Jp & Jukesy talk to Adam M about their new 2009 tour, their label and family life

This article is about HI OKTANE @ Kerbcrawler in Leeds (UK), Fri 20 Feb

1. Hi Guys hope your both well. It’s good to have you onboard as the new 2009 Hi Oktane residents along with Glazby & the Tidy DJ’s. What did you get up to over Xmas & New Year?

Jp.... The festive period was pretty busy for us gig wise. Think we did about five gigs in as many days which considering jukesy's new arrival was pretty good going. I'm sure he will let you all in on below........

Jukesy – Been having a busy personal time since November really after a really difficult pregnancy which has resulted in many hours spent at the hospital and still a few more to do yet but little George is doing well after being born just after 27 weeks and weighing as little as 2lb 2 ounce, still a long way to go yet but fingers crossed! Thanks to everyone who has sent lovely messages of support!

Really glad to hear it mate.

2. Since I can remember you have always been a b2b duo. Have you always played b2b?

Jp.... Yeah pretty much every set we have done out has always been b2b. Apart from the odd set where one of us has been away I would say there has only been maybe 4 times over the years that we have played solo.

3. Where did you both meet?

Jp..... It was many many moons ago at the once legendary Sundissential north in Leeds. The monthly Sundays at evolution are part of hard house history. This was many years ago when madders could put a party on and clubbers would turn out in the thousands each month up in Leeds.... Alas he can't now lol....

4. You’ve been signed to Tidy management for quite some time now; you’ve really stuck out as being the harder edged DJ’s on the agency. Do you like playing the tougher stuff or is it the funkier edge sound which you push on your Deprived of Funk label that you prefer playing out?

Jp..... We are known for the harder end of the stuff that we play and for me personally that's what I enjoy playing the most. However it’s good to play some earlier sets and play some of the more groove based material. We pride ourselves on making sure we play the right style depending on what time of the night it is. Nothing worse than somebody banging it out at 150bpm before midnight, it’s just plain silly...

Jukesy – I love anything really apart from really really cheesy stuff and we used to be branded as just hard dj’s but we have worked hard over the last 2 years to get out of that and that shows now as we have a great all around music policy that works extremely well.
The great thing is in 2009 we will be fully supported by our management at Tidy and we are really excited about working with them and having a fantastic year!

5. Deprivation records is obviously your baby. You have just recently celebrated the labels 5th Birthday. What new tracks & projects have you got install for the label this year?

Jp.... It’s been a great 5 years for us with over 30 vinyl releases under our belt now and whilst we still have another 5 or so planned we are following suit with the current trend on changing the format we release our music on. Tidy set the standard with the successful music library series and it looks like the way of the future for hard house music. Keep a eye out for our first cd hitting the stores late Jan. Track wise we have loads of stuff due with a notable mention for the debut of the legend Karim in the label......

6. You have both been busy working with the Birmingham based night Xstatic over the last year which has really gone from strength to strength since moving to its new home @ The Custard Factory. What have you got planned for the Brand & Will Xstatic being doing a tour in 2009?

Jp........ Ever since we knew we wanted to move onto the events side of things we knew the venue was perfect. It was a long time in the making but as soon as we got jimmy and James Valex on board we knew the mixture was right. Adam will fill you in on what we have coming up

Jukesy – Full steam ahead on various projects for the label but a lot is currently so secret not even my mum knows! There are a couple of things we can let you know about though
? We will be launching a combined Xstatic & Deprivation Tour, Deprived of Hard house 2009 which is a Free tour for club promoters with free flyer and banner design, full PR support on our associated sites and a fantastic pool of hard house dj’s including ourselves, Jimmy Dean, Andy Farley, Steve Thomas, UK Gold, & Defective Audio!! Sounds quite good doesn’t it??! Jukesy@jpandjukesy for further info and the tour will kick off at the custard factory in May and Storm!!
? We will be doing the first ever hard house marquee event at the Custard Factory in May!!!
? Exciting new Friday night project in Birmingham being launched, more details coming soon on this!

7. What did you think of HI OKTANE when you played for us last year?

Jp... Love playing in Leeds and love Oktane, its music policy is right up our street, The mix of dj’s is always right and the crowd always like the harder edged stuff which is a bonus....

Jukesy – Leeds has always had a fantastic crowd and it’s great that Hi-Oktane has made such a massive impact, we love coming up and the last time the crowd were well up for it!

8. You’re playing a later set at the next event on 20th Feb, what can we expect from you guys on the night?

Jp.... You can expect loads of new forthcoming deprivation material plus a couple of new Jp & Jukesy tracks too. We didn't get much studio time last year but we are back on it this year with 3 dates booked in for January alone.

Jukesy – 2009 is the year of production for JP & Jukesy, Keep your ears on high alert!

Thats what we like to see.

9. What’s that special track you just can’t seem to take out the cd wallet?

Jukesy – Legend b – Lost in Love at the moment, Timeless!

Hand baggers – You found out is always lurking around too actually!

10. JP & Jukesy’s top 5 Tracks at the minute?

Jp.... I'm a fan of Karim & Frank's - Strawberry Kiss, Vavavoom by the legend Defective Audio and I still can't stop playing Echelon by Dave Owens

Jukesy - Our remix of Malice in Wonderland, Defective Audio – Homeboy, Jimmy Dean – Preach & James Nardi's Remix of k-tel all hitting the spot!

Some amazing tracks there.

11. Finally, who would you like to see on the line up along with yourselves when you return to Hi Oktane again in June?

Jp... Some of legends of hard house maybe Wardman or Thomas mixed with the likes of Farley, Karim, Glazby and Ian M.

Jukesy – Sounds like you need one of our Tour’s up there Adam, would be great to see that happen with all of the above and UK gold ;-D

Haha, deffo sounds like a plan to me!
Cheers Guys and I will see you on the 20th.

HI OKTANE