Introducing Jack Micheals, this young man has been DJing in clubs when he was barely old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes, and at the tender age of 20 is one quarter of the record label Grin Recordings which he produces, promotes and parties for!

With a string of impressive releases, warming up the main-room at Koko for PUSH’s midnight set on NYE and his own label running parties in
London and Ibiza it seems everything is on the up and up for Mr. Michaels, but we do know that Jack is a humble type and wouldn't pass up the chance to answer a few questions for us here at PP...

Jack, you we're DJing in clubs at a fairly young age, why and how did you get into music?

When I was about 7 my brother Richard brought home the Prodigy CD: Jilted Generation and while all my mates where listening to cheesy pop I was falling in love with dance music.

About 5 years later after listening to serious amounts of tunes my brother bought some Technic 1210s and an old style Kam mixer and I started out mixing drum and bass and garage at the age of 12 with all of my brothers friends that were about 7/8 years older than me and picked it up quite quickly. They never used to let me on the decks until my mate Batch let me have a go and I took to it straight away, from that point you couldn't pull me away from them!

My first clubbing experience was the 414 and then Global Gathering in 2003. The buzz at these events was unreal and I realised that DJing was what I wanted to do, I became besotted with it.

I started buying my own records when I was 14 at Cage records in Kingston which is now closed, and was into drum and bass and garage. My music preference started changing when I was 15 and I got into hard house and techno which I adored and got my first gig when I was just 16 in the main room at No Limits held at Mass, I also played hard house for frantic, summit, and byte.

It wasn't until 2006 my love for hard house disappeared and house music enveloped me. I started going out to house promotions such as VeryVeryWrongIndeed and Circo Loco and knew that this was my new direction. Going to Ibiza in 2006 opened my eyes to a lot of things as well as so much new music, just being able to sit on the beach or by the pool all day listening to anything from dub reggae through to ambient to beach house. Coming home from Ibiza I truly fell in love with house, I will never get bored and I have found my niche with the music I'm into now.

The last time we had you play at Proactive I remember seeing some ballistic energy pouring out from behind those decks and watching you throw your hat into the crowd as the intensity got too much! It was a fiery display from someone with real passion for what they do. That was a fair while ago and no doubt much has happened for you since then, so give us a rundown on the latest things happening in your career.....

I remember that gig, it was f***ing brilliant, the energy in that room was amazing, everyone was buzzing and it was going mental, I could have played anything to that crowd and they would have loved it! I'm a big fan of having an energetic crowd in front of me to feed off their energy and Proactive was a fantastic night for that.

Lately my main focus has been on my record label Grin Recordings and my production. I’m trying to spend as much time in the studio as possible; I have also been working on Grin events down at Inigo Bar in Clapham which has been a huge success. We've been approached by HeatUK to throw a boat party in Ibiza after running one there last year which was a massive success!

My shows have been picking up loads lately with much credit to Chloe Leeks at the Depot Agency who has been working really hard for me. In the last 6 months alone I’ve played the main rooms at Koko, The Cross, Turnmills, Pacha and have played alongside artists such as Roger Sanchez, Sarah Main, Norman Jay and Jon Gurd to name a few. I've also just been approached to play my first International show in Prague! Alongside all of this I have a tour planned for Ibiza in June which is looking to be an amazing time out there. For an update on all my gigs check out the links below:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/dj_jackmichaels
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Michaels/10387492673
DSI: www.jackmichaelsdsi.com

So what do you think will be your next major achievement, and what are your ambitions for the long term future?

I can't reveal too much at the moment but I'm hoping to be playing at a some festivals this year which is my main goal, as going to festivals as a clubber is where my journey started for me, and just to keep new releases flowing out of the studio every month and getting my tunes signed to bigger labels than my own. Everything is going really well right now and the skies the limit!

You have got quite a few releases under your belt now, any recent projects you'd care to tell us about?

I've been working a lot with Mark Batch and Yiannis Balkizas and am working with other artists I've met along my travels. You'll be seeing new stuff coming out on Grin Recordings from Lizzie Curious, Aaron Baskerville and D'Marco.

My new releases are as follows:

R.I.D - Jack Michaels & Mark Batch
Our Music - Jack Michaels & Yiannis Balkizas
Disjointed - Jack Michaels & Yiannis Balkizas
Take the Blame - Jack Michaels & Joe Liuzza
Music Sexual - Jack Michaels
Discobomb - Jack Michaels & Mark Batch
Da Chopper - Jack Michaels & Joe Liuzza

They're all electro but influenced by other genres as well.

What artists influence you in the music you play and produce?

DJ wise- Carl Cox and Mark Knight do it for me every time. Mark Knight is a huge influence on me, running his own label and brand is exactly what I aspire to do. As well as these two people that influence my tracks are Hook and Sling, D Ramirez, Sebastian Leger. Basically completely filthy with a bit of ambience thrown in, and then some more filth!! Haha!

You’re stranded on a desert island (not Ibiza!) what three tunes do you have with you?

Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Solar Stones - Seven Cities
An Ending (Ascent) - Brian Eno

That last tune they played at the end of Circo Loco at DC10, not a lot of people have heard it, absolutely amazing chillout track.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at Proactive?

Jonty Skruff I’ve heard a lot of good things about him and he has a really interesting style,

Steelo, I love his breaks.

Jacob Moss, I really like his tough style.

Erm…. Shall we have a drink?

YEAH, snakebite baby!!!

To book Jack contact Chloe at The Depot on 020 7247 4121 or email chloe@thedepotagency.com

JACK MICHEALS WILL BE APPEARING AT THE PARTY PROACTIVE 4TH BIRTHDAY @ THE SEONE CLUB, LONDON

ALONG SIDE:
JONTY SKRUFFF / JACOB MOSS / CHRIS RAYNER / DALI LIVE / PROTEUS / ANDY FARLEY AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

Photographs Copyright of Beth Crockatt Photography www.pixelmanagement.co.uk

Feature written by Andy Force