MM Exclusive Interview: DJ Sofa

DJ Sofa’s sonic identity is one that is truly vibrant. Their new EP, Lionheart, feels incredibly personal, whilst remaining intense and driving. Ahead of its release on Nia Archives’ label on 12^th November, I spoke to the jungle aficionado on queer visibility, the relationship between jungle and the cityscape, and DJ Hazard’s drums. 

The release is centred around themes of bravery. How did you convey this sonically? 

I think the braveness angle mostly comes from the title tune. It’s kind of relentless and it just pummels through. For me, it’s channelling the feeling of doing stuff even though you are scared to – which I guess is what bravery is. I guess jungle and drum and bass is what I channel most of my feelings in to when I make music.

My favourite track from the EP is ‘The Gatekeepers’. There’s an interesting spoken word sample in it. Where is that from and what were you trying to convey with it?

I was originally thinking that tune would go out on a label called ruff ‘n’ tuff because me and Stecker, who runs the label, have this duo called The Council. We released one EP under that name, and we have this inside joke about some lore that’s in the music. That doesn’t maybe make sense to other people, but the whole ‘Gatekeepers’ thing doesn’t have anything to do with gatekeeping within the scene. I look at it as fictional words from some kind of fantasy setting, a movie or book. 

You’ve been making music as DJ Sofa for around 10 years – is that correct?

Well not under that name. I don’t actually remember when I started using DJ Sofa, but my first release under that name probably came out during maybe 2019 or 2020. I started dabbling with FL Studio when I was 17 or 18 – I’m 32 now so I have been making music for a good while. But DJ Sofa has been in use for five, six or seven years. 

Does using aliases allow you to switch between separate styles more easily?

I had the alias before DJ Sofa from when I started making music. Then I felt like I wanted to detach myself from that. I’ve thought about this a lot because I love aliases. I think people should have more aliases. Everyone should have at least three. But, under DJ Sofa, even though I’ve mostly done jungle and drum and bass, it’s still quite varied; I don’t stick to a single sub-genre or framework. The Council is an alias because it’s the two of us. I feel like I want to have 15 different aliases and do only one thing under each name, but then again, I’m not sure if my brain works that way.

Your favourite period of drum and bass is the early stuff in the nineties and noughties. In the UK, there has been a resurgence in y2k aesthetics over the past half decade. Is that something you have been inspired by?

It’s just something I like. I used to be hugely into the early 2000s stuff – especially jump-up. I’m a huge DJ Hazard fan. When I was younger, I started dabbling in the 2000s and slowly started going earlier and earlier; all the way back to the beginning of the 90s. I just feel like it’s what resonates with me the most. I love all of it and I don’t really purposefully listen to the modern stuff drum and bass-wise.

You mentioned DJ Hazard – what are some of your favourite tracks of his?

Let me see. Probably ‘Selector’. I think it came out in 2003. In my opinion, DJ Hazard’s drums from 2000 to 2005, were really different from any other jump-up or dancefloor producer’s drums. There was way more of a dynamic range within the drums and more detail. That really spoke to me and set it apart from other stuff from that time. I feel like the range gives more room for the instruments and the breaks to breathe. It still speaks to me. I used to have a ton of jump-up records. I sold most of them, but I still have all the DJ Hazard ones because the drums are just light years apart from all the other tunes from that time.

In an interview which I think was from around COVID times, you said you’d been focusing on producing rather than playing shows. Have you started playing more live?

I played a lot two years ago. Then around the beginning of last year I felt I needed a break from DJing. I don’t DJ that often at the moment but it’s for sure something that I like doing. Still, if I could do one or the other, I would choose to produce. 

Can you explain why that is?

I guess I can be introverted. I’m still really social and I see a lot of people almost on a daily basis, but I like that feeling of being in my lair doing my thing, channelling whatever into what I make. It’s also nice to have the thrill of playing live but it’s also really exhausting for me – I have ADHD, but I still like it.

There was also a point where you had fallen out of love with producing and you were making stuff you didn’t really like. Can you describe what this kind of music was and what you didn’t like about it?

Generally, for me, it’s easy to fall victim to trying to do stuff for the feeling of achievement, rather than for the sake of doing your own art. At one point, I started getting more attention and suddenly it felt like almost every tune I made people wanted to release. It was all very new for me, and I got into this headspace of trying to make as much as possible as quick as possible. I realized after some time that doesn’t work for me. I’d rather have the freedom and the time to think about what I’m doing. I’ve had to work a lot on being truthful about why I’m wanting to do something, either within music, or within hobbies, or whatever.

Your current alias comes from you producing a lot of stuff on your sofa. I know you mentioned you had a studio now, is that something you still do?

I have turntables now, a bunch of records, monitors, plus a sampler, and everything. I do find myself gravitating towards doing tunes on my laptop in my bed, though. I tend to feel guilty about buying myself gear but not using it because I’m sitting like a shrimp on the sofa. Maybe it’s more that the name comes from a ‘homebrew’ attitude to the whole process. 

You are a big fan of The Prodigy – how much have they been an influence on your drum and bass work?

They must be a big influence. I haven’t actually listened to them for a long time but when I was like 18 or 19 and I started making some weird ravey stuff, I was basically trying to copycat what they had been doing. I’m not sure if they influence what I do now. I guess everything must do in a way, but I can’t make any correlation where I could point to any examples. Probably everything that I listened to in my formative years has affected my sound in some way.

Can you remember the first Prodigy tune you heard and how it made you feel?

It was probably ‘Breathe’ or ‘Firestarter’ when I’d have been three or four years old watching MTV. My mum used to have a couple of CDs and she’s told me that I would shout out the ‘Firestarter’ lyrics whenever we’d go under a pedestrian tunnel or bridge because the music video is filmed in those round tunnels. There is also ‘Molotov Bitch’ that people don’t really shout out.  

Your band camp description is “queer concrete jungle music from Helsinki”. What does “queer music” mean to you – is it just music made by queer people or something different?

In that context, I don’t see queer music as a genre. It’s more of a personal statement from me. I just want people to know that there are queer and trans people within the scene. It’s important to be visible because a lot of scenes can be very heterocentric and I just want to be a part of diversity and show other people that you don’t have to hide your identity, hopefully. It also makes me feel more at ease traveling to bookings abroad or working with new people as it’s very clearly out there that I identify as queer.

Focusing in on that description again: “concrete jungle music” – do you feel the kind of music made under DJ Sofa is more suited to the cityscape rather than the rural nature of central Finland where you grew up?

It’s made for anyone anywhere, basically. Maybe it’s more of a case of what inspires me. I joke with my partner that every time we drive through this part of the city that has these old, concrete, worn-out ‘commie’ blocks that I immediately have jungle playing in my head. 

There’s that clip from University Challenge where the quizmaster won’t take “drum and bass” as an answer and that “we need jungle” to get the points. Do you consider DJ Sofa a drum and bass or a jungle artist or do you not think it matters?

I don’t know because, for example, the tune ‘Cerberus’ on the EP, people could argue it’s jungle and people could argue it’s drum and bass. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters that much. 

DJ Sofa’s New EP, Lionheart, is out now

Words by Charlie Edmondson