Jimmy’s first love of music was like everyone else his age, the shiny visceral pop of Madonna, Michael Jackson and the Human League which punctuated the eighties, the decade of his childhood. Puberty may have brought to his attention the opposite sex in turn promoting incessant viewings of eurotrash, but this thankfully didn’t have an input on his musical tastes; instead he was seduced by the pomp of west coast rappers like Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre and the laid back G-Funk sound which accompanied them. The obsession with Hip-hop continued, leading him to develop a fixation with Atlanta mavericks Outkast and the New York sound from the likes of Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Dance music simply wasn’t on the agenda, until by chance he ended up in long forgotten Wolverhampton hedonistic mecca Mezzanine, before shortly being sent off to Liverpool University to do a course in Law. It was here that he was greeted by the country’s biggest clubbing monolith, Cream.
It was at Cream where his burgeoning interest for dance music developed (and acumen on his law degree dwindled, dropping out of the degree and changing suit subject wise), attending religiously during his first year. Whilst the years went past his music tastes matured and he became less interested with the trance big guns on at Cream and switched his allegiance to Bugged Out! where he would see the likes of Dave Clarke, Layo & Bushwacka!, Justin Robertson and DJ Sneak. By now he’d started amassing vinyls and learning to dj, soon taking his record collection out of his bedroom and into the house party scene. A tentative first gig at a friend’s birthday in The Velvet Lounge led him to enough confidence to think about running his own night. He started the Liverpool University Dance Music society (Liverpool DMS) and then followed that up by creating Superfly with Comedown Kelly’s honcho Stewart Macleod. The night quickly progressed from a midweek institute of debauchery to the hedonistic jewel in The Zanzibar’s crown, attracting the likes of Serge Santiago, Koma and Bones, James Mowbray and Ali B down to play.
For just over three years the General promoted Superfly, helping to establish it’s identity as one of the most hedonistic and fun loving of Liverpool’s cartel of dance music nights. Leaving in late 2006, his focus instead came on his website www.plasticsoup.com, run in coalition with the mighty maestro behind this very site, Paul Burkey, which has rapidly Liverpool’s premier site dedicated to the discussion of music. He’ since been established as resident at Audiojak in Lincoln, as well as Liverpool’s very own Misadventures in Hi-Fi, teaming up with Alex Wasikowski who was one of the first memebers to join the DMS when Jimmy founded it in 2003. MiHiFi blew into Liverpool’s consciousness in 2006 with three stellar parties seeing the likes of Marc Romboy, Jo Mills and DJ Alena holding court, and as 2007 dawns much more is promised in terms of infrequent and un-conforming hedonistic parties.
As far as Dj appearances goes, Jimmy has managed to appear at pretty much every major venue in Liverpool, clocking up appearances for the likes of Chibuku, Wrongdezvous, Aztec and The Lake of Stars. An eclectic taste has meant that Jimmy plays a variety of differing musical genres in his sets, dependant on each individual club environment, leading to playing alongside djs as diverse as Zane Lowe, Mutiny, Stereo MCs, The Greenskeepers and even Furious Five rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel, as well as the artists booked in for Superfly. This diversity sees him equally at home segueing rare ital disco to boogie-inspiring funk and filling the gaps in with ass-shaking hip-hop and rip-roaring soul, or offering up full throttle club sets based on a Teutonic amalgamation of pumping electro and visceral techno. If it grooves, excites or tantalises, the likelihood is that there’s an avenue for it to be included in some musical capacity.
For more information about booking General Jimmy or anything related to plastic soup, contact him direct on his email at jimmy@plasticsoup.com or on 07815 954632.
I've posted , 13 live chat messages, and I've not been spotted yet.
Music I listen to: Jackin House, Electro House, Dirty House, Tech House, Acid House, Alternative Dance, Minimal Techno, Detroit Techno, Acid Techno, Electro Techno, Liquid Drum and Bass, Jazzy Drum and Bass, Jump Up Drum and Bass, Hip Hop, Reggae, Industrial, Electronic Body Music, Funk, Disco, Jazz-Funk, Soul, Jazz, Rare Groove, Indie