James Zabiela

About

The bio reads simply: Nerd. And honestly, that might be the most accurate description you’ll get for James Zabiela. For decades, he’s been the quiet, obsessive technician in the corner of the room, elbows deep in a pile of cables and custom firmware. Forget the flashy headlines—this is a producer and DJ whose reputation has been built entirely on the back of relentless tinkering, sonic curiosity, and a fanatic attention to detail behind the decks. There are no big genre tags or chart-topping hits to sum him up here. Instead, Zabiela’s story is one of pure craft: legendary residencies, groundbreaking live mash-ups, and a name that seasoned heads whisper when they talk about the difference between playing tracks and actually performing music. Whether he’s reconstructing a track on the fly or manipulating hardware into something entirely new, his sets feel less like a playlist and more like a machine being stress-tested in real-time. There’s a reason the “nerd” label stuck—he earned it, and he wears it better than anyone.

James Zabiela is a DJ in Singapore. They have performed at Floyd, Plaza Hotel Sydney, Northcote Theatre.