John 00 Fleming is an artist who has achieved international success in a career spanning over 20 years without dishonouring his musical essence or fans. With over 10 million album sales and 30 produced mix compilations, John’s a proven musical pioneer whose essence lies in what his fans call, ‘the J00F sound’.

The J00F sound is as unpretentious as the artist, and is best described as deep and textured progressively edged trance, in an electronic dance music style that is an antithesis to what is normally produced within the genre.

Daniel had a chat with John recently, and they talked about John's recent work, his plans for the future, and his views on the current state of the trance genre.

John, tell us a little about what the 'J00F' sound is and what it means to both you and your fans?

It's funny how I got this 'J00F' sound tag! Neither journalists nor fans could pinpoint what style I play, there was a lot of umming and ahhing, then people simply said it's the J00F sound. I'm from a generation of DJ's who simply find good tracks no matter what genre they come from. I'm also able to mix all these genres together to create a musical story. In today's world, DJ's seem to be stuck in sub genres of genres and that's all they play.

You have recently done the mix for CD 1 of the Passion Compilation released on Enhanced Recordings. Talk us through your mix and what you hoped to bring to the table.

I never change my tracks or sounds when it comes to mix comps, I like to give a true representation of what you would hear from me in a club. I love to start my sets deep and dark, then unfold my musically story gradually building my set until things get pretty banging. That's what you'll find on CD 1.

Brian Kearney did the second CD. What do you think about it, and do you think your styles compliment each other well?

Brian seems to be the man of the moment, so a good choice. His style has some pretty good energy in a different style to mine, so the two mixes compliment each other well.

You are well known to stick by certain rules, as in you never record your live sets or play your own tracks in your live mixes, why is this?

I spend hours of each week pestering producers for new music, producers who know me will be reading this laughing. I hound them until they give me brand new unreleased tracks for my set. Many of them give me the tracks to road test in clubs so I can give them feedback to improve the tracks if necessary. There's a trust here that I don't give them any form of radio airplay until the track is ready for release due to the internet aging tracks quickly. If one of my sets gets recorded at a club, then I wont be able to play these aforementioned tracks, which make a good 75% of my set.

Do you have a vision as such or do you just do things the way you feel they should be done? How important is it that you are true to yourself first and foremost?

Every person on this planet has a vision of what they want in life, that's their own path they choose to take. There is no right or wrong. Some people have a passion for cars, they love, cherish and collect them. Others are car dealers, they simply use cars to earn as much money out of them as possible. I'm passionate about music, others are the used car dealers of the music business.

Do you think that your opinion on how trance music should be could sometimes be taken as arrogant by some people, and does this ever worry you?

I never ever say what Trance music should be. Not one person should be able to dictate that. If a track or a set takes me to another state of mind with my eyes closed completely engrossed in the sounds that are stimulating my brain, then I have reached a Trance like state. This is how Trance got its tag.

When I see people with fists clenched, punching the air, singing, screaming, jumping they are in a state of euphoria and jubilation. Yet today people call this Trance? 20 years on from the birth of Trance the Ethos has been lost.

And so, what positives do you see in the scene at the moment?

The commercial storm has rolled through the Trance genre, they sucked it dry and chasing the next money pot... House music. Good. The true Trance people are dusting themselves off, and returning to the underground. Watch this space, the underground resurgence is underway.

You released your first ever solo album in 2001, 'Nine Lives', which has been received well. Was it a relief to finally get it out there, and what were your feelings with the final product?

Yes it was! I've been talking about this for the past 15 years! Artist albums have always been a place for producers to release those special tracks that represent them musically, while the singles did the job of the marketing tool. That's the approach I took with my album. The tracks are not anthems, or big hitters to become marketing tools, I don't care for this. They have come from the true artist within me.

Talk me through how you build a track, can you make it on a short journey or does it take you much longer until you are happy with how it sounds?

Each and every track actually starts in my head. I actually create the ideas and arrangement in my head, so that I know exactly what I have to create in the studio. This is the reason I don't turn to ghost writers, because I'm the only guy who can get these dark twisted ideas out of my head.

Are there plans for another album? Where would you like to take us with the next one and is there anyone you would love to do a collaboration with?

I think I'm on target to have another album out by the summer of 2012. I'm on a studio mission at the moment. I'm halfway through a track with Juno Reactor, so I'd like to get this finished.

What are John 00 Fleming's 3 favourite tracks right now?

Unreleased ones that I can't tell you about! :)

You played Air in Birmingham on New Years Eve. What has been your favourite New Year gig so far and what is your dream track to come into 00:00 on?

It's quite scary thinking back how many NYE gigs I've played! To me a great party is having likewise clubbers around you and I've been lucky enough to be graced by many of these. I'm not a fan of mentioning a favourite, or bragging about the size of an event I played. Every single one of them has been special to me and I cherish the lucky life I have been gifted.

What do you think the future holds for Electronic Dance Music and in particular Trance Music?

I can't really answer for the rest of the electronic world, as I'm not involved in it. Over the past decade we can't hide the fact the Trance world got very commercial. It became a laughing stock by other genres. It still is today. I find myself always explaining that I play a more serious form of Trance. As I said earlier, the clubs and money have dried up in the Trance world, so the stars are chasing House or Trouse, where the fat chequebooks live. Musical cycles always come around, this is now the start of an underground movement in the Trance World. I've spoken to many people who are glad the storm has passed, so that the more true form of Trance can get back on track of being the most credible genre it used to be.

And lastly, in John 00 Fleming's own words, finish this sentence: 'Trance is...'

...coming back!