John Rolodex steps into the Best Drum and Bass podcast for not only a heavy-handed guest mix, but he also tells all in an exclusive interview below! Paired with your usual weekly mayhem from Bad Syntax, this week brings it extra heavy for those who like it tough.
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John Rolodex Interview

1. Tell us a bit about yourself for those who might not be familiar
I began DJing in ’97 and producing drum and bass in ’99. I’m from Edmonton, Canada and I guess people consider me one of the pioneers for DnB in Western Canada. In 2002 I released my first EP on Ray Keith’s Dread Recordings label. A couple more EPs later I started releasing elsewhere including labels like Metalheadz, Tech Itch and Freak. More recently I had a tune out with Hospital and a 12″ on V Records with my good friend T.Power. I started a label called Machinist Music in 2010 and brought in Dioptrics as a partner a few years ago.

2. What was your first experience with Drum and Bass like?
I was a teenage kid. 15 or so. The defining moment was probably recording Dillinja’s ‘Ja Know Ya Big’ and Source Direct’s ‘Snake Style’ off a CBC Radio show. The show was called Brave New Waves and played what they considered experimental music. I used to record it on tape and listen to it on the bus to and from school. I had heard stuff like Smart E’s ‘Sesame’s Treat’ a couple years earlier and wasn’t into it. But the vibe of those chopped breakbeats took hold of me. I was totally obsessed from then on.

3. Where did you get your name from?
I came up with the name when I was 17. At the time I was into scratching so ‘dexterity’ was a thing. Also turntables are called ‘decks’ and ‘rollers’ are a style of tune, so I basically smashed all those together. I’ve been called that for 20 years now and I think the name a bit goofy, but it’s at the point that people who have nothing to do with drum and bass call me Rolodex and they have no idea what any of that means or even what drum and bass is, so I think I’m stuck with it.

4. What is you’re biggest break / thing you are most thankful for to date in your music career?
There have been so many! Meeting Ray Keith, and later Goldie were both fortunate events. But I made sure I had music ready in advance that might catch their ears. I’ve always said “you make your own luck” and I think that’s a good example. A few years ago S.P.Y gave one of my tunes to London Electricity and it ended up being released on Hospital. I suppose that was pretty lucky.
Probably the most fortunate things was working with Cartridge in the early days and T.Power later on. I learned so much from both of those guys (and hopefully the reverse is true.) There are techniques Cartridge and I developed that I still use today. People ask all the time so I should add: I’m not in touch with Cartridge and I have no idea where he is. And that saddens me greatly.
T.Power helped me get my sound clean while retaining the filth and without unintentional distortion; plus he’s become one of my best friends. That vibe you get when a collaboration is going well is pretty fantastic.

5. You’ve just returned after a few years away from Drum and Bass. What have you been up to and why did you decide to take a break?
In the summer of 2013 I hit the wall. My personal life was a mess. I was very depressed. And I was tired of the same old sample-pack copycat tunes filling my inbox. Adding to all that, I wasn’t happy with some of the things I saw happening in drum and bass, in DJ culture and in dance music in general. So I enlisted Dioptrics to run Machinist Music and walked a...