Last summer we threw a party with the Just Jack crew to mark the launch of their agency wing Jack Music Agency. We pride ourselves on our impartiality, but the fact we’ve done four Bristol Spotlights (mixes below) on the JMA roster, goes some way to show how much we dig their taste in clients. After a busy summer taking Just Jack abroad and building up the agency, we thought it about time we caught up with JMA boss Robin Sure with a Q&A and mix. He’s put together a selection combining some of the JMA roster with some other sounds he’s into at the moment, from Mano Le Tough, DJ Koze, Genius of Time and more. Free download below, and tracklist coming soon – subscribe to our Soundcloud for updates.
Their London Freak Boutique this weekend might be sold out, but there’s still plenty coming on the horizon from the Just Jack camp in Bristol. Inner State presents Djebali and The Organ Grinder is coming next month, while they’ll be teaming up with Futureboogie for a special NYE party at Empire Theatre.
Download Robin Sure’s JMA Bristol Spotlight
What was the thinking behind setting it up JMA, and how come it’s happened now after over seven years of Just Jack?
For us it seemed like the natural path to follow, we had a look at starting the agency a year ago but it just didn’t seem like the right time. Now we’re in a much stronger position with our parties hitting all the right spots and the roster is looking much stronger!
We asked Seka about you running the agency and he agreed that ‘fearless leader’ was a good description. What are you three key principles for running the agency?
Haha! I’m not sure I’d roll with fearless as I’m shitting myself about this project, but my key principles are work all hours of the day, work hard on your relationships and be happy with having fuck-all cash!
Is there a particular musical area you’re sticking to with the artists you manage, or will it be a pretty broad selection?
With the agency we’re going to widen our spectrum a little. All of us enjoy loads of other styles of music and the agency is a good outlet for us to express that. Obviously we can’t stray too far from the nest but having a narrow mind when it comes to music doesn’t feed creativity. You should listen to jazz, blues, funk, soul and even psychedelic rock to shape your sound and set yourself apart from everyone else in the scene.
Have you got any grand plans for the way you see JMA going?
I hope to take on some other agents in 2014 and take over the world!
And more immediately, any news from the JMA camp?
Yeah we’ve recently taken on Admin and Tomson, which is pretty exciting stuff. Billy Disney is finalising an EP For Pets, Rowlanz is teaming up with Jay Tripwire to write and EP, Campion has a release out on Pete Herbert’s Maxi Discs, Dustin is debuting on Nixwax and they have so much other stuff in the pipeline but I’d need another 1000 words to fit it in!
Spreading the net a bit wider to Just Jack, we see you took it abroad this summer to Ibiza and OFF Week for the City Love project. How did they go?
We were really pumped for this party as its our first time in Barcelona and Oscar (Farr Festival) has worked really hard to come up with the concept. When looking at other OFF Sonar line-ups we decided to curate something a little different that would pull the right crowd, luckily Wadsworth is a long time friend of Just Jack and jumped at the chance to play alongside Bodycode and Hunee, who played two of the best sets I’ve seen in a long while. Later in the summer we headed up the main terrace at We Love…It was a killer show, the guy who run it are such an amazing crew, all really switched on and down to earth. For me though, Tom Rio and Dan Wild were by far the highlight of the night – this video says it all!
The idea behind City Love is connecting different cities through their electronic music culture. What impression of Bristol’s scene did you think Just Jack made on Barcelona’s party scene?
I think we showed them how to jack!!
Did you pick up any tips from Spain’s music culture that you think Just Jack or Bristol can learn from?
Yeah I think the importance of new spaces was a big eye opener for us and NEVER compromise on sound quality it was a real issue at our party!
Was the realisation about new spaces what prompted you to start Inner State? What’s the deal behind the new project and can you tell us a bit about the first event coming up next month?
Inner State really came from a need for something a bit different. After running the day party with Stamp The Wax and Just Ticket last summer it became apparent that there’s so many spaces in Bristol which could be used but aren’t because of the time and effort needed. Alongside that I’ve got a long list of artists who I’d love to see and haven’t had the chance to bring to the city. Djebali (Freak n’ Chic resident and DC-10 regular) has never played in Bristol before and his records on ( djebali ) really do it for me. Add the Organ Grinder, Hypercolour bossman Cedric Masion, Tom Rio & Sam Mole, and I think we have a party 🙂
And one more about Bristol, are there any local producers or DJs bubbling under that you think we should keep an eye on?
There’s so many but I think Admin, Summits, Borai, Rowlanz, Arkist and Shanti Celeste are really pushing hard at the moment.