:: INTERVIEWS :: JASON CORTEZ

1). The name “Cortez” does not sound as if it’s from your native Scotland, is Jason Cortez your real name? Where did it come from?
The name Cortez has its roots in Spain, and is quite a famous one through out Spanish history, there’s even a reference to Cortez’s gold in Pirates of the Caribbean. As for it being real, all I’ll say is that I haven’t inherited any gold from a long lost relative…

2). Many will know the name Jason Cortez as a club promoter, DJ and producer. But what came first?
I was a DJ first, playing at midweek student gigs at tour nights for Cream, Ministry of Sound and Gatecrasher. I then got into promoting after getting a little disillusioned at what was on offer in Edinburgh on the harder front, so started my first promotion called Sleep which had a Scottish debut for Nukleuz Records and Ed Real, this ran for a short time before Nuklearpuppy was born. I now promote 3 different brands in 3 cities.

Finally I got into producing about 4 years ago, making hard-house with Phil York and a little help from Ingo, Colin Barratt and Ben Kaye. I have been defining my sound ever since, working with the likes of Nick Rowland, Alf Bamford, Paul Maddox, Guyver and Mikey Dow to make the sort of hard-dance that I like to play and hear… Hopefully people out there do as well!

3). Nuklear Puppy as a club night is immensely popular and almost from its outset you’ve attracted some of the biggest name DJs to grace your decks, was that always the plan and how did you come up with the name?

Nuklearpuppy’s success is still a pleasant surprise to me. The night was started over 5 years ago to give some local DJ’s a place to play, and to give those that liked hard-house an alternative to the other over priced promotions that were running at the time. We had early ties to Nukleuz and Tidy, and have had several Scottish debuts for some of the scene’s leading lights. As the night grew, so did the calibre of DJ’s, but we don’t think the guest DJ’s define the night, I think the crowd and music are what makes Nuklearpuppy the success it is, without either it would never had stood the test of time.

As for the name, I have to thank Chris Tarrant and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. I was watching the programme one night and the question was asked, ‘Who had a number one hit with ‘Whole Again’? The possible answers included explosive baby, nuclear puppy and the answer atomic kitten, but the name Nuklearpuppy stuck in my head and when needing a name for the new promotion it just seamed right.

4). Your business partner is Phil York, how did the pair of you meet?

Phil was running another hard-house promotion when I started Nuklearpuppy and I asked him to be resident alongside me. His promotion stopped and as Nuklearpuppy got bigger we moved to a larger venue and I asked Phil to become co-promoter. We’ve worked closely together ever since.

5). From a DJing perspective, you have more than an impressive track record (no pun intended), playing at some of the biggest events and venues alongside the likes of Tiesto, Eddie Halliwell, Fergie, Mauro Picotto, Yoji Biomehanika, Andy Farley, Paul Glazby and Lisa Lashes to name just a few.
What advice would you give to any one who is a bedroom DJ and aspires to be where you are today?

Firstly I’d like to say how thankful I am to have played alongside the names mentioned, if you told me I’d play alongside those names when I started I’d have laughed at you. But I still have many goals and aspirations to fulfil within the Djing and producing World.

What I would say to any aspiring DJ is have fun, don’t get into DJing to pull girls, make money and become a popular figure within the clubbing scene with which you move. A couple of years back the scene was flooded with DJ’s, getting into it for all the wrong reasons, some good, some not so good. Over time those with talent, ambition and the right attitude have made names for them selves and are now joined
by a pool of new and exciting young DJ’s, as well as the established names.
I think talent, patience and a friendly attitude, combined with a little luck should get the right people to where they deserve to be.

6). Not content with running one of Scotland’s top club nights and being a house-hold name DJ, you have an impressive back-catalogue of production work. Which has been your favourite production to-date? Why?

I have a couple of tracks that are special to me, firstly 88MPH which came out on Nukleuz, it opened up some doors and got my name known outside Scotland.
I’m also very proud of ‘God’, a track that received plaudits from the likes of Nick Sentience, Phil Reynolds and James Lawson, people I have looked up to since I got into hard-house. It have been featured on several compilations, and still to this day I have people saying how good the track is, its nice when people tell you something you’ve done makes them smile and dance.

On a slightly different musical front, I’m very pleased with my tech-trance remix of Chicane’s ‘Saltwater’. It was my first track to get air play on Radio One from Judge Jules, and has since been played by Scot Project, Dave Pearce, Mark Sherry, Agnelli & Nelson, and even got a play by Fausto in his closing set at Dance Valley last year.
As well as some of the tracks in my back catalogue, I am immensely happy with my new productions, I don’t think you can continually look back in music, you have to look forward. I think I have now found my sound, and am trying to develop it as best I can. I have never tried to be cutting edge, or break any boundaries in music, I think there’s enough of that going on without me trying it as well. I like to make people dance, and make people smile, so I try to make music that does both, my music is full of energy and is usually recognised by a soaring riff and recognisable vocal.
Out of my recent work I’m most happy with ‘Finally’, Shining In The Ecstacy’, Set U Free’ and my remix of the Tidy classic ‘Till Tears Do Us Part’ by Heaven’s Cry.

7). If you had to choose between only being either a DJ, producer or promoter, which would you chose and why?

I couldn’t choose, I love them all! I love DJing for the feeling you get when playing to a crowd of smiling dancing people. I love producing tracks, as there is no better feeling than when playing your own track and seeing people with their hands in the air, screaming and dancing.

As for promoting, it’s amazing seeing a crowd of like minded people having a great night at an event you’ve put together.

8). Did any aspect of Nuklear Puppy and the opportunities that followed ever feature in conversations with your career adviser from school?

To be honest, no! I’m a qualified graphic designer, and wanted to do that from about the age of 16. Djing, producing and promoting started as a hobby, and has now become my main passion in life… Its funny how things work out in life, but I think you just have to go with it!

9). Talking of school, you are taking part in TW11, The Tidy High School Romp for us in Prestatyn in March. What sort of set can we expect from you at TW11?

I’d say you can expect some energetic hard-dance, some new productions, some exclusive new tracks from Nuklearpuppy Records, and maybe a few remixes and bootlegs done especially for the event it self.

Did you used to wear a school uniform? What was the uniform?
Yes. It was a standard uniform, grey trousers, white shirt, blazer and purple tie.

What would your ideal school uniform be?
I think the girls should have to wear the stereotypical male fantasy of what a school girl should wear… Pig tails, short pleated skirt, stockings and see through blouse, and the guys, well at my ideal school there would be no other guys!

What was the one thing they should have taught you at school but didn’t?
How to work out how much is too much!

What was the most useless thing or subject you were taught at school?
All that stuff in maths, algebra, the things that have nothing to do with day to day life or beat matching…

Which school did you go to?
Currie High School, I later had a job there as a youth worker and arts worker.

With yourself as an exception, are there any famous people that were once a pupil of your school?
Nope, and I wouldn’t say I was famous.

With the benefit of hindsight, if you were to have your school years again, would you do anything differently?
Get into DJing and producing earlier, I would have loved to have been involved in the clubbing scene in the mid 90’s onwards.

Who would be your ideal head boy/girl?
I love the term head girl, any body whose title involves the words girl and head has to be respected. As for my ideal head girl, my girlfriend knows how to keep me in line…

If you could change one school rule, what would it be?
It was that long ago since I was at school I cant remember the school rules that well, but that whole not being allowed to ask other people what the answers to questions when you don’t know them was a bit silly. Surely it develops people’s social skills, as well as teaching you from an early age who to listen to and who not too…

Did you ever get caught doing something you shouldn’t be doing behind the Bikesheds? If so, what?
I didn’t get caught, and it wasn’t behind the bike shed, but I threw an egg at a teacher from on top of the bike sheds. It was during a pupil walk out in protest to a popular teacher leaving, or being asked to leave the school. I wasn’t alone and the teacher still left, but appreciated our sentiments.

Who would you most like to join you behind the Bikesheds at TW11?
If my girlfriend isn’t available due to having detention, then it would have to be Amo, I think he would be the sort of kid that would have the Panini stickers that I need to complete my 1988 English Championship album…

What track (hard-house or otherwise) sums up your school years?
Hard-house, it would have to be ‘Over For Me’, as that is what school is to me. I had some pleasant times there, but I’ve had more fun between the ages of 20 and 30.

Non hard-house, a track that might sum up my years at school could be ‘Oops I did it again’ by Brittney, I always seamed to get into trouble for silly little things that I should have known better than doing.

What was your most shameful moment at school?
I was a good boy, either that or I didn’t get caught…

If you HAD to become a teacher, what subject would you teach?
There are laws against practical sex ed, so maybe wood work.
Young boys need to know how to care for wood, and work their wood, their future girlfriends and wives will be thankful when their men knows how to handle their wood, keep if clean and polished. And as for teaching the girls about wood, well they need to respect the wood, not be scared to treat it rough, but at the same time know when to treat it gently. Lets be honest, a girl that knows how to spit and polish a good bit of wood is a find.

Did you have a nickname at school? What was it?
No I didn’t, but I was called a few things buy teachers during my time at school.

Did you have a favourite teacher at school? Who was it / why?
I had a couple of favourite teachers, my English teacher Mr Simpson helped me get an A in higher English, something that seamed impossible when I got a D in my prelims. My technical teacher Mr Waite was always fun, and made being in class enjoyable, but at the same time educational, I passed my craft & design, and technical drawing highers with a little help from him.

Have any of your ex-class mates or teachers appeared unexpectedly on a dance-floor while you’ve been DJing? What was their reaction?
I have seen a few in my early years of playing, I see more of the kids I used to be a youth worker too in my clubs. I think most of my former class mates are all settled with kids, mortgages and wives.

The Tidy High School motto is “Music For The Harder Education”. If you were running The Jason Cortez High School, what would your motto be?
I don’t think the education authorities would let me teach the youth of today, I don’t think the future would be in safe hands. But on the off chance they were to entrust me with some hormonally imbalanced, spotty teenagers who think they know best, my schools motto would defiantly be ’You might want to consider doing what I say, but please don’t get caught doing what I do’