by RAF KATIGBAK

When I arrive at Blizzarts, Jordan Dare is nursing two fingers of scotch at the bar. I'm a half-hour late for our interview but Dare is unfazed. Not surprising - as anyone who's ever met the 11-year veteran of the Montreal electronic music scene would surely attest, it'd probably take a lot to faze him.

I excuse my tardiness as the bleary-eyed Dare excuses himself for any perceived sluggishness. Smiling, he explains that he's been up late the last two nights working on new tracks, and he's desperately in need of sleep. One look at his calendar - the launch party for his new Day In Day Out EP tonight at Parking, a special Turbo Recordings dinner on Friday, his residency at Blizzarts on Saturday and of course the huge I Love Neon bash with Tiga, DJ Clé and Märtini Brös on Sunday - and it's obvious he'll need the rest. For even the heartiest of DJs, four straight nights of musical debauchery would present somewhat of a challenge. For Dare, who "eats, sleeps and breathes music," it just means more chances to kill it behind the decks.

From his days as a leader in Montreal's drum & bass scene, to his detour with hardcore (as in punk, not techno) unit Shiverdown, to his current slot among the top electro DJs in the city, Dare's style has always been aggressive, his hunger for new sounds insatiable. Day In Day Out, on Turbo Recordings sub-label White Leather, offers a blend of early '90s acid house, synth pop, jacking techno and Dare's signature dark lyricism, and stands to bring his brooding sound to an even wider audience.

At 6-foot-1, decked out in black jeans and a tight black-and-white Vive la Rock tee, Jordan Dare cuts an impressive, even intimidating, figure. When quizzed about his rep as a moody individual, the gruff-voiced Dare rebuts, "I don't see myself as a dark guy. I have a lot of sarcasm running through me, and it sometimes comes off as negative. Somebody even described me as sombre. I don't think of myself as that, but maybe I'm kidding myself."

Of course, with tracks names like "Going Under," "No Future," "Pressure" and "No Love Today," his EP won't help him shed the brooding-artist rep anytime soon. Not that he cares. "When I presented the record to Tiga," he laughs, "he didn't say anything, but I was like, ‘Oh, it's not the most positive-sounding track listing, especially for an electronic record.' But c'mon, it's not like I wake up and all my windows are spraypainted black in my bedroom. I just have a different approach. The whole lovey-dovey electronic shit, that stuff's cool, it's all good. It's just not me."

Wide styles

Speaking frankly comes naturally to Dare. With his time divided between his solo productions, DJing, working at a record store and MCing with an electro-rap trio, the truth is, he just doesn't really have time for bullshit. Taking this as a cue to get the interview rolling, we quickly slid into a booth and delved into his life in music.

Mirror: I remember working at HMV and you came in and bought a Rage Against the Machine tape. That's when I was like, hold up, there's more to this DJ than he's letting on.

Jordan Dare: I was always into different stuff. When I was young, I got shit for that. I remember sitting there in high school, and some kid would be like, ‘What the hell are you listening to in your Walkman?' And I'd be like, ‘Gang Green,' and he'd be like, ‘Don't you hang out with hip hop kids?' In my head I'm like, ‘Yeah, so?!' The other day I was trying to remember the first record I ever bought. I really couldn't remember 'cause I bought so many at once. There was new wave stuff like Gary Numan, Devo, and Joy Division, when I could find it, then later on all the crazy-ass Kraftwerk and Afrika Bambaataa shit.

M: When did you get your first pair of decks?

JD: When I was 13 years old. While other kids were saving up to buy jockstraps to play hockey, I bought these crappy belt-drive Radio Shack turntables and a Radio Shack mixer. I had no clue or even concept of beat matching.

M: What got you into DJing?

JD: I was teeny when I saw the movie Wild Style with Grand Master Flash in his kitchen. That took me out - the sound, what he was doing, was nuts. When that scene came on, I watched it like 10 times in a row. I was like, okay, I gotta see what this is about.

M: I remember freaking out on "The Adventures of Grand Master Flash on the Wheels of Steel." As a kid, I knew there was something special about that track, but of course not knowing even what a sample was, I didn't really understand why.

JD: The tune that I loved was Flash's "Larry's Dance Theme." It was this heavy, heavy beat, with this repetitive-ass sample of some dude going "Larry" over and over. It was so driven. Everybody else seemed to hate that track but that was my favourite.

Future tense

M: You made your name in the fertile Montreal drum & bass scene of the late '90s. I remember thinking at the time, wow, Montreal D&B is gonna blow up. Then suddenly it sort of "poof" and went away. What's your take on why it never took off? What did you learn from it?

JD: Honestly, my head is really far removed from those years. The most important thing I learned was to take a little bit more chances in what you're gonna play. Also how important it was to hold down your mix, 'cause one little slip in drum & bass and it sounds like boots in a dryer. I also learned a good amount of my production skills.

M: Let's talk about the new EP, Day In Day Out. The track "No Future" is dope - what's the story behind the lyrics?

JD: Okay, so straight up, one time I was having a battle of words with a friend in the drum & bass scene. He just kinda tried to come down on this whole thing, saying things like, ‘Do you really think this shit's gonna last? Get off your ass and do something proper.' I made the track years later. We settled our differences long ago, but for some reason it was ringing in my head that day, so I just started spouting shit off.

M: When I heard the vocals, I thought, this couldn't be Dare singing. It's way to upbeat.

JD: (laughing) Like I said, I don't wake up and say, ‘Hey, I'm gonna be a dark guy today.' It's just a certain way my head works. I'm actually happy that it's that way because in electronic music, especially stuff built for the dancefloor, a lot of it is this sort of plastic, feel-the-beat-feel-the-love thing. That's fine if you're into that kind of thing, but I also approach tunes like they're an outlet. In electronic music, I don't think some people really put themselves into the tune. I think they're just going to go with the flow. They see what tracks are doing well and they go for that.

M: Like a couple of years ago, when you had to have a blasé Euro-girl talking about glamour in Milan, New York and London -

JD: It's true - and to hear that now, it's funny. Telex did that sort of shit in '79. I'm glad it's kind of steering away from all that, it totally had to. Now you see who's there for music and who's there just to wear eyeliner.

EP launch with DJ Mini at le Parking tonight, Thursday, Sept. 2, 10 p.m., $4. I Love Neon, with Dare, Tiga, DJ Clé and Märtini Brös, at 1239 Clark on Sunday, Sept. 5, 10 p.m., $20. Dare joins DJ Bliss for Chemistry at Blizzarts every Saturday, 10 p.m., $4

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