Jody Wisternoff

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Jody Wisternoff, better known as half of legendary dance act from the 90s- Way Out West chats to Frankie Salt about his balance of music life with family life, his love for House music and Top of the Pops. With musical tones ranging from Hardcore, House to Electro, there isn’t much that Wisternoff can’t master.

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Hey Jody, really great to chat with you how are you?

Yeah I’m really good thanks, little bit hectic upstairs so I’m down in my little studio at home in Bristol.

You’re from Bristol, where do you call home now?

Yeah totally, still here. Bristol born and bred. Where are you calling me from?

I’m in London at the moment, which is always good. How have things been Jody?

Yeah top actually. Just had a weekend off, as it was the Son and Daughter’s birthdays this weekend, which was great. Did you have a good weekend? I heard that Bloc was a little naughty and shocking in London at the weekend.

Ah well I was lucky and went up north to Cocoon, which was absolutely spot on. So when you first started and you were in your teens, how was it to be in the World DJ competition? I imagine that to be completely overwhelming and off the scale. Was that the moment your career took off?

It was more like Hip Hop then, more scratching etc. My brother was a 12-year-old getting on stage, having it large against these proper bad boys as he shouted lyrics at them. But I loved it you know; it was great and yeah very overwhelming. And very funny. When you’re that age, you just do anything and I felt like I deserved to be there, I just went with my heart and with my instinct.

What has been your biggest accomplishment throughout your musical career?

From the outside point of view, I would say that Top of the Pops was pretty big and monumental. That was very cool and it opened a lot of doors. We were between the remixes and then being on TV in the 90s was great and everything was going well.

Well I say bring TOTP back to TV, it used to be a favourite of mine.

Well before the Internet existed or it was very slow, it (TOTP) used to be great for artists. And it did make for a good watch. I think it was great too because people could just see you for what you were, without having to look at people and having to update their status’ with pictures of what they’re having for dinner and all that malarkey or having to tweet 500 times a day. Dennis Pennis was presenting the TOTP at that point too, which was cool; he’s a bit of a rude boy.

Exactly, you never got spam mail with Top Of The Pops. Jody, you have been around through the thick and thin of the Dance music era of Britain, I would have loved to have been dancing in the 90s… how do you think things have evolved since then?

In terms of production, the quality of the tracks, sound-wise is completely different. I don’t know if the vibe and the emotion have improved however. The 90s classics, when you hear them now are still absolutely spot on and you can feel the emotion. They still stand out. I don’t know if they sound tight enough to play them next to songs nowadays but they’re amazing still. You always needed so much money etc. to get there, where as now you can just jump onto a laptop. It was a lot harder to get a record out back then. Technology has had such an influence and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Although some tunes are too difficult to get my head around, when there is a clear mix of Dubstep, Trance and everything else in one track, it’s a nightmare.

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Yeah that’s why Cocoon was so simple, just good House music.

Exactly, the House scene is insane at the moment. I love the music coming out of there and Ibiza. It’s so easy to make a radio mix of this stuff because there is just so much to play with.

The vocals on ‘How You Make Me Smile’ are right up my street. Tell me how you make this sound.

Basically I have a guy called Pete Joseph, I write the track and send it to him. Then he takes his time and makes sure he likes it before he works on it and sends it back. He’s a cool guy and lives on his own wavelength. You’ll wait three or four months but then you get the results.

Who influences you at the moment?

Future Boogie from Bristol is great. Bristol has a great scene at the moment.

Yeah Bristol has always had a great scene, I used to spend a lot of time there and it was all very Drum and Bass and Bassline so it’s good to know that House is now big there too. Is it hard balancing family life with music life?

Yeah it’s working well. I just come down here as much as I can. I used to work nights but now I can’t do that because I have to do the school run… life goes on. It is so inspiring having kids, it’s the next part of growing up and I’m just taking my music with me.

Way Out West was your music lovechild in the 90s. How did this progress?

Well Way Out West is still active, nothing has ever ended, and things have just evolved. We decided in 2006 to spread our own wings. Things are constantly moving as our musical tastes have taken new turns and are very different. My partner is a lot more serious than my party vibes and Disco. He thinks I’m cheesy and I think he’s serious so we meet in the middle and it works.

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You have recently released ‘Trails We Blaze’ – in May 2012 on Anjunadeep label, how did this come about to work with Above & Beyond’s label?

They have been on my case for a couple of years and I wanted to go for it. They have also been going to the House side, and the deeper stuff was what I really wanted to get on board with.

That’s very cool, I loved chatting to those guys, I imagine them to have some great ideas for their progression with Anjunadeep away from Anjunabeats, which is obviously a lot more trance fuelled. Who else are you going to work with? What else is there to achieve musically? Your career is pretty amazing thus far.

I have a lot of people in the pipeline, but obviously I can’t drop names! (Laughing) I think my profile as a solo artist has much scope to grow, it is very early doors so I want to raise my profile and make some big records. When you are making music, you just never know when you are going to make an absolute banger. There are some more singles from the album coming out over the summer. I then also have a remix of this very cool Bristol band coming out called ‘The Other Tribe’ so I hope that will be a biggy. It has a lot of heat and is getting released on Sony so I have remixed that. And also the EP from Way Out West, and then the Australian tour.

Things are looking amazing, fingers crossed you get some sun in Australia. Thanks Jody, really enjoyed chatting with you.

Well the plus side is, I haven’t had to water the garden plants! (Laughing) Cheers Frankie, hope to catch you soon.

By Frankie Salt

You can catch Jody Wisternoff at Sky Room, Brisbane, New Guernica – Melbourne, and Chinese Laundry – Sydney.

Travel – Australia Work & Travel Magazine – What’s On Aus, Cheap Tours & Accommodation (bbmlive.com)

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Also Read- Guide on Partner visa for Australia (Subclasses 820 and 801) (ozvisainfo.com)