Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
7x Mr. Olympia 212 Champion Flex Lewis presents Straight Outta The Lair, the podcast that aims to bring you vital information for your life's ambitions, providing valuable insight from interviews of the many many different faces that walk through our doors at The Dragon's Lair Las Vegas and a few from the man himself.
Straight Outta The Lair with Flex Lewis
James Hype | Fitness, Fame, & the DJ Life | Straight Outta The Lair Podcast
Join us for an electrifying conversation with the acclaimed DJ James Hype, who shares his remarkable journey from the gritty clubs of Liverpool to the dazzling stages of Las Vegas. Discover how the challenges of the COVID pandemic served as a catalyst for his career, propelling him into the global spotlight through strategic online engagement. James' story offers a compelling narrative of turning adversity into opportunity, underlining the significance of resilience and adaptation in the face of change.
Gain insight into the perseverance required to succeed in the competitive world of music as James recounts the formative experiences that shaped his career. From playing to sparse crowds to catching the attention of the music scene, he highlights the power of social media as a vital tool for connection and self-promotion. We also take a look at the vibrant world of dance music and its expanding influence, as James discusses his aspirations to collaborate with industry giants like The Weeknd and Wyclef Jean.
Balancing the high-energy demands of DJ life with personal well-being is no small feat. James opens up about the importance of fitness and setting boundaries, a theme that resonates throughout his career journey. From lively performances in Vegas to unexpected on-stage surprises, listeners will be captivated by tales of thrilling gigs and the quest for balance in a fast-paced lifestyle. This episode is packed with inspiration, excitement, and an insider's glimpse into the dynamic world of DJing.
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----- Content -----
00:00:00 - Intro
00:09:06 - Journey of a Successful DJ
00:17:30 - Musical Evolution and Global Influence
00:28:43 - Balancing Fitness and DJ Lifestyle
00:37:05 - Life of a DJ
00:46:08 - Evolving as a Headlining DJ
00:52:35 - Empowering Connections and Future Collaboration
straight over there, joined today by somebody's taking over the entire scene. One of my favorite djs rock. You cannot hide from this guy. He is everywhere. No, he calls Vegas his second home, mr James Hype. Yes, sir, thank you for having me. Welcome my man, welcome my friend. As I said, one of my favorite DJs, bro. I appreciate that Truly. I grew up, obviously, in Wales in the dance scene. I was a little DJ myself All the way. I was a little dj myself, yeah, a little happy hardcore, yes, and I transitioned into, uh, some dance music. Obviously, for me, the era that I came from was dj vibes, dj do go in the hardcore scene and then, uh, it was dj jewels and paul and oakum paul, oakum, fold guys that you know personally. And again, my paths went a little different direction. But yours, my friend, started at a very young age and it's now blown up into superstardom. So it's great to have you here on the show, my friend. Thank you, mate.
Speaker 3:Could have been DJ Jack Flex.
Speaker 1:I mean, that would have been something Well my nickname Flex was at six, so it would be probably Flex Lewis, but I dod that would have been something. Well, my nickname Flex was at six, so it would be probably Flex Lewis.
Speaker 3:But I dodged that bullet, but anyway it's not about me, bro.
Speaker 1:It's about this man right in front of me, the hype man himself in the building. Yes, Welcome, Welcome, my friend. Listen. We can talk about so many different things, but for me, right now, you're taking over, bro. There's not a station, if I'm watching or listening in dance, that doesn't have one of your songs and again, the collaborations and just your trajectory that has happened in the last couple of years. Does it really hit home? Like whoa? This guy all the way from the UK now is seen all over Vegas billboards and everything else.
Speaker 2:I feel like Vegas is one of those places where it does hit home, because you realise, oh, this is as big as it gets. You know, there's a lot of things that don't really hit home and you don't realise how far you've come and I'm sure you can probably relate from the success that you've had. But when you do see the Vegas billboards and stuff it is a bit like woah, when did you do?
Speaker 1:see the Vegas billboards and stuff, it is a bit like whoa, when did you really see yourself blowing up? When was it you realized it's like wow, my music is getting to years that I never really knew.
Speaker 2:I've been doing this a long time and I really had a moment during the COVID pandemic where I was so active on the internet that loads of people discovered who I was and then, as the world got normal again after that, I was just kind of riding this path and from then onwards it's just been a upwards journey yeah, but you know, it's like I I mean 2017, you really kind of broke out right and so going into 2020, you know, I mean you must have been going on doing all the lives doing all that, and is that kind of what you were doing during 2020?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, yeah. Yeah, it was a crazy time, you know, but I'm sure it was great for your fans and and people to stay connected to you during, you know pretty crazy time in the world.
Speaker 2:I actually loved it like it's crazy because I didn't make any money. I had to, like, borrow money to survive and whatever. But I'm probably similar for you actually with the gym or whatever like. But yeah, I didn't, I didn't get paid, but I just had a great time. I was just hanging out djing every day, making amazing music, and I'm actually really grateful for that time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, obviously for me, making that move from florida, las vegas you know we kind of see in there and obviously listen. Covid was covid right, it was crazy times for some people and and for everybody, but you really had to. For me I had to take a step back and see what I could change my life from this. During that time and you poured into your music. You know that was. That was something that you just doubled down on every day, just putting lives out and just working on on yourself. How much do you think that you evolved from, from that covid times, just putting that music out every single day, and that's it's.
Speaker 2:It's a huge part of my evolution, I think, before the reset happened because that's what it was for a lot of people, before that happened, we were just, we were ticking along and there were a lot of things that happened and we'd turn up and we'd get paid every month, and there were a lot of things that were maybe not quite optimum, but because they were happening continuously, you didn't question them and then, when all of a sudden, everything's interrupted, it allows you a chance to say hang on, is this, is this actually right? Am I doing the best thing here? And I think, coming out of the other side, you were able to, or I was able to, be more deliberate about everything that I wanted.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if I could. It's like that period of time, you know, it caused everyone, I think, to have self-reflection. You know what am I doing here, and so for me, I could say that, like, for the first time in my life, you know, I wasn't a slave to my phone. You know, at one point in time I had three phones, you know, and it's one of those things where, like, I would wake up and I wasn't the first thing, I wasn't checking with social media or my emails or text messages.
Speaker 3:It was like I was free and even though financially I got crushed, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change that time because I tap back into nature. I had all this alone time to deal with, you know, traumas and things that I had in my my life, and it was like a period of time that I wouldn't give away. But I also lost so much money, um, but you know, you, you, you realize that there's more important things than money, right, and and and your time, you know. So I feel like that self-reflection, maybe, you know, um, for you, as you're saying, like it was a great moment. Did you get inspired to create new music during that time?
Speaker 2:I think the thing that inspired me was the live stream and the connection with the people through the internet. I think if that wasn't there, I probably would have gone a bit crazy. So, yeah, I'm grateful to everyone who, everyone who came and watched me dj on the internet, because that's, that's, the source of the inspiration being a musician in general.
Speaker 3:I mean, you guys do change the, the rhythm of people's life. You know, uh, whenever I'm in a bad mood or a good mood, I'm putting on music, right, like that's what, that's what moves me and it moves people into emotion, right? So do you feel that when you're putting out your songs, are you, are you tapping into emotion?
Speaker 2:it's almost. I don't really think about how someone else is going to feel when they hear my song until it's out. It's almost like it's my song until it's not and then, it's everyone else's song, but it's hard to see it as everyone else's song while it's still my song, right?
Speaker 3:You're speaking to yourself and if they feel it some people really feel it yeah, yeah, and and obviously I really want them to.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like a child or something. You know I don't have children, but it's how I imagined it having a child to be.
Speaker 3:but it must be wild to see, you know, like I know, you play a lot of festivals like EDC and you're seeing, you know, 200,000 people just you know jumping up and down to one of your songs. I'm getting goosebumps just talking about it because it's just a crazy thing. It's crazy, it's awesome.
Speaker 1:Where do you get that sort of creative thinking to put songs out there? Is it inspiration thrown yourself from other people, or does this just come naturally from some source?
Speaker 2:I think I have music and ideas in my head that I have to create and over the past 10 years I've learned the skills necessary to create what I hear in my head. And before I could do that it was almost frustrating. It was like I really want to make this but I can't get it quite right. So I just think I mean, everyone creates and everyone gives to the world in different ways, and the way that I was designed to give to the world was like kind of musical creation.
Speaker 1:Do you hear it in your head first, because I got a fucking monkey with a tambourine in my head. I don't know how that transition into me making or producing music, but I'm sure that monkey's not in your head. Hopefully not.
Speaker 1:Anyway, different monkey, yeah yeah, that's what I get as I put my fucking head down at night uh, but no, listen, let's take it back down to the, to the james hype that young, 17, 18 year old stepping into a bar um, for the very first time, your first gig you want to call it that at that age to then transition into your sets that you were playing in Liverpool From the Liverpool era how much did that mould you Because I know you talk about that era quite a lot and is that something again that you've been able to transition now in all these places around the world?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like that era was my 10,000 hours. I used to DJ six nights a week, sometimes seven in the busy times of year, and I'm talking five-hour DJ sets, you know, like proper shifts, and sometimes it's terrible. Sometimes there's no one there and sometimes you have a great night and it's just you learn how people respond to music and that's like that's a skill that I have from those hours that I think a lot of people don't have, um, and that's that's sort of like the magic that comes from my time in Liverpool and, yeah, that goes with me everywhere. That goes with me to the studio, that goes with me to South America, to a country I've never been to before. That absolutely goes with me to Vegas, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's those little things that may not have seemed important at the time, when it's a sunday night and there's five people on the dance floor, but it's that, it's that repetition, it's like. It's like bodybuilding, it's not. It's not um, it's not about the, the one moment of victory. It's about all the days that you turned up to the gym when no one else did you know, and all the, all the nights when you were DJ into five people, all the unseen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly how do you stay motivated during that time? You know, obviously you had self-belief, right, you're, you're turning up, you know, every, every day or every weekend, whatever it was, I know, at one point in time, I think you started off on a tuesday night right, so yeah, and it was not many people there, but you still had that self-belief to to make well, just to turn up right and put that work in.
Speaker 1:Did you see that as like the learning curve just djing to them five people, or you didn't care how many people were there?
Speaker 2:I think I was always aware that if I performed well, I wouldn't be doing the Tuesday night anymore.
Speaker 1:How long did that?
Speaker 3:take.
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, I was really bad when I started. I was really bad Like the first night I ever played in a real club in Liverpool. I actually ran out of music and I was like repeating songs at the end of the night like just hoping no one was going to notice, because that's like when, when you first learn about DJing, that's the worst thing you could ever do is like repeat the song. So, yeah, I just, I just didn't want anyone to notice and luckily I got a second chance and came back the next week with like way more music. But it took me a while to actually get good.
Speaker 1:So then break happened during the Liverpool era.
Speaker 2:I'm guessing people seeing you, you know, and I mean, there's all these different levels to a break, but I think really the break as a DJ has to happen when you actually make music, because there's a lot of great DJs out there in the world who no one's heard of, you know um, yeah, musically, like I was gonna ask who were, who did you look up to like who?
Speaker 3:who was it that inspired you in the dj world? You know, like man, like I want to do this there's a.
Speaker 2:There's a dj from the uk called kizzy sell and he was always someone that I really looked up to. He used to mix different genres together and sort of make them somehow come together. And then even just in Liverpool there were just DJs. Like, like I say, I started on the Tuesday night. There was the guy who did the Saturday night and I was like, yeah, I want to be there.
Speaker 2:It's almost. People sometimes get disappointed when I give these answers because they want me to say someone that is really well documented online, but they're really not.
Speaker 3:It's just like the local guy yeah, but you probably learned from that guy and he, you know, learned how to control the crowd exactly like that thing. Right, it's like there's so much that goes into it, because I feel like people see you on stage rocking and they don't realize those years, those hardships, trying to set yourself different, apart from everyone else. And even now it's like social media. I see you're very active there. It's like we all have to promote ourselves, we all have to do the social media thing, and I see you do that a lot. Do you like doing the social?
Speaker 1:He laughs. Yeah, that usually means no.
Speaker 2:Does anyone like social media?
Speaker 1:Oh, there's a lot of influencers here that love looking at themselves in the fucking reflection. Trust me.
Speaker 2:I mean, it could just be a means to an end. You know, like I think I'm quite good at social media, but it's not. If I didn't have to do it, it would be pretty cool, you know, if I could just make music and not think about that, and play music and not think about making it look good for social media. But that's the world we live in now. It is a mixed reality. It's the same for everybody. It doesn't matter if you sell houses or what. You have to think about that all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I came from the era of print when I got into bodybuilding. You made it when you got signed by Joe Eder. Their own flex magazine put on the Mr Olympia and I was one of the athletes that got signed as an amateur, so I was under a print contract. There was no social media at that point in time. So then social media started, you know, blowing up. I jumped on it, of course, didn't know what the hell I was doing. I know if you're not on social media you're not available for anything.
Speaker 1:Sponsors everybody needs to utilize that social media to push, promote not only their brand but their sponsors, et cetera. But you've done one hell of a job for being that DJ that really pours into his fans Because, again, that is now something so tangible. You create some content and, in your regard, you're playing a set. You chop it up, you put it on social media. Everybody gets to see you playing overseas. But yet they're coming into their living room, into their phone. That sounds actually a bad fucking sentence. They're playing off the phone, into your living room, into their phone. That sounds actually a bad fucking sentence.
Speaker 3:They're playing off the phone into your living room off the TV.
Speaker 1:But again, that just goes to show the evolution of every aspect my world, your world, his world. You just have to be on that. But that's really being able to blow you up, oh for sure.
Speaker 3:It's a love-hate thing, right, because there's there's part of it where it's great that you can like really connect with your fans, you know, like one-on-one even, right, that wasn't available to other artists before, and then it's also having to do all that work and content and all the other stuff that goes with all that, and then people knowing everything about it's going on in your life, right, right. So there's like these good things and these bad things, but as we're evolving, it's like we all got to do it.
Speaker 1:You know you mentioned earlier about making music and you know you've worked with some massive DJs obviously come from the UK. Craig David I'm going to say Craig David. Bloody Americans got me saying Craig now.
Speaker 3:Craig David. I have always called him Craig for the record. Good good, my brother's name is Craig not Craig.
Speaker 1:Craig David is one of them guys that you worked with and blew you up into a different genre. How did that come about?
Speaker 2:I'm actually trying to remember. It was so long ago.
Speaker 1:Sorry Mo.
Speaker 2:I think someone at a record label put us in touch. No, no, no, no, I'm lying, I'm lying. It's a way cooler story than that. I actually just dm'd him on instagram and we'd never even met but, um, somehow he saw my dm and I had this. I had this song, the no drama song that you're talking about, and it was. It was like we'd written it with one of the most like successful songwriters from the UK at the time, so we were leading with that. It was like, oh, we've got this amazing song and it was written by this guy. Um, and yeah, he was, he was up for it and we, we met up in, we went to his studio in London and then we did like some shows together and Ibiza and stuff, and he's so, he's so nice, like, yeah, just such a positive influence, you know yeah, and that was for me, you know, bro, when we were putting the show together and of course, I followed you for years.
Speaker 1:It just amazes me just how many fucking bangers that I've forgotten about that. You've made me. Yeah, just that. I've forgotten about that. You've made Me. Yeah, just done and produced and worked on. It's funny, I don't even feel like I have. Well, I do. I mean, this is my world.
Speaker 1:Coming from the UK, this is all I listen to, and I've converted so many people in the US into dance music. I mean, when I had my private gym in Florida, that's all I would play dance music. And a lot of the guys there, whether American or coming from overseas, that's the first entry point they've ever had to dance music. And when they heard it first of all, you know, they were like oh, we're not playing hip-hop or anything like that. It's like, no, this is what we train to, because it's so rhythmic. You can fall into that trance when you're training with that dance, repetitive beat and stuff. And then so many people you know have been introduced to dance music through music that you've produced, which I can personally say because I've been there Again, not that I've said you've got to listen to James Hype, but I'm going to go back and fucking tell these people I introduced them to James Hype, since I brought you on the show.
Speaker 2:You're claiming me now.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, but we were mentioning, obviously, craig Davin and producing and stuff like that and you slighting his DMs, obviously outside of Flax Lewis slighting the DMs, or did you message me? I can't remember. Either way, who have you been shocked to wake up to and see a DM from?
Speaker 2:F1 driver.
Speaker 3:OF model. I said OF model.
Speaker 1:A bunch of those, a bunch of those. There's a few OF models in there. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Nico Hulkenberg yeah, yeah, yeah. So I need to try and link up with him. But he sent me a message and he's like hey, he's a big fan. It's crazy. I told my dad and my dad was like what? Because my dad couldn't believe it. Because he's like a superstar to my dad. Yeah, anybody else there's?
Speaker 3:probably so many. Yeah, I mean, is there anybody that you really want to work with? Right Like, you do a lot of collabs, you know. So, as you continue forward, who is like the like, I want to do a track with that guy girl, whatever, right.
Speaker 2:For vocals it's got to be the Weeknd. That'd be crazy, Huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, got to make that happen. Has anything happened yet? Is the conversation started? Okay, there's no conversation.
Speaker 2:We are going to tag the shit day.
Speaker 1:All the fans now watching this.
Speaker 3:Make sure you tag the crap of the weekend yeah, able, come on, let's get them on, yeah, yeah I want some skin there's something here?
Speaker 2:yes, most definitely anybody else um off the top of my head white clef john ah I saw him perform the other day so he's fresh in my mind. But he's insane man, Amazing performer.
Speaker 1:But that makes you so unique? Because, for anybody who's watched you for quite some time, you have such a unique style of playing where you will take people on a journey and in the middle of the set you'll drop in something old school, which doesn't even match the beats, but yet it matches the beats.
Speaker 2:You fucking put it in. How did you come up with that style? I think it's my, my own sort of musical palette because, like we were talking about, when I used to dj every night of the week, I wasn't just playing house music, I was playing all genres of music. So I have an understanding of all these different genres. And then, just even when I'm at home, I don't really listen to house music. I mean, I do if I'm in the gym, yeah. If I'm chilling at home, I'm listening to, like, classic music from the 80s and stuff. So I think I know quite a lot about music. Um, and even, like you were saying as well, you're introducing people to house music through my sets. I feel like I am quite entry-level in that way, in that I take elements from all around the world musically. So you might not even like dance music, but there's probably something for you in one of my sets.
Speaker 1:I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like it makes it easy for people to cross over into it, right? And something you said you know. It's like I've been in Vegas a long time and I've seen the dance music explosion in the United States and obviously you know a lot of guys coming from overseas and that sort of thing, but we've just seen it grow here in such a way over over the years and you know, in vegas it was one of the first like really big booms in the united states for dance music.
Speaker 3:Well, you had that part. Well did. The first dance music party ever here, residency with paul oakenfold, perfecto, wow, the very first dance music. And jason will strauss will try to argue with me and say that marillo was the first one, but jay Murillo was an after-hours party. It only happened four times a year. We did it every Saturday.
Speaker 1:I don't need no beef on this.
Speaker 3:He's going to see it, he's going to punk me. Yeah, man, at that time it was crazy. We had Calvin Harris for $7,000. We were booking these guys before it really hit here, because Vegas was vegas was very hip-hop and it was really a celebrity too. It was like let's book kim kardashian, just hang out, or this person or that person, you know. So it took a while for dance music to to hit here. It was all hip-hop. Now it's all dance music and hip-hop is like, you know, maybe one venue, two venues, right, um, so it's just exploded here. So to see that whole explosion has been amazing and as you were coming up seeing it blow up here, you know, and the residency's happening here, right, like I know now, like vegas is like I've made it, I'm in vegas on the fucking strip, you know, like that's kind of is that? Is it like that? You know, guys from I'm, you know I'm on that inside, but I'm not from a dj, you know.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think from my perspective it is. I think I'm being totally honest. I think there's djs out there who would probably think they were like too underground to play vegas, you know, because it is um, it's hard yeah it is, it is uh yeah, exactly, it is a tourist market. So for for someone like me who is experienced in all these different club settings, I feel quite at home here. But for someone who was to play Really on the ground music then they might actually struggle to, yeah, get a crowd going here.
Speaker 3:So it kind of depends on your perspective whether you see that as the, as the pinnacle, or not right, you're a hundred percent right, though, because when you're first here and you do something that's maybe too cool, right that that to a new Well like Vegas is a very touristy market. When you get into New York and LA in different pockets, you get this really cool underground scene. We are a very tourist driven market. You know, everybody coming here wants, you know like they want, those tracks they hear on the radio and certain things like that. You know, but you know, to your to, to to your point right, like I guess it's what you're looking for, to to to your point right like, um, I guess it's what you're looking for.
Speaker 3:I mean, we've tried doing, you know, underground, we've tried doing it on the strip, and it just it takes time for that to develop, you know, I mean we had, we had diplo for three, three thousand dollars and nobody liked that hard stuff when he first came out and then all of a sudden he evolved and boom, right, um, when you look at the evolution of where you're going, obviously you have this musical palette that just evolves with your growth. Are you finding music every day? Are you looking for it?
Speaker 2:I'm always trying to push the sound that I play because I never want to get to a point where I'm bored of it. And also, I never want to get to a point where I'm bored of it.
Speaker 3:And also, I never want to get to a point where I'm predictable as well, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's sort of a. It's sort of a constant balance, trying to find what the people who come to see me will appreciate. But also, where can I push it without it being sort of two foot off of those people?
Speaker 1:Right. How has life changed for you, bro? How has life changed for you, bro? How has life changed? How has life changed?
Speaker 2:for you. I mean, yeah, life's pretty wild. I spend a lot of time traveling. I mean, when we're recording this, we just finished summer. So summer for me is four or five shows a week, and that's not four or five shows in week, and that's not four or five shows in one country, that's four or five countries. Um, sometimes doing two flights to get to the next place, and so there's a lot of a lot of travel.
Speaker 2:Um, if, if we were to rewind three years ago, it was actually a lot harder because I was doing the same amount of travel but with way less money well, that's improved, so when you, when you get paid more money, then you can afford the private jets and stuff like that, and people on the outside may see that and think, oh, it's excessive, and whatever, but that's actually what allows a lot of the top djs to actually do the shows that they do, because there is no way that you can get from croatia to ibiza for in waiting and waiting on lines in the airport.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, or even then, like sometimes there are routes that you actually just can't fly. So, yeah, life is life is hectic a lot of the time, and then very fortunate as well, like in the time that I do have off, like I was able to take my whole family on an amazing vacation, and yeah it's. It's uh trying to find that balance because it's easy to just work, work, work, you know, um, and just trying to make it, make it special and make things happen.
Speaker 1:That we'll all remember. Yeah, and during that time too, you still have to have that creative mindset. You know you have to. You're always consciously aware. You know I've got a lot of friends in different genres. Right, and excuse the craziness outside the door. We have a zoo here at the gym right now, as you can hear.
Speaker 3:And we don't have headphones on today.
Speaker 1:There's a line out there waiting for Flex. We don't have headphones on today because James Hype said no headphones. I am done with the headphones. He said.
Speaker 3:I just hope you've learned he wears headphones all the time.
Speaker 1:He needs a day off, that is true, that is true, I just got to bust his balls. But even when you're on the road, a lot of and again personal friends no names that have produced music, they then live off that track for as long as they can. But the guys who are really ahead of the game, they're already working on the next, or they've got a couple of ones in the back pocket. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you're taking that time off, are you still conscious about making sure that we have already got something that's going to be coming out soon to follow the last banger?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm never satisfied, you know never I'm like obviously that's. That's a bad thing, isn't it? But?
Speaker 1:like yeah, I get it, trust me.
Speaker 2:Oh, we have fucking trophies in the wall, yeah of course, yeah, yeah so, yeah, I'm never satisfied, so I'm always looking for the next thing, and you get that one tiny win and then maybe it just settles the anxiety down for a little bit and then you're all right, what? What is next? We have to do this today. So, yeah, the, the ideas and the search for the gold. That never stops, um, and I'm actually really good at sort of doing that wherever I am as well, like I make some of my best music on a flight to vegas or whatever. Yeah, just no one's on the phone, no one's, yeah, so, yeah, put the headphones on and I can.
Speaker 3:The life on the road, though, you know, is also can be tough right, like, and I don't know how much you party or drink or whatnot, but I've been on the road with a lot of DJs and it's like being extremely hungover, waking up at 6 am to get on a flight at seven, then getting on another flight the next day hungover, then getting on another flight the next day hungover, like, and you talk about balance, like how do you balance that with you know, fitness, your just your mental health, and then, like I said, I don't know how much you party, but I've been around guys and I'm like how do you do this? How do you live this life?
Speaker 2:So I don't party when I work, and if I did, I wouldn't be able to. I wouldn't be sat here feeling as good as I do.
Speaker 1:Yeah he was texting me at 2 o'clock this morning.
Speaker 2:Saw this guy as fresh as the daisy right now. No it I. I think if I'd have been successful when I was a bit younger, I probably would have partied more. But I'm um, how old am I? 34 years old, and I probably saw majority of my real success after the age of 30. I mean, when I was in my early 20s I was going to ibiza and having some crazy nights, like a lot of people do, and I still have that in me which can be pulled out occasionally.
Speaker 3:But we all do, we all do, yes, yeah, we all got a devil in there somewhere.
Speaker 2:But yeah, for me that's separate to the work. I think that is really important because I don't understand how anyone is maintaining a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Speaker 3:You've seen it, though You've definitely seen it with other DJs. Oh yeah, it's wild right. And just thinking about getting on a plane every day hungover. Also, the private jet probably helps that for those guys who are, you know.
Speaker 1:But if those who don't have the private jet unfortunately hung over at the airport? Yeah, you know, it's on. Spirit Airlines. Yeah, but with something you mentioned, you now are on your own fitness journey. Yeah, I've seen you. I think it was COVID times, maybe a little bit post-COVID times. You started really getting in shape and I see a physique changing, really getting in shape and I see a physique changing. Has that fitness journey synergistically helped you with your career and your performances?
Speaker 2:I would say mentally, yes. I mean physically it doesn't really matter. I'm jumping around a bit on stage, you jump a lot, bro.
Speaker 1:This guy is an energy bunny. I don't know where the hell he gets that energy. Yeah, he's burning all the calories there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah that's my cardio. You should put a whoop on him and just track that once.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I think he'd burn the whoop out bro, yeah, but yeah, I think you know. Just um, yeah, about two, three years ago, I just I got like a sort of moment where I was like, oh, I just want to. I actually really want to start like properly going for this fitness thing, because I used to when I was younger, I used to. I used to go to the gym seven days a week when I was younger, and then I just I think I got really busy with work and it just started getting less and less. And then, a few years ago in fact, you had wes watson on your podcast. Yeah, yeah, so I was. I came across a load of wes watson videos and I was like fuck yeah I was like I fucking love him like he's, so he's so love hate, isn't he?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's the correct term yeah, but yeah, I saw a few of his videos, started deep diving into where's watson. Next thing, you know, I'm in the gym every day and I'm talking like got back from the show at 3 am, got a flight at9 am, I'm getting up at 6 to go to the gym and like to the point where it was like it's probably actually not good for me to do that, because the sleep really kind of has to come first. But I got, I got a bit obsessed with the gym after watching where's watson anyway, and then from there I started taking it seriously and like figuring out what I was doing, got a trainer and just actually learned how to do all the kind of the correct motions and stuff, because I think, well, a lot of people, as men as well, we all believe that we just sort of know everything. Yeah, that's my wife.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say and yeah, we actually don't know everything.
Speaker 1:So sometimes you can ask for help with things, so you will have a trainer that follows you.
Speaker 2:No, I don't have that much money. I have a trainer in london and, um yeah, when it's not the summer, I can spend three, four days a week in london. So, yeah, training with a trainer most of the week and then a bit of stuff on my own as well, do you want on the road you?
Speaker 1:do you make sure you have that time for the gym?
Speaker 2:no, it's not a priority, it's the sleep is the priority, and sometimes that is actually just hard to hard to get. So if I can, if I can train four days in london, smash it out. I'm happy to do the three-day weekend without hitting the gym and I'll just come back on monday and smash, yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 1:So it's just finding that that balance for I, fully for me. You know, be in the the bodybuilder for so many years and then retiring, every time I stepped in in the gym, the only way I knew how to train was just as I did for the Mr Olympia. You know it'd be like probably telling you okay, james, you only can play pop music in this genre and that's it. You know, you can't, you can't go as crazy as you do and you can't jump around. So you're controlling that narrative. But then I had to learn, you know, that that gym for me, is a big part of my, my mental health. Yeah, you know, that's what. I would just get everything out and it's pretty much like you, four days, four days a week, if that you know. I'm coming back off this tricep injury and it truly taught me how much I missed the gym by having it taken away before.
Speaker 1:It was by design, this was not yeah so now I I know the importance of the gym, so you're just finding that balance for that physical um, whether it's physically or mentally, it still plays a part when you can fit it in on the road, right it's nice to look good as well, it's nice to look good it is nice to have big guns flex it is, it is, it is
Speaker 3:but also like same. Same for me it's like it's great for just stress, right, we got a crazy world right now. We all have our own personal problems. Right, for me, it's always been the stress reliever that I needed. You know, maybe I didn't know it was always that, but it was always that for me, um, um, you know, even if it's just a routine, right, like I found a lot of, you know, successful people, like they have this morning routine and I try to keep it. You know, sometimes I fall off of it. But do you have any like habits like that, or rituals, uh, morning routines type thing that you know? You kind of every day, like for me it's no phone for the first 30 minutes, then I go into a workout, then I have my coffee, then I go into all my other crap, right, but I have to do that and if I don't, um, I feel like my day starts not the way I would like it. You know, do you have anything like?
Speaker 2:yeah, I, I have a tendency to be really uptight about things like this, so I'm I'm like all or nothing. So if I'm, if I'm on tour, then I'm like, oh, it's whatever, like it's almost like I don't keep my own schedule you know, yeah, I have an app on my phone that tells me what time we're going to the airport you're waking up to room service and then you're flying out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but but when I'm at home, I, yeah, I, when I'm at home, I'll see my trainer at a specific time to make sure my day starts at specific time. And so I'll actually have arguments with my, with myée, about it, because she'll be like can we have a lie-in? And I'm like no no. I'm not going to have the day I want. I'm not going to be happy all day if we do that.
Speaker 1:Please just let me do that. She's a DJ as well. Right, yeah, she is. Yeah, she's fucking good too. Yeah, yeah, thank you. Do you guys ever play back-to-back this year? We?
Speaker 2:have a few times in Ibiza and yeah, it's not something we do all the time. So when we do it it's extra special because a lot of people will follow both of us and they're like no, no way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I know we mentioned this and this is an interest for the fans who've asked this question. What is a typical day in the life of James Hype? At home or on tour. Let's do this when you're home and you're consistent in London, yeah, and then when you're on the road.
Speaker 2:Okay, the London one's easy, because that's very. As I say, I'm all or nothing, so that's very rigid. So a day at home in London, set my alarm for eight o'clock, wake up, have some electrolytes, have a coffee, go to the gym, work out for about an hour like sort of strength training, don't do any cardio, you don't eat them, no, and then eat healthy food, hang out with my missus for an hour, go to the studio, which is 10 minutes from where I live. I walk to the studio and I'll spend five or six hours in the studio, try to ignore my phone, but probably end up doing a few calls and stuff as well. And then go back home in the evening, hang out with my missus, eat some food I mean, sometimes she comes to the studio with me as well so go back home in the evening, hang out with my missus, eat some food I mean, sometimes she comes to the studio with me as well, so it's not uh and then probably end up making music in my apartment as well in the evening, because you have a studio there as well, I'm sure?
Speaker 2:No, I actually don't know. I used to in an old apartment, but I've just I'm. So I travel so much that my studio is just my laptop. That's all it needs to be. Wow, anything else is a bonus, but it's really not even necessary. I've got like apple headphones, apple laptop and, yeah, you can actually make hits like that.
Speaker 3:It's crazy well, you can me and him and then, yeah, go to bed around midnight 12, 30 yeah when you're, you know, obviously, you know you have a girlfriend, fiance, yeah, um, you know outside, you know being on your couch eating snacks when you, when you have time off right, because I'm sure, like that's probably your favorite, time is nothing right nothing is the best thing, but outside nothing, you know, is there any?
Speaker 3:is there anything you you really enjoy that you like to do outside work, outside the whole party life? You know like, is there something there? You know, like, flex grew up you know training birds and he is these things that he's done. Bro, why are you the bird man in this? On the fuck.
Speaker 1:You're the bird man.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying, does he have? You know like, like I like to ride motorcycles, you know like it's a big difference between fucking birds and more.
Speaker 1:You're gonna be a lot fucking cooler than that, okay.
Speaker 3:Well, you have a lot of other cool things, but you know stuff like that. What do you enjoy doing outside this world, man? I mean, I know you have to get out of it sometimes, don't?
Speaker 2:say birds bro, I've never trained a bird.
Speaker 3:That's cool. Different kind of birds.
Speaker 1:I've worn a lot of feathers in my hat.
Speaker 2:No pun intended uh, what do I do um? I mean, for me, working out it's a hobby, that's, that's my, that's one of my side things. You know um, I like? I was gonna say I like travel, but that's work.
Speaker 2:So I honestly, I really like I I live my dream life. It's, I don't need anything else. It's crazy, yeah, and I'm fucking grateful for that. But yeah, that's, that's literally it. Like if you left me on my own and told me if, if you took money out of the equation or whatever, I'd still just be sat there making music and hopefully djing to some people.
Speaker 3:That's awesome I mean, you're doing what you truly love.
Speaker 1:I'm living it every day as was I man. We're truly two guys from the UK that are living their dreams.
Speaker 3:Did you just say you're from the UK?
Speaker 1:Yes From Wales UK.
Speaker 3:Part of the United Kingdom.
Speaker 1:Obviously, we've had some questions from fans and I'm kind of dripping them in, but what is the, I would say the most weird and random thing that's ever happened to you during a set?
Speaker 2:During a set.
Speaker 1:You guys in the back are laughing, so obviously they remember something straight away.
Speaker 3:I don't know what that is they got all the good stories back there. Can we get these guys on have?
Speaker 2:we got, give me a hand, all right. So we're at this club in mallorca and if you're, if you're from europe, you probably know magaluf is like the place where, when you're when years old, you go on like a holiday there with your mates 16.
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 2:Cheap drinks, it's loose and yeah, we're on the stage in this club and I'm DJing in the middle of the set, all of a sudden all these girls start running up onto the stage and I don't really know what's going on. But it's all happening so fast. I look up and my tour manager has one girl under each arm, like like proper, like rugby.
Speaker 2:And he's not even a big guy. I don't even know where he found the strength of this, but, yeah, we even have it on video and it's just him with a girl under each arm, like sprinting across the stage with his head down's it. Yeah, I don't know if that's like the most weird, because that's like that's not that out of the ordinary. I've got another one, okay. So if anyone who follows me know that, knows that I have a catchphrase. Who does this? Right?
Speaker 2:So I'm at, I'm at a show in the uk and it's in like a theater type venue. So the stage is quite a distance from the crowd and, um, the only people on the stage are the people who work there, the crew. And all of a sudden, this guy walks up onto the stage like he totally belongs there and, um, but he's not wearing the right clothes. He's wearing like just night out kind of clothes and he walks all the way up to the front of the dj booth but nobody stops him because he looks like he's, he's, he's walking like he's meant to be there and, um, all of a sudden he's right in front of me and I'm like, what's going on? Who's this guy? Um, and in that moment I realized he had a glow stick in his hand and I was like, oh, no, no he doesn't work here so one of the security guys runs over and he's like pushing him out the way and he goes.
Speaker 2:Oh no, I just need to. I need to get to james. I need to ask him a question. His question was who does this? Who does that? Yeah, so he's, he's run, he's run all the way up to the stage and found his way on there. It's just a yeah wild like people. People, when they've had a bit to drink, are just like they're man. They lose all inhibitions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, when I was going out back in the day, somehow people would find themselves in the DJ booth and try to take over the DJ. They'd try to jostle you out the way or grab the mic or anything like that. Have you had anything like that? That's ever happened.
Speaker 2:Oh, mics yeah, when I used to DJ in the north of the UK, there's always some guy coming in and he's like oh, you got a mic. You got a mic there, mate, oh fuck. And he starts rapping in your ear. You know, like spitting in your ear. Oh, mate, I don't care how bad or good you are, you are not rapping in this club, right?
Speaker 1:Mike, come on.
Speaker 2:Honestly mate. When people have had a few drinks they're like, yeah, this is my moment.
Speaker 1:Was it any good?
Speaker 3:No, no, no. They come up and they request Britney Spears.
Speaker 1:I'm sure you get that a lot yeah the request as if, like you know, but well, obviously we're, you know, here at the Olympia weekend, just to kind of say that and you're going to be DJing at IU and the Dragon's Lair are doing a Dragon's Lair takeover. So we're doing a collaboration with Resorts World and you are going to be spinning.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to jostle you out the way, oh, got the mic, just to let you know.
Speaker 1:Nobody can fucking understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:He can flex. I'll tell you that we're going to bring some baby oil. You'll be all right. Oh, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:No fucking Diddy jokes. Okay, there's baby oil way before Diddy, bro. Yeah, okay, okay. Well, I'm very excited for that. This is going to be your first Mr Olympia weekend. Oh yeah, are you excited to see this craziness? This is another world to me. It is, it is. I'm waiting until I take you around the gym. You're going to see a lot of big guys and girls. Yeah, you know arms that you've probably never seen before. On the girls Better on the guys.
Speaker 3:There's cuts everywhere out there right now. Yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:I have a question.
Speaker 3:Go on. Is there a favorite show right? Like there's one show that, like every you know, like that's what you really look forward to, it's your favorite place to play, like what's that for you there's probably two.
Speaker 2:So have you ever been to Space in Miami? Yes, so that place is magic.
Speaker 3:It's nowhere like it.
Speaker 2:You just feel like you're. I feel like I'm on a night out with all those people. That's how it feels to play there, and the sun comes up and it's awesome. You've been part, you've been dancing with the same people for seven hours and you're like. I feel like I'm like your mate now and we're just listening to my tunes together. It's mad. And then I have a similar feeling when I play in Ibiza as well. I don't play for as long in Ibiza, so it's not quite the same, but it's just that perfect environment for music and the people are all on the same wavelength, right.
Speaker 3:Is it Pasha, though, or is it like a?
Speaker 2:specific place in Ibiza, in Ibiza. So I've been playing at high. That's where I've been for the past two years.
Speaker 1:What about festivals? I know you played earlier on in the year, if I believe, Drum Sheds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you played earlier on in the year, if I believe, drum Sheds. Yeah, that was fucking bang. Tomorrowland 15,000. What was that like? That was mad bank. Because I've been I feel like I've never really had the acceptance from the UK. I sort of blew up, as I said, through the pandemic and ended up traveling all around the world, coming to the usa, edc tomorrowland, all of these things, and then didn't really do anything in the uk because, no, it's like the people who book the artists, just didn't like me I don't know um.
Speaker 2:So when my manager was like, oh, let's do this, we'll do the show in the uk for 15 000 people, I was like, yep sure okay, yeah and um and yeah. Then it actually sold out and I was just standing there in on that stage with 15 000 people in front of me and that was a real, like a real moment for me, like I actually, I actually cried like real tears when I was standing on that stage because, it was just, it just didn't feel real.
Speaker 2:and it's so much more special when it's when it's the people that you, you know the best, like the, the actual, the british people in front of you and right into, like I've lived in london now for don't even know like 10 years, so like right in my home as well.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, you know. Talk about living that boyhood dream, starting off playing in front of five people to 50,000 people yeah. It must have been just a smash of emotions.
Speaker 2:It literally is because a show like that can be so stressful as well, because there's so many things that can go wrong, and I'm standing on the stage thinking like, oh, the lighting's not very good right now, you know I'm not actually focused on the enormous, the enormousness of the, of the thing in front of me half the time. But yeah, when it all comes together, it's, it's unreal and it came together.
Speaker 1:What a fucking set too. You know, I've seen a lot of different sets of Jaws life, in fact my daughter because what we would do is this is kind of our thing, not to sound fucking bougie we got the outdoor pool. I never had that in fucking Wales, trust me you wouldn't want that in Wales.
Speaker 2:No, you wouldn't want that in Wales it was like an outdoor pond, yeah and we have a, an outdoor tv and we put you on life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my daughter now understands. You know what a dj is. That's great. So she she's saying, daddy, can I do this, can I do this? And I says very hard, you know, and I I tell her it's like daddy used to do this, but dad used to have techno direct drives a little new Mac mixer in his bedroom.
Speaker 1:So this now evolution again, with my daughter looking at you playing and being so charismatic and the fans just looking at you like, let's be honest, they're looking at you like God. Right, they're in your fingertips. You can take them on a journey. You can change the mood in the whole room or at the festival. That does come with responsibility and, as you mentioned, pressure. Do you feel that sometimes when you're going into some big sets like this, and what do you do if you do to calm yourself down?
Speaker 2:I think the pressure is always internal Because really, like, the only thing that you can really do to mess it up is stop the music. Like it's not. This is going to sound kind of stupid, but it's not hard to DJ. All you got to do is play music. Just press play. Don't let the song stop. If it doesn't stop, you're good. You got to do is play me. You just press play it's don't. Don't let the song stop. If it doesn't stop, you're good. But then you build it all up in your head and I have such a high expectation of myself. I'm like, oh, I need to deliver this. It needs to be technically incredible, it needs to be something they've never seen before, so I can build it up to something huge in my head. That then puts me on on edge and but but I kind of need that pressure. Without that pressure I don't think I would be James Hype. But yeah, I often find myself remembering all you've got to do is not stop the music.
Speaker 3:That's a great line.
Speaker 1:I've seen this many times with yourself too. You have put sets of yours on your Instagram and you'll say I messed this up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm like where, yeah, when. And I watched it again.
Speaker 3:I was like man, that was flawless, but really when you think about it, it's like the pot calling the kettle black over here, because you're exactly the same way, wow.
Speaker 3:Exactly the same way. But that's why I think you know, you guys have risen to the top right. It's that you're not willing to accept average mediocrity. It has to be perfect, you know, and sometimes I get to them, I'm like dude, perfection is the enemy of done. Sometimes, you know, and sometimes you can overstress yourself, but I do believe that is one of the characteristics that just keep pushing you forward, because you always want more, you always want better, and I am also similar to this.
Speaker 1:I know, I know this is why we're all in the same room. So, in wrapping up this, podcast.
Speaker 2:What is next for James Hype?
Speaker 2:What is next?
Speaker 2:I'm excited for the next stage because the next stage I feel like the previous stage was me being introduced to all these countries and all these festivals and the next stage is like moving up to like the headline slot and being like the. You know, I just want I want everyone to know who I am and I want it to be like when you think of a dj, I want you to think of james hype, because I want it to. I want to show people what a dj actually can do, because a dj is such a it's such a broad term, like we even talk about the people who play records on the radio as a dj, and I I just want, I want to show a dj can be someone who gives an incredible performance and presents to you the music that you may or may not know in a way that you've never even heard before, and sort of bringing all of that together. And, yeah, I want to be an example for the people like your daughter, you know, who look at that and think I want to do that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that was a very messy answer, but I want to show people what's possible, and you're certainly living in my friend.
Speaker 3:Rock. Is there anything you want to add to that man? No, it's been really great talking to you. I enjoy, you know, watching your career. Continue forward, man. And yeah, dude, it's really cool to meet people who are living their. I enjoy, you know, uh, watching your career continue forward, man. And uh, yeah, dude, it's. It's really cool to meet people who are living their dream.
Speaker 1:You know it is so I get to sit around this guy all the time and from my perspective, mate, as I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I've seen you grow, um, not obviously physically, you know, I've seen that change too but just how you have grown in your fan base, how you've grown through your music, how you are doubled down in how you play your sets. To me, there's nobody else like James Hype. Thank you, you take us on a journey and it's truly inspiring to hear and know your story and I want to say thank you again, mate, for for making time today to sit down and tell us a little bit about you and and where you're going next.
Speaker 2:So, from you to you, my friend, anytime you're in vegas, this is your home, from home, and, uh, I'm excited for the future no, it's really nice to actually just connect our two worlds as well, you know, because this is something that I look at from a distance and obviously you're the same with me.
Speaker 3:So yeah, thank you for now you guys are going to work out and he's gonna. You're gonna be really regretting that tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yes, we actually are. Thank you for reminding us.
Speaker 1:Tomorrow we're gonna get a workout in and I'll let him choose the body parts or whatever that is he's probably going to train triceps since i's going to have a mangle fucking tricep right now, but nonetheless it's been a blast and an absolute fucking pleasure. Bro, I'm excited to see your set on Saturday and, as I said, now that you call Vegas your second home, I look forward to seeing you much, much more and anything I can do we can do for you Whilst you're here. Here, you know you've got a friend now. Thank you, brother, my man. This is Flax. This is Rock James Hype. We are out.
