You must be crazy, or maybe it’s the DJ? It’s certainly been a long journey for HarderFaster’s DJ Of The Year 2008 since his days of being plain old Mad Phil. These days you are just as likely to be wowed by the skills of Phil Lankester or his psy trance alter ego Libra9. But what makes him tick, what lies under the public shell of Promoter / DJ, is he really mad? White coats at the ready we went to find out! So Phil, HarderFaster DJ Of The Year, an honourable mention for your party Puzzle Project in the Party Of The Year category, and for yourself in the Resident DJ Of The Year category. You must be pretty chuffed?

Yeah, you could say that! 2008 was a great year! Lots of great parties and venues to play at, I have met lots of new people, I’m hoping that 2009 will be even better, we’ve got lots of stuff planned for the parties that I’m involved with!

What is it do you think that’s made people want to vote for you and your party?

To be honest, I’m not 100% sure, I wasn’t actively pushing to get best DJ of the year and as you said, I’m chuffed! As for Puzzle Project, we’re always trying to push the boundaries for a small party in London. We’re hosting part of the NuklearPuppy tour in May with Phil York and Jason Cortez, to say that I’m excited about this event is an understatement!

Where do you see yourself and the team around you taking things from here then?

We’re constantly looking at new ways to get people to taste what our events are like. Over the next few months we have some very special events for Puzzle and Magnetix! We want to keep the brands as strong and fresh as possible!

You’re pushing your Libra9 name now almost as much as the Phil Lankester brand. Why is this and why do you think it’s important to have the distinction between the two?

The only distinction between the two brands is the way that the set is played at the moment. I have some studio dates booked for this year and I’ll be getting some new material together so that you can distinguish between the two brands; Libra9 is the Artist and Live act where I can showcase my own material, and Phil Lankester is the DJ sets that I play. I don’t necessarily think there has to be a distinction between the two, but it makes it more obvious to everyone else!

Of course you’ve always been known for your silky CDJ skills but you are also a dab hand when using your laptop to destroy dancefloors. How do you think the two differing platforms change the way you play music to people?

Playing from a laptop (using ableton) gives you much more flexibility in your sets, the possibilities are endless, you’re only limited to what power your laptop has! However, using traditional DJing methods you are limited to what you have in front of you! I still prefer the ‘hands on’ feel of CD’s or vinyl (not that I ever play vinyl anymore). When you have that limitation there, you try to come up with new ways of mixing.

Will you settle on one platform or do you see yourself employing both for some time now?

Well, funny you should say that, I’m trying to come up with a solid way in which I could use both at the same time! I’ve done some experimenting, but it’ll be a case of watching this space until then! Ultimately I don’t think I will settle to one platform.

We all know DJs that can throw some CDs in a bag and then get on and play but how long does it take you to prepare for a laptop gig?

It really depends on what you want to do with your laptop gig. I once had a last minute decision to play a laptop gig at an Alumni, I managed to get a set together in about two hours or so, but that was a very simple set, with a few extra drops and a few edits, But the longest one I worked on was my last Libra9 set at Zoology, I worked on that for about an hour a night for a month or so.

Do you think it’s important, especially when playing off a laptop, to have some sort of controller or to look like you are actually doing something behind the decks other than just checking your emails?

Yes, I’ve seen so many live sets that look like your ‘checking your emails or browsing HarderFaster’ There is software out there that enables you to move away from the laptop and work entirely on the controller, I use Bomes MIDI translator which transforms MIDI into keystrokes.

Some DJs and artists are well known to “preplan” their laptop sets at home. What are your thoughts on this?

To a degree I think its ok, but my Libra9 sets always allow me to change direction if needed. It would be bad if you fully planned a set and to find out that it doesn’t fit the flow of the night. If you do pre-plan, I suppose you better get some good info on who’s playing before and after!

Is there any kind of extra hardware, software design or other technology you’d like to see to help develop your laptop sets?

Apart from further development from the software that I use, I think they have nearly everything covered, most things I’m after are more of a luxury than a necessity, for example dual waveform views in Ableton. They may have sorted this for version 8, but I haven’t installed my beta version yet for fear of messing my setup up as it is!

The last time you were featured on HF was an interview focussing on your other party Magnetix – funnily enough HF’s Best Up & Coming Party 2007. How have things progressed with that side of your life?

Magnetix is going very strong at the moment, we have our next party for May, one in June, and our birthday is on a boat in September, there will be more details soon!

Where do you get the energy, drive and inspiration to run both parties and push yourself as a DJ?

I sometimes ask myself that question and to be honest, I don’t fully know, I’m involved in one way or another in Puzzle Project, Magnetix, Alumni, Tribal Dance, Impact Recordings, Just Groove, RedSky Digital and helping out occasionally with Antiworld Events. And of course there’s my own DJ career, trying to get time for the studio, and balancing my personal and working life! It never stops, but I love it. I’m not the sort of person to get too stressed when running / helping to run these brands, so don’t fear, I’m not gonna fall down from being overworked, haha!

You’ve just come back from playing at a party for Queensday in Holland. For those that don’t know, what is Queensday and how did it all go?

The most fun in less than 48 hours I’ve ever had! To cut it down slightly - Car, Eurotunnel, Car, Amsterdam, PARTY HARD, sleep, PARTY HARD, Car, Eurotunnel, Car, Dirty Kebab for Matt Church, Car, Home! I believe that Ben Bennett is gonna be doing a full feature here very soon, he can tell you more! [Watch out for their video diary very soon – Ed]

Where else can our International readers see you play over the coming year?

Well, obviously I have my residencies at Puzzle, Magnetix, Tribal Dance, Just Groove etc. all my gigs can be found on my HF DJ page or on my website. I was booked to play Agartha festival in Bedfordshire, but that has been postponed to 2010 now, more details will be out later on in the year!

Finally, have you got any surprises for us that we should know about?

Shhhhh!!!!!

Cheers!