One of Australia’s drum and bass stalwarts, Greg Packer, spreads his message from the West Coarst to the East. By Christina Rowatt.
Tell us a little about your journey through jungle drum and bass?
It all began when I emigrated here fro the UK in 1989, I was seventeen and I had just bought decks and developed an interest in DJing. In the UK it was a lot bigger than what was I was exposed to a market that I was coming out of hip hop and getting into the early rave music which was a mixture of house, techno and breakbeat. I was sort of seen as the first jungle drum and bass DJ in Perth because I broke away from the group of DJs playing the raves. Everyone was sticking with 4/4 stompy music, and I was the only DJ who ventured into the breakbeat side of things. I went off on my own. I was still being booked for the raves and everyone else was playing the house and the techno, that’s why people now look at me as the first jungle drum and bass DJ of Perth.
What do you think of the state of the Aussie scene?
There’s still plenty of DJs coming over, there’s still plenty of people willing to go out and support events – that’s not a problem, but it’s become harder to get your music signed, people are becoming more picky
Who is really interesting you as a producer?
Marcus Intallex and Calibre – they’re actually still making musical drum and bass. Those guys have the perfect balance. I really rate those guys highly.
Do you think crossover gigs like this one have the potential to expose more people to the sounds?
It’s quite surprising how it works, everyone is pretty open minded. There’s always going to be some crew there, each time I’ve been there I’ve played to decent sized crowds. In my experience, people into hip hop or house seem to like the more musical drum and bass rather than the hard and dark stuff – that seems to only appeal to the drum n bass headz.
What are you planning for the future?
DJing is a job, a way to earn a living obviously I don’t want to give it up anytime soon. I’ve been involved with a lot of music, started off with hip hop and soul and funk in the eighties and electro, I went through a stage where I played house, went through a stage where I played breaks went through a hardcore stage. I think I’ve gone through a lot of genres, get into something for a bit, get bored of it and move on, but the whole jungle drum n bass thing ive never really thought to myself’im sick of this, I want to do something else, theres just always tunes coming out that I like.
Greg Packer’s new mix CD ‘Soul Fuel’ is out now through Inertia. He’s touring Australia to celebrate its release, be sure to catch him at one of the following venues:
Nov 26th – Sydney, Terminal 9 @ Metro (BUY TICKETS)
Dec 10th – Melbourne, Terminalk 9 @ Metro (BUY TICKETS)
Dec 17th – Adelaide, Terminal 9 @ Traffic
Dec 18th – Hobart, Terminal 9 @ Halo
