Jonny G : Interview

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 August 2009 18:08 Written by Sam Seljak Wednesday, 01 July 2009 15:17

Timeless

He's been playing Brisbane and Gold Coast venues for close on three decades now, but Jonny G has no intention of stopping anytime soon. With an upcoming gig at Rumpus Room, in West End, he fills us in on what to expect from the set.

“Well, I'm going to do a funkable collage of some of the best, low-flying club (tunes) over the years. I'll include a lot of funky new edits that have been coming out on vinyl lately. It'll be an all vinyl set.”

A resident at the now closed Berlin Bar (in Surfers Paradise), Jonny is excited at the prospect of playing new gigs.  

“Lately I've been diversifying. It's sort of a new and exciting thing to be able to play somewhere different every weekend. I'll never really be playing the same set twice.”

So what does the DJ do in order to prepare himself for a set?

“For each gig I just sort of build the playlist and add and take away bits from up to a month before. An extraordinary amount of hard work goes on because sometimes the sets have to go for so many hours and you'll need an arsenal of artillery.”

When asked what his key is to getting the dancefloor packed, it turns out it's pretty simple for Jonny.

“My key is experience, and loads of it. It's one of my key traits that I manage to get the dancefloor packed under any circumstances. I play to ten people or to 10,000 with the same ethics.”

Jonny also has some advice for up-and-coming DJs - use the old-school techniques.

“You've got to be versatile, you've got to have experience and you've got to be open to many surprises from the people who turn up. The physical side of it comes in and the mental aptitude too. That's how the old school DJs were bred.”

Jonny G is not influenced by his peers, instead he likes to make his own style by staying away from watching other DJs.

“I don't usually go to shows looking for direction or an angle. In fact I tend to shy away from listening to other people’s sets, almost totally. I've always made up my own mind about my playlists. I consciously walk away from that so I can maintain my way of doing things.”

Jonny G plays the Rumpus Room July 4.