meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
RA Podcast

EX.789 Interplanetary Criminal

RA Podcast

Resident Advisor

Music

4.7662 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The contemporary face of garage talks about obsession, overnight success and his turn towards a more mature image and sound. Over the last few years, Zac Bruce—better known as Interplanetary Criminal—has become the definitive face of a global garage resurgence. He seemingly appeared overnight with his 2022 chart-topping anthem, Baddest Of Them All, made with singer Eliza Rose. But his story extends far beyond this career-defining moment. His journey is one of deep-rooted obsession: from the quiet stillness of producing lo-fi and jungle in his bedroom in Leeds, to co-founding the ATW (All Thru the Night) imprint, a label that has become a lighthouse for a new generation of garage heads. This last year was a whirlwind for Bruce. He headlined a show at Brixton Academy and played at major festival stages around the world. But as you’ll hear in this conversation with RA editor Gabe Szatan, Bruce isn’t interested in the shallow shine of accolades. He’s a selector in the truest sense—someone who spends as much time digging for obscure white labels as he does A&Ring the next wave of talent. He and Szatan also touch on the epidemic of “edit culture;” the cost of maintaining artistic integrity; his transition from the "silliness" of his early viral moments to a more mature sound; and the community of peers that make his ATW universe feel less like a brand and more like a family. This one has been a long time coming. Listen to the episode in full.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to another episode of the Resident Advisor Exchange. Zach Bruce, Interplanatory Criminal. I'm really happy that you're here. How you doing? Yeah, it's good to be here. It's good that we could finally make it work, you know. Honour to be here, absolutely. DJ May, DJ the year, a headliner of Brickton. A new ATW record pretty much every week it feels like tour in the world.

0:22.7

Do you fancy having a day off at some point soon?

0:24.7

Yeah, I mean, that's almighty.

0:27.0

When you say it like that, it does sound like a,

0:30.5

I mean, it's actually quite nice to hear you say that

0:32.5

because you sort of, when you're in the midst of it,

0:35.3

it's easy to just, for it to just be another, you know,

0:40.0

sort of like another thing you've planned for, you know, but actually last year, looking back,

0:45.4

especially the end of last year was, was with, I guess, Brixton being this huge thing. I mean,

0:51.7

the way that we did it was sort of the whole year revolves around this one

0:55.2

show and for it to go the way that it did. And I felt like it was a really huge moment that I

1:04.2

really enjoyed, even though it's so, gosh, like the whole day you're kind of stressing, but it,

1:09.9

you know, we really planned it.

1:11.9

And when you plan something like that and it goes the way that it was expected, it does feel deserved.

1:20.1

Again, with the DJ mag thing, it's just, wow.

1:24.1

I mean, still now saying it, you do sort of get this like imposter syndrome a little bit.

1:29.0

But when you look back at the year that we had, I felt like, I remember thinking, no, I can, I'm allowed to feel like it was deserved, you know.

1:42.3

But yeah, it's just, yeah, it's just now that we're sort of move past

1:47.2

that for me i'm like on to them you know what what's next on to the next thing you know definitely

1:51.7

get on for that in a minute one thing i want to pick up on immediately is you're saying we not i so

1:56.2

when you mean we do you mean you and your team do you mean you and adam do you mean the whole

1:59.6

watw unit like what are you thinking of when you use that word yeah I mean wow

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Resident Advisor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Resident Advisor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.