DJ TIMES: Well, being that it appears America is so hard to crack with this music, how do you plan on going about promoting your label and yourself here? Will you go about it like you do in Britain, or will you adapt to our environment and go about it that way?
OAKENFOLD: What I have done up until now is deliberately stayed out of America. I did a one-off party a year and a half ago at Twilo in conjunction with CMJ and it was 'okay.' From a numbers point of view, it was packed, but I felt musically, I went way over their heads. Because the rest of the world was really focusing on England and what we were doing musically, we had invitations to play all over the world. We did tours of Asia, we did like five or six tours of South America, Brazil right on down; South Africa as well...Then America started to get on the English vibe. I felt from my point of view I would let everyone else come over and lay the foundations. You had Danny Rampling, Carl Cox, Nick Warren, John Digweed all come over and do what they were doing. Trade were doing their once a month at Twilo. They were doing what they were doing and I felt that when I was ready to go, I would do it on my terms. So what we decided to do is this year do five tours of 16 gigs per tour in America; same approach as a rock 'n roll band. To break a rock 'n roll record, you have to work really hard and tour constantly. If we come here five times, 16 gigs per time, not only would I and my support DJ play, but we would bring bands -- the whole experience. We would give them what no other English DJs have given them thus far. Initially the first step, and you have to do this by steps because it is a plan, would be me and another DJ doing the whole night creating a theme and a sound. The next time we come back, we'll bring an act. What we're trying to do is set up the whole evening so it's an experience.
DJ TIMES: When you signed your deal with Kinetic two years ago, did you still have this plan or did you want to try this then and it's taken this long to come to fruition or did you not know what you were going to do then?
OAKENFOLD: I always have a plan. I could tell you what I'm gonna do for the next two years. We haven't put every Perfecto record out through Kinetic thus far because there's only so much you can do. The whole world is two to three steps ahead of America. All we're doing now is what we've done in Asia, South America, South Africa and Europe.You start off with two DJs going in. Then we come back with an act; then two more DJs, then we build it and off the back of the tour, we start releasing albums and then the acts will come on their own and stand on their own two feet and do their own tours. Eventually, you could have five Perfecto tours going on next year with me on one and all the other different acts and DJs on the others.
DJ TIMES: About your residency at Cream -- you went and decided to stay put when every other DJ in Britain was doing the club circuit. What made you decide to go against the grain?
OAKENFOLD: I felt for me it was time for a change it was time to give something back rather than take. EVERY DJ was touring the UK doing 3-4 gigs per night. I wanted to do one gig a night, I wanted to get back to breaking records because if you're playing in the same club every week, you're breaking records. I wanted to stay at the club, get there early, hang out, play all night and then leave at the end. So, for me, I'm not saying I'm right, but for me, it was a decision I wanted to make. For other DJs, they still play all over the country but that's up to them
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