With a Breakspoll award neatly propping up his mantle piece, you'd forgive Alex Metric from sitting back on his laurels. But putting his feet up is one thing Alex isn't about. Prepare to meet the production whiz kid who deserves his title of The Next Big Thing....

Did winning Best Breakthrough Producer at this years Breakspoll come as a surprise to you?

I was slightly surprised as I feel my sound has changed a lot in the last year and a half or so. It's cool that people have stuck with me and are into what I'm doing now though.

Were there any producers who you felt should've been nominated but weren't?

I don't really know enough about the new producers in the breaks scene to comment, but Sick Rick should have got Breakthrough DJ I think. He's smashed it and totally on the merits of his DJ skills, he played at Fabric Live more than any other DJ last year. That's pretty impressive stuff.

Outside of the field of dance music, are their any artists whose production work you particularly admire?

It's hard because a lot of the producers killing it right now are from the dance world. Paul Epworth is amazing. I love the production on everything he does, and I like the really pop direction he's heading in. It'd be easy for him to do Indies bands forever. Stuart Price is a real hero, and I can't wait to hear what he does with the new Killers album, it's a winning combo. I'm loving Bloodshy and Avant too, the guys who did "Piece Of Me" for Britney Spears, their production on that track is sick. Great pop music that challenges the listener a bit on that front and doesn't go for the easy option.

How's the producer work you're doing on the new Adam Freeland album going?

Nearly finished. A few mixdowns to tweak but its nearly there, and sounding really really good too I think. It's very different from what either of us has done before, and definitely has its own sound going on. It was a really enjoyable process doing the record, and spending time in LA wasn't bad either! It's got some great guests on it including Tommy Lee, Joey Santiago and Devo.

What made you choose Marine Parade as a label to work with?

I like the open minded policy there. I knew I would have free reign to do what I liked with my album. So far that's been the case, the record has gone in a really different direction and they are open to letting me experiment. Its all songs at the moment, quirky electronic pop songs essentially I guess, but with some fucked up production. I'm loving writing songs and singing again, something I ignored for a long time - it's good to vent emotions through a song. I'm really happy with it so far.

Can you tell us about your own studio setup - is it mainly hardware or PC based?

A bit of both! I got really bored of doing it all in the computer about a year ago, so I got an analog desk, a load of old battered synths and some guitar pedals, and started making alot of noise that way. The UAD plugins are indispensable too, they changed everything.

Do you have a preferred piece of kit that might surprise people?

My Casio MT 40. Essentially it's a kid's keyboard, but distorted through an old space echo it sounds insane, like a guitar. It's doing the guitary riff on "Deadly On A Mission"

What can you tell us about your live show aspirations?

KEYTAR KEYTAR KEYTAR. The live show is the next step; I'm just thinking about how best to go about it. I'm gonna be singing, playing my lovely keytar and God knows what else! I need to think about whether I go down the full band route or just get a couple of people to turn knobs and hit things with me, it might be a lot to do on my own.

The Hard Fi Suburban Knights remix on your MySpace page - is that likely to see the light of day?

That's the weird thing with major label mixes sometimes. They pay you loads of money, then they get it mastered and it never appears. It's odd it's not online anywhere, though I thought it was on one of the vinyl promos. It smashes it every time I play it so I'm happy for an exclusive.

Can you tell us what a typical Alex Metric DJ set would consist of musically?

Gabbacore. Nah I dunno, I play right across the board, whatever tickles my fancy. I'm an Ableton man so i like to fuck stuff up while I'm playing - acappellas, effects, re-editing etc. You'll prob see me hitting stuff as much as I am mixing! My only DJ rule is that I always have to play a Daft Punk record, and of course I play a lot of my own stuff too. I'll definitely be road testing some of the Freeland album and mine too at Fat!. Also my new remix for the Infadels if I get it done in time!

Finally, how would you like the rest of 2008 to pan out for you?

Having time to finish my album. DJing has gone mental at the moment and I'm struggling to balance the studio with it, but I'm getting there. I have about 3 months left to finish it, and then it'll drop in September time. So after that I'll be touring the album and singing my little heart out, and I suppose just have it continue building as the last year has. I'm on top of the world right now, really chuffed with how things have gone.