One EDM had the chance to sit down with Jphelpz himself before his debut in Tampa Florida this past weekend. We got to hear about his DJ fails, dream team lineup and more.
One EDM- Is tonight actually the first time you’ve been to Tampa to perform?
jPhelpz- Yeah, I’ve been to Miami and Ft Lauderdale a couple of times, this is my first time in Tampa.
One EDM-You just played in Ft Lauderdale a few months ago; another member of One EDM helped out with that show and he had a couple of questions he wanted to ask.
jPhelpz– Yeah, that was a lot of fun!
One EDM- Do you prefer bigger events; for instance, I know you played Middlelands recently or do you like intimate places?
jPhelpz– I like them both, big shows are fun because the production is a little bit more; like fire shooting out and such. Smaller ones, it’s cool to have that intimate connection with the crowd. I forget what venue it was in Ft. Lauderdale, it was a real small one. I remember being right there and people sitting right in front of you. They can just hand you things, it was really cool. They both have cool things about them.
One EDM- How long have you been touring with Flux?
jPhelpz– I’m not on tour with him, it’s just one show.
One EDM- Did Sunset Events do that?
jPhelpz– Yeah it was Sunset Events, I’ve actually never played a show with him or met him. I’ve always been a big fan of his.
One EDM-Are you going to fan boy?
jPhelpz-When I just started making music I used to fan boy a lot.
**All Laugh**
One EDM- What do you do to prep yourself before a gig?
jPhelpz– **Laughs** Not much honestly, depending on what time I get into the area I might go out and see some of the local sites. Hang out with friends, if I know people there. If it’s somewhere I really don’t know and I get there three hours before my set I usually just relax at the hotel room. Maybe get to the venue early, have some drinks and vibe with the crowd. I don’t have any pre-show rituals.
One EDM- What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen?
jPhelpz– I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff. One of the shows; I forget where I was during my set there was this speaker that the vibration caused the speaker to fall off and crushed this girls toe. Her toe was hanging off, she had to go to the hospital. After my set, I went to visit her at the hospital to make sure she was okay. I felt so bad. I don’t know, that was pretty crazy, I’ve seen some random stuff. I remember at Middlelands during Crizzly’s set, some dude climbed up the tree in the middle of his set.
One EDM- Since you are focused on that heavy bass music, how do you feel about the mosh pit culture?
jPhelpz– I don’t know, I understand I came from a metal background. I get it, it’s cool but I wouldn’t encourage it. I see these shows where people like yeah let’s mess each other up , do a wall of death. That’s cool but me in particular, I really don’t want to encourage that. People should be able to express themselves the way they want to but I don’t feel that you should be potentially harming somebody.
One EDM- I come from a rock background as well, it’s just a bit extreme and a lot of people don’t come from that background, they just don’t know how to handle it. It can be dangerous, especially…super drunk guys.
One EDM- Does management have a say in what you play since you’re opening for Flux?
jPhelpz– No, I’m always free to play whatever I want to play. I’m just going to play how I always play, heavy as ever.
One EDM- Tampa usually goes hard, we have lots of headbangers. You’re definitely going to impress tonight because like I said, we like that stuff. Who do you listen to; artists, DJ’s?
jPhelpz– Funtcase, Trampa, things like that. I still like a lot of the old stuff; Datsik. For the short amount of time I’ve been here in Tampa, I really like it so far. This little strip with the tram and cobblestone roads, it’s pretty dope.
One EDM- Who influenced you to get into the genre of music you make now?
jPhelpz– I was recording my own metal tracks. I started hearing dubstep; Cookie Monsta, Funtcase back in 2011-2012. I heard it and it had the same vibes as heavy metal; progressive. I said I want to try to make this, it’s pretty dope. I gave it a shot and the first show I went to was Skrillex. I also saw Getter when he signed his first track onto Firepower, it was just this crazy vibe. Everyone was headbanging, I never experienced that before and it left an impression on me.
One EDM- Biggest DJ fail?
jPhelpz– Most of the time its smooth sailing, I’ve had instances that the power just cuts out. The only thing I can think of is the one place I played that had a noise ordinance. It was too loud and the cops made us turn it down. It was so quiet you could talk over the music.
One EDM – If you could have your own tour who would you bring along?
jPhelpz– Probably Funtcase, Datsik myself and Trampa.
Catch jPhelpz at the inaugural Excision Presents: Lost Lands Music Festival September 29th -October 1st 2017. Get your tickets here
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