1. So, Richard, what’s so Tricky about you that you decided to call yourself TrickyDJ? You seem like a fairly sound guy to me…

Haha! Cheers! I’ve been known as Tricky since Uni, but some guy from Massive Attack had already nabbed that name. Trickydj came about cos the domain name was available, to be brutally honest! Nothing more sinister or interesting than that!!

2. You come from Bradford, most well known for its, er, Rugby team… What’s the music and clubbing scene like there at the moment, and how did you get into it?

I actually grew up in Birmingham, so my first clubbing experiences were at the Que club down there, at massive Psy parties called Spacehopper. They did have a giant spacehopper hanging from the ceiling, as well! A few years later, when I was up here, I was getting so into my trance I had to give it a go. I was lucky in that a good mate of mine was playing out a fair bit at the time and he was able to help me get my first gigs and residency. The scene up here is largely Hard House / UK Hard Dance, rather than European style, which isn’t really ideal for me. It means I have to travel to get my fix! My favourite club locally is the Mill, which has a really underground feel, particularly as their license means they don’t have a bar, but you bring your own!

3. Where have your DJ’ing adventures taken you to, and what strange things (if any) have you witnessed whilst out and about, living the dream?

Strangeness award has to go to Distraction, one of my previous residencies in Leeds. It was a daytime event, similar to Sundissential, but on a Saturday afternoon. Playing to a packed club of mashed-up clubbers while knowing that people a few hundred yards away are struggling on escalators with their shopping is a hell of a mind-job!

4. Not too long ago now you were installed as the new label manager over at High Fish Records, the brain child of the great Iain Cross and Jon the Baptist. How on earth did you managed blag that?

Haha! Although Iain and Jon are the better-known of the Fish, the original collective included Meri and Dave Spinout as well, and it was Dave who got me involved. We started doing tunes together just after he moved up North. I was wanting to start a digital label, but didn’t want to compete with the Fish, so I got involved. To be fair, High Fish Digital has always been Spinout’s baby – but I do a lot of the public facing stuff.

5. So tell me because I must know, what are your plans for the label? What do you have lined up for this year and the next and, more importantly, when are you going to send this stuff over to me for, ahem “reviewing”?

There is so much planned, it’ll be great when it all comes together! Coming very soon on the label side is a new website and new distribution deal, so you’ll be able to find High Fish tracks on a wider range of sites. On the music front, we have a load of quality new stuff out very soon, including tracks and remixes from Iain Cross, Nutty T, Mike Steventon, Nick the Kid and of course a few bits from me and from Spinout.

6. Production wise I have heard some very good things emanating from your studio, and I hear you’ve had a track signed to GermanTrance.com too! In the least sexual way possible, what’s the latest on your noise making?

Cheers for that! Pleased you’re liking the tunes. The track for Germantrance is just in the very, very final stages, and I’ve been getting some really nice feedback about it. As well as that, I’m remixing my favourite track from Nero records, which is a situation I’m chuffed as hell to be in! Me and Spinout have done a remix of the Fish Classic, Cosmos, for Corbz’s new free label and I’ve just done a remix of a tune for some guy calling himself Zone something or something…

7. What kit do you use you get your sounds?

I use a PC with a TC Powercore card for extra processing, Cubase, and of course my beloved Virus!!

8. What single piece of advice would you give to someone who is learning to produce?

Listen to loads of tunes. But I mean really listen to how they are put together. Specifically, listen to plenty of different tracks on your monitors so that you know how things sound on them. People often overlook it, but knowing your monitors is a major step in getting your tracks sounding good on other systems.

9. Every DJ has a defining moment of their careers. So far, what’s been yours and why?

Getting Poison signed to Germantrance was a big one, as it’s one of my favourite labels.

10. You’re coming to London soon to play back to back with myself at Magnetix. You’ve been a regular at Magnetix for a while now, yet you’re hardly local, coming all the way from Bradford. What is it about Magnetix that keeps you coming back?

I got introduced to it by some mates who knew the 414 from having done parties there in the past, and I really liked the tunes, the atmosphere and the place. The line-ups are great as well – I get to see loads of djs who wouldn’t play locally to me. Looking forward to getting the other side of the decks.

11. As you’re playing b2b with my good self at the Magnetix Halloween Ball on Friday 30th October @ Club 414, what can the crowd, and indeed myself, expect from you on the night? Will you be dressing up as a Vampire?

Expect a load of new tracks, both from High Fish, and from my self. Vampire, you say? Now where did I put that spare cape?

Thank you for your time Richard, and I’ll see you at the Magnetix Halloween Ball @ Club 414 on 30th October.

Certainly will – looking forward to it!