A uniquely flexible DJ, he is one of a rare breed able to read the crowd inan instant and deliver the goods at any time of night, which is why The Gallery are as happy for him to play after Judge Jules as Godskitchen are for him to warm up for Paul van Dyk. Moreover, the Gareth Emery sound appeals to followers of many styles of dance music, transcending the bitter genre politics that often dog the scene and bringing back faith that trance can be cool to even the most hardened cynics.

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Sulli caught up with Gareth before his gig next week for ElectronicSessions next week in conjunction with Kurruption....

Hi Gaz. So how are thing's with you, having a good 2006?

Brilliant! The first few months of 2006 were a little slow and it was a difficult time creatively for me, but since April, the year has been absolutely amazing and things just keep getting better all he time.

 What would you say best describes the type of sound your playing at the  moment ?

Just good music. I’ve gone past the point of getting hung up on genres and insisting on playing the latest most upfront electro-tech-minimal uplifting or whatever, I just like quality, well produced dance music that moves a dance floor. My sets usually vary depending on when I’m playing and what the crowd are into but I play everything from chunky electro house right through to hard-as-nails tech trace. The only real requirement is that I like music that takes the scene forward and tries to do something new.  

 Where is your favourite place to play in the Uk? and what do you think in general with the scene here, and in London for that matter?

The clubs I play in the UK are great, there just aren’t enough of them. Godskitchen and The Gallery are probably my two favourite nights to play, both of which I’ve been fortunate enough to play quite a lot

Your from Southampton originally, what is the scene like down there and on the South Coast in general?

Pretty dismal. Apart from Slinky in Bournemouth, this part of the South Coast is fairly dry – it’s more about small-town style binge drinking whilst getting down to chart r’n’b rather than any sort of real clubbing. You do get some smaller nights that do well, but in terms of bigger club nights and events, the South is pretty limited.

Do you get to go out clubbing much and what DJs do you really admire?

I don’t have to time to go out a lot, but if I’m off for a weekend and fancy going out, I love going clubbing. I always find it gives me a fresh perspective to spend a night on the dance floor as a punter, seeing what works on the floor and what doesn’t. I was in Amnesia a couple of weeks back, and after about ten minutes I fucked off the VIP and spent the rest of the night on the front of the stage.

After looking through your diary dates it seems as though your playing all over the world these days. What is your favourite foreign country to play ? and where are you yet to play that is an absolute must?

ItR17;s hard to pick out any particular countries, because I’ve had amazing experiences in so many. Australia is always stunning though and I can’t wait to go back there at Christmas, Canada is also great because I’ve got so many friends there, the Scandinavians are some of the best crowds in the world, and my first trip to Brazil in April was stunning. And that’s just a few random countries – it really is an amazing global scene. I’m playing for the first time in Poland, Cyprus and Taiwan in the next month, so I’m really excited about that – playing somewhere new first the first time is always a proper buzz.

What is the best club you have ever played and why?

ThatR17;s an impossible question to answer. Air, The Opera House, Turnmills, Gatecrasher One, The Emporium, these are some of the best clubs in the world and that’s just the UK. How can you possibly pick one out as the best?

 Were you suprised by the success of your first major track ' mistral ' or did you always think it was destined for big things? Also are the rumours true that your girlfriend actually did the vocals on it?

No, I didn’t – in fact the feedback I got from playing it to a few people when I first finished it was pretty negative. That’s often the case when a track’s very different though – a lot of people are sheep and it often takes some big DJs to start playing it before the general public accept it. But yeah, it was a huge surprise that it got as big as it did. Not sure where the rumours about the vocals came from but no, my girlfriend didn’t do the vocals.

 Who are your biggest influences production wise?

They change all the time as I’m usually influenced by the people I feel are pushing the envelope at the time and doing things a bit differently. Six years ago it was Armin, Tiesto, people like that. Four years ago it was MIKE, he was untouchable. Two years ago it was Sander van Doorn and the tech-trance thing. Right now I’m influenced by a lot of house producers, especially a lot of the electro stuff, much of which contains a lot of trance elements anyway.

Do you prefer to play massive events and festivals or smaller more intimate venues?

They both can be good, they both can be shit. A small, dark, dirty club with everyone going crazy is pretty amazing, but so is a huge stage with a massive crowd. It’s all about the individual gigs really.

What does GTR stand for ?

My full name is Gareth Thomas Rhys Emery, so I’m sure you can figure that out ;)

Restaurant or Take away

I go to restaurants more because I’m always on the move, but they’ve both got a time and a place, sometimes you just can’t be fucked to go out.

The new Lange vs Gareth Emery is pretty cool – there’s a big a-side called ‘Another You, Another Me’ which I think is our best record yet, and on the b-side there’s a brand new breaks remix of Back On Track by me. I’ve also made a few slightly slower, housier records which are sounding pretty cool, and I’m currently working on the next Gareth Emery record.

How did you get your first big break dj ing?

I got a call from Godskitchen – they’d seen things kicking off for me, the buzz on Mistral, and wanted me to play a set at the club to see if I was any good as a DJ. It was only about the fourth gig I’d ever done, but fortunately it went well enough to get booked again, and you know the rest!

Your record label Fiveamrecords is going from strength to strentgh, can you tell us a little more about it, as well as some of the other artists involved with it?

I mainly do A&R these days, I’m fortunate to have a great label manager who actually runs the label. We’ve got some brilliant artists involved – people like George Acosta, MIDOR, Signalrunners, Miikka – and having such a strong team of producers means it’s not difficult to find quality music to release.  

 You have recently set up the 'Gareth Emery Podcast' can you tell us more about this ?

ItR17;s a short radio-show style programme, only 45 minutes long, every two weeks. The idea is that we play a bunch of the best new house, progressive and trance promos around to showcase some of the best records coming up. It’s gone down really well, so I’m not going to say a lot more except telling everyone to come and check out the latest episode at www.garethemerypodcast.com. 

What footall team do you support ?

Southampton.