Frantic V Xstatic - Jimmy Dean Interview

We spoke with promoter and DJ Jimmy Dean ahead of Frantic & Nu Religion present Timeless Romance at The Colosseum in London on February 10th - the world's favourite Hard House & Trance classics night! He and his Xstatic crew from the Midlands prepare to take on the South Coast's Contact in Arena 3....
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So you recently left working for The Emporium in Coalville, home to Storm and Passion amongst others. What did you used to do there and how comes you left?

Have you worked with Garbo before!? Ha-ha!  Na, he’s a top lad really. I first got a job at The Emporium when I was 15! 7 years ago. I worked for 4 months every Friday (back then Storm was on a Friday), and every Saturday at Passion for free because I was hooked on the atmosphere! That in itself taught me a lot about clubland and the way the industry worked.

I was asked to go back as Promotions Manager and was there for just under two years, running all the online PR, magazine features, press releases, flyer distribution and general day to day promotion for a club of that size. A week after our sell out Storm NYE 2007 event I made the tough decision to leave the club to concentrate on my DJing Career and running my own events Magnetic & Xstatic. 
 
What are the events you are working on now? What’s each one about and who else helps you run them?

Xstatic has been my main event for just over a year now, based at The Venue in Long Eaton, Nottingham. If I have been doing my job properly, you should have come across it! It’s mainly a hard house event, with a lot of the well known hard house heroes gracing the decks with DJs such as Farley, Lisa Pin Up, Amber D, Justin Bourne, Andy Whitby, Ed Real and locals such as Wid & Ben and JP & Jukesy who seem to crop up on my line ups every other month! Xstatic vs Storm is on Saturday 27th January at The Venue!

I have just launched a new event called Magnetic at Time nightclub in Derby (where Progress used to be). Magnetic is a hard dance event which is not solely directed to hard house. If I had to compare it to another club I’d say it was more like Goodgreef.  Magnetic will have DJs such as Judge Jules, who is booked on Friday 26th January and The Tidy Boys, Whitby and Flid & Ken playing on 17th March. Sander Van Doorn and Proteus will be chucking some vinyl about in May! Plug Plug Plug!

I’d say a big factor in my promotion is being able to communicate an event to the clubbing community and also having a trustworthy team behind me. The Emporium sound engineer and producer Jamie Hedges has been my mentor for over 10 years. I owe him everything, as well as Xstatic resident JMF who has kept my feet firmly grounded as they do tend to get carried away from time to time! Also, John Walton, The Venue nightclub owner who has kept me in constant high spirits, always thinking positive when I don’t get the numbers I would of liked to have got, and every promoter will tell you there are plenty of times like that! Finally, without the Xstatic residents and all the loyal clubbers, none of this would be possible.

Do you think you were born to be a promoter? You seem to be pretty good at it...

NO! I was born to play music. F@*k knows how I got into promoting. All I want to do is play to a crowd that appreciates my music. If that means I have to work 17 hours a day to promote events that I play at, then so be it.

What’s the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn in your years of promoting?

Erm! How about loosing £4000! It’s always good to avoid putting an event on the same time as a super club! Don’t let agents take the piss, and don’t be afraid to approach a DJ that is abusing your sound system, no matter how BIG they are!

Who else do you really respect in terms of promotion? Who does it better than anyone else?

There are a lot of promoters in the industry, but only a select few know how to pull events off properly. I think you have to respect promoters like Will Paterson who not only runs Frantic, but also the entire south of England and succeeds every time! Barry and the Goodgreef Gang, and without doubt Damo and the Nu-Religion revolution!

What does 2007 hold for you and your roster of events?

I love plugs! (Not that sort Garbo!) 2007 will be the year that I will be establishing myself as an artist and taking a back seat from the promotional side of things. I have several productions coming out in the summer, as well as quite a few gigs and tours across the UK that I will be appearing on.

Magnetic at Time, Derby with Jules will be on Friday 26th January and the next day Xstatic will be teaming up with Storm at The Venue Nottingham. Later in the year I will be booking DJs like Guy Macaffer, Dave the Drummer and Paul Janes. Xstatic will also be collaborating with Polys, Nu-Religion, and Sundissential in the first half of the year. Headlining Magnetic in March will be The Tidy Boys, Whitby and Wid & Ben, followed by Sander Van Doorn and Proteus in May!

Check out www.xstaticclubbing.co.uk for updates!

Which DJs and producers do you think we should keep our eyes on over the next year?

There are so many mate, I couldn’t list them all. I first of all have to say the Xstatic residents, I have hand picked them, they are raw talent and they know their music. I have no doubt you will be seeing a lot more of DJs like Wid & Ben, DK, and more than likely Whitby will be on par with Lashes if Roman [his manager] has anything to do with it!

You and your Xstatic possee co-hosting a room at Frantic’s classics night Timeless Romance at The Colosseum in London on February 10th, alongside South Coast heroes Contact. What was your “golden era” for clubbing and dance music?

My golden era was when I was around 16 years old at The Emproium. The owners had enlisted Fergie to start Storm. I used to feed him vodka by the bottle! Those were the days! Also Passion with all the trance monkeys, Tiesto was only £1,000,000 an hour then! I think everyone has had their trance pants on some were in their life!

Do your crowd travel well? How many have you got coming down to show their support?

We have a coach full as always, they will be fired up and ready to party! The Xstatic clubbers will travel anywhere as long as the line up is worth while.

And finally – what’s your New Year’s Resolution and have you been sticking to it?

I’m constantly trying to better myself at everything - there’s an awful lot I have yet to learn in the industry, so I set my self targets for 2007 and we will just have to see if they turn out!

Cheers Benz...

Interview by Benz
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www.xstaticclubbing.co.uk