Fresh from releasing his Fabric mix CD, cross-genre warrior Sinden shows no sign of slowing down for the new year. Bodytonic grabbed a few minutes of his time following a hectic pre-Christmas campaign for an interview and a quick 30 minute streaming mix.

You’ve just finished a US tour. How did it go?

“It was wicked, really good man. It was the first time that we’ve taken the Soundsystem (Sinden and The Count) thing over there so it was a new experience - but everybody loved it. I always envisaged it going really well but they really warmed to the MCs - it’s cool to put a face to the project.”

You work a lot with emerging artists: Ny on ‘Fool in Love’, JME on ‘Industry’, Rye Rye and then Kid Sister who wasn’t at the level she is at now when the Beeper remix came out. Are you not tempted to go the easy route and get someone like MIA on a track?

“No, not really. I think it loses direction when we start to do stuff like that. With this new artist album, we’re working with up and coming people, people that we’re really into. It’s not really about just calling up someone who is more high profile. I think the more exciting results happen when it’s someone who you are presenting for the first time like what we did with Kid Sister and Rye Rye. We’ve got people who are really starting to build now and it’s more exciting to present them at an early stage.”

I recently asked Hervé about the origins of your sound and he was saying it was basically because he was bored of dance music and it was, in a nutshell, awful. Are you of the same opinion or do you think it’s changing?

“I’m not really that cynical about dance music, there’s always something out there I can find that really excites me still. You can always look at the bigger picture and say that it’s not as exciting as it used to be or whatever, but there’s always enough there to get your teeth into and there’s enough new talent there to definitely still excite me. I just personally don’t like to be too cynical about it.”

Your single ‘Hardcore Girls’ did the business - are you going to keep us waiting long for the next one?

“The next single will coincide with the album release so I think we might have to keep you waiting a little bit but it’ll be worth it! It’s gonna be another vocal track, maybe a kind of hybrid dancehall crossover type thing - but probably not until March or April.”

The Fabric mix was quite eclectic - do you feel like you have a little more freedom with mixes as opposed to live sets?

“Definitely. You have to take into account that people are going to be listening to this on repeat and you don’t want to be sort of banging people’s heads about too much. It’s really all about pace and progression in the mix and making sure that things ease into each other and not really go mental - which could easily have happened - but I wanted to experiment with it and reflect what styles of music I really like.”

I heard rumours of ‘Machines Don’t Care part II’ - how’s that coming along?

“It’s coming along good. That tracks that have been made all sound great, we’re just testing them in the clubs at the moment. There’s a killer track with Toddla T and Hervé which is a big ‘un. There’s some cool stuff from Jesse MSTRKRFT. We’re just kind of opening it up a bit more on the second volume and reaching out to a few more guys but at the same time keeping some sets in from the first one.”

Finally, Mega Mega Mega? What’s that all about?

“It’s basically a short term event that we run occasionally. So it’s just us doing our own club night in a small venue, intimate surroundings and that and getting our friends along to play with us and totally mixing it up. It’s not just about contemporary club music, it’s about what’s influenced us - eclectic music, getting indie bands to DJ and getting people who have inspired us to DJ such as Sunship. It’s going to draw in a lot of different influences and styles.”

Sinden's 'Fabriclive 43: Get Familiar' is out now, check below for a taster streaming mix from him.