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Justin Robertson interview

Justin Robertson spills the beans about his new Neverwork imprint...

Acid house hero extraordinaire, Justin Robertson, is known for his wicked DJ skills, incredibly diverse productions, and impeccable dress sense. His new Neverwork label debuts with his own 'Pylon Theory' EP on the 2nd April. DJ got him to spill the beans...

Why did you decide to start the new Neverwork imprint?

"It was an outlet really for productions of things I've been working on, primarily things I've been involved in. It was really a platform for my stuff, something I could have my own control over. I think it's a good time to run an independent label, what with the different ways that people are listening to and consuming music now, it's the best way of doing it. Primarily it's a mixture between my club stuff and a lot of songwriting stuff I've been doing, and my new band Thee Earls."

Why the name Neverwork?

"It's based on a situationist phrase. It's never work as in, 'do not work'. Not as in, 'it won't work!' It's a, 'cool to be lazy.' It's a political, philosophical movement I was quite interested in, but I think it's kind of one of those things, I always think that DJing and being involved in music are one of those strange professions or jobs, where you're being paid to do something that you love anyway, you'd probably do it for nothing. I think I've not really considered myself to ever work."

Can you tell us about some of the forthcoming releases?

"The first one's a sort of clubby, acid-y, EP from me called 'Pylon Theory'. Next it will be a 7" from Thee Earls, which will be called 'Bombs To Fall', and it's art-rock-disco-funk-punk! Then I think another couple of acid-y weird techy things, I've amassed a few of those over the last few months, so another EP from me after that. And then I've got the Revtone project which I did on Nuphonic a couple of years ago, which is with Mark Ralph, he's joined me on that now, we're working on an album at the moment so, we'll probably put a single out from that. And I'm also doing something called Blister Boy which is a sort of acoustic, psychedelic country album, we're just demo-ing and writing that at the moment."

You've always had an eclectic taste in music. Is Neverwork a chance to indulge your diverse tastes?

"Definitely. We've got Blisterballads, which is the sub-label, with the same sort of artwork, that's gonna be the more band stuff. The Earls will come out on that, and the acoustic weird stuff will come out on that. It's this D.I.Y. ethic that labels used to have, and that dance music was a great pioneer of. I think that independent indie spirit where you put out music because you think it's good - and the only reason you put it out is because you think it's good and because you want people to hear it - I think that attitude is kind of returning. Obviously, it's good to see music flourishing again. It's part of this D.I.Y. trend that's going on."

What's up with the Neverwork logo – a mummified face with a safety pin through its lip?!

"It's another situationist thing, from the 1968 Parisian riots. I just thought it was, (laughs) a striking image! It's a liberating image. It's saying that people should undo their bandages, and express themselves I guess – remove the safety pin!"