Wang Blog Takeover: Introducing...Jerome Hill and his Wang X fabric Mix

Jerome Hill is a DJ with ‘The Knowledge’ when it comes to vinyl. From his first love of rock n roll, Jerome went on to become to form a lifelong relationship with the squat rave happenings in London inspired by early 90’s pirate radio transmissions. His label Don’t has just reached its 20th release landmark. It’s a hub for the uncompromising side of techno that Jerome found the strongest affinity with releasing the likes of Neil Landstrumm, Luke's Anger and Paul Birken. Currently you can find Jerome at the helm of his London party Don't, doing the techno thing in Berlin and keeping the love going at good ol’ proper raves, he’s also been a regular at Bloc since day dot too and now he can add fabric to the list of clubs he’s played. He’s a long term Wang DJ too, a party crew that as we know came from the UK rave ethos, it’s also a pocket of this uncompromising perspective Jerome holds over his beat selection and music that makes you feel. In his Wang x fabric Promo Mix Jerome mixes it up between “straight 4/4 to mutant garage, pots and pans skeleton jazz to electro” with classic cuts from Dexter and Green Velvet as well as a few welcome oddities thrown in for good measure. DOWNLOAD: Jerome Hill Wang X fabric Mix Can you introduce yourself for our readers? Hello, I’m Jerome... I run a couple of record labels, love music and collect vinyl and love playing it to people in big and small spaces..I also like other things too. What got you into music in the first place? Well one day my dad told me to stop listening to Shakin Stevens, telling me he was just ripping off Chuck Berry and others, then he made me listen to all the originals Then I was hooked on rock and roll from the late 50's and early 60's and still am to this day. Electronically I'd have to say listening to a London pirate called Fantasy FM in 1990 was beyond inspirational... DJs like Hype, Shadowfax, Krome and many others mixing up Techno, Acid House, Breakbeat, New Beat and Hip Hop... I guess that's what gave me my attitude towards mixing all styles together as in those days there were no pigeon holes or if there were I wasn't aware of them.. As far as I was concerned they were all just different sounding tunes and that’s it. What were your first experiences as a DJ like? Can you paint a picture of the scene? I started DJing and collecting vinyl in 1990 but my first ever proper 'gig' was about 1992 at the Wag club in Wardour Street, I remember it being a Ladbroke Grove graff artist called Cal's birthday and I remember 'Radio Babylon' by Meat Beat Manifesto getting a cheer..Other than that I don't remember much! Then how did you get involved in the rave and squat party happenings? I began going to squat parties in about 1994 and soon started DJing on a sound system called JIBA who were at that time very active in London, being out every weekend putting on parties in alternately amazing and scummy empty buildings with crews including Virus, Unsound, Chiba City, Bedlam, Immersion and many others and through that ended up meeting loads of people and playing at other underground clubs. Then later in '97 i landed a job managing and doing the buying at Dragon Discs record shop in Camden through which i met a lot more people and promoters.. So shout out to Jiba Jake, Rockit Ron and Mara Bruiser ! How have things changed now years on? The Wag club is no longer there and there's another 22 years of music around to sift through and enjoy. How important to you is it to stick to the underground ethos of the [real] rave scene? Is it even about that? If by underground ethos you mean not watering down the music or pandering to trends and 'in' music, then to me it's very important... There's too much identikit music in general, but then I suppose there always has been. This is where I usually go into a long rant but I won't here... If you mean playing at illicit parties in reclaimed venues for no money and just for the love of it, I still do a fair bit of that too! Your label Don’t has just seen its 20th release – what’s the labels ethos and what spurred you to start it? The label ethos is to release techno music that gives me (and hopefully others) 'that' rush and excitement, music that isn't afraid to show some personality and of course to avoid the lowest common denominator and discourage beard stroking. And what about Fat hop your other label? I Love the old skool hip hop and funk and had been making a few tracks on a B-Boy tip with influences from the 90/91 rave scene so I started Fat Hop and started releasing it under the name Itsu Uno... I'm now working a lot with The Criminal Minds and many other talented microphone controllers and there's a 12" wing of the label to push that fast rap/ hardcore hip hop that's been tagged as 'Britcore' It was well received from the start right? Yeah, definitely, The first release got Radio 1 play and later releases have been charted by lots of people from lots of different walks of music.. and I’ve even had contact from Freddy Fresh who is a bit of a legend to me so it's all been very nice that the records have got out there and been enjoyed by people as that's the whole point of it.. What've you got lined up for release? The next Fat Hop will be a 12" featuring myself, Spatts (TCM) and Merlin making all the beats with a mixture of MCs such as Gambit (Last Resort), Iceski & Safe D (TCM), Falcon Burns, Mr. Bohze, Invokal Poet, Aks, True Element and more.. On Don't, the Neil Landstrumm/Matt Whitehead release has just been released, next up is an EP from me and also a rerelease of a classic R&S New Beat record from 1989... It’s one of my favourite tracks from that era and one you wouldn't find an original of for under £50 so I’m looking forward to introducing that to people who weren't around the first time! Can you explain to us the focus of this mix and about your track selection? I find it so hard to represent myself with a 'studio mix' as I play such a lot of different stuff and can never decide what should go on there so have never been able to send a demo out in my life.. Unless I’m doing a themed mix then its hard work cos I feed off the reaction from the crowd and that helps direct the set... So for this one, I kept it at a tempo that's not too hectic but included a couple of the nutty random tracks that I love to play out such as the Herbert and the Wevie Bollard track.. There's a soon to be released remix of mine on there, some old and new favourites, some acid, some tracks from the Don't label and Ryuichi Sakamotos drop dead visionary 1980 masterpiece 'Riot in Lagos' as the last track. There's plenty of variation on the beats from straight 4/4 to mutant garage, pots and pans skeleton jazz to electro (apologies for the crackles on the Dexter track, couldn't find my clean copy)! Lots of music that will hopefully make people smile. And finally... Is your technical ability from sheer frequency of DJing and living it, or from bedroom practice? I get a lot of practice as I generally am playing somewhere every weekend but I don't 'practice' at home, and I should cos I’m a lazy scratcher who knows what he knows but there's so much more I should learn.. tut tut Tracklisting: Jacob London - Interest Rates Just Fell Again (Dotbleep) Osbourne - The Count (Spectral) DJ Funk - House The Groove (Dance Mania) Neil Landstrumm - Night Train (Killekill) Kebacid - Bass Intruder (Blank Ltd.) Mark Rogan - Paranoia -Jerome Hill Remix (DSNT) Count of Monte Cristal - B More Forward (Cheap Thrills) Spandex - Bermuda Triangle (Hand On The Plow) Green Velvet - Technology Out Of Control (Music Man) Frankie - Darling (Frankie) Dexter - I Don't Care (Klakson) Alpha 303 - Pump It (Orbis) Cari Lekebusch - Psykologiska Justeringar (H Prod.) Lung/Max Roach - Booty Call - Randomer Remix - (Deadplate) Matthew Herbert - Hidden Sugars (Accidental) Jerome Hill - (Don't) Come To Daddy (Don't) Frankie - Dontact (Faste) T.S.O.S. - Over And over (Sound Sampler) Wevie De Crepon - Ton Wah (Sonig) Neil Landstrumm - Brutality (Don't) Fedka The Irritant - Zuperman (Panic Bridge) Ryuichi Sakamoto - Riot In Lagos (Island) Photo by Amy Flex