Latest recruit to the FBBB fam is Mr Hungry Man DJ!
We came across him at this year’s Ski & Snow Show where he was repping on the Snowbombing stand for Basscamp, his total disregard for genres or musical popularity endeared him to us immediately and when we found out he was a super nice guy who rides, teaches and has loads of plans within extreme sports events, we knew it was meant to be! We catch up with Hungry to hear a bit about where he’s from and how he came to be…
How and when did you first get into music?
I started playing drums aged 8, Clarinet at 11, then at 15 I joined my school theatre crew and got a feel for twiddling knobs and faders. At this age being in charge of a multi-killowatt sound system was a massive power trip which got me interested in making it bump to my own noises. I bought an issue of computer music, installed every piece of software on the demo CD, and have been making music ever since. I now use Ableton Live to produce and remix.
When did you start to DJ?
I started DJing when I was 16, playing with 2 hi-fi decks and the cheapest DJ mixer I could find. I started buying 2nd hand records, playing house parties, birthday parties in bars, progressing onto warehouse parties, clubs, festivals, snowboard, skate and wakeboard events. I still play vinyl but mostly play CDs as its easier to play my own tracks out and cos CD wallets are so much lighter, and easily replaced!! It was around this time I got into snowboarding. As a 16 year old I remember dreaming about snowboarding all day and making tunes and DJing at night. I made this a reality in 2009, a proud moment. I’m now a BASI 2 qualified instructor as well.
Who were you major influences?
I started producing in 1998, The Prodigy’s ‘Experience’ and ‘Jilted Generation’ albums really inspired me to make rave music and play at raves. Those albums still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end whenever I listen to them. I loved messing around with hardware synths and effects machines. I started off djing Drumnbass so Producers like Krust, Andy C, Bad Compnay, Dillinja and Ed Rush & Optical shaped my sound. I also loved The Propellerheads, Orbital, Asian Dub Foundation on the breakbeat side. Hip-hop wise I loved Skitz, Braintax, Task Force, Dr.Dre, Cypress Hill, Ugly Duckling. I love Blues, BB King, Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Fun Loving Criminals, who’s album ‘Come Find Yourself’ is a perfect cross of Hiphop and Blues. I think the biggest influences on my sound and style of DJing are dub reggae and Jazz. I love the fluid freedom of beebop jazz and swing. The musicians who played and wrote this stuff were considered anarchists when jazz emerged in the 30s, they were hated by the establishment, and now they are worshipped. The stripped down rhythm tracks of Dub Reggae show that the most minimal music can have a warm, friendly groove. I believe Dub and sound system culture to be the forefathers of the club / festival sound system as we know it.
How would you describe your style?
Rowdy Rave Bounce. It depends where I am playing, who is in the audience, the time of day… Right now I’m playing a lot of Cumbia, which could be described as the Colombian version of Salsa. There are some awesome Crunk Cumbia remixes coming through, that people are going wild to. If I’m playing a dancefloor set, I play Electro, Moombahton, Breakbeat, Drumnbass, maybe some Jungle, Dubstep, Wonky bass Hiphop, and always a few surprises. Music is fun, it inspires us to have fun, so I never take it too seriously. I love playing storming bassface tunes but you also need the funky groovey tunes for contrast. The only thing I can’t stand is cheese. I spent a winter season working as a resident DJ in cheesey clubs in Switzerland, which wasn’t cool, but I never missed a powder day 
What are you working on/looking forward to?
I’m setting up a record label called Jump Music ( www.jumpmusic.net ) which will be releasing the above electronica genres. We’ll release and promote my own productions, and music produced by the artists that I’ve regularly played out in 16 years of DJing. We are also going to have a team of action sports athletes, who we sponsor by giving them our music to use in their videos. We will be sparking collaborations between filmmakers, musicians and athletes. We want to encourage people to get off their sofas, switch off their games consoles and jump around, dance around, skate around….To link dance music with a healthy active lifestyle, so we all live longer, and are happier. Yup.
I’m really looking forward to playing at Basscamp ( http://www.basscamp-festival.com/ ) a new dance festival in Morzine in early April. I always look forward to playing at Secret Garden Party, which I’ve played every year for the last six years. I love playing festival crowds and the mental festival vibes. I try to bring a bit of festival to every gig I play.
Where can we find out more about you/hear you play?
I always put my dates on my facebook bandpage: http://listn.to/hungrymandj I also link to other peoples music and mixes I like.
I have lots of dj mixes, remixes and original tunes for free download on my soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/Hungry_man
I’m on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/Hagopm
Thanks! Be happy, and free.
