Melbourne DJ/ producer and electronic music benefactor Jerry Poon aka JPS makes his Manifest debut this September, presenting a set featuring cuts from his latest collaboration with drummer/ producer Hooves.
“I'm excited,” Jerry says, “I’ve heard really good things about the festival, so I’m really looking forward to getting there. This time I'll be there alone but will be featuring a lot of the JPS and Hooves project.
“Hooves can't make it this time 'round, but I'll be presenting a show for the pair of us, just me and the decks. It's a big range of stuff, if you listen to the new stuff we're doing with jungle and real bass-heavy music with a lot of dub and dancehall influence. That’s the vibe in general.”
Aside from his own set, Jerry is looking forward to sharing the stage with some of his hometown crew and checking out the local and international EDM talent on display. “For one it's going to be nice to have a lot of the Melbourne homies there: Flagrant, Mantra and Kodiak Kid, a lot of the crew will be there so it will be a really fun vibe. Blockhead is definitely someone that is on my to-see line-up, he hasn't been back for a while now. Even Tom Thum and Total Eclipse is there, so a lot of old friends are playing who are at the top of their game. It will be cool to hang out and play some good music in a nice setting.”
As well as performing as JPS, Jerry also owns and runs The Operatives, an organisation dedicated to promoting Australian electronic music to the world which, over the past 12 years, has grown to encompass a record label, touring and artist management and events production. “We’re a collective of musicians, and it started off mainly as that but it’s also a touring/ events company, and the label will drop its first seven-inch in the next month or so.
“The management side also is coming along, so there are a lot of different components but it all contributes to the scope of music in Melbourne and around the country. We also invite along internationals and send the local Operatives interstate as well as to the Asia-Pacific.”
One of Melbourne’s most-respected and well-travelled DJs, Jerry has performed as JPS around the world in all sorts of venues and all kinds of weather. Whether it’s a sweaty, hole-in-wall club packed shoulder-to-shoulder or a muddy field in a rainstorm, Jerry has done it all, seen it all and loved every moment. “There are different beats in them,” he explains.
“I love small, intimate shows, as do a lot of DJs because you're very in-touch with the people directly in front of you and it doesn’t get lost in a sea of people where you may or not be sure of how someone is feeling because of the scale on which the crowd is moving. When it’s tight, you always have a lot of fun and it’s intimate. It’s beautiful as well playing in an outdoor setting, and I love that jam when people are free to have the room to do what they want and roll around in the mud or just have a good stomp and dance.“I’ve definitely had the experience of building up cardboard boxes to block the computer from the rain flying in, turntables not working... But it is what it is and that’s the nature of the beast, and it’s a pretty sweet thing to do.”
