Jackmaster: Addicted to DJing

After learning the basics of DJing from Spencer, then getting a crash course in the history of underground house and techno from the people at Rubadub, Jack and Spencer set up Glasgow club night Seismic. Then, after building a solid following in Glasgow and beyond, his 2011 Fabriclive mix took him to the next level. “I’d started getting some gigs in Fabric’s third room with Rustie and Hud Mo,” he explains. “Then one day I got a call to do a Fabriclive mix!” Coinciding with the demise of a long-term relationship, the mix gave Jack something to focus on other than heartache – and it massively increased demand for him as a club DJ. “After that I was getting booked every Friday and Saturday, so it was lucky I didn’t have a girlfriend,” he laughs.

Describing the two poles of his DJing style as “playing Lionel Richie, coming out of the DJ booth and instigating a conga” and “playing hard-as-fuck old New York banging techno”, he took inspiration early on in his DJ career from mid-noughties Diplo, whose genre-hopping mixes and DJ sets were proof that being a straight-down-the-line house and techno DJ wasn’t the only way to go. “When I first heard him mixing baile funk into Tears For Fears into Cajmere’s ‘Percolator’, it was almost everything I’d wanted to do as a DJ subconsciously,” he explains. “That jumping between genres thing really resonated with me. Unfortunately, what he does now – jumping on the decks table and waving a flag around – is everything that’s wrong with dance music.”

While he built his reputation on an ability to be equally at home playing Cyndi Lauper or Whitney Houston tracks as Dance Mania or Underground Resistance records, often stating that he doesn’t believe in such a thing as ‘uncool’ or cool’ music, he’s beginning to shy away a little from the breakneck party style of DJing, telling us that playing DC10 and seeing DJs like Dixon and Ben Klock has started to shape the way he plays. “When I first saw Dixon in DC10 mixing two tracks for three or four minutes at a time, I was really impressed,” he admits. “I wouldn’t leave the dancefloor once he got going. The magic of DJing for me is taking two records with two different energies and creating a third energy plane in the mix. Not many people do that better than Dixon.”

Early the next morning we’re side of stage at Sónar as Jack awaits his 4am start time. Full of nervous excitement, as much brought on by his deep respect for the festival as the 10-minute changeover between Boys Noize’s set and his, Jack turns to Mixmag and says, “I think everyone’s going to fuck off before I get on,” then adds, “I’m just going to play ecstasy music. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to hear here!” But as soon as he gets behind the decks it’s clear any trepidation is unwarranted. Generally on a straightish house and techno tip, Jack keeps a near-capacity crowd at the cavernous open-air stage dancing until sun-up, playing house and techno rollers peppered with party classics like ‘RIP Groove’, ‘Psycho Killer’ and a slowed-down and strung-out version of ‘Man With The Red Face.’ Playing on a vast main stage, away from the usual hubbub of DJ booth hangers on, Jack’s focus on the mix is intense, only breaking concentration to occasionally ask for a light from those gathered side of the stage, or grin broadly at the ecstatic crowd. And it’s a similar story at DC10 two days later, when he arrives 90 minutes late for his gig in the garden after a flight delay.

Playing an early evening set directly after San Proper, Jack transforms the DC10 garden from a smattering of people head-nodding and dancing politely to a sea of hands-in-the-air and incessant whooping from those packed in at the front. Jack doesn’t believe in “only being a six out of ten in anything”, and is never content to have a crowd languidly enjoying themselves when he could have the whole dancefloor eating out of the palm of his hand. Afterwards, he’s in the mood to enjoy himself and heads to the DC10 office to watch a lacklustre nil-nil draw between England and Slovakia before getting a round of tequila shots in for Mixmag, Heidi, his brother and a bunch of friends he’s picked up between the DC10 office and the backstage bar. Bouncing between the bar and the DJ booth, where Seth Troxler is overseeing proceedings, Jack’s in the kind of mischievous mood that’s got him a reputation for being something of an over-indulger through the years. But is being seen as the DJ people most want to party with ever something of a burden?

“For me, it’s getting annoying,” explains Jack. “I want to be remembered as someone who plays good music, not as some fucking party boy!” Going on to tell Mixmag that turning 30 earlier this year “flicked a switch” in his head, Jack explains that 2016 has seen a slight change in his approach to life as he tries to curb his drinking a little, exercise more and take up NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), a form of self-help that aims to help eliminate negative thought processes.“If I carry on at the rate I’m going now, I’ll have a problem in 10 years,” he says. “I want to be able to have a glass of wine with my wife and kids when I’m sixty!”

Telling us he wants to focus more on bringing new Glasgow artists through in the future – having already given the likes of Jasper James and Denis Sulta a leg-up – he envisages a future where he’s built enough of a legacy to be able to “just play two or three gigs a month”, rather than the 10 to 15
he’s doing right now. Having said that...

“Y’know, if it all dried up, I’ll play at the end of a bar in Glasgow on a Friday night for fifty quid,” he admits. And given how much this guy loves DJing, you probably wouldn’t get him off until Sunday night, either.

Jackmaster’s new MASTERMIX event series kicks off on Sunday 2nd October at XOYO in London and continues in clubs around Europe until Christmas