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There's no place like home for Jason Bye
"I've been around the world and there's no place like home," says Jason referring, intentionally, to both home club and Australia. "I've had enough of moving my stuff from country to country... I love living in Sydney.... the people and the crowd. I'm moving back, applying for citizenship, buying a house and buying a dog," Jason states indicating his decision is both definite and permanent. He's here to stay and it all begins again at home.
Jason is quite definite that this move isn't about trying to re-create what the club used to be. "It's about part of the family being back together again and taking it to the next step. Taking all our experiences as DJ's (before, during and since we've been away from home) and putting them together to create a new standard in clubbing in Sydney, and Australia".
Jason will share the main room with respected Sydney DJ Goodwill. His residency will involve 5 weeks on at the club and then 1 week off for international gigs. Mark Walton and Pitty The Kid will play the Icon room and Maszlan, John Devechis and Garry T will work together to get the terrace rocking.
Jason's career started almost accidentally where he was working, in Ibiza he tells me with a cheeky grin, "collecting glasses, washing glasses and drinking out of glasses". He'd been also been collecting records for some time and thought he could do what he was seeing other people do. He was right.
"The guy who owned the bar used to let me open up and I'd practice on the decks... professionally my first gig was at Es Paradis at Bombay Pussy (an offshoot night of Manumission). There was a night of classic house, " he explains.
Jason impressed the crowd with not only his mixing, but also the crowd pleasing antics Australia has come to love him for, by dropping his pants and playing in his boxers. "The promoters were unsure if they'd book me (again)," he says grinning. "But everyone loved it and I got booked every week".
From there Jason went on to begin a residency at Cafe Mambo, which was where he incidentally, gave what Steve Lawler describes as his 'first big break' by inviting him to play alongside him. He then moved onto Amnesia becoming the first English DJ to take a major residency in Ibiza. It total he's spent 9 Summers in Ibiza, 7 of them DJing.
Jason has recently completed his 8th compilation CD which was recorded live on the terrace at Space. "It was recorded at Space at the opening party with the live crowd... I think it's up to about 65 000 copies worldwide," he indicates.
Jason also has further compilation work planned for the next couple of months. "My intention now with this new phase of home is to get (hopefully) a triple cd released within possibly the next 12-16 weeks. It will comprise of a CD that represents home from the last three tears and then the other two will represent where we're taking home".
Jason Bye's style has matured in recent times, something I immediately noticed when hearing his sets of late. Even Carl Cox has been quoted as saying that his sets at Space this European Summer just passed, "Rocked it". "More mature, more controlled and more exciting," is how Jason describes the evolution of his style. "Clean and percussive".
His almost decade long career has seen him experiment with numerous styles - from classic early house and garage through to the deep, solid, percussive and uplifting house sets he is mainly known for today.
Outside of a normal club its not at all unusual to hear Jason play old hip-hop tracks or drop a classic house tune. The classic early 90's house stems incidentally from his love of collecting vinyl, many of the tracks which, luckily have since become club classics. "I think it [hip-hop] influenced my DJing slighly... when I was 12 years old I was a championship breakdancer," Jason shares, explaining where his love of 90's hip-hop stems. "I've got a knowedge and a passion for that style of music, always will have, and whenever I can incorporate that into my music I will... it's the only way I can play my music in a way that personally means something to me".
Nostalgic? Yes. But as Jason explains "I'm always taking the crowd back, but I need to feel that sensation as well, and dropping something like that [hip-hop/ classic early 90's house] takes me back. It makes me happy and makes the crowd happy".
Part of Jason's plan to integrate himself into Australian culture is to buy a dog. "A dopey as *&%# rottweiler. I'm going to call it Sauer. A shorter name for Sauerkraut," Jason explains laughing, referring to the Rottweilers German descendancy. "If I buy another one I'm going to call it Frank... Frankfurter".
A couple of 'Keep it tidy Jase' comments jokingly abound from some friends listening in on the interview and we aptly leave it there with Jason literally in the place he calls 'home'.
And he didn't even need to click his heels together 3 times.
Those in Sydney can catch Jason this Saturday, January 19 at home nightclub. Launching the new club format will also be Goodwill, Mark Walton, Pitty the Kid, Maszlan, John Devechis and Garry T. Get down there to 'get down'.
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Published / Sunday, 13 January 2002
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