Jesse Rose Q&A

Posted on | September 8, 2009 | No Comments

Photo by Lars Borges

The last time I saw you play was in a bar on Shoreditch High Street. You were clearly unimpressed by the truly shocking sound system they had in there.

Sometimes you try out a new promoter and that’s a bad move, in this case it was a very bad move but as we all say ‘shit happens’. The other day in Berlin I played for a new promoter at a party on a man-made beach by the river, I didn’t expect much but it turned out to be one of the best parties of the year, so you never know…

What are your favorite clubs to play in worldwide?

Fabric because of the sound system, Panorama Bar in Berlin for the old school atmosphere, Sub Club in Glasgow for the amazing up for it crowd, Womb in Tokyo for the knowledgeable crowd, there are so many… Robert Johnson in Frankfurt, the list goes on…

Do you ever struggle to combine your responsibilities as a label manager with your production work and DJ schedule?

Not really, you need to be more planned out than before but i have lots of people around me helping, label managers, assistants, managers, booking agents etc.. so that makes my life a load easier… I have days to rest, days set out for being in the office & days set out for the studio, even time set for record shopping. It seems to most people like you just get out of bed at 3 in the afternoon and check some tunes, maybe head to the studio for a bit but loads is going on all the time that most people never see.

Do you enjoy the jet setting aspect of touring?

Not so much…. in the first years of touring the world it’s really exciting to be checking out different cities, five star hotels, business class flights and although these things are still really appreciated, for me it’s all about getting to the club, rocking the crowd & meeting new people. When you have some time to have lunch in a town it’s great to be able to get a vibe of a place, for example I just checked out Oslo for the first time the other week and it looked like a great place to hang out, really good food, friendly people and lots of green.

Any forthcoming releases on Made To Play that you’re excited about?

Loads… the Riva Starr album ‘If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade’ comes out in December & sounds fresh. Idiotproof, Zombie Disco Squad and Oliver $ also have hot new EPs dropping before the end of the year… we’re all coming out to the states in December for a big tour with Scion which looks like fun and we’ve got our new label ‘Play It Down’ starting very soon for more house jams.

Any new releases from you in the pipeline?

Another single from the album ‘What Do You Do If You Don’t?, called ‘Well Now’ with mixes is dropping soon and a bunch of remixes for peeps like Strictly. After this I’m working on production for some new artists coming through which is pretty exciting.

3 Tracks you’ve been playing out this summer?

A white label called UPS

Ceven Fisher – Freaks Come Out – Idiotproof remix on Made To Play

Henrik Schwarz remix of Bill Withers on CDR

Finally, are you into literature and who are your favourite writers?

I just read a few James Fray books which i thought were cool… and the Logic 9 manual was an amazing read of course…:)