DJ B: I was at a music festival here called Bonnaroo, a pretty big thing that was put on. They had about eighty thousand people come and they had artists like James Brown and Neil Young and Sonic Youth, and a lot of jam band kind of stuff, and they also had a few DJ's there. And I was at one of the press conference meetings and there was a gentleman named Questlove from a band called The Roots, I don't know if you're familiar with them or not.
Oakie: Yes.
DJ B: And he was on a panel with Wayne from Flaming Lips and Josh Wink. And ?uestlove and Josh are both from Philly, and ?uest was saying that you know, to give you an idea of the balance of things that Josh can hardly walk down the street in Italy without a bodyguard, whereas here in the States he's fairly anonymous. When you're touring around are you trying to hit the highlights of places like Miami and NYC, and places that already have an established dance culture? Or are you leaning or even thinking about trying to come to places like Nashville or Indianapolis, or some place like that?
Oakie: It's very important for me to go to places that I haven't been to before, and the likes of New York and Miami, you've been too many times. But what really interests me and what I personally take a lot from is going to places like Nashville where I've never been before. And I'm sure that there is a small scene there, and being a part of it and kind of helping the local DJ's and producers and getting involved. I find that a lot more interesting than keep going to New York.
DJ B: Well especially since you got your start in New York early on.
Oakie: Yes.
DJ B: I was also going to ask you, it says here that you were trained as a chef.
Oakie: Yes, I'm a fully qualified chef.
DJ B: Do you still do your own cooking? Or do you have your own chef onboard now?
Oakie: No, I love to cook, so I cook for my friends and family and we hang out. Yes, I enjoy that process.
DJ B: You spend most of your time where now? Some place in the States or are you still based out of London?
Oakie: No, I live in London. I spend the majority of my time with my family and friends, and when I am traveling I'm lucky that I bring a couple friends with me and we hang out and have fun.
DJ B: You were on the cover of Remix magazine last year? I think it's Mix magazine, it might either be.
Oakie: It might have been.
DJ B: It says that you travel with one other person primarily?
Oakie: I travel with my assistant and my tour manager, and my support DJ. So there's four of us on the road, some times my manager, so there's four to five people.
DJ B: Do you ever spend any time or keep up with the guys that you started out with in the clubs? Do you guys still get together and talk about music and make music together? Or is everyone pretty much too busy?
Oakie: No, not really. No, you find that everyone's really busy and everyone's all over the world, so when you go back to England none of them are there and visa versa. I do see my friends from school and my old mates who are not in the record business. We go down the pub and hang out, which I really enjoy.
DJ B: I've got some questions from the guy who's the dance DJ that follows me, and he'll be kind of miffed if I didn't ask you a few of them.
Oakie: Shoot.
DJ B: He wants to know are there any artists that you would like to work with but haven't yet?
Oakie: Limp Bisket and Eminem.
DJ B: That's an interesting parallel. Any particular reason? I'm just wondering?
Oakie: Well, they're both talented. They're both talented, both cutting edge and I'm a fan of both.
DJ B: Is there any artist that you would like to remix that haven't?