Few have had a year like G Jones. Not only has he released a GRIP of music this year and gotten some long over-due blog coverage (and it’s increasing!), but the Cali-based artist has been playing festivals all year long and he’s set to go out on tour with friend and recurring collaborator Minnesota. We’ve covered G Jones quite a bit this year as well, so if you read DAD regularly, you must be familiar. We premiered his Ring The Alarm EP and that literally rang all the alarms as DJs have clamored for his tunes since. His tune “Thunderdome” with Minnesota was a banger and so was his psychedelic bass number “Move Around.” On top of that he’s knocked out collaborations with Bleep Bloop and Mad Zach, and he's always working hard and churning out new music. Now with the tour just about to kick off, G Jones took the time out of his busy schedule to answer a few of our questions.
You’ve dropped at least 40 tracks between collaborations, remixes, singles, and EPs in the last year most of which was solo work. That’s incredibly impressive. How do you do it? Keeping a prolific output like that seems insane...
I guess I always just keep focused on the idea that the more beats I make the better I will get, so I keep making beats. I produce every day and try to write several new tracks every week. My workflow is really fast so when I have a solid idea, I can write a track in a few hours.
What’s your production setup like? Are you mostly an inthebox producer or have you ventured into using hardware synths and such? Any goto synths or VSTs or instruments you find yourself going back to time and time again? Totally understand if some these questions count as your trade secrets!!
I use Ableton Live on my laptop with no VST's at all, and occasionally an analog synth. I don't own any synths right now, but just ordered a Moog and am extremely excited to get using it. I do like the interfaces of analog synths a lot—having lots of parameters available to tweak at the same time definitely appeals to me and helps me break out of writers block.
On top of all of that, you’re about to head out on tour with your bud Minnesota. What can fans expect? I know you’re now playing on CDJs these days and that’s a change for you, right?
Yes very excited for the new tour. Expect lots of new material from me at lots of random tempos from 55BPM to 180BM. Actually still playing on Ableton, but I bought a pair of CDJs because DJing is so fun and I'm trying to level up.
I’m sure the shows will be great, and Jackal will also be great on support and that’s got to be the most exciting part, but beyond that, what about the tour has you most excited?
Really stoked to hang with Christian (Minnesota) for a while because he is a good homey of mine—really just stoked that my first proper bus tour is with people I already know and like hanging out with.
Now in the studio, you guys have collaborated quite a lot and you recently played together at Burning Man, you guys gonna cook up some heat?
Yes, [we'll be] working on lots of new music together!
Think you guys would ever form a duo? Maybe something a bit more official then just collaborations here and there...
Maybe; not yet, though.
How many times have you been to Burning Man?
This was my fourth year.
Now outside of Burning Man, you also played Shambhala in BC this summer, another highly-regarded festival/community with hardcore devotees. What was that experience like? It seems like an incredible time but I have yet to make it out there!
Shambhala was amazing! it is pretty much a perfect music festival. There are like seven-plus stages, all with top notch and very loud sound, in an absolutely insanely beautiful/comfortable location in the BC woods on a farm. Everything from the stage design and production to music bookings to food vendors are totally on point and the festival has been at the same spot for like 18+ years so the stages never get torn down and everyone is super familiar with the festival grounds. It's a really special place!
Are there any other specific festivals on your bucket list? Maybe one in North America and one outside of it?
Two that I really want to play are Outlook in Croatia, and Mad Decent Block Party in the States.
After your sets, what’s your go-to grub?
Buritooooooo!
Outside of shows and when you’re not producing/listening/DJing, outside of electronic music what kind of jams are you listening to?
Other music I like outside of "EDM" stuff—I love Aphex Twin, MF Doom, People Under The Stairs, Grateful Dead, lots of random reggae stuff, some gypsy jazz stuff like Django Reinhardt and Lionel Belasco, Les Claypool/Primus, etc.
You also obviously take a heavy influence from hip-hop. What are some of your favorite releases these days, or all-time?
Some of my favorites of right now / all-time are Madvillainy, The Next Step and J Dilla's Donuts.
If you could work with any rapper in history, who would it be?
MF Doom.
Are there any specific rappers these days you’re looking to get in the studio with?
Really wanna work with some UK grime dudes!
