Biography: Jesse Rose

As you may or may not be aware, every time we release an artist's CD on either of our ongoing mix series (fabric/FABRICLIVE) there happens a lot of behind the scenes conversations that are all part of the preparation. One of these is a tailor constructed artist biography that's written to give the press extra background information on the artist in question: where they were born, where they grew up, how they got into music, etc etc. In truth, these biographies often become quite enlightening documents in their own right and from now on, in the week before we release the mixes to the public, we'll be publishing the biographies here to give you, our faithful readership, the exact same additional insight.

Jesse Rose - (FABRICLIVE 85)

BORN: Jesse Rose: I was born at the tail end of the 1970s in London’s Ladbroke Grove. MUSICAL ROOTS: I was raised on a healthy dose of Motown soul, jazz and eighties funk. My musical influences as a young teenager were reggae sound systems on the streets around my house. Notting Hill Carnival and London’s infamous pirate radio stations all made a massive impact on me and I think you can still hear their influence within my tracks today. I started to make music at the age of 14. FIRST PROJECTS: I moved to Bristol in the early '90s, and was soon DJing and running club nights together with my close friend Jamie Anderson. I feel like this was when I started to earn a reputation for my music. In 1997, I moved back to London and subsequently met the man who would truly change me from DJ to producer: Dave ‘Switch’ Taylor. Our first collaborations caught the ear of Derrick Carter, leading to a string of releases on his Classic label. Meanwhile, I was releasing on Switch’s Dubsided imprint, where I would mix & drop sounds from other genres. This was a time when most house producers were looping and filtering, so when tracks such as ‘A-Sided’ & ‘You’re All Over My Head’ became hits, a lot of people said this contributed to the development of the house genre.

"I was in the middle of a six month tour of the world when I was asked to do the mix, so I was constantly finding decks in the middle of the night in these far-flung locations, to have a mix and make sure it had the right feel. I actually ended up mixing the compilation in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Sydney."

LABELS & PRODUCTION: I started off on my own label Front Room, then produced on Classic and then I started Made to Play and Play It Down. In 2015 I started up A-SIDED. I’ve produced over 100 releases on labels including Get Physical, Junior Boys Own and Dubsided, as well as my own imprints. Many of these have gone on to be an ‘Essential New Tune’. I’ve also done over 100 remixes - Masters At Work, Armand Van Helden, Kevin Saunderson, Underworld, Childish Gambino and Hot Chip (with whom I also collaborated on a track for my debut solo album ‘What Do You Do If You Don’t?). I’ve worked with Henrik Schwarz as Black Rose (making a bunch of singles and playing loads of live shows), with Switch as Induceve and many other artists, including Jazzanova, Seth Troxler and Leon Ware (former producer of Marvin Gaye). FABRIC: I actually went to see the building site before the club had opened and knew this was going to be an amazing spot. Straight away I spoke to the bookers and asked if I could bag a spot. I was young at the time, and for the first couple of years I used to fill in for people that missed their flights or were ill etc. Then I started getting booked in my own right - at first to warm up for people like Derrick Carter, Doc Martin and Ricardo Villalobos in Room One and Adam Beyer, Dave Angel and Terry Francis in Room Two. Those were magical times. The club was brand new and rated the best in the world for underground music. I pretty much lived in the club, I was there every weekend I was free and normally got home Tuesday afternoon. It was from playing at fabric that I could see my career growing, believing one day I would get to leave London and tour the world. I truly learnt how to DJ long sets, playing on one of the best sound systems in the world in Rooms One, Two or Three. I feel very lucky to have had these opportunities. After I left London to take up a six-year residency in Berlin at Panorama Bar, I played the club a little less but still come back year after year and it’s still is one of the most important clubs in the world for me. THE MIX: This was probably the hardest compilation/mix that I’ve ever put together, for many reasons. Firstly because about two weeks after starting to compile the comp, all of my stuff got stolen in Ibiza, including my back-up drives and USBs. So I had to start again, trying to remember all the music I’d lost and new music I’d received. I was in the middle of a six month tour of the world when I was asked to do the mix, so I was constantly finding decks in the middle of the night in these far-flung locations, to have a mix and make sure it had the right feel. I actually ended up mixing the compilation in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Sydney. Although I mixed it in three parts which I later stitched together, it was mixed live as I wanted it to represent how I would play in the club, to sound personal to what I do and not computerised. The tracks represent my own productions, classics of my sets and moments I thought would work in the club. THE FUTURE: I’ve just been inducted to the Pete Tong BBC Hall Of Fame, which is a great honour. I’m working on a new project called STAYGOLD with Junior Sanchez. The first production is the Mathias Kaden remix that features on the mix, whilst our remix for Cassius’s new single ‘Action’ will be released in February and we are also working on an album. My own forthcoming singles include ‘It’s Not Over’, featuring Seven Davis Jr. (which I included on the mix as a synthapella) and a new track with Troze called ‘Runnin’, which will both be released early in 2016. FABRICLIVE 85: Jesse Rose is out now. Order your copy from fabric here. Get this and every fabric release from just £5: http://bit.ly/fabric1st Photography: Jimmy Mould