Jungle Box from Australia are promoting a massive drum & bass festival called Paradise In Bali on November 14th & 15th. To say the location for the event is spectacular is a massive understatement and the line-up isn't too shabby either. Expect to see the likes of international talent like Netsky, Matrix & Futurebound, Makoto, Bungle, Krust & Die, Utah Jazz and Amit alongside local talent like the Javabass Crew. We spoke to DJ Jerome from the Javabass Crew to find out more about him and the drum & bass scene in Indonesia...

Please introduce yourself...

My name is DJ Jerome and I'm based in Jakarta, Indonesia. I started DJing in 1996 after being inspired by the rave scene that had emerged in Jakarta. I started my career at the infamous Chill Room of the legendary Parkit Club. In late 1999 I formed Javabass Soundsystem with other fellow DnB DJs and we were the first outfit to promote drum & bass events and culture in Indonesia. The latest Javabass roster includes myself, Random, Celcius, DJ Sketch, DFMC & MC Drifft and not forgetting Sintorini as our lovely manager.

What styles do you play?

I spin mostly all styles of the drum & bass spectrum, I always think my set should be about the journey, flow and groove rather play a specific style or bursting the latest anthems or bangers only. So playing across all different styles is very important to achieve that, but it also depends on the crowd, venue, what kinda party I spin and which slot I'm on. Sometimes I have to play harder, more jump-up or rollers stuff in the main hour at big parties or sometimes it can be more deep and liquid if I play in a lounge set up. Fusing what I like and what the crowd wants gets the best results.

Do you have any residencies or promote your own night?

I had a residency at Parkit Club at the beginning of my career and then at LOFT 25 club from 2003 - 2004 but since we form Javabass Soundsystem we always promote our own night in several small clubs and cities also bring our brand to the bigger raves or festivals in Indonesia. The best known would be the award-winning PHUNKTION and its the longest running monthly DnB night since 2003 'til now and it's still going strong.

This year we also have a residency at a webradio program call Sub Frequency, broadcasted every Thursday from 5pm - 7 pm (+7GMT) at www.homses.net

What are the best gigs you've played in the last six months?

It would be the Guilty Pleasure party at Innocence in Bandung city, playing back to back with E One on four turntables. Also at the PHUNKTION 60 at LADR Festival where almost all Indonesian DnB labels gathered, that was an awesome event. The latest would be Laboratory last Thursday in Jogjakarta, awesome rockin' crowd... it's always amazing to play in that city.

What are the top three tracks in your record box right now?

There are plenty of top tracks in my box... the first would be Rafika Duri's Tersiksa Lagi bootleg by DTX, it's a remix of a famous 80s Indonesian pop singer done recently by DTX, one of the best dnb producers here with a nice summer vibe.

The second is Ed Solo & Deekline's remix of Dawn Penn's You Don't Love Me, a secret weapon for switching vibe from hard to ragga, everybody screams and sings along with this.

The third is Surprise by Culture Shock, a massive techstep roller with a bubbling bassline and nu skool electro stabs, definitely gonna keep the crowd busy.

If you could warm up for any DJ in the world, who would it be, and why?

Hmmmm, probably it would be DJ Marky, because I think he's one of the best DJs in the world and I love his passion to the jungle music and scene. I saw him recently at Home Club (SG), what an amazing night that was... so inspiring.

Have you got into production yet?

I'm more into DJing and promotion but I've managed to produce and release a few original tunes and a couple remixes of well known Indonesian artists. I'm planning to go back to my home studio very soon, I've got some remix projects again. Also I need to finish the Homegrown 2 album this year, it's a compilation album from all Indonesian DnB producers, the first one came out in 2008. I hope it can be finished by November for the Paradise event.

What's the d&b scene like in Indonesia?

Although the dnb scene has been emerging since 1997 it's still a very underground and small scene but it has a small but very devoted crowd with a strong sense of community. The scene itself has survived from all changing trends that come and go and hatred from the other commercial scenes.

DnB parties are usually held in small clubs or bars but with a nice vibe inside and crowd really into the jungle music. The DJs choose quality tunes from different subgernes rather than the latest bangers only. It's all about good tunes, vibes and having fun.

We actually really want to make it bigger and stronger, and we also see that the crowd from other scenes are ready to accept ours, but lack of support from the big clubs, promoters, media and sponsors set us back again and again, especially after the underground rave scene died six years ago.

Now the major dance scene is changing more into "nice superclubs" with only their "socialite" crowds, with the same boring commercial music every week, they don't care about musical variation and only think how to make the biggest and fastest profit possible.

They see us just like the bastard child of the dance scene so it's very hard, almost impossible to promote DnB or any other underground party at the big clubs here.

And the worst thing is the small clubs owners also starting with the same attitude, they try to do the same thing as the superclubs, although the place is empty.

Other problems are Indonesia's social economic conditions that make our currency rate so low, even from our neighbouring SEA countries, so bringing down big international DnB DJs with their expensive fees and flights is impossible, without any back up from big sponsors. This is still our goal since it's important for the crowd here to also experience the big DJs sets so they have more knowledge of the music and scene.

However there are more and more new people coming to DnB nights and they get better knowledge of the music. Also there are other labels and promoters like Junglizta, Crimescene etc that promote and push the DnB scene wider and more parties emerge in other cities like Bandung, Jogjakarta, Solo and Bali, I hope it's going to expand all over Indonesia.

There are a lot of new DnB producers and live PAs releasing good original tunes and remixes here, it's been favoured by the local crowd, even in KL, so I hope the next big step is for the Indonesian DnB scene to get known to outside world.

How did you come to be on the line-up for Paradise In Bali?

Well, firstly DJ Low from KL got us in contact with Alex from Jungle Box, the promoter of Paradise In Bali. As the event will be held in Bali we gave them full support for promoting and selling the event here in Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia and hope all the local junglist will go there in November. We also want to promote our scene to the outside world, and Alex give us the chance to do that, so thanks to Jungle Box for the opportunity.

For Paradise In Bali information, the latest line-up, ticket and booking travel packages go to www.paradisefestival.com.au

Related Links:

• Introducing: DJ Jerome
• Introducing: DJ Low
• Introducing: DJ Low
• Paradise In Bali Festival
• Toolroom To Release Bright Lights

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