DJ Jus-Ed interview, October 08

It was the next day after the party. Denis Simachev Shop & Bar, an extremely glamorous place on one Moscow's downtown lane, seemed empty and quiet – unlike the other night. DJ Jus-Ed was looking cheerful and satisfied. Real house music it was – DJ Jus-Ed Vs. Anton Zap at the decks – remember the Underground Quality record? Anton is one of the best DJs and producers in Russia indeed, and it was a pleasant surprise for us to find out his name on UQ a year ago. So this time he invited Edward McKeithen, the man who does it all on UQ, to play some underground quality music and show them all what house music exactly is. After that hot and soulful night we didn’t miss a chance to ask some questions to Jus-Ed himself – how does he manage to run a label, involve interesting artists and always feel so happy about his life and people around him.

I'd like to start with one completely rude question, sorry for that: how old are you?
46.

Wow! How did you start then?
Start what?

Deejaying, being fond of music…
I started deejaying when I was 10 – playing with records at basement parties.

But how did you start listening to music, I mean to realize that it's more than just listening to it?
I was born into it! My grandmother and grandfather were jazz musicians, he played the upright bass and she played the piano. Since I was 6 years old they would take me to the hotel where they had gigs, in lounges at the hotel, at private parties.

Oh, so jazz was your starting point?
Yes. Jazz, classical music, the whole lot of music. There were no genres for my grandparents, they said that good music is just good music which you need to know. We listened to everything, even rock'n'roll.

At your first gig, when you were 10-years-old, what did you play?
Well, we used to do house parties, real house parties, with all our relatives – aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors - in the basement of the house. So that’s how I learnt to read the dance floor and play what they want to hear. If they didn't like they would fire you and take you upstairs in your room and somebody else would play the records! (laughs)

That's quite interesting, I remember myself at 10 listening to some popish boy-band tapes, I doubt if I understood any jazz…
But I also went to a music school, my brother and I.

And what were you playing?
Percussion.

How did you start listening to electronic music, house music?
I'm old enough to know when it developed, I mean house music. Where I'm from, it wasn't called "house music" then, at that time there was dance, soul, funk, and high energy. High energy was right before the discos, real close to it, it was mostly put into the gay category. I think when I started recognizing the genre as house music was around 89. Some radiostations like WBLS and college radiostations used to play it, but we didn't know what it was. Then freestyle also came up and a bunch of other names for genres. It still wasn't definitive, we didn't call it house. But a lot of r'n'b songs didn't make it in the club unless they had a house version. I think the group Change & Luther Vandross were one of the first to do real house music. Another funky-house group was Brick.

That was the time of the first NY nightclubs like Loft, right?
Yeah, but the Loft parties were much about drugs and alcohol, but there was definitely house music playing there. It was invite-only. Then the big clubs came like Twilo, Tunnel, Lime Light, Savage, Garage, Shelter…

But that was the 90s already.
Right. Those clubs basically exclusive, they were underground. In particular Shelter, you had to know where it was, and it cost you a lot of money to get into it by that time. Unfortunately now they stopped the party… I don't know if they are going to come back or not, I hope so.

Well, it seems to me that it is quite complicated to maintain the club culture in New York.
It's not that, it's the politics…

You mean they always find a reason to close the club?
Not the government politics, the music politics.

Okay.
Unfortunately people that are in charge, they’re segregated. They are not open for new ideas. They closed the doors to a lot of people and they are very selective to whom they give the opportunity to play, deejay or even to produce music. That's why I'm here. When I came back from retirement, I wanted to do something different, go against the politics. The only way to keep the music alive is to bring new blood. Otherwise all get unhealthy and die's out.

Was this the main reason for you to launch the label?
One of the reasons was that "Underground Quality" was a party name. Vic Money was the one to start Underground Quality. I met him in 2001, we got together, and then I took over the name after him. Our objectives were to get underground house DJs an opportunity to play. So we did small and medium-size parties.

Where did you do them?
All over the place – bars, clubs… And I put out my first CD album in 2004, it was called "Carnival House". It was just my idea of music. Most of the market sounded the same – vocally, had the same drum-tracks. No feeling, just copy-paste music. So instead of complaining all the time I started to do something of my own. I sent it out to a couple of labels and artists, and the majority of them said that it didn't sound good, it wasn't ready, it wasn't about what was happening then. Even my distributor said "arr, it's not really marketable right now, but if you get something finished, give us a call". 2 years later I met Omar-S from Detroit. He licensed one track from my CD album, the "AM Mix". Germany is a huge consumer of electronic music, the Detroit-style kind of music, and it turned out that they liked that track very much. I had my record ready to put it out, because people were contacting me saying: "Uwh, who's Jus-Ed?!" Actually they weren't saying my name right – they said "Juice-Ed".

Hah, and Jus-Ed is "Just Edward", right?
It's Just Ed. Nor more nor less (laughs). So. I went back to the distributor, told them: "Remember you said that when I have something ready?.. So here I am!" I had a compilation ready, so I said: "Hey, you know Omar-S? I have his record and I have my record" – my distributor went like "Omar-S? Yeah! Give it to me!" It came out, people liked it. I just kept making my style of music. And the label became a label after the first record, the UQ-003, Fly Away EP.

Is it hard to keep your own label in America?
In Connecticut, where I live, nobody knows that I'm Jus-Ed, really. Except for a few friends. For everybody else I'm just Ed, the landscaper. I have a small landscaping company, that's my living. So I don't have a pressure on doing music. I think that's what helps my music to stay pure. I am fortunate. Music goes around in a circle, and the timing was right for me to come out. The mission of Underground Quality is to keep new blood coming in. I got up, then I brought QU, Jenifa Mayanja, Fred P., Madafi and others in. They have quality music, so I use my name to help them to bring it up. Then it was Anton Zap.


How did you get to know each other?
I was on Myspace, and I got a message from him like "oh, I'm a big fan, check out my music". So I listened to his music and went like "oh my God! This is house! And this is… Russia?!" I couldn't believe it, 'cause in America we are governed by the media. And unfortunately the picture of what's happening over here is not so clear. They keep you thinking Russia or the U.S.A. is dangerous, you know.

Yeah, the same thing here.
Every country has its problems, but the people tell a different story. You guys have a beautiful country, beautiful people…
So for me it was an opportunity to show to my circle that house music really is universal. So I knew that the music that Anton makes is going to work really well in the circle that I'm in. I put him out on 3 projects and then his own EP. The first one was "Unity Kolabo", which was very important. It's a 4 record set from people all around the world who produce house music. And everybody said "oh, you are crazy! You are going to commit commercial suicide, nobody can afford buying 4 records!" But I said that it's high quality music, it's the same price, and it's going to be in one set. Then we made DJ Jus-Ed Vs. Anton Zap, which was Anton's EP, and the latest one is DJ Jus-Ed Vs. Fred P, and then Vs. DJ QU is coming up. All of the producers whom I deal with always say thank you, but I tell them "don't thank me, bring up someone else, involve someone just as you got involved". And I also encourage them (and help them) to manufacture and press their own vinyl. This is the way we can help the vinyl community to stay alive. You don't have to wait for a label to press your records. Go, take your money, call me if you need any help.

This all reminds me the story with "Samizdat" – this is how self-published books in the hard-times of Soviet Union were named, when many great authors were banned and forced to publish their works illegally. But you do play CDs, don't you?
Yes. You know you can't afford to press every track you have on vinyl. I played some new songs last night, and 2 of them were from Nina Kraviz. One of them is a remix on "Voices", which would be coming out at the end of the year on Underground Quality. It's going to be a 3 record set with different remixes.

So Nina's the next person to be involved – now I see how your formula works.
Right. So if I didn't have a CD, I couldn't play those songs last night and see how people like it.

But what's the most exciting thing about this all – you are 46 years old. You feel passionate about music, totally open-minded, and you bring a lot of energy and warmth to people on the dancefloor. How do you manage to live like this? Most of the people get retreat into themselves, or just refocus on other jobs or their family and quit music at all.
Again, I can say that I just wanted to produce music. I didn't do it to become famous, or to start traveling.

But you did have a break from producing music and going to clubs, didn't you?
Yeah, I retired in 1985 because of drugs and alcohol abuse.

And now you don't smoke, you don't drink at all. Last night I've seen you only with a bottle of water in the club!
Yeah! For me it was important. I wouldn't be sitting here if I hadn't quit it all sometime ago. I looked at it like if I was diabetic. You can't eat sugar if you're diabetic. You have to take care of yourself, stay under control - and have fun!
It was 15 years before I came back from retirement. Vic Money heard me playing, so he was the one to say "man, you are a DJ, go and play!" So that's how it started. The best what I enjoy of all of this is to see people happy, to see people move when I play, and when they want to shake my hand, or give me any sign – that's the best! Then comes the travel, then money…

You know what was great yesterday? When Anton Zap was playing behind the decks, you came out to the dancefloor and… just danced!
Well, I liked the party!

And what does your family think about your way of live?
Well, my 3-year-old son always wants me to take him with me. He doesn't want to stay home, he would hang on the dancefloor with everybody else! That's brilliant! By the way, he has his first record out, it's "Dinosaur" on "Unity Kolabo", it's like 3,5 minutes. He played the keys, I made the drum-track. Yeah, he's very talented. I have a 10-week-old daughter. I don't know how's she going to like music, but we'll see (laughs). My wife, Jenifa Mayanja, and I – this is how we live. Once we had kids though we don't go out that much now. But we still make it happen, it's the same way how I grew up. So that's the way the life goes on. A couple of days ago we watched "The Iron Man" movie, they got AC/DC as a soundtrack, and my son was banging his head – he seems to like rock too, okay… (laughs)

What would you like to say to the young DJs and producers, to encourage them maybe?
For a DJ that doesn't get a chance to play: in order to play, you have to make a record. Or at least do an edit on a record. Because the record is a business card. Clubs don't hire DJs, they hire DJs/producers. They have to get as much as they can for their money. For the producer who is frustrated that no one is playing his music: if you have good taste and if you believe in your music, go on! There are some guys who think their music is good, but it's shit, and they don't want to admit that it is, you know. But if you have good taste in music you should be able to listen to your track and say whether it's good or not. And if you feel that it's good, take a chance and put it out. Do it yourself, don't wait for anyone to do it for you. Press vinyl.

What's the future of vinyl records, by the way?
One thing is against us – technology. Technology is good for me and artists like me who make music from their soul. When you make music from your soul, it's no matter how you release it, because people will get it. I think the people that buy vinyl today are collectors. There's nothing like analog sound. The digital is good, it covers the mass media, and it's what happening right now. But I'll press vinyl as long as I can. I'm about to open a mp3-store on undergroundquality.com, but I will never put out the vinyl releases on mp3. I probably should never say never – but the vinyl releases won't be both on vinyl and mp3. I'll keep them separate. And so should you!

Check this out:
http://www.undergroundquality.com
http://www.myspace.com/undergroundquality

http://www.myspace.com/antonzap (Anton Zap)
http://www.myspace.com/damelaayer (Nina Kraviz)

Anton Zap podcast for mixmag.info (October’07)
Fred P. (Black Jazz Consortium) mix for mixmag.info (June’08)

Originally posted on Mixmag.info