SFBG: What instrument were you playing?

JB: Piano.

SFBG: When did you start playing?

JB: At 5 or 6.

SFBG: Were you also performing?

JB: No, I hated performing. That's why I stopped.

Joakim performing with live band in 2006.

SFBG: What were you like as a kid?

JB: I was very tall. And very shy.

SFBG: When did you start listening to music other than classical?

JB: When I started dating.

SFBG: What was the relationship there?

JB: It's hard to date when you listen to classical music. It becomes cool when you're much older, but not when you were 15.

SFBG: When did you started to listen to electronic music?

JB: Between the early- and mid-90s.

SFBG: What was the music scene like at that time in Paris?

JB: I cannot really tell you. I think I started to go out in Paris in '95 or '96. It was really great because there was an energy and, you know, a dynamism in the scene with Daft Punk appearing. It was really moving. I remember I went to a party with DJ Sneak and then Daft Punk arrived, and that's how it came all together. It was very fresh. The kind of thing you experience just once in your life.

SFBG: When did you start making music?

JB: Around the same time – '96 maybe, or '97.

SFBG: What kind of equipment did you start out with?

JB: A very cheap keyboard, with just a sequencer inside it. Very bad sounds.

SFBG: So, did you distribute any of your distribute your music before you starting putting out on labels?

JB: I went to see a few labels with the synthesizer because I didn't have a tape machine, so I used to bring the whole synthesizer and play songs on it. They thought I was crazy.

SFBG: Did they decide to put out your record?

JB: No, no. I sent a tape from Gilbert [Cohen AKA DJ Gilb'R] from Versatile [Records]. He called me to say that he liked the tape and that I should probably buy some more professional equipment. That is what I did. I sent more tapes. He liked one song very much and told me that if I could make a record with that kind of music, he would put it out. That is what I did, and that is how we started.

SFBG: Tell me about Tigersushi. It started out in 1999 as a website and then became a label later. What was the original concept?

JB: The original concept was to make an encyclopedia of music, to make people discover new and old stuff and to connect everything. If someone likes Björk, for example, maybe they should listen to Aphex Twin.

SFBG: Were you mostly writing text? What was the content?

JB: It was a huge database with records, labels, and artists. We were writing reviews about records and biographies about artists. We were writing some special features like how hip hop was born, and New York disco and disco music.

SFBG: When and how did Tigersushi turn into a label?

JB: When we launched the website, we thought that we had to make some publicity. We thought that putting a record in a record shop with a website address would be the best thing to do.

SFBG: What were your first releases on Tigersushi?

JB: The first record series was the same philosophy as the website, meaning we put out 12"s with on one side a reissue of an old track and on the flip side a new track from an artist that we liked and that we tried to link with the older artists. It was a way to mix up genres and periods in music history.

SFBG: How was the series received? Did people like it?

JB: It was very strong and very sudden. We very quickly had a lot of good feedback and people sending us demos. That was really quick. But I think it is like that when you make compilations to start labels, you create a very strong image quickly because you can tell people exactly what is your musical image.

SFBG: What is you role at Tigersushi now?

JB: I answer the phone; I make the coffee; I do the paperwork. Three people total are there.

SFBG: What is the office like?

JB: It is very, very messy. Really.

SFBG: Do you consider yourself a messy person? Are you messy at home?

JB: No, I am a maniac.

SFBG: How did the office get so messy?

JB: I am not alone.

SFBG: I have heard that when you were recording Monsters and Silly Songs, your hard drive was erased and you lost all your music. What happened, how did you recover, and how did the record change as are result?

JB: It changed because it wasn't the same – I mean, I did another record, because I had no trace of anything before.

SFBG: How much had been completed?

JB: I don't know, maybe 60-70%?

SFBG: Did you attempt to re-record the same songs from memory?

JB: No, honestly I didn't have a memory of everything I had done because I didn't record demos for most of the songs. It was very fresh. So I basically started new songs and maybe two or three songs I tried to reproduce . Also, by the time that I lost the hard drive, I had composed some songs for the live performance, so I used those songs for the [new] album.

SFBG: What is something that you really like about Monsters And Silly Songs, and what is something that bugs you about it?

JB: Lately, most of it bothers me.

SFBG: Why is that?

JB: I don't know. It's just always like this. I think if you feel satisfied by something, it means you have to stop.

SFBG: Do you consider yourself a perfectionist?

JB: No, not so much. I mean, yes, but at the same time I am very intuitive about the way I work. I don't like to do things twice. That doesn't make me a real perfectionist though. I believe in the first stroke.

SFBG: You do a lot of your own album art. Do you do a lot of drawing or visual art?

JB: No. I just had to because at Tigersushi, I was the one who knew about to use Photoshop, so I became the Art Director, if you will, because I was the only one who could do it. I am not "classically" trained [laughs].

SFBG: Do you have a job outside of Tigersushi?

JB: No, it's more than enough.
SFBG: Do you have any remixed in the queue?

JB: I just finished some but now I have to focus on my next album. We started recording two weeks ago.

SFBG: When do you hope to have it out?

JB: End of 2008 or early 2009.

SFBG: What is your touring schedule like?

JB: I am touring every week.

SFBG: How do you like that lifestyle?

JB: It depends on the day. It's something that you have to do because for most musicians it's the living. But when you DJ, sometimes it can be a little lonely, and that is why I tour with a band. It is more fun.

SFBG: How would you describe your fans?

JB: I don't know who they are. They should show up. I guess they are nerdy people. I hate that. I would like my fans to be beautiful women and gay people, because they are more fun [laughs].

SFBG: Any funny stories?

JB: Maybe the one when we were stuck in an elevator 20 minutes before a show in London. It was very Spinal Tap. All of the band started to jump inside of the elevator for some unknown reason, and that broke the elevator.

SFBG: How did you get out?

JB: The fire rescue came. The thing is, we were supposed to play, so people were trying to reach us. It was quite ridiculous. But we were just in time for the performance.