Nat - Now then John, how are you?

Kutski - I’m very well thank you! My my, what a polite start to the interview!

Nat - Tidy Timez (York’s only all nighter) is set to go off with a bang! As one of the headliners... What sort of a set can the crowd expect of you on the night?

Kutski - I always say the same with these sort of things, and any one that has ever seen me play out will know to – expect the unexpected ;o)

Nat - You are also playing the Official After Party; do you have anything special lined up for us?

Kutski - More of the same, but by that time in the morning, I’m sure things will have got a little more experimental!!

Nat - What ingredients do you think make a good party?

Kutski - A gathering of like-minded people, with an open mind to music, all there for the same reasons – for the love of music and having a good time...

Nat - Your show on Radio 1 is still going strong… For those who have not tuned in can you tell us a bit about it?

Kutski - It’s on the 2nd Thursday night of the month 2-4am. I play everything from the hard dance and hardcore genres, and have guest mixes and features from the biggest names in the scene to the most exciting up-n-comings!! It’s really good, so tune in…

Nat - Having listened to one of your Radio 1 interviews, you were biggin up “Shitmatt and Scotchegg”… what are they all about?

Kutski - They’re two amazing artists from the underground hardcore scene. Breakcore to be precise. Shitmatt makes gabba mashup of everything form Nine Inch Nails to the theme tune from The Bill. Scotch Egg is a Japanese dude that makes 250bpm hardcore from re-wiring old Game Boys! Nice!!

Nat - What tune would you love to remix, and which remix is your favourite so far?

Kutski - Remixing is a funny one as you can never pick a tune you really love because you can never make it better than the original. I’ll say “Till Tears Do Us Part” as I think I’m the only person in hard dance that hasn’t done a remix/bootleg of it yet hahaha… (I am kidding by the way). I think the best remix I’ve done is of Black Russian’s “Crazy”. I loved the original but I had ideas of what I could do to make it more my own style!

Nat - How do you feel your mixing and technical ability has evolved over the last few years?

Kutski - It’s more to do with technology over the past few years. As new technology has come out, I’ve learned new tricks on them to add to my arsenal.

Nat - In general… most DJ’s scratch on vinyl… amazingly you scratch using CDJ’s. Do you see this as the way forward for the modern DJ?

Kutski - Not necessarily, it’s just it was getting to the stage where not many clubs in hard dance have working turntables, so I learned to be just as good on CD’s so I can do my thing no matter what the set-up! I still do a lot of vinyl stuff at home for the love of it, but in most clubs these days, its just more practical to use the fully working CDJ’s!

Nat - I hear from my friend M.Zone that no matter where in the world you’re flying to to play a gig… you always seem to end up in Manchester airport… what’s that all about?

Kutski - That’s down to my lovable manager Barry 10%. He’s amazing at his job, but he’s such a devoted Manc he feels the need to make me pass through Manchester at every opportunity. The example Mick was on about is I was in Southampton and I needed to get Dublin. There where direct flights, but I had to fly back to Manchester, wait a few hours, then fly on to Dublin. There are countless examples of this lol…

Nat - In your career, you’ve played at most of UK’s top venues and clubs, is there anywhere you haven’t played that you’d particularly like to?

Kutski - Not sure to be honest. I always wanted to play Dance Academy in Plymouth as I hear that place was rocking!! I did have a date in with them but the venue was shut down before I played!! Shame!

Nat - Its no secret, you’ve been playing all over the world. What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?

Kutski - Not to be soft, but I still think the best gigs are in the UK, like The Arches in Glasgow!! Although Sydney and Melbourne where both rocking earlier this year!!

Nat - Have you got any mad plans for the summer?

Kutski - Same old, same old really! Loads of festivals which is cool, hopefully spend some time in the studio, lots of stuff for Radio 1, and hopefully get a new mixtape recorded at some point. I think the maddest thing will be Dance Valley with Organ Donors, Alex Kidd and Gaz West! That will be a bit messy I think!

Nat - Away from the world of dance music, who is your biggest influence?

Kutski - People like DJ Shadow, Spinbad, Yoda… all the hip hop boys, and I’m really into a lot of the dubstep guys at the moment, like Plastican, Caspa, Rusko etc…

Nat - What are your Top 5 tunes of all time? Any genre of course?

Kutski - (This changes daily of course!)

1) DJ Shadow – Midnight In A Perfect World
2) Collie Buddz – Come Around
3) DJ Outblast – Eardrums
4) Rusko – Jahova
5) Benny Page – Battlefield

Nat - What advice would you give other aspiring DJ/producers on breaking into a tough scene like dance music?

Kutski - Just do what you want to do for the love of the music. Sooner or later you’ll get a break, and you won’t mind waiting for this if you’re doing it for the love...

Interviews can often be a bit boring, so I thought I would add a little randomness to the following questions….

Nat - What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?

Kutski - Recording a pilot for Radio 1. I was shitting myself more before the pilot than my first live show!

Nat - Who would be part of your fantasy crowd?

Kutski - A cast of pornstars, all suitably drunk enough for me to stand a chance.

Nat - What is your favourite smell?

Kutski - I really like the smell when you open a new spindle of blank CD’s. It’s like a weird burned smell but its nice, try it!

Nat - What's the best thing you've ever found?

Kutski - I found a little Yoda figure once when I was little. That was pretty cool...

Nat - What are you ashamed of?

Kutski - Not very much to be honest. I’m kinda proud of stuff most people try to hide.

Nat - After party or bed?

Kutski - Bed. I like to have my head on a pillow before it gets light. I am up for the party to be fair, as long as I’m in bed before it gets light.

Nat - If heaven exists, what would you like God to say when you arrive?

Kutski - Mebby the first verse of Grand Master Flash’s “The Message”

Nat - If you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would it be?

Kutski - Don’t take advice from your elders!

Nat - What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Kutski - Don’t eat yellow snow

Nat - What’s your favourite tipple?

Kutski - White Russian! The drink of pro’s…

Nat - Anything else you'd like to add?

Kutski - Why did they vote out the only wank fodder from big Brother in the first week? Meh!