Bored Easily

"I guess that's why I like the term bass music, because to me that encompasses all the bass-heavy genres in one,” enthuses Peter Hall (aka DJ Parker) when asked about his dislike of sticking to BPMs and genres; passions that see him flirting with practically countless styles of music within his sets that have earned him serious dancefloor mileage. “Plus genre tags bring out the worst in people as they get hung up on belonging to one distinct group,” he further impassions. “The problem with that is, while you were busy staying true to dubstep (140BPM), you miss out on some amazing d'n'b (174BPM), which sounds exactly like the dubstep you like, only faster. In short, people should run with a sound they like, not a genre. For me that sound is soulful and bassy.”

It's this love of genre-mashing that's struck a chord with dance fiends hungry for more than consistent BPM and straight genre sets, crowds from the UK's Glastonbury to Canada's Shambhala raising their hands to DJ Parker's diverse decktionary. It's also this philosophy that governs his productions, similarly ranging from hip hop to dubstep, breaks, glitch, house and beyond. So what inspires his productions then – trends, lust for change or just a lack of patience? “It follows how I feel on any given day, which is probably why it's all over the place,” Hall laughs. “I hate sitting still musically; I always want to develop and move forward, otherwise I might as well stop… As for trends, I'm not interested in them really; there is no point in following them because by the time you do they're already dead. Better to follow your heart and one day you'll create your own trend.”

Parker's constant evolution has also seen him seriously tackle all manner of production forms, from personal albums to remixes, stellar bootlegs (check his James Brown and Bjork ones for starters), collabs with the likes of Sarah J Scott, Mystro and Rasco, and even a critically acclaimed album-project with Boca 45 as The Beekeepers. Yet over the years his view of the music industry has changed, previously expressing dissatisfaction in how his To Eternity album release was handled and how he felt an opportunity to break into the bigger leagues had been burnt. “I've come full circle with it really,” Hall expands. “My experiences with the first album and other labels made me very frustrated with the music industry, to the point that I set up my own label [Monkey Butler]. This was so I had complete control on releasing my music; there would be no waiting around for labels to get around to releasing something I submitted a year ago, et cetera. However this process has also made me understand what hard work it is releasing and promoting music. I think now that I have the full picture I'd feel a lot more comfortable working with labels again, but it would have to be the right label – there are a lot of dodgy ones.”

Yet there might be another reason why Parker hasn't yet reached the level of notoriety many feel he deserves. Could Hall's ADD-like approach to music hinder his chances of focusing on a particular genre, mastering it and working on his name as 'that guy with that sound'? “Yep, you guessed it! That is my biggest downfall; my low threshold for boredom. I have no doubt that if I concentrated on one genre then that would get me way more recognition. It's a proven theory – just look at any of the countless producers that stick to d'n'b or dubstep, et cetera. But I just can't do it. I should be more business minded and stick to one thing, but I didn't get into music for that. It's a genuine passion which is an extension of my personality. Unfortunately my personality is bored easily and massively restless,” Hall laughs. On a serious note though, let's hope he doesn't change. Music is all the better for it.