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60 Seconds With... DJ Pierre

A true acid house original, DJ Pierre (aka Nathaniel Pierre Jones) is one of the architects of dance music as we know it.

With Phuture, he was responsible for unleashing the dark sulphuric funk of seminal 303 cut 'Acid Trax' in 1987, forever remapping the genetic code of the dancefloor, taking things more stripped-down and electronic than ever before. With countless essential cuts to his name, DJ Pierre is a legend indeed.

On 29th March DJ Pierre plays Mulletover's Fourth Birthday party, in the Back 2 the Old Skool room at a secret location in London. We caught up with him to talk acid, impact, and what the phuture holds...

You're playing Mulletover's Back to the Old Skool room. Are you looking forward to that?

"Oh yeah definitely, it should be fun."

Are you going to be keeping the vibes old skool, on the acid tip?

"I'm gonna be keeping it true to the theme, you know, try to play old skool. If it's anything newer then it'll be a remake of an old track."

Looking back now, did you realize what impact your music would make when you worked on your early tracks like 'Generate Power' and 'Acid Trax'?

"No, no way. You think you want to make something new and that's it."

How did you hit upon the idea?

"It was Spanky's idea to put a beat to it. When I came over, he already had a beat playing to some of the acid, but he wasn't turnin' no knobs on the TB-303. When I came over, I started doing that, changing the sound. And we were like, wow! Okay, that sounds good. That's really how it happened."

What does acid house mean to you?

"It was the birth of my career in a way. It's life to me, as far as music goes. If it wasn't for acid, I don't know if there would have been a DJ Pierre."

What kind of music is doing it for you these days?

"I'm more into the minimal tech, tech house, a little electro, and I'm always playing a little vocal house so that's where I'm at right now. Deadmau5, I like some of his stuff, Paul Woolford, he's done some cool stuff, and I still like Josh Wink, pretty much everything he does is hot."

What's next for DJ Pierre?

"I've got an album which I've finished and I'm shopping it right now. I worked on it with a lot of people – Louie Vega, Paul Woolford, Seamus Haji, Green Velvet, Dajae, Ron Carroll, Tom Stephan, can't forget him. I've also got a new digital label, Afro Acid Digital, which is geared towards new artists, giving them a chance to get out there, find that new cutting edge sound. I have a joint coming out, the artist is House of Stink, and the track is called 'For the Freaks'. It's minimal, techy, funky stuff."