international news _ 4th October, 2006
Judge Jules’ Personality Crisis
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Judge Jules chatted to Skrufff this week about his upcoming artist album
‘Proven Worldwide’ and qualified a recent statement he made to new London
magazine Base.Ad in which he said personality behind the decks made up 49%
of what comprises being a good DJ.
“By personality I don’t mean being a radio personality and getting behind
the mike, I meant being a performer behind the decks. You can hear some
fantastic mix CDs at home that are carefully crafted and mixed with loads of
effects but if the DJ looks like a sack of potatoes then I’m sorry, you’re
going to leave the crowd going home cold,” he explained.
“Ever since the acid house area of the 80s, people have always danced facing
the DJ so of course, they’re looking at the DJ and what the DJ is doing is
important to them. You only need to look at the direction everybody’s
pointed in on virtually every dance floor that if you are standing there
looking really bored regardless of the quality of the music, then you’re not
performing to the best of your ability,” he said.
Jules stress the key to successful DJing is having charisma, which he
suggested can be developed through practise.
“You can certainly grow into becoming a more confident individual in the
face of the crowd and having confidence in what you’re playing also helps,”
he said.
“Being out there, honing your set as much as possible makes you a much
better DJ, because it gives you far more opportunities to test records.
Through practising a lot and doing as many gigs as possible you can let the
records speak for themselves and actually be more confident like that.”
“You also need to perform these days, whether that’s goading the crowd or
going mad but at the same time you’ve got to be technically very competent,”
he advised.
“Any degree of mixing cock-ups is spotted straightaway.”
Judge Jules’ new single Ordinary Day is out on October 2 and his artist
album Proven Worldwide, on October 9 on Maelstrom Records.
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