We Love Bounce Interview with Wain Johnstone

How did you get in to hard dance music?

As a kid I always loved dance music. I remember buying ‘House 88’ on cassette tape and listening to nothing but that for about 6 months! In 2001 some friends took me to Slinky Easter Ball at the BIC. It was mostly trance dj’s. It was brilliant but the set that totally blew me away was Lisa Lashes b2b Anne Savage. They were in their prime and playing Hard Dance. From then on I knew it was the genre for me!

How did you land your first set?

A couple of friends that we knew through clubbing had heard me mix. They were running a night in Basingstoke called ‘Bounce’ and asked if I fancied a set. At the time I had never even thought about playing in a club, I just loved mixing. I decided to give it a shot and loved it. So big thanks to Baggz and Wayne for giving me that opportunity!

What is your definition of “bounce”?

Blimey. For me Bounce is a hard dance track that is fun and does not take itself too seriously. I think bounce as a genre is much wider than people give it credit. It’s not just a track with a donk on it. I consider a lot of early Ingo tracks as bounce. Early on Tidy released tons of great stuff that was essentially bounce. Look at Paul Janes remix of the Dawn. That track has got a donk in it. Such a good one that I stole it for my remix of Black is Black.

What is Donktagious?

Lol! ‘Donktagious’ is a demo that I did to promote the ‘Contagious Bouncing Ball’ in 2009. I wanted to do something different from the usual stuff I play so I decided to have some serious fun. I trawled through my hard drive to find the most silly, donky and crazy tunes that I had collected over the years. I stuck them all together to come up with a tongue in cheek mad mix that has ended up being one of my most popular demos!

You’re a bit of a maestro in the studio, what are you currently working on?

I am addicted to making tracks and love going in the studio. I have worked with some awesome people to create the 20 or so tracks I have done so far. I don’t like to tell too many people about my ideas or the next track I am making because I love to keep it a surprise. My newest track is a full on original bounce track called ‘Spank Their Ass’. The vocal is mad and it seems to be going down pretty well on the dancefloors.

Who is John Wainstain?

Ha ha ha…. Brilliant! My name gets misspelt on flyers and online more times than you could possibly imagine. Here are some examples – Wayne, Wane, Johnson, Johnston, Johnsone, Wain Johnstain and the classic Wayne Gacey (That’s so wrong I kept the flyer!!!). But the best one of all was when I played for Frantic for the FIRST time at one of their HDS events. On the posters and flyers that were everywhere they had me down as John Wainstone. It is mad to me that people cant spell it correctly but when it does go wrong you just have to laugh about it. That set for frantic I came on in a cowboy hat and started with the theme from the good the bad and the ugly. I don’t think anyone had a clue why I was doing it but I thought it was funny! ‘John Wainstain’ is amalgamation of all those names. There are others too but that’s the one that has stuck. I have even used it as an alter ego on a recent hardcore track I made with Technikore.

Donk is…?

A very hollow bounce baseline which has been given a bad name because it has been used in too many bad tunes.

You’re recently got engaged I believe? Where did you meet Caz?

I met Caz properly at a night called ‘R.P.M’ in Southampton. Lisa Pin-up was playing!

Did you get down on one knee?

When I proposed? Yes I did. On the rocks in front of Café Del Mar in Ibiza. I have witnesses!

Your Smile series of demos are brilliant… what makes you smile?

I am pretty easily pleased so it does not take much to get a smile out of me. A good tune, something funny, a nice gesture anything that makes me feel good will put a smile on my face!

If God were a DJ, who would he (or she) be?

She would look like Cheryl Cole and play like a mixture of Rob Tissera and Eddie Haliwell.

If Wain Johnstone were a supermarket, which one would you be and why?

I would probably be ‘the Spar’. Not posh enough to be Waitrose or Marks n Spenser’s. Not big enough to be Tescos or Sainsburys but you can guarantee you will know what I am all about and I will have want you want ever time!