Yes: it’s a Bristol thing, the RuffneckTing institution. Well, Bristol via a superfast, high speed link to Birmingham in the case of Jinx, now linking up in the form of the new ep Run The Track.
He takes us into the ep, explains the fab inclusion of the legendary Jungle Drummer and speaking of smoking… (what’s a ‘jazzy Woodbine’ exactly?)
Tell us about the scene that you’re involved in? How have you come into contact with the Ruffneck Ting crew?
I feel blessed to be part of a network of likeminded D&B/jungle heads. Apart from Ruffneck Ting I also work very closely with labels such as Natty Dub, Hocus Pocus, Dread and Chopstick Dubplate based in London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. We all have a good working family vibe going on as we’ve all known each other for years now.
Myself and Dazee met when we were both playing at Shambala festival in 2012, then we met again when I was playing at a Dread Recordings night in Bristol. We arranged to get together in the studio for some collabs and things started to roll with the label from there …
Now I see the Jungle Drummer here! Great to see and many people new to D&B may not know who he is, so can you explain, and also explain how this all worked on the recording front?
The Jungle Drummer is one next level drummer, that man has skills! I first heard of him when he was working with DJ Fu and doing the drumming for London Elektricity. I was buzzing when he approached me to work on some music.
Unfortunately I was recovering from some operations so I couldn’t get to his but he sent me some recordings of his drumming on different kits. I went through his drums, cutting and editing and ‘Groove’ is one of the tracks that came out of that. His drums also feature in ‘Scorpion Style’ and ‘Drop’ released on my Stand Up album on Ruffneck Ting last year.
The man’s an animal on the drums!
Take us into ‘Wicked’ in terms of the vibe, what you wanted to put out there and how the tune came to be?
I’ve got to be honest, ‘Wicked’ was one of those tunes where I had a ‘party for one’ – a few cans and a few jazzy woodbines – one night and woke up with ‘Wicked’ the next morning.
But then I had the daunting task of making it sound like I thought it sounded the night before ha ha.
Who are some conspirators on here, who else is involved?
It was was good to work with the vocalist Ghette on the track ‘Rebolution’. He’s a very talented vocalist from London and we’ve been speaking for a for years now and done a couple of things – he’s got skills man and he’s a safe guy.
Apart from that we have the boss lady Dazee putting it all together and encouraging high standards of production. I’ve also had loads of support on the tunes from all the crew K Jah, Vytol, The Force, Habitat, Verdikt , Cabin Fever, Sterling Sound, Saxxon, Aries, Gold …
Take us into ‘Every Day’ and the inspiration for it?
‘Every Day’ was one of those tunes where it was a nice sunny day, I had waked and baked and was chilling listening to some random play list. I came across a sample which just caught my ear and then I rolled the track from the sample, it’s mad how tunes just roll out sometimes without thinking – just sit in a mellow vibe and roll with it.
Name a tune that inspires you, of any genre, any era… and why?
man that’s a killer -there are so many tunes that inspire me but one of my all time favourites is Rupie Edwards ‘Ire Feelings’ as it’s a record that my dad used to play, just love the happy summer vibe and it reminds me of my dad and being a kid.
What’s a superb gig you would tell us about… or venue?
I love being part of the Ruffneck Ting nights which we do in Bristol at the Attic and we also did a night recently in Birmingham at Club PST which went off.
We’re also hosting some rooms at big events this Summer. But I particularly love PST as a venue as it’s such a family vibe there and every event always brings something different.
Take us into ‘Run The Track’? And parting words on the ep?
‘Run The Track’ was an attempt at doing a party tune like ‘Ska’ as I used to love that tune but people have also said it reminds them of ‘Nosher’- I still get inspired by tunes from back in the day.
But the ep as a whole is really a collection of party tunes for the dance floor with a nice vibe which is what I think about the scene I’m lucky to be involved in. I feel as though my journey has only just begun and I am looking forward to see what happens next.
Just buzzing to be where I’m at now and having the chance to work with the people that I’ve met along the journey so far.
Catch Jinx at: Ruffneck Ting Take Over the Attic 20th May, Bristol
Love Saves Sunday 29th May, Bristol
Fantazia July 9th, Bristol
Run The Track