We caught up with rising star to the electronic underground music scene, Jacky. He’s been receiving massive support from established DJs such as Skream, who has been airing Jacky’s tracks on Radio 1, Jacky releasing numerous amount of music on different record labels, as well as some good quality DJ bookings for 2016.
He took time out of his schedule to tell us what he’s been up to…
Let’s firstly start with speaking about how you’ve got to where you are without any management behind you?
Well, I don’t feel I have done anything out of the ordinary to achieve what I have so far. I firmly believe if you have enough drive and want something bad enough it will happen and I suppose thats exactly what has happened in my case, over the past 12 months in-particular.
Making music on a morning before work, on my lunch breaks, on evenings, weekends. Any bit of spare time I had I found myself deep in a new track and I can confidently attribute a lot of my success to that streak of determination I posses.
The management thing I get asked quite a lot, and my answer to this is quite simply ‘I didn’t know any different’! All I knew is what labels I wanted to be on and what I needed to do in order to be on those labels, so I took advantage of every networking opportunity. I made as much music as I could and was as active as I could be on my social media platforms.
One person that helped me get noticed more than ever before was Steve Lawler. In May last year he tweeted that my track ‘Nineteen’ was his favourite track of the year and that he wanted me to ‘release on VIVa ASAP!’ This was my biggest motivator and after 3 months in the studio I signed a 4 track EP to VIVa and, as they say, the rest is history!
What can we expect to hear from you for 2016?
I have quite a lot in the pipeline music wise. Releases and remixes already confirmed on some fantastic labels. I am also very positive about a few projects I’m currently working on – I can’t say too much at this stage but it is very exciting.
Within the next couple of months, tell us a record label you will be releasing with?
On 8th February my ‘Diskotek EP’ drops on Elrow Music. It already has fantastic support, including some BBC Radio 1 play from Skream so I am pretty buzzed about this release.
What does your music production set up consist of?
I work light… My set up consists of a Macbook and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-150 headphones. That’s it. Some of my friends freak out when they hear I don’t use speakers to reference my music, but I have adjusted to using headphones so effectively I don’t need to use speakers. I find this particularly useful as I can make music wherever I am! At home, on an aeroplane, at my Grandma’s house – It’s a versatile way to work.
Your latest track ‘Everybody’ is now available for download on Beatport with record label ‘Elrow Music’. What a huge label to be supporting your music! How did this link up take place?
Well I was in Ibiza last year playing for VIVa Warriors at Sankeys, but we arrived on the Saturday so I found myself at Space for Elrow. I have always been a pretty big fan of Elrow resident De La Swing, so I took him a copy of my ‘Nineteen EP’ on Keep It Zen Records down to give to him. 2 weeks later I was in Egypt and I got a message off Domingo (De La Swing) thanking me for the EP and inviting me to send him an EP for Elrow. It was a huge honour for me to have an artist who I had followed for some time ask me for music and as you can imagine I jumped on this opportunity! Domi is a top guy and has showed me nothing but support since.
What big bookings do you have already booked for this year?
It’s nice to finally see the bookings that I want coming in! I just confirmed a residency for my favourite club in the UK Sankeys in Manchester, where I will be playing every other month. Elrow in Barcelona is on the cards, so is Sonar. A couple of dates are confirmed in Belgium. I will also be playing some new cities such as Dublin, Brighton, Hull, Lincoln and Harrogate to name a few, and many more bookings to be confirmed.
You’ve been strongly supported by Skream who’s been playing your music on his Radio 1 show. Would you think 2 years ago you’d be having your music aired on national radio?
Last year was canny mental, but this has to be up there with one of the most surreal things that has ever happened in my career to date. To have an artist like Skream supporting your music, not once but twice, on national radio was amazing. Expect to hear much more of my music on the airwaves in 2016.
What’s your social media pages so we can keep up to date with what you’re doing?
