Why Skream Quit Dubstep

Last year Oliver "Skream" Jones dramatically reinvented himself, shedding the dubstep he pioneered for bassy house and techno. In 2010 Mixmag described the dedicated DJ, touring Australia again this month, as "dubstep's guardian against predictability" – so prescient.

Jones' story is now myth. "Olly", the younger brother of the junglist Hijak, left school early to work in Croydon's Big Apple Records, bonding with Adegbenga "Benga" Adejumo. The pals would develop the nascent dubstep. Jones, who first DJed at FWD>>, masterminded a cult-yet-crossover track in Midnight Request Line – and famously remixed La Roux's In For The Kill. He also teamed with Adejumo and Arthur "Artwork" Smith to form the live supergroup Magnetic Man, issuing a monumental eponymous LP (John Legend cameo-ed!).

Jones' current disillusionment with dubstep is understandable. The music has long been commercialised (and co-opted by Americans). Instead he's drawn to a new nebulous post-brostep bass culture, Disclosure its leaders. Jones, who's hosted a BBC Radio 1 show with Adejumo since 2012, instinctively sought to keep things fresh – for himself. "I got to a point in the clubs where I was playing stuff that wasn't me at heart, really," Jones confesses. He'd grown up on UK garage. "I've always bought house records and the odd bit of techno, but the music I was being sent, the stuff that I liked, was sort of like the more Boddika [stuff]… It was just something that felt right." While his manoeuvres intrigued the dance media, and scenesters, Jones met with resistance, and even antagonism, from some fans who were "deeply upset" – a humbling experience. He blames an article in The Daily Star tabloid, its headline misquoting him proclaiming that "Dubstep Is DEAD", for unnecessarily riling them.

Jones then unleashed the acclaimed nu-disco Rollercoaster, featuring Sam Frank – his counterpart to Daft Punk's Get Lucky. "I just always wanted to make a record in that vein – like a full-on record with all live instruments, etcetera." In 2014 Jones is into producing techno. (Ironically, Croydon has been called 'the dubstep Detroit'.) In fact, he broke out of dubstep with his eclectic last solo album, Outside The Box – a "turning point". "Nobody expected the album to sound like that – and that was the whole point of it. 2010 would have been the time for me to make a peaktime, stadium anthem dubstep record. [But] I really didn't wanna do that."

Jones has since collaborated with rocker buddy Miles Kane (First Of My Kind) and Kelis (notably Copy Cat). Alas, the latter exchange ended in tweets. "I will never work with Kelis again in my life!," Jones asserts. The "diva" publicly accused Jones of not letting her cut the video she desired – which "automatically confused" him because they'd already organised a clip starring her to be shot in Los Angeles. "It made me look like a bit of a dick," he rues.

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