Treasure Fingers or Ashley Jones as he was born, is an aptly nicknamed DJ producer who has been winning friends and influencing people through his unique disco/ house flavour, with over a decade of international touring and performing behind him as part of drum & bass outfit Evol Intent before turning his talent to the dancefloor. Numerous cool productions have put him firmly in the sights of his peers and clubbers alike and with an ability to put his unique ear to remixing as well, he is inundated with requests.
Having been in conversation with Hed Kandi for some while, both parties managed to align their schedules, which saw Treasure Fingers play at the opening of the brands Tenth anniversary on the white isle. Having smashed the first of their season of birthday parties he has promptly been invited back to play at the closing and mixed the Hed Kandi World Series USA compilation. Essentialibiza caught up with TF to get the inside track on his Ibiza adventure and the nuts and bolts of delivering a compilation for possibly the most famous compilation brand on the planet…
Having played the Hed Kandi Ibiza opening party, you are returning to appear at the closing, how does the Ibiza crowd differ to others around the world?
It’s very unique, mainly because I think it’s a truly global crowd. You’ve got people there from all over the world. Typically it would be hard to read a crowd like that but the fact that everyone comes there in a full-on party mindset usually means they’re up for anything. It’s a great environment to test new tracks out.
Is Ibiza still the place to break new tunes?
Oh definitely. I think it’s pretty even between ADE, WMC/Ultra, and Ibiza. Those are the times whenever all the DJs and clubbers have their ear out for the new anthems.
The electronic dance music scene is rapidly growing in the US, does Ibiza and what goes on in the summer have any impact in the US?
I don’t see it as much over here as the influence it has on the rest of Europe. The scene here in the USA has exploded so fast that I doubt a lot of these new fans even know what goes on in Ibiza. Of course most of the DJs pay attention to which tunes are breaking in Ibiza but on a whole, the general scene doesn’t seem that impacted by it. They’ll catch on soon enough…
How did the Hed Kandi hook up come about?
I’ve been talking with them for years about getting some projects going but the timing was never right or we’d both get sidetracked, but we finally locked in some singles and they pulled me on board to mix the latest compilation for them.
How did you approach the World Series compilation, how difficult was the process of eliminating tunes and deciding on a final track list?
It was extremely hard. Even after the initial cut of going from 35+ tunes or so, I did a mix with maybe 24 songs in it, then I found out it needed to be cut down to around 16, so just downsizing from there was excruciating.
What can we expect from Hed Kandi World Series USA?
It’s just a lot of feel good house music, from disco house to some garage vibes to electro. I tried to take it from big vocal tunes to deeper cuts. I guess it’s kind of a cliche DJ thing to say, but I wanted to take listeners through an experience of an amazing night out in NYC.
Is it typical of how you play out?
Yeah, it’s actually very similar to what I would play live in the club.
Describe your perfect Ibiza day/ night…
It probably starts with the night, hearing some amazing tunes from world class DJs, partying with friends until the morning, then watching the sunrise beachside, maybe hit a day club until you’re on the brink of exhaustion, end it with brunch and mojitos, then the greatest nap ever.
BUY HED KANDI WORLD SERIES USA NOW:
