Sometimes great talent isn’t enough to change music. You need a partner in crime, another prodigy to push you on. Would Morrissey have reinvented guitar music without Johnny Marr? Could Lennon’s rawness got lost without Macca’s pop sensibilities? What did Mel really achieve after Kim died? Genius needs company, and in JFB and Beardyman we’ve got a partnership that could revolutionise a corner of music.
Armed with incredible individual skills that are beyond impressive on their own merit, they’ve not only found a way to bind them together but they’re gifted with a desire to dive into a pile of technology and emerge like smiling cyborgs.
Enough of the sunshine/arse interface, let’s get down to brass tacks. JFB is officially the best turntablist in the UK. For those that float in layers of guitar distortion rather than slammed against beats, that means he can scratch and throw loops of drums around two record decks about better than anyone on this island. We can say that with authority because he won the UK DMC Championship, and wasn’t far off winning the world equivalent.
Beardyman meanwhile can do all that using just his mouth. Sometimes at the same time as singing a song. He’s also the best in the country, being crowned the UK Beatbox Champion twice, and will probably win the world championship when someone gets around to putting it on. But that understates what he does. At the last Bestival he managed with charm and humour to pull back a crowd walking away from a killer Beastie Boys performance and actually get them dancing.
So far so good. If they were alternating their skills they’d certainly have one of the best nights in Brighton on their hands, but they’ve managed to meld them together thanks to a love of technology that has them babbling at each other in words only geeks understand. Thanks to the groundbreaking digital DJing software Serato Scratch Live, Beardyman can make beats with his mouth and JFB can scratch them up on his decks instantly. Thus Battlejam, the most forward thinking club night in the world was born. Using skills from the traditionalist hip hop scene they’ve broken down barriers to develop what we can only think of as live DJing. Just where did these two pod-sharing peas find each other?
“We met in a public toilet on Brighton seafront,” Beardyman says without even trying to keep a straight face. “It was late at night. I usually stuck with Tory MPs but Jean-Marc was different. He was more gentle.”
You can imagine that the pair would make a great double act on the cottaging circuit – JFB with the fastest wrists in Brighton and Beardyman’s rubber mouth – but the truth of the real life get together is almost as unbelievable. JFB was £100 short for his rent, due the next day, so he entered a DJ competition with the prize money of – you guessed it – a hundred quid. Beardyman was hosting the contest. Needless to say JFB wasn’t evicted but more importantly a new friendship was made.
“It was a hilarious night,” Beardyman recalls.
“Afterwards I invited him round to do some jam sessions cos I wanted to work with loads of musicians and beat boxers. And then we were doing loads of stuff like scratch battles where I would get a sample from a record and he’d imitate it really well while I beat juggled.”
Things didn’t really hit their stride until a year later when Serato popped into JFB world and threw it upside down with possibilities. Beardyman was called to JFB’s bedroom studio
“I said, Plug your mic into that!” JFB beams at the memory. “I could press a button and record his beatboxing and then beat juggle with it or scratch it. We did a night with it and then we ended up getting pissed and sampling drunk people in the crowd and scratching that back. That’s where Battlejam came from.”
“I was never really into technology as a live tool that much,” says Beardy. “When I met Jean-Marc I’d just started using loopers and stuff like that. Gradually over the years I’ve tried to make my solo stuff better and better, and Jean-Marc with his Serato thing combines to make this crazy, mash-up melee of sampling madness.”
He might have come to technology late but Beardyman isn’t all mouth and trousers. JFB announces something that Beardy never boasts about: he can play loads of instruments really well.
“Actually I’m going to start doing that, bringing a keyboard to Battlejam,” he reveals. “I never normally do because a lot of people can play instruments, but it’s more of a novelty to do it all with your voice.”
“Plus it’s a free instrument,” JFB says practically, “and you don’t have to carry it around with you.”
Talking about instruments, JFB is about to start a new night in Brighton that keeps the sampling on the fly vibe but replaces the mouth of the south with ‘real’ musicians. Along for the ride will be Ed Solo – breaks, dubstep and drum’n’bass super-producer who has been a key component of Battlejam for years. Also on the agenda is a little party on the beach with a bloke called Fatboy Slim. JFB is doing his first video DJing set at the Big Beach Boutique while Beardyman hosts the whole thing. The experience could push the pair into the mainstream.
A JFB gets ready to defend his UK championship there’s not a shadow of a doubt that they’re going to be stars. The only question is whether the rest of clubland can develop the skills the pick up the Battlejam baton and run with it.
WANT TO REDEFINE DJING?
Here’s what you’ll need:
JFB’s Kit
Laptop
“Has all my tunes and the digital DJing programme Serato loaded on it.”
TTM57SL Rane/Serato mixer
“It’s a really good, durable scratch mixer with the Serato hardware built in – you can plug it straight into laptop and away you go.”
Two Turntables
“For the blank Serato records to control the digital files and, obviously, scratch and mix and stuff.”
Beardyman’s Kit
Two Kaoss Pads
“For live effects, sampling and, mainly, looping. They both plug into each other and allow me to go crazy.”
His Mouth And A Microphone
“Obviously.”
