, and I think I will when I bring it to London. There are a couple of other people having tanks in London, and there are, as they say, areas you are not allowed to go. But I pretty much would not know where, so I better ask.

[Background Music: "99 Red Balloons" by Nena. It makes him laugh.]

RDJ: I forgot that.

FP: That's better. Do you like music from the 80s?
RDJ: Yeah, it's starting to sound better. 5 years ago I wouldn't have said that, but I noticed all these shit records are starting to sound a bit better. They are just so stupid, and everything is so cheap. I'm sure in another 10 years time they will start to be really cool.

FP: When we heard you record at the office, somebody said it sounds like the Cure.
RDJ: Which track?

FP: The first or second.
RDJ: I reckon I really don't like the Cure, but they can write good tunes. If you would take the sound away, the voice, they would be really good. Like Smith's songs, I really hate him, but if you did a version of them they would probably be very good. Dislike the people singing it, the way it's done.

FP: What are your plans?
RDJ: Just making as much music as possible, as usual. Get on with stuff. Not being as sociable as I have been.

FP: Do you spend a lot of time on the 'net?
RDJ: Yeah, loads actually. You start doing the same things all the time. You find all the things you can do with it, then you do them all of the time. Sometimes I'm on it and get bored with that, turn of the computer and just think about it. The whole concept of the 'net.

FP: Are there other things than the musical things that interest you.
RDJ: I don't really read about music on there.

FP: But you get software?
RDJ: Yeah, and a lot of graphic software as well, 'cause I like painting and stuff. Some death pages are quite smart. Quite hard-core. Saw one the other day of a couple killing the girls boyfriend. This guy with the mustache, and the girl holding the guys cock going to castrate him. That's wicked. Someone sent the address to me. And I did not know whether or not it was real.

FP: Have you seen this Japanese Laboratory thing, where all the internal processes of their computer system are transformed into MIDI data and then made to music and re-transferred as a live audio stream.
RDJ: Nah, but that sounds wicked, too. What does it sound like?

FP: Well basically really ambient. And its RealAudio, you know what that sounds like, but its very nice and strangely structured. There are those people playing live with MIDI data as well.
RDJ: I don't understand, explain yourself.

FP: It is sort of like a chat channel but you are not chatting with words but with MIDI data.
RDJ: That's wicked too, but I couldn't get into it. 'Cause basically I haven't done it. And I can't get into things I haven't done. I've written programs that do random music, and they were quite a good laugh, but it doesn't go anywhere. Seen any good picture to music things? I haven't found any yet.

FP: Me either.
RDJ: Can't believe that no one has written really good ones. There should be a program which gets out sound to what your painting. It's too computerized at the moment, the interfaces should be really sorted out. Its like with keyboards, they have been around for too long. It will come quite soon I think. The more people get into music that don't want to learn all these stupid boring ways to do it.

FP: Most of them probably want to do stupid boring music.
RDJ: But I reckon its going to be more. Girls hate it. They don't want to look through pages and pages of stuff just to get music out. And it would be more of a laugh if you would get pictures to play with. More graphical things rather then data.

FP: The biggest problem is probably the picture recognition thing.
RDJ: Yeah. They got programs that can read files and play them as music files, Sound Hack, what comes out is pretty unpredictable, but its good if you work on a picture with PhotoShop, and save it, play it, change a bit more and play it again.

FP: To find out the relations?
RDJ: Yeah work out what it sounds like what you do, its easy and you need to press just one button, but just to save and reopen it takes too long to do. A lot of things just sound like noise, but some packets of data sound interesting, the patterns in it.

FP: They should do that in real time.
RDJ: Someone needs to make one. People who paint good pictures should be able to make good music, it would be a really interesting new way of looking at music. Change it around. New rules. The ones we got are a bit boring now. New ones need to be invented. I always got loads of ideas, but I don't want to get too deep into programming them. That's a hassle. So I linked up with those people.

FP: There is a good program from the people of Oval which functions sort of a CD Player on the Mac, but you got a record button, which lets you collect samples from the CD and rearrange them to do a track that sounds like an Oval track, and then add it to the menu of your CD so that every time you reopen the CD, you have more tracks, your own Oval re-mixes of the CD, on your player.
RDJ: They did that to my album, actually: Selected Ambient Works.

FP: They didn't.
RDJ: I am good at recognizing sounds, I swear they did it. I was really getting into the album, and thinking, yeah, that sounds really familiar, and found my whole album being torn apart, it's quite good though, and I didn't know which way to take it. Did they like my album or did they just think, "Well this CD is rubbish lets tear it apart"? That was what I liked most about their record.

Interview taken from Techno Online.