Words By: Damian B
I’m on the phone talking to the legendary DJ and Mac2 boss Randall when suddenly there’s a crazy scuffling noise and the sound is badly breaking up. This isn’t in the script. What’s happened?
There are dogs barking, and it sounds heavy.
‘Hello?’ Turns out that someone’s dog was feeling brave enough to front up to Randall’s. Not a good move. You’d have to be barking.
Before the interruption the chat was like the beats: brisk and energised. The state of D&B in the digital age juxtaposed with Randall’s hardcore roots in the music. What was emerging was a vision of some historical crux, a crossroads. It’s as if the huge obelisk in ‘2001’ has suddenly reappeared, aligning with the planets of Jungle Past and Jungle Present. One of my questions had been about the aesthetic of using laptops and USB live. How does this technology sit with someone of such a bricks & mortar, analogue past?
“No-one cuts dubs now,” he says. “It’s too much money. Simple as. Plus there’s so much good music! You couldn’t put it all on dubplate.”
I get that. But when the clubs started going over to CDs didn’t the decks fall into disrepair? Doesn’t that mess up when you’re DJing with a laptop?
The decks are still serviced. As long as you have good needles, then the decks are sweet. If they judder or cause problems then it could come down it that there’s dirt on the needle! Sometimes it’s beautiful: it’s all set up in the club. But it can be down to the schedule too and if time is tight then I will draw for the CDs.
I enjoy having the laptop for radio too. I did a show for Rough Tempo and for two hours I had a lot of music to go through, so I like having the laptop there.
The sheer volume and rate of production for digital must be a key factor…
The music is just so way ahead, it just ain’t on vinyl. So many weren’t into using laptops to start with but the only way forward was to go with the computerised business. You get to a stage where you need fresh music all the time.
I can imagine that the culture of laptops may actually help the momentum of the music, its energy, if there are multiple DJs.
You could have a night with me, Andy C, Bukem, Die, Simon Bassline… a night like that, the decks will be used! We will have an SL4 box used to switch between DJs and we can bounce from one to another. If I go on after Hype for example, he’ll have his set up, I plug in and we can just switch channels.
So switching from this reality back to the past, this camaraderie and communication between the DJs was and continues to be so important. But the days of getting dubs cut may be unknown to a new generation.
Music House was like our local. We all used to come together, share music together. Sometimes you’d be in there to get one dub cut and there’d suddenly be five people cutting the tune.
You have an exclusive in this area I believe…
One time I came in I’d just been given ‘Metropolis’ by Adam F. I went in and I just knew that if I said anything, the phone’s gonna go off, and people will get it cut again and again. I put it on and people were saying ‘What the hell is this tune?’ I said ‘It’s alright isn’t it?’
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHg2du9015g
People would ask the name of the tune and I told no-one. I shut them down. Someone came in with it about two weeks later, he said the name of it and he got the brunt of it: he had to cut about five plates.
The term ‘jungle’ never goes away. To some it’s all about nostalgia, to others it’s simply a spirit. How do you feel about how the various names the music is given?
As far as I’m concerned it’s all just ‘music’. Sure, people like to give it a name so they can relate to it.
Nuff said. OK, how about this: DJs are known for signature styles. How would you describe yours?
I’m versatile. I like everything. Where I came from was Chicago House days. When I came into the music scene and was first DJing, I was playing with the likes of Carl Cox. When it got to 90-91 – what was known as The Fork In The Road (laughs) – people went different routes. It’s like a big family tree. Even in regards to pop music: there are tunes I like.
But you must have to cater for different nights/different styles?
I can play everything. But I play within reason: if I play at Metalheadz, I know what people at Metalheadz want, if I play Breakin Science I know what the people want and what tunes to draw. I’m a selector, a chameleon, I can blend into any sound, any event.
You say this so I have to put you on the spot and ask what you are feeling.
(without hesitation)… Jubei, S.P.Y, Jayline, Cabin Fever who I’m hearing great tunes from. There’s Ulterior Motive, Die keeps smashing it, Suv, there’s Delphi Productions, also SR and Digbee. RAM have got their crew, there’s Frankee over there, Lowqui… so many! A Sides is always drawing tunes on me, always a banger in the batches he sends. There’s the guys rolling with Bryan G, the Savage Rehab, NFM and obviously Calibre, Marcus.
Back to the live arena, can you give me a memorable night?
One of the most memorable was one of my first proper play out was at a party called Living Dream, it was organised by Kiss FM, it was me, Colin Dale, Colin Favor, Grooverider, Fabio, Carl Cox, a load of people, N Joi doing a live PA. Colin Favor didn’t turn up, I was only booked for an hour so I did two and a half hours… I was even playing my b sides you know what I mean? To about 10,000 people in a tent. I was 21.
What’s another specific thing that pops up in the memory about the past if I prompted you?
The Paradise Club going till 10 in the morning. You’d play two hour sets and the crowd were up for any type of music, as long as the mixing was tight. The soundsystem was wicked. It was the first time MC Fats got his bring-in as he used to roll with us, and he would sing. It was like a family, gotta big up Mickey, Darren, Gatchet. There was a garage room, it all used to come together. It was a testing ground for music. You could play anything, one minute a Top Cat tune, the next a Doc Scott tune. You could drop the darkest tune ever and people were in it. It was a joy to play.
With closure of some London clubs, what are the main hotspots for you?
Fabric is the main spot. Then there’s Fire, there’s the Great Suffolk Street Warehouse which Breakin Science just used. It’s a warehouse within tunnels and each tunnel must hold about a 1000 people. Moondance used it as well. Brixton Jamm is being used. The Coronet, too. Whatever club shuts down, there’s always something that appears. You will see venues appear that are doing house events for example, then within months of them appearing, you will see them doing D&B nights. It may be sad when something closes but within six months there’ll be another club that everyone’s using. And that’s just London.