Jacket Off is the latest electronic outfit to come out of Melbourne, the band is made up of DJs CB Field and Many Feather (Mashup/Decks/Effects) with The Baron on Sax & Mad Mitch on Drums, additional vocals and MC flavour is added by freaky diva, Priscella J. Between them they have played all over Melbourne; venues like Revolver, Q Bar, Brown Alley, The Espy, Bimbo Deluxe, Room 680, The Evelyn, Esco Bar & Circus. With current residencies at The Gunn Island on Friday’s and Veludo on Saturday’s. On a bigger scale the crew have had mixes aired nationally on Triple J, supported a number of internationals (standout being Meat Katie), toured through Thailand and most recently, The Baron appearing on Rove Live with his other band – The Legs and this Friday 5th October they are performing at Move’s 1st Birthday and Last Hurrah at Veludo.
Alright Cam, your monthly club night ‘MOVE’ (a fitting name due to all the venue changes) is almost a year old. How are your plans coming along. I read something about your b’day being your last party as well, what’s this all about?
Yeah, we kind of road off the back of the whole ‘Move’s moving’ thing back in April. This has been our only venue change so far though, unless the rest of the motley crew of Move misfits managed to throw a ‘We’re Moving’ party mid month when I wasn’t looking… f*ckers! ;o) As for this Friday, Move lights a candle and celebrates its 1st Birthday. We’ve thrown all that we’ve got at this bad boy and it’s going to be without doubt our best yet. When you put as much of the right stuff into a party, people come down, rock out and then leave wanting to know when the next one is on. This is one of the ways we’ve measured our success over the past 12 months. You can always pay promoters to get the wrong type of crowd at your night or you can choose to work hard to create something unique. We chose the later… Not an easy feat but there is nothing more rewarding than creating the all important want for to people to come down and party.
Friday is a going to be a double affair as it’s with clubbing sadness that we announce our birthday will be our ‘Last Hoorah’. Well, at least for a while. We’ve built a quality night and have come this far. Continuing the night requires a great deal of time and energy by the whole crew to make it all happen. The dynamics of the group aren’t the same as they were 6 months ago, so rather than dying a slow death as most nights do, we’ve decided to go out with a BANG. The way that Move aught to be remembered.
What can we expect for the big birthday bash?
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been joking around saying that “a prerequisite of being a headlining act at Move’s 1st B’day was to have just finished a national tour” and Jono Fernandez & Nick Thayer have done just that. Fernandez on his Ableton Live setup supporting Meat Katie’s latest album ‘Vibrator’, whilst Thayer toured the release of the In The Mix 50 compilation (double CD mixed with Sydney sider Rob Kay). Jono and Nick are without doubt on fire at the moment. Their productions/remixes are making their way into the bags and charts of top jocks all over the world, while behind the decks, touring nationally pretty much says it all. Other acts/DJs on the bill include Jacket Off (Live), Luke McD (Lounge), Hans DC (Revolver & BW), Move Residents – Eric ST & Josh Ihle, Broken Logic (Vs), Shelden and Alex Lamb. All over two levels, The Balcony and The Basement. We have Brazilian beer co. Brahma putting on The Ginger Squad. A group of Capoeira Dancers and Drummers – something that needs to be seen to be believed. Think crazy karate infused dancers in a club. All that plus clothing giveaways from our funky sponsors at Syke & Nique. “More packed than a meat pie” were the words of Eric ST back when we appeared as guests on ‘Kiss FM Showcase’. It was aired live just before our first party back in June ’05. E-Rocks words are rather fitting for this time round to.
Can you tell us about the ensemble that is ‘Jacket Off’?
For sure, myself CB Field & Many Feather controlling decks, effects, mashup and scratching. The Baron on Vocals & Sax plus Mad Mitch on Drums. The name Jacket Off is relatively new to the scene, but if you added up all the years we’ve been working our craft you’d end up with a figure well over 20.
Reading your bio you’ve have had national exposure on Triple J, what was that experience like?
I first appeared on the Triple J 3 years ago with a progressive mix of mine called ‘Lost In Traffic’. Nicole Foote hosted it on her program The Club. A year later I sent her ‘Break’n The Mould’ (Breaks Mix) which she also aired and then 6 months after that ‘Shimmi 1.0’, the first of my electro series which also got a run. However, it was this third time round that Nicole (aka Footie) invited me down to ABC studios where I did an interview with her. All of these mixes were aired as mixed by CB Field, but as for the fourth appearance on the J’s, I have my sights set on ‘Jacket Off’ appearing as guests to play Triple J’s Saturday night dance session Mix Up.
Cam what are some of the bands musical influences?
Bryce, you’ve so just opened a can of worms asking this one mate. Daaamn, where do I start…? The core sound of the group is def. DJ orientated and with that in mind, the Feather and I spin beats from Daniel Taylor, Santos, Electric Press, Da Fresh, Chris Lake, D.Ramirez, Chris Carter, Malente, Thayer, Oliver Lieb, Jaymo & Hauswerks, Jacob London, Freestylers, Spirit Catcher, Till West & DJ Delicious, DJ T & Bookashade, Trouble Soup, Prydz, Amon Tobin, Madox, All Good Funk Alliance, Groove Diggerz and Beat Assassins. As we add the other elements to the band (vocals, sax and drums) this is where Jacket Off really comes to life. The Baron and Mitch are influenced by guys like Tom Waits & Jeff Buckley as well as groups such as The Mars Volta & Rage Against the Machine.
The Baron recently appeared on ‘Rove Live’ with his other band ‘The Legs’. Any chance you guys will be invited on soon?
Good question. Having The Baron already on Rove is without doubt a good foot in the door. As for our act I can’t think of any DJ bands that have appeared on Rove in the past. Given the opportunity though, we’d probably be all over it like a polyester suit on a used car salesman (1 2 U TB).
‘Jacket Off’ recently supported the massive dance act ‘Meat Katie’ what was that like?
Easily one our top three gigs to date. Came on at 11pm, had the whole place rocking by 12, finished to everyone cheering/applauding, then we hung round and partied till 6am. What really blew us away was the amount of people coming up throughout the night after the gig thanking us for “such a wicked set, something unexpected and different but works.” Hearing raw feedback like this gets you on such a high as it is without doubt the fairytale outcome for a gig. 1) we’re loving it coz the place is jumping 2) crowd gets an extra something on top of what they paid for and 3) the organiser can stress less as their party just kicked off better than they had intended it to. All in all it’s a Win-Win-Win.
If I walked in to a club and you guys were on the bill for the night, what could I expect from a ‘Jacket Off’ set?
Duel DJs bouncing at the back of stage rocking out dance floor goodness, while the 2 front men get your ass shake’n with their live feel of Sax and Drums. Saturday nights down at Veludo you can catch us with additional vocal/MC flava added by freaky diva, Priscilla J.
Over a 4 hour set we cross through half a dozen different styles, so it’s always hard to tell people what our sound is. Over time punters will get to know our sound, but to give you the heads up now we kick out everything funky or boompty early, dirty electro grooves towards the middle and rocking breaks as we bring it home. I would be holding back if I didn’t note that the Feather like it freaky to.
Every gig is different from the last, but by having a diverse sound, many elements and a consistent groove we’re able to deliver on our performance, time and time again.
What was the Thailand tour like?
Kind of unexpected. I went over on holiday in August last year and before leaving I had set up a booking in Bangkok which was right at the end of the 3 weeks. Once I got over there I managed to play twice in Koh Sumoi during the first wk. The second week played to thousands at a full moon party in Koh Pranang, then to a crowd of 500 up Nth at the Warm Up Café, Chang Mai and then finally played the gig in Bangkok. The whole trip was a DJ’n highlight without doubt and I would love to be back over there doing it all again during the next 12 months.
What are ‘Jacket Off’s long term musical goals?
To have a little clarity on the long term goals we’ve been getting all the short term ones covered. Looking at it all though, we’re well on track. The website www.jacketoff.com is up (complete with a 75min demo mix & 5min video clip), we’ve secured two residencies (Fri & Sat), currently negotiating 2 more (Thurs & Sun), we’ve supported a handful of internationals with Fractured and we recently headlined the Park Life after party where we warm up for Stanton Warriors. Long term (3-6 months), a lot of the focus is on bettering what it is we are doing and delivering solid performances week in week out. Doing this will pave the way for monthly interstate gigs which will build our reputation and get us playing all the big festivals over summer and New Years which just around the corner. Soo close now, you can smell it!
Away from the stage and in the studio, we’ve already begun writing. Our goal is to kick out a production or two a month which will give us a good base in 12 months time. Individually we have half a dozen down. All being different in their sound. However, after a year of jamming and producing as Jacket Off we’ll be in a great position to decide on what direction we want take it.
Are there any releases due out soon Cam?
A bit of forward reading would have done well here. Pretty much sum’d it up in the last question. Although, one I can let you know about that is currently in the making is ‘Chick Licker’. Destined to be a big dirty groovy f*cker! – One thing that I can assure you of!
Thanks to Cam Bloomfield from the ‘Move Crew’ & ‘Jacket Off’ for his time.
Bryce Jarvis
