Simon, why the switch from the band scene to the dance music scene?

There wasn’t really a conscious switch as such, I’ve been doing electronic based music since I was 14 and when the Psylons split in 1994 I carried on with Keith and Jack and formed Seatman Separator which is still a band, we just don’t call it a band in the traditional sense.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m working on a film soundtrack project called “Smoked” of which I’ve written about half the material.
It’s music based on a real novel but which hasn’t been made into a film, it’s a contrived device for me to write more experimental music around really.
I performed six of the tracks as part of the Portsmouth Screen07 film and media festival recently and when the whole album is finished I’d like to do the piece in it’s entirety with visuals/graphics.

Any projects in the pipeline?

I’ve got the Trundlewheel remix EP due out soon on Mixtape Records which is fairly new London based label. It’s three tracks, the first is the original mix I did with Udy from UnderYourNose Recordings, a mix from Gus Brown who runs the label and one from Jerome Baker from Chicago who’s done tracks on Relief Records which is one of my favourite labels of all time so I’m really pleased about that.

How is the label going?

Well I’m not running a label as such apart from SBH which just releases the Seatman Separator material.
I’ve worked quite a bit with Kai (Vorthechtral) who runs Techment and In Deep Recordings.
He released my “Reconsequences” downtempo album on In Deep recently – he’s put a fantastic amount of work into setting his labels up and running and things are looking pretty good at the moment I think.

When writing your own stuff, do you have any little ‘rituals’ or ‘methods’ that aid the ‘flow’?

Not really, my main rule when writing and recording is no drinking and no substances! It’s invariably counterproductive in my experience though everyone works differently.
Technology-wise I prefer hardware based equipment rather than PCs. I come from a background of learning electronic music by programming old-school 80s drum machines and sequencers and I still like the “hands on” approach in the same way that I prefer DJing vinyl to CDs – there’s something a little too remote about it that I’ve never liked personally.

You’re playing a live set at Cartel on Dec 8th, what can we expect and how have you been preparing for that?

I always write a unique live set for that particular night so I’ve never played the same set twice. I’ve got a pool of 13 or 14 tracks to choose from for Cartel. I’ve written some new tracks especially, re-worked some older ones and I’m thinking about including some tracks from my “Rehacer” remix series.
It’ll be a mesh of techno/house/electro/breaks. I don’t make music for anyone else so it’s always a trade-off between doing exactly what you want to do and at the same time entertaining a crowd.
It’s hopefully made a little easier by the fact that I think the Cartel crowd is pretty clued-up musically and I’m very happy with the way things are going with the material for the night and I’m REALLY looking forward to getting to grips with that Funktion1 system!

Interview by Kim Balouch