Jon-Paul Montgomery and Adam Jukes, AKA JP & Jukesy, are lucky boys. Just four years ago, the pair were just another couple of up-for-it lads in the Midlands hard house bastion that is Birmingham. Having sampled the delights of dancefloors from a clubbers point of view, the boys decided to see whether they could deliver their own brand of Hard House to the masses, and took on the DJing mantra. Now, after some amazing sets at Insomniacz, Housewives Choice and Sundissential North, the boys are continuing their assault on the hard dance arena with their stunning tracks How I Feel and H-bomb to be released on Passion Records in April. We caught up with the DJing duo already being described as the next big thing, to pick their brains over life, clubs and dinner ladies.
 
Describe your DJing style to us

JP & JUKESY - We tend to play stuff towards the harder end of the spectrum, anything with loads of energy always gets a play. We also drop in some techno now and again and also love to drop in some different stuff in the Base Graffiti - Defective Audio style. (Dom Sweeten). We are also hard at work at creating our own sound with our first 2 tracks being released on Passion Presents 2 at the end of May. How i feel & H-bomb will be the start of our production career and we already have some collaborations planned with other artists as a follow up, watch this space...........

What benefits have you found from DJing as a duo?

JP - Because we both have completely different styles of mixing our set always is a little bit different, we both like different producers and styles so our set is quite versatile making us hopefully quite unique.

JUKESY - I agree with JP, we are very different in style but also compliment each other very well. I also think playing as a duo gives us more time in the set to pay attention to the clubbers. If we play 1 1/2 sets we normally have two mixes on then two off so when JP is in the mix I tend to speak to people who come up to the DJ box. I also enjoy playing up to the crowd, I'll have a scout around the dancefloor and pick up people who are concentrating on us then maybe make a gesture to them like a clap or just mouth "What a tune" to them. What's great is the reaction you get back from them. We both buzz off the crowd as much as the music and they buzz of us that's what its about, well it is for us anyway.

How has your life changed in the last 12 months or so?

JP - It's become more hectic, There's still a lot more room to get even more hectic though :-). Sunday School supported us from the start which is where we got our first residency and from then on we have kept our heads down and done a lot of hard work. We have spent a lot of time building our reputation in what we call our hometown of Birmingham. Its taken us a good ten months to get to the stage where we can now play out further a field and we now have 9 residencies and are represented by 4 DJ agencies on a non exclusive basis as we still like to have control of our own bookings.

JUKESY - Following on from what JP has said - We now have a solid base to continue growing and have bookings for Sundissential North, Syn:ergy Vs Insomniacz, Insomniacz Sheffield and Leicester, Housewives Choice and Bosh to name just a few.

JUKESY - To go from clubbers to DJ's is really exciting for both of us as we used to have it on the dancefloor to the likes of Farley and Glazby (we still do) but we now also have the privilege to play alongside the same people as DJ's. When Afterssential first started in 2002 at Subway city we were given a residency and we played the 2nd week after it opened and took over from Farley that for me is such an achievement in itself and I'll take that memory to the grave with me (hopefully not for a while though).

What has the reaction been like toward your tunes?

JP & JUKESY - How I feel and H-bomb are our first steps in the production side of things and both are very different and reflect the style that we are looking for perfectly. How I feel is a slab of hardhouse with a huge hoover breakdown and out of the two this one has received the most feedback and excitement.

JUKESY - H-bomb is my personal favourite. It goes a lot deeper, dirtier and harder than how I feel. The percussion in it is thunderous on a loud system and again there is a significant input from the mighty hoover. It has taken people a little more time to come around to liking this as how I feel was an instant hit but I think people have come around to our way of thinking. When we play it out in clubs it is received very well and there are always a few people asking for a copy. Both tracks will be released on Passion Presents 2 at the end of May and I know there are already quite a few pre-orders at Passion Records. So its all looking good. DJ Support has come from Ian M, Mark Leish, Nik Denton, Testube Babies, Paul Janes Strange Dave and Daley.

What are your opinions on other hard house DJing duos, such as the Stimulants, Jez & Charlie and Tidy Boys?

JP & JUKESY - We have the utmost respect for all the Dj's on the circuit. The stimulant Dj's have been around for years and are now both massive in the Hard House scene as well as huge on the hardcore scene so this proves that these boys are really tuned into what they are doing as well as running a very strong label.

JP & JUKESY - The tidy boys do what they do very good, mixing is always tight and run a very good and successful label.

JP & JUKESY - Jez & Charile for me are going to be huge very very soon, they always play wicked sets and their set s are always different. You don't know quite what to expect to hear for them, may it be full on hard house, trance or techno. I really admire these boys and I'm sure they will be around for a long time to come.

Where do you see yourself in 12 months?

JP & JUKESY - We need to have goals and I would like to say that we would be Sundissential & Insomniacz Residents in 12 months time, haha. That is what we are aiming for anyway and it has been our dream since we started clubbing at Sundissential Hq when it was at Pulse Night-club and also Insomniacz when it was at Uropa and the Corporation. Obviously we would like to crack London with clubs like Frantic and Riot on our agenda. Ibiza is another little gem we would like to crack, we had a taster of playing out there when we played for Sundissential at Inox in the summer of 2002. Strange Dave and Dangle were supposed to play but there had been a mix up with their flights and we happened to be in the right place at the right time and had taken a bag of records over just in case and ended up playing an hour at peak time, It was a magical moment for both of us. We would also like to have a few more tracks released on various labels, it would be such and achievement for us to have a track released on Vicious Circle for example, we would also like to do a couple of collaborations with other DJ's.

Did you ever fancy your dinner lady?

JP - No, I never had that urge. Why did you Matt?? haha

JUKESY - No, their uniform didn't really do it for me. Sorry

If you could make the sky any colour, what colour and why?

JP - Red & Yellow, to reflect SS of course!!

JUKESY - I wouldn't change it. Blue is my favourite colour so there would be no need 🙂