Exclusive interview with Doctor P

Published: September 26, 2013

By: Jacki Horne

English dubstep producer, Doctor P is notorious for prescribing face-melting performances of heavy bass, and his show in Austin, Texas was as hyphy as ever. A rowdy crowd of freaks, twerkers, and crowd surfers came out to Haven in Austin for Doctor P’s Circus. Doctor P, a.k.a. Shaun Brockhurst, kept the crowd raging until the early morning hours and even slayed the encore where he came out and killed it with classic “Sweet Shop.”

We were able to catch up with him before his set and chat about his upcoming single, the rise of the mainstream’s dubstep saturation, and his advice to aspiring EDM producers.

I’ll start out with everyone’s favorite question: Are you a Mac or PC user?

Mac, I used a PC my whole life but then I just eventually gave in.

I loved “Champagne Bop!” When are we going to get to hear new bangers like that from you?

I’ve got a track out on the 14th of October. It’ll be my next single, with Method Man.

All great performers feed off the energy of a crowd, what kind of crowd do you find yourself vibin’ off of most?

I like it when crowds cheer, crowds that make a lot of noise. Sometimes crowds don’t cheer in certain countries. They do here (Austin, TX), but you go to some other places and the music will stop, then its just silence. I like it more when crowds make a lot of noise.

How many faces do you think you’re going to melt off tonight?

Hopefully all of them!

What do you enjoy most about co-owning your own label?

Control. Obviously, I still have deadlines and stuff but I like the fact that I’m the one in control. It’s nice to be able to do what you want.

Dubstep has come a long way as far as popularity since Circus Records was first founded….what has the recent mainstream saturation of the genre done for your label?

I don’t think it’s done that much. We haven’t actually had any commercial hits on the label. We had the opportunity to sign a couple of big people but we decided not to. We didn’t want to go in the radio direction. Obviously, we’ve had stuff played on the radio, but we didn’t want to make it all about getting played on the radio. We (Circus Records) prefer putting out the music that we like. Even though dubstep kind of went mainstream, our sales stayed on a kind of underground level.

What did the mainstream saturation of dubstep do for you on a more personal level as a producer?

Obviously, the bigger dubstep got, the more bookings I was getting and shows I was performing. My sales are still on that underground level, but I started getting good bookings at a lot of festivals and stuff, which is good.

What does the Doctor prescribe for budding producers who dream of one day owning their own label, and being as successful underground as you are?

Just do what you want, that is what I always tell people. Do what you want, and not what you think people want you to do.