Jack Beats – End of Love
Jack Beats – Deeper
Big Boi – Shutterbug (Jack Beats Remix)
Jack Beats are such an interesting DJ/Producer duo. Their music can range from the banging hard nature of “Get Down” to the more chill and dubstep-like remix of Leonard Cohen’s, “End of Love” One thing is consistent in their music though – creativity. Listening to music all day long, you tend to hear producers that sound similar. That’s not the case with Jack Beats.
Their most admirable quality is the unique sounds they produce with their basslines. Each one has this wobbly, bouncy, dancy-ass quality that really makes you want to move. With that being said, their differentiated sound has long been a favorite here at The Music Ninja. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with them at the legendary Beta Nightclub and while we got some amazing information, we also had a damn good time.
We’ve separated out each of the members of Jack Beats, Plus One & Beni G, in the responses below. Hopefully this gives you a true feel of what it was like to sit down with these two.
TMN: How do you guys feel about playing at Beta, one of the best clubs in the world?
BG: Man, we love this club. We’ve done two of our favorite clubs in the states in the last two days. We did Voyeur in San Diego last night, and then Beta here is just like…amazing. The sound system, the crowd, the vibe, everything about it is just really really good.
PO: This place has a world wide rep man. It’s one of the few clubs that really does.
TMN: You guys have traveled all over the world playing music, what’s the best venue you’ve ever played at?
PO: To be honest, it sounds cliche, but when we come to the states, it never lets us down. Every city has just been bonkers.
BG: The raves that we’ve done in LA have often stand out because it’s an epicenter for dance music. They always stand out.
PO: Feels like it’s just spreading all over the country now though. I remember when we first started coming over, the west coast was more mad than the east, but now, from what we’ve seen from this tour, it’s amazing. I love it.
TMN: So tying back into that, what’s one venue that’s still on your bucket list of places to play?
PO & BG: (Simultaneously) Fuji Rock. That would be amazing to play that. That’s probably the one that comes up. And Holy Ship. There’s going to be stories (laughing).
TMN: One thing we’ve wondered is how hard was it to get Leonard Cohen to clear using vocal samples for “End of Love”?
BG: That one was pretty easy. Sony literally came back were like, “Oh, it’s been done”. It didn’t seem like there was any bothering.
PO: To be honest, with that record, we were sorta mucking around, almost like a bootleg thing. They cleared the sample, and said “You need to finish the record because Leonard Cohen cleared the sample.” We were like, “Oh, ok.”
TMN: Walk us through the stages of producing “End Of Love”, was it inspired by the vocals or did you guys have a beat laid out first?
PO: We pretty much started with the sample. It was all sample to begin with.
TMN: Yeah because you had that dubby little breakdown that was almost country like.
BG: That was the last bit, really. That bit and the bassline and the drop was the last part. That was all after they said we could use the song.
PO: It’s pretty good shit man. It was just floatin around, and we never took it to seriously until the sample got cleared.
TMN: We have always been a big fan of your work, especially your focus on the “Beat”, with your melodic catchy basslines. Where did you guys get your inspiration from when you started out, and how has it changed over time?
PO: We do have sort of a formula, but I reckon every track that anyone has really liked, there’s pry a different story for every one. We come up with different ideas and we share them, and if the other one likes it, we finish it.
BG: A lot of the time, there’s quite a few of our tracks, that we’re like shit…this might be a bit too far, a bit too odd, a bit too wonky. We like to go fucking weird, and then we start playing it and people really connect with it.
TMN: Going back to previous releases, we still consider your “Get Down” as one of the most amazing uplifting bangers to date. Any plans to produce more aggressive tracks in the future?
BG: Hopefully there will be one or two of them on the album coming out this summer.
PO: There’s definitely a couple on the album. We have the concept down for the second album, and we think it’s going to be quite hardcore.
BG: Shit man, we’ve always made like…club music Whether it be hard, or bangin, it’s club music. We’ve always maintained doing that, and there’s a lot of that in the album as well.
PO: Yeah, we just did a remix for Flux Pavilion, and it’s pretty much as banging as we’ve ever gone.
TMN: (Grinning) Can I get you on tape right now saying we can have the exclusive?
PO and BG: (Laughing) Ohhhhhh man. Haha. I don’t care!
TMN: (Laughing) I’ve got it right here, then!
TMN: So what else is coming up on the horizon for you guys? Anything you’d like to share with our readers?
BG: Just our album really. It’s coming out this summer, at the moment it’s like July.
PO: We’re going to be touring a lot this year. We’ll be back here in October time for a proper tour.
