Quotes from Jonas Blue

My first bit of gear was a Roland JV-1010 sound module. I used to hammer the hell out of that.

The one thing about Essex is that there's a lot of people there that are into their soul music. And I'm talking '80s and '70s soul music, that was a big part of my childhood, there was Al Green, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, people like that.

It's the worst feeling, going into your record label when you haven't got a hit. It was like: 'Maybe you've lost it.' And, once you're done, that's it. There's no support, or anyone to help you.

I've always wanted to collaborate with Shawn Mendes, he's an amazing artist, but the thing with Shawn is that I won't collaborate... me just sending some beats. It has to be in the studio where we'd both be there recording together.

To be honest, I'm like a sponge so my inspiration and influences really can come from anywhere.

I've never had that boring office job. All my jobs were music related.

I love the idea of Pro Tools, but it doesn't seem as attractive to me in terms of the music-making side. It's great for recording, but with Logic you get the best of both worlds, the ability to do great tracking and producing something that sounds great as well.

If I could stay in a dressing gown all day I would.

I grew up with all different genres of music, and I want to include that in my production as well.

I love touring, it gives me the ability to see the world and meet some amazing people who are into my music.

The role of a DJ is being able to keep people on the floor for X amount of hours so you can't just push buttons to do that, you have to have good tracks and a knowledge of where to take people.

Before I hit any country I always do my research. I look at what's on the chart there, what's worked in the last few years. As a deejay, as a producer, that's when I get editing. I bring my own edits of tracks that are really cool and happening out there.

When I got to high school, to be playing an instrument was really uncool.

Anyone can be a DJ but it's understanding how to read a crowd and keeping them on the floor is what takes years of experience.

The concept of 'Blue' is to transport its listeners to a different world with music. And I chose to release a full-length album because it enables me to experiment with many different production styles, not just a single sound, and take listeners on a journey.

I like releasing singles because I can get them out there quickly and it's based on the changes, the sounds that are going on all around the world that I'm hearing and just a whole different bunch of influences which is sometimes hard to get across on an album because it can take a few months or a year to come along.

I think some people have this thing where just because you do singles that means you're not a real artist. It's like hold on a minute - I'm selling millions of records here and been streamed billions of times... How can I not be taken as a real artist just because these songs are singles?

My family wasn't involved in music, but I love music.

I've always worked from a young age and was never big on drinking or smoking, so whatever money I had I put into synths.

Even when I'm travelling - which is when I do most of my writing - I have a little portable keyboard.

I come from the streaming world, so the changing trend of consuming music that way is positive for me.

I stay up night after night looking at new software, seeing new trends, what music's happening you know you've just got stay constantly connected and that's just something that I do and I think is really important.

I'm always up for collaborating with people who are slightly leftfield.

I find in America, actually, I actually prefer it because it's all about energy. It's all about making everyone feel happy and smiling. In the U.K. sometimes people are a bit too concerned about, 'Did you play that track? Did you play that track?' It's not so much about the music in the U.K.