60 seconds with...Simbad

French ex-pat Simbad is one of the most feted young producers operating in dance music. With an eclectic vision that takes in all the major funk groups (house, hip-hop, broken beat, boogie), this London-based musical visionary first hit paydirt with the futuristic bumper 'Soul Fever', which caused a sensation in 2006 amongst DJs from Laurent Garnier to Gilles Peterson.
His new album 'Supersonic Revelation' is out now on Raw Fusion. DJmag tracked him down to find out what makes him tick...

How did you get the name - are you a fan of the Sinbad films or does it come from elsewhere?
"It's a nickname, the French spelling of Sinbad, 'cos I'm French, right? It's 'cos I've been moving a lot in my life, my parents are archeologists. We've been moving all the time, non-stop, like Sinbad the sailor."

When you released 'Soul Fever' it caused a real sensation with its futuristic soul styles. Did you set out to make something really fresh and new?
"I'd been trying to make fresh stuff, aiming to make fresh music if I could. But it was a total surprise, I never thought that it would blow up that much. The funny thing is that even the remix I did ended up being played and caned on the radio, and I never thought that would be the case. I thought they would play the other side, the slow version, which is UK soul at the end of the day. It was a surprise, a good surprise. It was mainly word of mouth, it was literally people's demand."

You're famed for your eclectic releases as Simbad and as part of Marathon Men, Les Barons, Twitch and more. If you had to narrow it down, what would be your favourite kind of music?
"That's a tough one. I'm pretty old skool, I like old skool shit. But I love dubstep too. The kind of stuff that I listen to, to disconnect from all the craziness, is probably jazz."

You've collaborated with a lot of different vocalists on your album 'Supersonic Revelation', but if there was anyone out there - living or dead - you could work with, who would it be?
"Prince, because I think these days he needs a producer. Also, it would be good for him to reach a younger generation, and just because he's a nutter! But realistically it ain't gonna happen, maybe I'd rather work with Busta Rhymes, make him say some conscious crazy shit, totally flip the script!"

After 'Supersonic Revelation' what other music have you got coming up?
"I've been doing a load of remixes and I've also just finished some stuff with Karizma. I'm in the studio right now. There are some collaborations that I've been working on, I just finished something with the Jazzy Sport guys in Japan.
"'Supersonic Revelation' is like a collection of tracks and some of them are quite old, so I'm probably gonna have another album ready for the autumn."