Music interview: Shaka Loves You
Jellyfunk Allstars are renowned for putting on amazing parties featuring The Funk Hunters and Skiitour. This Saturday they present Glasgow’s finest funky/mash-up production duo Shaka Loves You, at Maxims in Eastbourne, East Sussex in the UK. Featuring DJ’s, live percussion and visuals this promises to be a night to remember. We find out more:
Who makes up Shaka Loves You and what are your respective roles?
Well, there’s two of us – I’m Jamie and I DJ and Marty does the live percussion. We work together in the studio and Marty also makes all the video stuff. It’s also Marty’s job to get me drinks form the bar while we’re playing and to give out stickers to hot girls! 😉
Where did the name come from?
We originally were called Just ‘Shaka’ and the ‘loves you’ bit kinda started as a joke but it kinda stuck. Plus there’s some other guys in the scene in Brazil called Shaka so we thought we’d better change it.
What first got you into DJing/producing and percussion and why do you love it so much?
It’s just so much fun! We both started playing when we were back in school as our families were quite musical. I guess we started doing it a bit more seriously as we wanted somewhere in Glasgow we could play the music we wanted. We started running a night back in 2012 and it all just kinda snowballed from there.
What is your current DJ/VJ setup?
Jamie – I use Serato with turntables which also runs the AV.
Marty – My setup is three congas, bongos and some extra percussion stuff.
How do you feel about the whole analogue purist vs digital DJ debate?
Jamie – Well to be honest if you want to play just vinyl that’s dope but if you can rock a party with a controller then that’s cool too. Personally we like to embrace technology but still keep that old school look & feel with playing on turntables.
You incorporate a lot of visuals in your live shows. Where do you get inspiration for and source your videos?
Marty – I try and make sure the videos have a connection to the track so I guess inspiration would come form the track we’re working on. We sample most of our content online from youtube/vimeo.
In terms of producing what software/hardware do you use in your studio?
We run Ableton in the studio with some tasty Genelec monitors. Not much hardware apart from some midi keys and an MPD.
You are heading down to Eastbourne on 28 February 2015 to play at a Jellyfunk Allstars party. What do you have planned for the show and will you be showcasing any exclusive tracks?
Lots of funky stuff and definitely a few exclusives to road test. We’re writing an EP at the moment so will be nice to see how some of that goes down!
You are both from Glasgow and I hope to one day visit as I’ve never been. Tell us about the music scene there in terms of club nights and other local acts.
The Glasgow scene is good but there are basically two types of clubs. The more commercial, mainstream music clubs and really well respected house/techno venues like The Arches, Sub Club. There’s not much in-between. We’re really lucky to have a residency in the Buff Club, the only club that has its roots in funk & soul.
What would you like to achieve in 2015?
We wanna play loads more gigs and would love to be able to travel to different places to play. Getting our EP we’re working on at the moment finished is a big goal for us too. Hopefully that will get released in the Spring in time for festival season.
For more details of the party , which takes place in Eastbourne this Saturday the 28th February, and future events check out and like the Jellyfunk Facebook Page.
For more Shaka Loves You tracks go to their soundcloud page.
Interview by 25ThC
