I'm on the blower to Groove Terminator, better known as GT, trying to set up an interview. "How about Friday morning I suggest, "What time suits you?" Anytime as long as it's not before ten," comes the reply, accompanied by GT's trademark giggle. "I'm not the best first thing in the morning." All together now : "Aaah."

It's a tough life being one of Australia's best known dance DJs and producers, spending your nights in clubs and recording studios. But someone has to do it, which is why it's 11am and we're sitting at this outside cafe table in leafy Woollahra on a bright autumn morning. Scoffing scrambled eggs, thick coffee and conversation regarding GT's new single, "Losing Ground", and the album to which this is a mere teaser.

"Losing Ground" is a pumping house track that's been written and produced by GT with Noel Burgess of Vision Four 5 featuring vocals by Zena (not the Warrior Princess kind). What's more, it comes complete with remixes from Coursey & Duane of Vicious Vinyl (Melbourne based label), Code Warrior (aka Ben Suthers), and a speed garage mix from the mysterious Johnny Lisbon. Happy as he is with the track, GT's quick to point out that people shouldn't draw too many conclusions about the album from it.

"It's probably going to be the most banging track on the album, which I want to be pretty diverse. I don't want to totally wear my influences on my sleeve, but I do want to show where I'm coming from without anything being token."

And when GT talks about letting people know where he's coming from, you begin to understand why the album is likely to be diverse. For years, back when he was still living in his native Adelaide, I thought of GT as a hip hop DJ and producer, a view based mainly on his remixes for the likes of Swoop and Skunkhour. At the same time, many people in Brisbane had him pegged as a hardcore rave DJ on the basis of one big party he played there in the early 90's. "I started DJing when I was 13," he explains, "and initially I did see myself as a hip hop DJ. But by about 1990 or '91 I was just like, "Ah f**k it. I'm just bullsh**ting myself here. I jst like tracks, whatever the style.' Thats when I started getting more involved with house.

"When I started DJing I often worked five nights a week, milking it for all it was worth so that I could get better money and play bigger gigs," he continues. "Eventually I made a conscious effort to take a step back in order to learn how to write songs and get the production side down. These days I really only play on the weekends but at the same time it's really vital to know what's going on on the dancefloor, because that's what I make music for. For example, I took most of December and January off to concentrate on making the album and I noticed that what I was writing was really different. Not necessariy better or worse, just different, because I wasn't thinking about the latest track I heard that weekend. But at the same time, I do need to be sure that what I'm doing will work in a club. It's all about getting the right balance."

Evidence that GT has been getting the balance right comes in the form of banging house tracks like "It's On" and his remixes for Dead or Alive, Lisa Maxwell and others. Not only has he built himself a national DJ profile but also had some international success.

"Lisa Maxwell went top five in Japan and Dead and Alive did pretty well there, and "It's on" went to number one in Budapest or somewhere like that," he laughs. GTs hoping his Japanese success might be enough to get his album released there - "and if it does, I'm on the first flight over!"

But the first album has to be finished, scheduled for June [wasn't on schedule was it! - epod] GT promises that it will not only be varied in terms of style but also in the mix of vocal tracks, instrumental tunes and what he refers to as "real songs, songs your mother could sing along to. I'm a sucker for a good tune. I think writing a good lyric that isn't just rehashing something that's been done before is the hardest thing to do.

"So far a lot of the things I've put my name to have been pretty disposable, throwaway tracks," he concludes. "I'm not disowning those tunes because they work in their context, it's just that writing a club track that lasts longer than a season is really hard. The tracks on the album are all aimed at having a bit more longevity, but still being club music. That's the challenge I've set myself."

On the evidence of "Losing Ground", typical or not, GT is definately moving in the right direction.