JOE BELLINGHAM joined Shameless Productions in 2009 and quickly established himself as a live act preforming his original Dub, Techno & Ambient live sets. With his trusty field recorder at his side, no personal moment is safe from sample. You might find him recording city buses on the streets of Seattle or at his residency at the Electric Tea Garden for the monthly party The Shameless Social. Either way, he would love to get together sometime to record cat meows, people on drugs and the channel 4 news.

How long have you been involved with dance music?

When I heard Underworld for the first time.

Tell us more about Seattle’s Shameless crew which has been around for about a decade now.

Shameless is just a bunch of super committed music junkies throwing parties for the love of it. I’ve been with Shameless since 2009 and they took me in and gave my music a chance. We have a successful monthly at the Electric Tea Garden where you can guarantee to see some talented people DJing or mixing live sets. We especially love looking to our own city for bookings. We feel very lucky and privileged to be connected to so many amazing local musicians and DJs.

Which artists do you see as an inspiration and how do they inspire you?

Like I said, look no further than our own city.

My favorite local Producers include Your City Sleeps, who is a very talented guy making seriously amazing, thought provoking music. I like to call it future music. Also, Sone is my all-time favorite local Techno producer. Runs a great label, 0-1. He’s a great musician, DJ, producer and one sexy mother fucker. I am in love with the music I hear outta Berlin. Smash Tv, Andhim, Rampue, Krink & Timid Boy.

You are performing June 22nd at the Electric tea Garden for the Shameless Social. What can people expect from your set?

I will be preforming a live set featuring some new house music I’ve been producing with various local musicians and vocalists.

How do you see the future of dance music in the Pacific Northwest?

We have it pretty good here already. A solid international act every few weeks. Several really great local crews throwing down every weekend. I can only see the future of the scene getting more and more exciting. A lot of new younger people are out partying having there first experiences in solid non-douchey clubs, hearing some solid new music and really falling in love with the scene just like I did. These are very exciting times for everyone in Seattle…

Are there any specific producers out there right now which you feel deserve some extra attention?

Krink outta Leipzig in Germany is making some inspiring house music for me.

What has been the most crazy experience for you ever on a dancefloor?

Naf Studios.

Is vinyl overhyped?

I think it’s under appreciated. A lot of newer DJs don’t recognize its importance. It seems that with it being so easy to mix music now, people don’t focus on the actual mix of the tracks, they just play what they want and mix them together on a whim. You can’t just throw any track together when you’re mixing a DJ set, you have to KNOW your tracks. I think the absence of vinyl these days has allowed for some DJs out there that don’t really listen to their selections, a lot of DJ’s don’t focus on proper track selection. With vinyl you are really forced to know exactly where your tracks go and really focus on the mixing. I’m not all about flashy DJ moves. To me, the mix is the most important part and the technology today makes for a lot of lazy DJs out there…I was taught to DJ on turntables so I guess I’m biased, but fuck, you gotta have respect for the vinyl DJs keeping it alive. That shit is fucking hard. I can understand why people would be intimidated to start with it.

Is there anything else you would like to mention?

I’m VERY excited to return to Berlin in July to work on music for my upcoming EP. I am also excited about helping Shameless start their record label.

Connect:
https://www.facebook.com/joebellingham.dub