Artists constantly seek balance in the music industry. Whether it's heightening the drops and build ups on a track to finding the right number of releases a year, a state of smooth flow from action to reaction is highly desirable for the artists and thus, the label and fans. One artist who has come to master that equation is London's Jacob Plant. And he may not even fully realize it. Until recently, despite several releases on big labels like Dim Mak, Spinnin, and Fly Eye, he's always second guessed his music. But the genre shifting producer and DJ is slowly gaining the confidence he's entitled to as he continues to tour and work on his own label, Shakedown Records.
Jacob Plant didn't start on the decks from the beginning. He took a music course in high school for his A levels and through family friends, had his own production placed on the TV and radio. Plant told us that they were "looking for Electronic beats. At the time, Dance music wasn't as big so a lot of people weren't making them." The goal then was to get into radio imaging and settle with that. But eventually, he had his "Jump Up" record signed to CR2 in London and its popularity on Annie Mac's show at Radio 1 got him his first major gig at the Notting Hill Carnival. That's when things really picked up on more than one level: "Shortly after that, I did a couple gigs in Ibiza when I was 17. I was kinda thrown in the deep end because I never DJed before. I didn't know how to use CDJs at the time because I didn't have any. I used a laptop to DJ, which didn't last very long because people used to scowl at me. It wasn't very reliable."
If you asked, Jacob surprisingly wouldn't admit that a trip to Ibiza at 17 to DJ made him feel like he really started his career. He would say that it wasn't until Calvin Harris started mentoring him and A&R-ing his music two years ago. Even in the midst of a #1 selling album (18 Months) in the UK its first week, Calvin made time to give Jacob notes on his music and put them out on his label, Fly Eye. That growth proved advantageous for the young producer with his early raucous Electro releases and remixes ("Shakedown," "I Need Your Love (Jacob Plant Remix)," "Fire"). He explained the mentality he had starting out on the larger platform: "With my earlier songs, the kind of aggression is stomping. That's like me wanting to make Metal but making Dance music but not being Pendulum and smashing a guitar over a Drum & Bass beat."
But it was his long time love of music from The Clash that led him to the unique creativity he's been bringing to his music as of late. The Clash's ability to blend Reggae with Rock 'n Roll has expanded his mind to go outside of his fans' expectations, bringing more excitement for everyone. At the same time, he knows where to draw the line: "The pace that genres are changing is quick but I'm trying to shift around a certain number of genres so it still has an identity rather than just all over the place. If you switch too much, then it's hard to brand yourself."
What has also helped is his ability to domineer trends into his own lane. He picked up on the longevity of House music due to its musical freedom as opposed to the thumping trends of Electro. As a result, he's seen a lot of success come from his left field release "Ice Cream." Outside of the production studio, it affects his sets as well: "When you're DJing, [House music] has more of a flow rather than a stop/start and rises/drops. You can get the same reaction with House as you do with with a drop in Trap or Electro, it's just hard in House." Fortunately for us, he overcame his reservation to share the song with his management since he had recorded it 8 months prior and listened to it ad nauseum.
In 2015, Jacob has more up his sleeve to keep the rest of us on our toes. Besides the obvious of putting out more music and touring new and old destinations, he wants to work more on developing his own label, Shakedown Records, as well as possibly start a Rock band with his friend, MC Majestic. He's been focusing on narrowing down the type of sound he wants Shakedown to present to the world, or as he puts it, "more modern stuff." As for his band, whether he mentioned it facetiously or not, Jacob relates that he and MC Majestic sometimes "sit in the studio and jam out to System of a Down and old school kind of stuff." It also encourages him when he sees his other friend in the Punk band, Slaves, which lead to thoughts like, "I wanna do that!"
From dreams of settling down as a radio imaging DJ to steps away from his own label while working with artists like Tujamo, Jacob Plant will most definitely continue to surprise those who are paying attention. And after you hear his newest single on the radio, don't be surprised if you find him skateboarding in Venice, California with his groceries as he's taken to liking the warmer vibes of the West Coast in America.
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Godfather. Randomly, I was DJing the Roc Nation Grammy brunch and the house it was at was where they filmed the scene with the horse. I was pretty excited about that.
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?Knife Party
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?There's always one person who you end up stuck talking to on stage or side stage and they have a list of songs they want you to play. Then because they got VIP, they'll come and tap you while you're playing and say, "Can you play this?"
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?Pioneer CDJ 2000s. Nexus Mixer. Pro Tools and Native Instruments to produce.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?"The Guns of Brixton" by The Clash
Keep up with Jacob Plant on his website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.
Bryan Hahn once started a band in his head and it was called Intergalactic. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.