Remember the good old days? Parties at mate’s houses, dancing in the living room, just you & a bunch of friends. No attitude, and a shitload of damn good music. Multiply that feeling by about 100, add another 300 or so people, throw in a sound system that poops all over your average ol’ skool ghetto blaster and combine it with some of Sydney’s finest DJ talent. Lastly, trade in the lounge room for a bowling club, somewhere amongst the beautiful industrial estates of fabulous down town Marrickville, and what you have my friends is Mad Racket.

Somehow the lounge room, house party effect is miraculously maintained, and there you have it, one room packed with some pretty happy people. As Jimmi James explains “It is my favourite place to play. Anybody who frequents these events will understand why, for those that don’t…. it’s like playing to 400 of your closest friends, in your own oversized lounge room but with a large surround sound system.”

So, just how did the Mad Racket parties come to fruition? “Well, I met Andy (Zootie) when he had his record store in Newtown, Conspira” laments Jimmi. “He was the man selling all the best pieces of jelly around town. We soon became good friends and started doing parties called Room Full Of Ruckus with Dave Slade and Jaymes Octopus. Andy was also at that point doing Club Phony with Ken Cloud, Simon Caldwell and Lushpuppy/8bit, which finished along with Ruckus at about the same time.

Mad Racket was born soon after.

The name was cleverly thought of by Damien (Message), who also manages to produce original minimal art for every do. Mad Racket started at Bondi Waverly Squash club, (hence the name). The first party also featured indoor squash and ‘70’s court attire, complete with Karla, our U16’s squash/bowls champ & killa’ door bitch. We lasted 2 gigs there, before moving to Marrickville Bowlo, with the first party being Carpet Burns, which even incorporated indoor bowls, that were unfortunately stolen.” Oh well, what can you do when someone nicks off with yer balls?

Jimmi began his DJ career 6 years ago due to a combination of “the lack of variety in what I was hearing being played in clubs at the time, and being inspired by certain DJ ’s such as Simon Caldwell, Stephen Alkins, Ben Drayton & Junior B. I was really inspired by artists like Frank Zappa, whom I had been listening to for a long time as well.

This in turn, led to the birth of many parties held in small warehouses about town.” Jimmi has since been a regular guest at the hugely successful, and sadly deceased Saturday nights at The Chinese Laundry, (brainchild of Kerry Haynes-Bloody Moody Productions), & it still rates as one of Jimmi’s most memorable gigs. Two new nights that continue in that same tradition, and see Jimmi as a frontrunner behind the wheels of steel are Dug Day (Sundays at the Dug Out Bar), and Current Climate (Thursdays at Innc Bar). Jimmi also frequents guest spots at the Mint Bar, and is currently working towards a new venture The Sound and Vision Series, which combines live experimental music, in collaboration with the work of young cinematographers and mac technicians, a concoction previously not yet seen nor heard.

Continuing to inspire Jimmi are artists such as Matthew Herbert, who has also contributed his talents to the MR vibe, and provided a memorable audio delight for many a MR dance floor devotee. So too, do the other Racketeer’s, local producers such as Thunk Recordings, plus many a German producer and 80’s funk star, have all contributed to influencing Jimmi’s unique and tantalizing sound. As Jimmi would say his style is “a fusion of electronic, tech-house, booty bass, electro-punk and experimental music.”

This is a man who can’t be categorised by musical genres – so don’t even try. He simply plays what he likes, and he plays it damn well. Jimmi James is definitely a very under rated, but thankfully not exploited, talent of our “electronic music community” as he prefers it to be known. As greedy as it sounds, I quite enjoy the fact that the secret of his talent, skill, passion and knowledge is somewhat confined to the MR dancefloor – more noise for the rest of us!

Jimmi James plays “Cut A Rug” (a stylin’ wig party!) @ Mad Racket, this Sat 7th July. Marrickville Bowlo, corner of Sydenham Rd & Fitzroy St, Marrickville.

Jimmi James’ Famous 5
Singles:
Radio – Wishmountain;
Hot Rats – Zappa/Beefheart; The Jungle – Playboy;
White Horse – Laidback; Erotic City – Prince

Albums:
All Herbert and Doctor Rockit releases;
Payback – James Brown; Cymande – Cymande;
Hot Rats – Zappa/Beefheart;
Big Soup – Like Vibert