JEFF THE FISH RADIO SHOWS: Recent Episodes

JEFF THE FISH

Our story begins in 1973 when the shy and reclusive schoolboy Jeff would spend hours hiding in the "studio" (little more than a school broom cupboard) with a record player, a cassette recorder and a handful of scratched 45's endlessly trying to emulate the DJs he would listen to whilst hiding under his bedcovers with his battered transistor radio pressed to his ear all night long endlessly as he tried to maintain the shaky reception to stations like Radio Luxembourg, the FAB 208, where you could hear music that the mainstream radio didn't play. The same transistor would serve as an invaluable asset as he was posted to the furthest fielding posts on the school cricket field where he would secretly tune in and dream, hoping that no one would bat a ball in his direction... Not a fan of school and not a "team player", music would serve as an escape from reality for Jeff throughout the agonisingly long school term times, and the happy excited voices of his favourite DJs became his closest friends. He would spend hours with his nose buried in his collection of music dictionaries, and in 1977 the publication of The Guinness Book of Hit Singles was a godsend, and he became obsessed with release dates, chart positions, and was proud to tell you how far random groups reached in the charts and when.

1977 was a pivotal year. It was the year of the Jubilee in the UK, and Jeff started out the year as a disco fan all decked out in his union jack Jubilee souvenir merchandise, but 1977 was also to be the last year of his innocence, and teenage hormones, various personal and historical events were to bring about many changes. The Jubilee merchandise became torn Punk gear and Jeff was plunged headfirst into the "real" world, and began a long period as a rebellious "difficult" teenager. "Punk" never really suited Jeff though. While the spirit of youth and rebellion rang true through every bone in his body, he found the look uncomfortable, and had trouble with a lot of the music outside of the major bands, but it did introduce to him to one of the great musical loves of his life, Reggae. Until this time Reggae was not something that was common place on the music scene of the UK outside of occasional hits by Desmond Dekker and of course Bob Marley, who was reaching his zenith, and the Punks and The Clash in particular where very keen on it. Steel Pulse's seminal album "Handsworth Revolution" came out, and a mass of Reggae compilations flooded the market, and the UK Reggae scene exploded with Lover's Rock etc etc as well as much more rebellious and concious sounds. Jeff's eyes were opened, and thus started an interest he maintains to this day. At the same time the Mod Revival and Two Tone (the perfect fusion of Punk and Reggae) arrived, and he found his place in the scene of the day. Whilst the Two Tone thing educated and helped him dig deeper into his love of Reggae, The Mods helped him discover what was to become another musical love - Soul music.. inspired by Randy Cozens' top 100 published in Sounds magazine amongst others (he was an avid reader of the Music press which was enjoying its heyday at this period in time) and a myriad of club DJs he was well embarked on his long voyage of musical discovery. Eventually, after a few years of just being a fan, he moved on to to making music himself, and played in a series of bands, improving each time, experimenting with Rock, Funk and Jazz under the mentorship of his friend and educator Steve Roberts who was amongst other things the guitarist in Desmond Dekker's band the Aces. Eventually due to exasperation and record labels that were too prepared to bargain but not to actually sign, he and his partner managed to get control of the tapes they had recorded in various record company studios and booked into a studio to mix them and release them themselves. This was the period of Acid Jazz, and Jeff's insatiable interest in "new" sounds, led him deep into previously unexplored territories like Jazz and Hip Hop, all which were to become very important in the ever widening musical soundscape in Jeff's head and music collection.
It was the era of independent music, where more and more people were starting their own labels and circumventing the majors, and now partnered with a studio owner they mixed the tapes in, Jeff found himself running a record label (Revco Records), which in turn led to recruiting and managing artists, some of whom went on to be the stars of the following decade.. he continued on this path, and into a second label/project, which while similar was more focused on event promotion, and promoting Drum and Bass DJs and MCs, before finally personal disaster struck (no need to go into that here!) prompting him to stop everything.

He left the music business, and set off for Australia and South East Asia, where he bought a pack of Harmonicas which he learnt to play looking to fall back in love with music, which had always been his best friend, but somehow had lost its shine in the "business". On his return to the UK he started attending Blues Jams and recording in the studio, making music for his ears only, and exploring music with no commercial angle until finally the love returned. He then returned to where he had started out, and started his club "Its Your Thing" where he and his friends played a crossection of music from their collections from Soul, Jazz, Latin, Funk and Reggae at Charlie Wrights' in Hoxton, East London.. it was a great success, and Jeff soon realised that playing music as a DJ was the logical next step of his musical voyage. Soon after this he then joined a Reggae crew in London and for a few years played with them, with some old friends he had brought back from the past. It was a great way of being able to consolidate on all he had done and experienced in the previous decades, and a chance to play the records he had amassed during this time. He has continued on this path ever since as well as being an organiser of the JAZZCOTECH INTERNATIONAL WEEKENDER and the legendary FISH PARTY in the South of France where he now lives, as well as part of the KEEPERS OF THE LOST GROOVE organisation also France (see groups and pages on facebook). He also has a weekly radio show on SOHO RADIO in London and RADIO AGORA 105.5 in Austria where he plays lots of different styles of music and times from decades ago to the latest releases.. so many decades after the school broom cupboard sessions he is at last broadcasting to the world realising his childhood dreams.. seriously though, his main focus as a DJ is to create a good atmosphere, good vibes and get a party going with some great quality music and he sees it as a mission in keeping the styles of music he loves alive and introducing them to newer and younger audiences who may not have been fortunate enough to hear all the great things he has heard on his long and varied musical journey... maybe somewhere out there there is a kid listening as he once did?

You can contact him via facebook on his pages DJ JEFF THE FISH, JEFF THE FISH RADIO SHOWS and JEFF THE FISH'S SONIC NATION or facebook group JEFF THE FISH - email at djjeffthefish@gmail.com... there is also a collection of mixes and past radio shows on MIXCLOUD (https://www.mixcloud.com/jeffthefish/)