Doctor P made a shift from drum and bass to dubstep and created his own record company. During his debut India tour at MTV Bloc Party, he shared his journey from a small town boy to a popular name in the industry
Doctor P is such a unique name for a dubstep producer and a DJ. Why did you choose thatIJ
I was really into Hip Hop growing up and I always thought Hip Hop producers had cool sounding names (Dr Dre for example). I am not a fan of gimmicky or silly DJ names and I wanted something that could work outside of dubstep and would make sense.
You began your career with D&B and switched to dubstep. Did you face any challenges during the transitionIJ
I think part of my early success came from the fact that I brought all the sounds from D&B into the world of dubstep. A lot of people who listened to dubstep hadn’t heard all of the harder D&B sounds at the time, so it really helped my music to stand out. It did take me a while, whereas I understood dubstep when I first heard it. My first few dubstep tracks were really bad but I didn’t play them to anybody.
Did you take any formal training in musicIJ
I’ve got a BSC degree in music production but I’m not classically trained in any instruments. I’ve always been more focussed on the technical side of things, although I did play guitar and drums in bands as a teenager.
Dubstep has been in the music industry for some time now. What do you feel you’ve done differently to stand outIJ
I’ve always tried to make the music that I like, without worrying too much about what is currently popular. I compose tracks that I want to hear and that I want to play in my DJ sets. It’s just lucky that other people seem to like my music as well.
Tell us about your friendship and collaborations with artiste Flux Pavilion.
When we met we were teenagers living in a small town and neither of us really knew anybody else who was into making music. Flux was very musical — he played guitar and sang I made electronic music, so it was a good mixture of skills and we were able to help each other out on either side of things. Flux taught me a lot about melodies and chords and I helped him wit the production side.
You started Circus Records with DJ Swan-E and Flux Pavilion. Why did you feel that there was a need to start your own labelIJ
When we set up Circus Records in 2009 there weren’t many big dubstep labels and we saw a bit of a gap in the scene for a label doing our style. We thought it would be cool to have complete control over our music and retain ownership of everything as well. Running a label is actually a lot more work than I expected. We always felt that we should let the music speak for itself, so we liked the fact that we could just release the music without having to pay another label to promote it for us.
Is this your first trip to IndiaIJ How does it feel to interact with your Indian fansIJ
I’ve never been to India before or any part of Asia. I’ve always wanted to come to Asia and India in particular. I spend most of my time travelling around western countries which are all culturally very similar. It was amazing to experience a new culture and see how people in India feel about my music.
Do you have any plans of collaborating with Indian musiciansIJ
Engine Ears is an Indian artist who’s recently signed to Circus Records. I’m a big fan of his music, so it could be cool to do a track together at some point.