Last year he set the music world alight with his Cruel Intentions remix amongst others. Then there was his own anthems such as Digidesign, Do It and Purple City.

Now, 20-year-old Joker is about to release one of the most hotly anticipated dubstep tracks in recent memory, Tron.

If his recent guest mix on 1Xtra was anything to go by then his album looks set to be one of the LPs of the year.

Kmag caught up with Joker to see what he makes of his meteoric rise into the dubstep spotlight...

How did it all start for you?
One of the main buzzes that got me going was when I made Gully Brook Lane and I'd been sending Plastician tunes since I was young.

At first I was just one of many kids on his MSN and then he got back to me saying, "This is alright, I'm going to play it out." Then I downloaded one of his sets and heard my tune.

He caused hype off that and obviously it's got all the grime MCs on it and I got a buzz from that.

Then hooking up with Pinch and he helped me out with the release and it just grew from there.

What genre of music do you put yourself under?
I would say it's an influence between dubstep, grime, rnb, funk and soul. Everything I like, all mixed up into one.

You once said when you make a tune, you see a colour. There's a lot of buzz now about Joker and purple. Can you explain on that?
It's just got blown out of proportion. Basically I was in my room, looking at some pictures and I saw some deep purple sky pictures and I could make a tune to it. It brought me somewhere because I was tired, drunk and buzzing and got good vibes from it.

Then I just mentioned it to someone and now I'll play a set and people will be like "Purple, man" when I'm playing Benga!

Saying that though, from your sets, there's a lot of purple lighting and you seemed to be pictured wearing it a lot...

After everyone started talking about it, every picture a photographers given me, it's all purple and I'm like is this a coincidence?

Back to the music, every name on the scene is bigging you up. What's your secret, what do you have to offer that's so fresh?
I don't know about that, I'm just making my music and just doing my thing.

Everyone I'm into inspires me. If it's Gemmy, Guido, Skream or Benga. If it's something old I'm listening to or something new. It all inspires me musically. I can hear a beat and get inspired to make my own beat.

You like to gig, you're playing all over the world. Have you just got used to waking up, jumping on a plane, playing a gig and then doing it all over again?
I haven't found the balance yet. For instance, I've bumped into Skream in the middle of LA. He'll be buzzing and then have to fly at 7am in the morning, he'll make his flight and do another rave. He's fine about it and I don't understand how he does that.

Whereas if I've played, got drunk and have a flight at 7am, I want to cry. I just haven't found the balance, people will be like 'Wow, you're flying around the world, etc.' and I'm like 'I just want to stay at home'.

Tron drops on April 5th, what's the next step after that?
I want learn how to play a piano, guitar and drums and bring it into my music.

But my album is my main focus right now... I'm working on that all the time. Even right now... can you hear it?

Joker was speaking to Sam Moir

 

Joker "TRON" + VIP Mix by Multiverse

• Joker

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