Josh Baker Interview

Yesterday, Josh Baker stepped into a lift. A “very famous” UK rapper walked in – he’s still too modest to say who – and said, “You’re that DJ, innit?”

Josh froze. “I was like, ‘Oh shit… the rapper fucking knows who I am now?’”

It’s a small, surreal moment—and a telling sign of just how far his career has come.

We’re chatting from his hotel in LA, just days after he made an impressive debut at Coachella’s first weekend. He’s currently running on fumes: adrenaline, anticipation and sheer disbelief. 

This year alone, there have been too many milestones to count. His latest single, “Down To the Bone” – one amongst many the Mancunian has lent his rolling house grooves to as of late – with Eliza Rose has already cracked the UK’s top 50 singles chart. It marks a turning point in his decade-long grind in the industry, with the past three months delivering more momentum than ever before. Behind the writer’s desk, he’s been busy plotting his debut Ibiza residency at Amnesia, curating a lineup featuring the likes of Jamie Jones, Joseph Capriati and Silva Bumpa. Elsewhere, he’s celebrating the 10th anniversary of his You&Me label, the expansion of Hide&Seek Festival and the proliferation of SYNTHO, his music tech startup. 

As a result, his socials have been booming—and Josh has been keeping his 400K followers and counting primed with behind-the-scenes content along the way. 

But what they don’t see is that success – coming by the truckload – births its own challenges. 

Currently, Josh is finishing his fifth consecutive week of playing four shows apiece. With the electronic – and UK tech house – scenes only getting hungrier, it’s Josh who feels an unshakable need to serve. The stakes have never felt higher, the pressure has never felt more intense, and the critics have never been louder. As a result, in between flights, sets and studio time, finding space to pause – let alone celebrate – has become increasingly rare.

Even so, he joins our Zoom call with a smile plastered across his face. Because even while exhausted, having experienced in real-time what can happen when you devote your life to your craft, he knows this is exactly the moment he’s been chasing. 

And he’s not about to let it pass him by.

ELLA WEST: You’ve already had a non-stop year. How are you feeling right now?

JOSH BAKER: I mean, after Coachella, I had a real moment where I realised the words, “This is why we do it.” In general, it's quite a lot to take in with everything that's going on right now—especially with how big the American scene is going. But I'm here for it. I’m trying to find my feet still because each month, each week, there are so many new opportunities—new problems as well. I’m trying to learn how to navigate all this while staying sane. So it's not always straightforward, but I'm trying to do my best. 

ELLA: That was actually my next question… How easy is it for you to switch off from Josh Baker, the stage name, to just going about your day-to-day? 

JOSH: Recently? I've found it hard because I've been doing more shows. So I'm now on week five of doing four shows a week, and I'm trying to find out what level of touring works for me. One thing that I do know is that doing four shows a week is not for me, because that means I lose “Josh Baker” as a normal person. I'm someone who likes to train a lot, who likes to lift weights, I like to make YouTube videos, and I like to spend time with my friends, family, blah, blah, blah. When you do four shows a week, you can't do that. I don't think it makes you a better artist or a worse artist, depending on how many shows you do. I think the admirable thing is actually having control of your life and living it how you want to live. So I would say in the last five weeks, I've actually lost touch with the normal version of myself, which is a bit of a weird thing to process. But I've already communicated this to my team around me—I’m already looking at how I can find the right balance. Because if you don't have that normality, you’re constantly on the hamster wheel of playing the shows, travelling, recording…kind of what I'm doing right now. I've got two days off, but then I'm doing it all again for four days straight. Then I fly back to England. You start to actually lose that normal side of life. With the way the scene is growing, you could probably do a show every single day of the week. But I think it's really important to focus on longevity and have that normality, as well. I'm trying to figure it out. 

ELLA: Did you actually expect your life to become this? You've mentioned before that you’re a natural builder, but is this exactly what you envisioned for yourself when you started, or has it surprised you?  

JOSH: No, I think I always had my sights set on becoming – loosely – one of the biggest DJs in the world. That was something that I was really set on. I wanted to dedicate my life to it, which sounds crazy to say. But I don't think anyone imagined electronic music, specifically UK tech house, to go so big. People are saying we've just taken over Coachella! With my close friends and me, we're all in this wave right now. When one of us gets big, it's almost amplifying the other. My good friends Prospa have just announced their album. They've got a tune that's gone viral with Murda Beatz, who's a hip-hop producer. And I'm playing back-to-back with them. It's almost like things are going on everywhere. I never imagined this kind of cross-pollination of house music getting through to the rap world, to the fashion world. The whole thing is just way more amplified than I ever imagined. So I imagined I would be in a place where I'm one of the leading DJs, but I think what that now is, is so different to what everyone thought DJs were a couple of years ago. 

ELLA: And you set that goal for yourself when you were 16 years old, right? 

JOSH: Pretty much, yeah. I literally sat on my friend's lounge on a pair of decks for the first time, saying I’ll be one of the biggest DJs in the world. Kind of joking, laughing, but then I was like, “Watch me.” From that day forward, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to get close to making this something which I could do as a full-time job. And I guess it paid off. 

ELLA: I’d say so… You knew you wanted to become the biggest DJ in the world, but why? And has that reason changed now?

JOSH: It was just that whole art: the process of choosing a song, sharing a song with friends, a friend reacts to the song—quite basic in terms of what resonated with me. And I really enjoyed that pursuit of going away from these sets with friends, finding new music, and going back and seeing their reaction. I've always been someone who enjoys building things from the ground up. Then, we started a label on the side, festivals, etc., along the way. I've just enjoyed that process of building things. And has the reason changed now? I don't know. I think I still really enjoy the process of building and getting bigger. And I guess there's always new challenges along the way. I think as you get bigger, you start to build out the show with visuals that go alongside it. But when it’s your job, you don’t think about it as deeply anymore. But my love for it is still the same. The feelings do change, but the passion for it hasn't gone anywhere. 

ELLA: And speaking of the “job”, we have so much ground to cover. First of all, your new single with Eliza Rose, “Down to the Bone”, has already cracked the UK top 50—why do you think that track was instantly met with success? 

JOSH: Well, Eliza's got a history of writing some really big records. I think the way we put the sounds together – kind of like a timeless house music vibe – fits with the trend of what a lot of people are making right now. I think it just sat nicely in the space between the underground and the more commercial sectors.  

ELLA: How did the partnership with Eliza come about, and what do you look for in a collaborator?  

JOSH: The honest truth for Eliza, it was Hide&Seek opening last year. We both probably had many, too many, tequila shots, and we found ourselves in the green room there chatting away. Then we kept bumping into each other, and we finally said, “Let’s get in the studio at some point.” We did two really strong tracks. We've got another one up our sleeve, actually, which we've not really teased too much—hopefully that'll see the light of day eventually. But what makes a great collaboration, I think, is having a mutual respect and a genuine interest in each other's music and taste. I always like the idea of coming from slightly different worlds. Like, Eliza has come from a slightly different world than me. I think it's cool to see different artists, producers, vocalists, rappers, or whatever you want to call them, all having that input on this genre and seeing where it can take it. 

ELLA: I spoke to Eliza after B.O.T.A., and I asked her what kind of artist she'd want to emulate. And she said she wanted to be like Billie Holiday on a pinger—

JOSH: —That’s so good, that’s a very Eliza comment to make. 

ELLA: Right? But how would you answer the same question? 

JOSH: That is such a tough one. I've written so much music lately that I've really enjoyed stepping into different territories, and I could see myself potentially producing for something that's not necessarily as house music-focused. You know what I love? I love Jungle—I love that vibe. I would love one day to potentially join forces with an actual singer, a keys player, a guitarist or whatever, and work on a bigger project. So that's probably what I would say—it’s hard to pinpoint just one person. 

ELLA: I think your experimentation in different genres is already becoming apparent to audiences—especially with your “Come Closer” EP. How would you describe the evolution of your sound since you started? 

JOSH: I think now I'm just trying to push it forward. I am aware that I've been at the forefront of this wave of UK tech house. And I think a lot of people are just plain copying what some of us artists have done, which is normal. But I just want to be someone who pushes it forward. And I'm doing that by genuinely writing songs with real people in real rooms: writing lyrics, experimenting, trying to cross-pollinate with different genres. I want to be forward-thinking and not look back. People always focus on this nostalgia with everything and say everything was better in the past—but I want things to feel new and fresh and not something that's been done before. I know I'm not reinventing the wheel and rewriting a whole genre, but I’m trying to break into the next phase of it. But I'm also aware that I can't move too quickly, and I'm finding that with a lot of the songs I've written – like Coachella this weekend – I started to really try and work some of the records on social media beforehand, so we all started to know them. Because I've noticed people kind of weren't resonating with them in previous weeks, but it was night and day from Coachella after really being intentional with how I present some of the tracks on social media. I don’t want to get complacent. I think it'd be easy for me now to keep doing exactly what I've done the last two years because it's got me to this point. But I don’t want that. Ironically, there was a meme at one point going around that all my tracks sounded the same. And then when you start changing your tracks, people are like, “What about the old Josh Baker?” It's like “Guys, make your mind up!” But if I stick with it and have faith in myself, I know it will pay off. 

ELLA: You’ve mentioned a few times that you're writing and making a lot more now. How do you balance club functionality with artistic expression?

JOSH: Well, I’m not just gonna start trying to become too smart for my own good. There's no point in me writing an album which is made for listening on the train to work when my fans are ultimately at raves, and they wanna hear club music. I've tried to do something which is still club music, but is potentially a better listen as well—whether it's through the arrangement, the way the vocals have been recorded, or the way the synths have been recorded. So it’s kind of keeping the two in mind. But I did notice when I played in Miami at the end of March, I played a few of the records, and they just didn't hit because I'd focused on certain things. Then I went away and tweaked some things and actually got them to work much better over the last couple of weeks. So it is also just a process; you might have to go a bit further left to then come a bit further right to find that sweet spot in the middle. But even though I am trying to push things forward, the club still remains the focus of what I'm doing. 

ELLA: And going back to Coachella, you've obviously just come off your first weekend. What was that milestone like?

JOSH: I would say Coachella is not something I ever dreamt of. When you asked earlier in the chat if this is what I expected…playing Coachella was definitely not in that. For me, I just thought it's not what they make for DJs. In my head, it was like, unless you're a person with a microphone, you're not going to get on that. So yeah, we did a set on Friday night, the Zenyara after party, which was pretty cool. And then Saturday, Prospa and I did a back-to-back at the same time as [Justin] Bieber, which was funny. One of the guys from Prospa was like, “Mate, we're going to get wiped out. It's going to be like the first gig we've ever played again.” He kind of got in my head a bit. And I was like, “Fuck, this is going to be a disaster.” But then, we end up doing it, and 5,000 people were there. You know what's funny? You know that billboard that said, “I’ve heard it's JB's Coachella” that I posted on Instagram? It was actually AI. So, anyone reading this who thinks it was real, I’m sorry, it was actually AI. Because I didn't get a chance to do it, we’d left it too late. On the way to Coachella, I had the idea and was like—

ELLA: —“Is it too late to execute this?” 

JOSH: Literally. And within 20 minutes, I messaged my manager. He was like, “Right, you tell me exactly what you want on the thing, and we'll get it made.” So I got the driver to pull over, there and then, I got a picture in front of a billboard, and sent it to the designer. We got this design done, and it's got over 100,000 likes on my Instagram. But anyway, this was kind of a running thing with Bieber being on at the same time. But the great thing was I played a lot of my new music, and it really hit. And it was the first time it's really hit since doing a lot of these new tracks. It’s a really proud moment for me. And I think it just signifies where electronic music is at and where it's going to in America.

ELLA: And you’re also doing a 28-day US tour. Have you noticed any difference between American and European audiences?

JOSH: I mean, I think with Americans in general, they're really starting to get it. I think they're really invested. It's almost like they know these British artists are coming over, and they're really excited by it all. It feels really new to them. Whereas, you know, I don't blame the Brits for this, but a lot of the British crowds have seen us go from bedroom DJs to now global DJs. I think some of them might be bored with it. So I kind of get it, in a way, why there is more excitement for us DJs over here. There's obviously still beauty in the UK. I don't have a preference. I think just in general, there's just a very positive attitude to what everyone's doing in the scene in America.

ELLA: Regardless of where you are, what do you think separates a good performance from a great one? 

JOSH: For me, the first track always sets the tone. I'm not really one for milking introductions, though. If I'm playing a much more intimate show, I think it's more about creating a vibe. When it's these big shows, it's trying to create and capture those moments, then building up to those big hits. But you know what? I think I'm still figuring that out. I'll be real. Great is a strong word. I think this summer, that's where I'm really gonna be looking to properly deliver great performances. But you've got to remember, music is so subjective. What can be considered great by someone could be considered shit by someone else. And that's one hard thing… The bigger you get, the more opinions you get. And often the ones who thought something was shit will shout 10 times louder than the people who thought it was great. It's quite a hard thing to get right and appeal to everyone. But yeah, this summer, with some of the big festivals, that's where I really wanted to deliver the great. And I think that comes from more preparation and going into the set knowing exactly what you want to play. Whereas, traditionally, DJ’ing can be quite spontaneous in the moment. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it. Everyone’s still searching for that special formula. 

ELLA: Walk me through your process for Ibiza Amnesia, then… You’re just about to make your debut Ibiza residency!

JOSH: Well, the thing is, when I think about Ibiza Amnesia, that's me. That was the ultimate dream. The dream wasn't playing Coachella, because I didn't think it was a possibility. I think about Amnesia as something way more. You put the USB stick in, you've got a playlist for different vibes, but you're directing people in a way that you would want to be directed in the moment. With Ibiza Amnesia, people are much more intrigued to see where your mind goes. As a raver myself, when I’d go to Amnesia back in the day, I would want to hear what the DJ's got to play: some cooler stuff, some weird stuff, and go on a trip. Whereas when I've gone to big festivals back in the day, you want to see some epic show and hear the biggest stuff. So I think there's a different approach here. But for me, I will be playing less of my own stuff—it’s more of a DJ thing than a performance thing. But obviously, we've got loads of great guests. It's more about creating an experience across the night each week. And again, I've not done this before, so there'll be a lot of learning along the way.

ELLA: I've never been, but I'm going for my first time this summer…

JOSH: Amnesia is the best, you have to go. For me, in this whole period of finding things challenging, when I think about playing in Amnesia on that terrace, that does something to me inside. It feels right and feels like that's what I was here to do. Whereas with these massive shows like Coachella, I know I'm capable of doing it, and I am doing it, but it's still this kind of adjustment period of processing that's who I am now, and that's the DJ that I am. Because when I post things about Coachella on my story, friends from school are like, “What the fuck?” And I feel the same. Even though on social media, it might look like I'm playing it cool, I don’t feel that way. And at this point, I try not to gas things up too much all the time. I think I’ll sound like a broken record, you know? Like, I'm at Reading and Leeds this summer—that’s another one where I never imagined in a million years I would be one of the biggest acts. But I'm not going to write some massive paragraph on how much it means to me. ‘Cause I’m like, “Am I just fucking annoying everyone by going on about all these big things? Do people genuinely want to hear what my thought process is?” So that's actually why I do some of the YouTube videos, because I feel like with YouTube, if people are watching me on YouTube, I feel like they've got a genuine interest in who I am and what I do. And I share some more open thoughts on there.

ELLA: I feel like once people blow up, they think they need to act cool. But personally, I love seeing people show genuine emotion and pride for their craft. 

JOSH: I know, it's a weird one. Because I still am just a normal dude who just happened to like raving and then got into all this. It is a little overwhelming to me, but it almost feels like it's part of the brand to be all nonchalant. A lot of DJs don't even post at all. It's hard to get the balance between being vulnerable online and showing true emotions, but also living up to the nonchalant DJ vibe, whatever you want to call it. 

ELLA: Do you think you celebrate yourself enough, though?

JOSH: That’s a really good question. I think there are moments where I do. I think in recent times, I’ve done too much. So you've almost got a blown-in-the-wind feel, you almost get dragged from one place to the other. And that makes it quite hard because if you do something really epic and the next day you've got to catch a flight and play another show, things can be almost short-lived in the moment. It's a great situation to be in, but because there's always something next, you're always looking ahead. Like, I'm already looking ahead now to Ibiza. I got good at it last year because I had a bit more time. But I think this year, because I’m covering so much new ground, I'm still trying to find my feet with it. I'm not celebrating as much as I should. But I think it's hard to with so much pressure. I've said recently that when things go well at the moment, it feels more like a relief than a win, because there’s so much pressure. Now, I want to focus on really trying to find that balance where I celebrate the big wins and don't necessarily feel relieved by them.

ELLA: On top of that, with founding You&Me the label and SYNTHO, the education platforms, do you also feel pressure or a duty to “give back” to your community or aspiring artists? 

JOSH: Yeah, but for me, I don't think it feels like a duty. I just want to make sure that I'm contributing back to the scene what I got from it. With me having a label and a festival, we can support grassroots artists or “niche” artists. I really value – and I'm proud of the input I have on – giving opportunities and education to other artists. We've got people who come from not making music to learning how to make music with SYNTHO, and then releasing on You&Me. I've created something where people can go from doing nothing to actually releasing. But I don't feel a duty to do it. I just feel happy that I can create opportunities for people. 

ELLA: Considering everything we’ve already discussed, do you feel like you've finally “arrived”… Or is this a beginning point for you? 

JOSH: You know what, I thought I'd arrived last year—and now it feels like the beginning again. This is a conversation which I've just had with my agent. I felt last year, we figured this out. I knew how I wanted to live. I had a very nice kind of cadence of how I was training, how I was doing things. And then this year, because of opportunities, it's almost been thrown on its head. I've never done four shows in a week consecutively. I've just done five weeks of it. And it's kind of ironic. You'd think that after, well, I've been a DJ for 14 years now, that things would be easier. It's not necessarily just because of me; I think it's because of the circumstances of electronic music going so big. It means there are so many more opportunities now. Like, even though you've done all this hard work, you're almost working harder than ever. New audiences are latching onto house music. So it's like you're almost starting over again in terms of growing. It's funny how things flip… You go from like figuring it out, to feeling like you've kind of arrived, to then entering a new category of artists. I guess, when you’re one of the leading artists, you've got to compete at a higher level and just be better than ever.

ELLA: What goals are you setting for yourself within that? 

JOSH: On a higher level, enjoy it. To have fun… Because there was no point in doing all this work to then be overwhelmed by it. Finding a rhythm, finding a setup that feels like genuine enjoyment. It’s almost a dream, but there's a lot of stress going on. I want to go into things prepared, rested, and like I can give my all. Also, I want to see the music I'm writing succeed. I want it to be at an elevated level where people can go, “You know what, fair enough. He actually is quite good. He's proved that he can achieve an Amnesia residency, headline festivals, and make music.”

ELLA: I have one final question: when you look into the very distant future, what do you picture yourself doing… And is it to do with your personal life or your career? 

JOSH: You know what? I think for me it’s sustainability, right? That's a good question because it’s hard to answer. What's really important is I want to do things which are not incentivised by money, content or clout. So, to answer your question, I want to start playing golf. In 10 years, I'll be playing golf more because it’s something that doesn’t raise your heart rate, you get to be outside, you can chat with your mates, and you can have a beer if you want. That’s probably the most random answer you'll ever get for this question from a DJ. But in the future, I imagine myself playing a lot of golf and having a lot of control over what I'm doing. I love making music, but I want to leave it as an open-ended answer that I just imagine myself playing more golf. I don't even play golf yet. Don’t know how, but we're going to get there. 

ELLA: Look, you've already done plenty of things you didn't imagine yourself doing. So makes sense, right? 

JOSH: Exactly.