We are talking with Jensen Interceptor aka Mikey Melas - uplifting soul, DJ and producer from Australia. He has been releasing singles since 2012, his energy rocketed with releases through Boys Noize and Sheffield’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) labels and numerous cool collaborations. His sound is combined from electro tradition influenced by the greats - Kraftewerk & Detroit sound - and modern edge, pop twists, moving dancefloor beats. His tracks has been picked up by many of the biggest DJs while sets played by Jensen Interceptor himself are delightful too. Dive into our conversation.

Lovely to greet you to the other side of the globe. How is Australia?

Not great, but we are getting there. A few months ago in NSW (the state I'm currently living) was hit very hard by the delta variant of covid-19. As there wasn’t a big push for vaccines in Australia, we weren’t prepared for this wave and as a result have been placed into a dramatic but very necessary lockdown. The positive news is that thankfully people are now motivated to get vaccinated and we are very close to hitting 80% fully vaccinated nationally, which means things will be opening up again very soon. A message to everyone no matter what country you live in, if it is possible for you to get vaccinated, please do so!

Wild times for artists. Who would have thought that gatherings will become the place of spreading something more than good vibes! How did it affect you? You've missed the parties?

This pandemic has affected me in so many ways that I don't think I can even begin to articulate it. I'm still not sure I’ve fully processed everything yet, still doing the work. My mental health has been more than tested, for a very long time I wasn’t able to focus on music due to all the chaos we have seen and continue to see all around the world. I'm still not 100% back in the same musical headspace I was pre covid and maybe I never will be, but yes I miss parties, I miss having that connection with people & can't wait until I can dance with strangers again.

How are the corona restrictions now? Are you finally able to live and work as freely as possible?

Sadly I've been incredibly unlucky with the timing of my plans this year. Earlier in the year Australia re-opened and had 0 covid cases while Europe was still mostly shut down, so I made plans to return to Sydney from Berlin. As soon as I landed in June back in Oz we went into lock down, whilst back in Berlin everything re-opened again. So sadly It's almost been 2 years since I was able to work. I am feeling positive things will change soon though as like I mentioned before, we are almost at 80% fully vaccinated and the government here has said that things will open up once we hit that figure, so for all y'all who haven't been vaccinated yet, please go get it!

What treasures you've dug out recently? Maybe ear is happy to hear some completely new, unexpected genres or sounds?

Yes I have been discovering so many amazing new artists recently / this past year, from many corners of the globe. There is a label / collective of artists in Brasil called ZONAexp that has been absolutely killing it. Everything they do is so fresh, creative & raw, it's been really inspiring for me. Some other names that have been making me shake are Nene H, Lawrence Lee, BAE BAE, Antpuke, limitbreak!, POUCH ENVY, DJ Delish, Dagga, Mirin Doja, Bored Lord, Half Queen, Zvrra, Bapari, River Moon, ARCHANGEL, Salome & the entire Raiders crew in Berlin, just to name a few.

This summer's HOR radio Tresor.Berlin set was enriched with some good pop tunes. Please, comment on this matter :)

I love pop music.

How many years you're diving in music industry and how it all started?

I guess you could say I first got into the music industry when I was about 13 / 14 years old. I got a job at one of the first underground dance radio stations in Sydney called Dance FM 99.3 as an assistant. From there I shifted into promoting underaged dance events for the station and then when I hit 18 obviously made the switch to working over 18 events with various clubs. Djing came a little later, I had always played around with my older brothers decks and would do it for friends birthdays and house parties here and there, but my first actually billed and paid "gig" happened in 2006 through a friend who was running a regular club night I was promoting for. That same friend went on to introduce me to music production and it all snowballed from there. To answer your question I guess I've been working in the music industry for around 20 years now.

Were there any DJ's or artists you were looking up to? Who inspires you now?

In the early 2000's there was a collective of 6 Dj's called Bang Gang who ran one of the most important & iconic club nights in the history of Australian clubbing. They were all hugely instrumental in my early music & DJ aspirations. One of those DJ's in particular was named Ajax (RIP) who was my hero and role model. He played all the tracks I wanted to play and mixed them like no one else could. Around this time there was also Soulwax, The Hacker (still a big inspiration for me), DJ Hell, David Carretta, Aphex Twin, Drexciya & going back even further into the early 2000's / late 90's there were many gabber & happy hardcore DJ's that I loved such as Nick Fish, DJ Spellbound, DJ Akira & Peewee Ferris. Inspos now along with the names I mentioned in question 4 would be Voluptus, DJ Stingray, UNIIQU3, Yazzus, Sinistarr, DeFeKT, Detroit In Effect, DJ SWISHA, Sarah Farina, Luz1e, Assembler Code, Amadeezy, Cyan85, I really could go on

What recent releases were the most personally exciting for you? Which labels are you following deliberately?

The most exciting & incredible thing has been the Black Artist Database. Since they started, I've been going through it every week and I'm constantly discovering so many new & amazing artists / labels. I feel I kinda covered most of my current favourites in questions 4 & 7, but here are some other labels worth mentioning, HAUS of ALTR, Voitax, Klakson, childsplay, Apron Records, Hooversound Recordings, TRAM Planet Records, BICUDArec, Source Material, HABIBI BASS, casa voyager, Craigie Knowes & Sweaty Records.

How did you like touring as a part of the DJ game? Could you share one or a few memorable stories from touring adventures?

Touring in 2018 /19 was so incredible & such a blessing but without sounding like a total cliche, sometimes it can be such an emotional rollercoaster. Here is what most weekends are like when touring, deep breath...It all starts with the airport, your flights are delayed, sometimes canceled, somehow by some sheer miracle you make it to the show, then a room full of people you don't know have the power to totally eclipse all those sad emotions & stresses you've had all day / night from your travel woes. Suddenly its over, back to the hotel and you have to check out in like 3 hours (so no sleep), back to the airport, more airport soap opera plot twists, maybe flying in late that night to the next city, which most of the time means all the restaurants are closed so you don't get to eat a nice meal, which sometimes after a day of travel stress is all you want / need to feel like yourself again. Never fear as the promoters has been kind enough to bring you a sandwich, once again you have a room full of beautiful people that make you forget all these little stresses. Then 3 more hours sleep if you’re lucky, back to the airport (hopefully no more delays or cancellations) and back home where I am a zombie for the next 2ish days only able to deal with what food to order and what to watch on netflix. That's pretty much how it goes for the most part but regardless how tiresome that is, it's the beautiful people you do meet along the way that make it all worthwhile.

You have a funky artist name. Have you ever drove a legendary Jensen Interceptor vehicle?

I have physically sat in the seat of one, however sadly was never handed the keys. Of course one day I hope to own my very own Jensen.

What would you recommend for those who would love to dig deeper into your music field?

I would suggest taking a deeper look at any artist you love / are inspired by. Find out who they love and who has inspired them, if their influences sparked the creation you love, maybe with your own imagination & creativity, you could go even further with those same influences.

What are you going to do today? What's the weather forecast of the place you're in?

The weather is lovely today, very sunny and sitting around 20 degrees Celsius. With light north easterly breeze, I'm currently tackling some life maintenance and working on the next release from my label 'International Chrome' which will be from french electro wave extraordinaire 'Djedjotroinc'. Thanks for the chat and hope you're having a super cute day :)