Local DJ Jesse Jaymes this month plans to break a record rather than make one. Currently, the world record for the longest continuous DJ set belongs to DJ Promo who DJed for 100 straight hours in June 2006 in Melbourne. On noon of November 10th at iVinyl in Leederville, DJ Jesse Jaymes will aim to go for 115 hours in order to raise money for breast cancer and get his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. OUTinPerth asked the DJ how he planned to make it through 115 hours behind the tables.
OiP: What’s your sound?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I like dirty, dirty electro. I play everything pretty much, except hip hop. I play what the crowd wants, not necessarily what I want.
OiP: Do you prepare a set list or spin by the seat of your pants?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I have only prepared a set once before and that was when I played at XES a couple of years ago. Normally, I just rock up with CDs and vinyl and pick as I go.
OiP: No laptop?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: No, that’s not DJing. That’s cheating.
OiP: Instead of making a record, you are looking to break one… what’s your strategy to do that?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Red Bull and coffee.
OiP: What sort of music are you going to pull out when you feel yourself starting to wane?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Bit more high energy, something that you really couldn’t snooze off to.
OiP: Do you have a go-to track?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I have a couple things that I was thinking if I get tired, I’ll play. Really high-pitched synth.
OiP: Are you going to sleep right up until that last minute?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I hope so. I know that I’ll take it really easy in the days leading up to that and just not do anything to energetic. Maybe eat a lot as well.
OiP: You have DJed in both Amsterdam and Bunbury, how do those places compare?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Bunbury was a bit of a let down. That event was at a club called Altitude Superclub, and they put so much advertising into it, but only about 30 people rocked up and I was just like ‘Ugh’. But Amsterdam was just fantastic. They’ve a good subculture over there and it’s just huge. It’s different because they are really into their trance music over there. If you go to the Rise here, they play trance music, but it’s got a really aggressive atmosphere because everyone is under the influence of drugs, and they are in Amsterdam as well, but everyone is friendly and everybody loves everybody. It’s just a good atmosphere.
OiP: Is it a place you’d like to go back to?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Maybe, I got a bit sick of it after awhile because they have all these relaxed drug laws, but the only people you see under the influence of drugs are the English tourists. It becomes a bit too much, I guess. It’s a bit too touristy as well.
OiP: What have been your career highlights so far?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: My highlight was last year going to Birmingham and playing with Ministry of Sound. I remember in the DJ box I had my hands up and was waving them about and I looked up and everyone in the crowd was doing the same thing and copying me. I also went over to Sydney a few years ago and played the Jamiroquoi after party, which was cool.
OiP: Any crazy stories from your shows?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I was DJing at Liquid Nightclub in Rockingham a few months ago and a guy feel from the top floor and landed on the DJ equipment. He did a handstand on the balcony and fell. He was completely drunk. I’ve seen people overdose and I’ve seen them having sex on the dance floor.
OiP: Do you have a favourite venue to play?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Atmosphere-wise it would have to be Lamuria. It used to be held at the Sailor’s Club in Fremantle, but it’s now held at Fly By Night once every couple weeks. It’s world music and there’s only 150-200 people that rock up, but everybody there is not on any drugs, they just get high on the music. These people the eyes just roll back into their heads and none of it is from drugs. They have such a good time.
OiP: How do you know when you’ve played a good show?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Generally, people come up and give you hi-fives. Sometimes you can’t really tell because it depends on the crowd. You don’t play what you want to play, but what the crowd wants to hear.
OiP: What’s the biggest compliment someone could give you about a show?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: I love when I DJ at the Court and I mix a song and then I run down and dance with some people for a couple minutes. Then I’ll run back up and mix another song and go back down, and I think the crowd really loves that interaction as well. Some DJs are just stuck up, and I don’t like that. I like to be part of the crowd as well. When people come up and say ‘you’ve got a good attitude’ or ‘you’re not like the other DJs in Perth’, then I think that’s the best.
OiP: What’s the worst pickup line someone has used on you as a DJ?
DJ Jesse Jaymes: Oooh, I remember someone asking me if I worked at Coles once. And I was like ‘why?’ and they go, ‘you just look like that cute guy from Coles.’ I said, ‘Hmm. Not me.’ I thought that was pretty cheesy. Another was ‘Do you want to come back and do a mix at my house.’
DJ Jesse Jaymes recently released his album Sublime Intervention and will be DJing in Bunbury in early November to promote his new single ‘Tick Tock’.
