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[title]He rose to fame as a champion of deep, moody dubstep; he packed the dance floor with house- and techno-heavy sets during his now-defunct Sub:Stance residency at Berlin’s Berghain; and he’s flirted with ravey, B-boy–friendly breaks (check out 2012’s ecstatic “NE1BUTU”). Paul “Scuba” Rose’s unfolding sound has presaged some of the tectonic shifts that underground dance music as a whole has undergone over the past decade, and on Valentine’s Day, New York can find out where the Hotflush label honcho’s sonic ardor is currently directed when he takes control of Output’s up-to-the-task sound system.
Your Output gig falls on Valentine’s Day, though I really doubt if that will make much of a difference in what you play.
Well, I don’t know—does that mean there will be more single girls there? Or maybe it means there will be less. Who knows?
You’ll be giving us a DJ set on this visit, rather then doing some kind of live presentation, correct?
Yeah, all the shows that I’m playing on this trip are DJ sets. And I’m really excited to be playing at Output; I’ve talked to a few people who’ve played there who have told me I’m going to like it.
The sound system is nice and big, with a lot of oomph—it will certainly suit your sound quite well. And speaking of your sound, it’s evolved pretty steadily over the past decade. Has that been something you’ve had to work on, or has that progression happened naturally?
I did make a conscious decision after [2010 album] Triangulation came out—after what felt like my first bit of success and having quite a lot of people suddenly paying attention—to do something. Dubstep had been the backdrop of my whole early career. I had been part of the scene for years, back when not many people outside of London really knew about it. But as soon as dubstep became a big thing internationally, my reaction to that was to basically get out of it and do something completely different.
I guess that makes sense.
Well, that’s what my instincts told me to do, at least. [Laughs] I had moved to Berlin—actually, that was well before Triangulation—and that helped me to get away from dubstep a bit. But I guess the main thing is that I simply get bored quite quickly. I’m pretty restless.
Where do you think your restlessness will take you next?
I’ve been thinking about that pretty hard. After [2012’s] Personality came out, there was another step up in terms of attention that was coming my way. After the whole process of releasing the album and dealing with that, I began wondering what would be next. There were some obvious directions that could be taken, one of which was to work on music that was even more mainstream. I’ve always been really into pop music; I think it’s an interesting art form. The question is, do I really want to do pop music in a serious way?
And have you come up with an answer?
I’ve been grappling with that for the past 18 months or so. And I think the answer is…no, I don’t want to go there! [Laughs] That’s mainly because when you’re a musician, you make music, and in most cases, you play that music when you’re touring. But as a DJ, you’re playing music in a slightly different context. I’ve been thinking about what making somewhat mainstream music would actually mean, in terms of touring. Even if I was able to make music that I liked and was able to stand behind, it would probably mean playing the kind of gigs that I really wouldn’t want to play!
So what do you think your next direction might be?
I’ve been playing around with a few different things, basically looking at different approaches to house and techno. There’s an awful lot of music that’s ready to come out within the next year or so; it’s pretty mixed, but it’s definitely underground. There won’t be much daytime radio play involved, I don’t think—which is something I’m quite comfortable with.
Is any of the new music coming out soon?
There’s an EP coming out in March. It’s four tracks, all quite varied. It will be on Hotflush.
Speaking of daytime radio, do you find that the success of acts like Disclosure—or here in the States, the rise of EDM—has brought any new fans to the kind of music that you and Hotflush do?
Yeah, I do think that happens a little bit, though it’s on the periphery. As far as Disclosure goes, I think of what they do as pop music, though obviously there’s a bit of house and garage influence there. It’s all about their songs—and they’re pop songs. That’s different than most people like me are doing. I think the biggest change I’ve noticed is in America; in the past two or three years, there’s been the development of underground scenes in cities that never had one before. There’s much more of a circuit for people who want to play underground music than there used to be. Which is great! [Laughs] And if that can continue to develop, then that is certainly a positive result.
Scuba + Oxia + No Regular Play + Ahmed Hashim are at Output on Friday, February 14.
Follow Bruce Tantum on Twitter: @BruceTantum