DJ SHEPDOG RETURNS TO HULL WITH SOMETHING ‘DIFFRUNT’

Jon Sheppard, AKA DJ Shepdog is a Hull-born DJ/producer Top Dog at the massive NICE UP! Records and previous pioneers’ of some of the biggest reggae mash-ups known to man (having reworked Gorillaz, The Gossip, Damian Marley, etc), Shepdog is somewhat of an old hand behind the turntables. Having won his first DJ competition as far back as 1992, he's somewhat of a veteran amongst most genres of dance music and is more than comfortable rocking funk, soul, hip-hop, disco, house and classic rave bangers. Of course, he's more well known for his energetic reggae and dancehall sets at clubs and festivals across the globe, often picking up the speed to include jungle, drum & bass and dubstep amongst other styles of modern bass music.

We sat down with Jon to welcome him back to the city and hear about his forthcoming event, Diffrunt…

First of all, welcome back. What are your plans?

Thank you – it’s nice to be back! No real plans as such, I think I’d kind of had enough of the promoting game a while back – London is very saturated and competitive as you can imagine and with rising fees, agents, hires and promoting costs it started to become more of a headache so I stopped and just took the occasional guest DJ spots myself – become someone else’s headache!

Moving back to Hull I’d said I wasn’t going to do any events but ended up at my mate Reece’s Discopolis night at Basement and instantly loved the venue – it’s a real intimate little underground vibe and the bare brick and pillars on the dancefloor reminded me of the early days of ROOM. I got chatting to Lewis the guy that runs it and that started me thinking about doing something. Old habits and all that…

Tell us about your new event. What can people expect?

Something different! Well, not that different, as there’s plenty already catered for in Hull but I thought with my experience and contacts I could bring something with a bit of an alternative vibe to some of the other nights happening in the city. I’m a big fan of loads of different styles of music so wanted somewhere I could play them – from funk, boogie and disco to house, techno and the odd old rave banger. The kind of stuff I probably couldn’t play anywhere else. I didn’t want to pigeonhole it too much with genres but you have to let people know what to expect so I’d just say expect to dance! Old, new, fast, slow – a bit of everything thrown in.

My original plan was to invite guest DJs who might not have played in the city before who I rate and ask them to play a set of something different to what they’re known for, but that seemed to be overthinking it too much – people just want to party. Our first guest Trevor Mac runs the brilliant Jalapeno Records – home to Smoove & Turrell, The Allergies, Kraak & Smaak and loads more and he’s one of my favourite DJs and a good friend. I’ve seen him smash festivals and clubs time after time so wanted to give him a set and watch him do the same to Hull!

What has your time in London influenced the concept of this event?

I’m not sure really, but I’ve been promoting nights and DJing for over 30 years so have done a bit of everything in my time. As I said I think my tastes are quite eclectic so have got to know quite a lot of DJs and people from different scenes over the years – drum & bass, house, reggae, hip hop, so I think this night is a culmination of all that. I started my NICE UP! night just booking friends who I knew could rock a dancefloor, some of whom ended up being quite big names, but it soon got very competitive and the demand to book bigger headliners or the flavour of the month kind of DJs took over, which is when I started to enjoy it less, so I want to take things back to basics again and enjoy the night myself too.

Building a regular crowd was so hard in London as there were so many people and other things to do. I’ve always liked clubs where you know most of the people there and it becomes a bit of a community thing – seeing the same people having a good time together, like Blue Lamp back in the day. That’s quite impossible in a city the size of London, but look at what the Residents Association have done in Hull. They’ve built an amazing little scene of their own that people love to go back to each month. No big names, just good vibes and an amazing crowd, so I think that has maybe influenced me more than London has.

How do you see this event fitting into Hull’s electronic scene?

Hopefully, there’s enough space and demand in this city for it – we’ll have to see. I’m friends with quite a few other people promoting nights here so definitely didn’t want to step on any toes or try to compete with anyone – it’s pointless and I’m not here to try and ruffle any feathers. I just thought I might be able to complement what is already happening with something a bit different. Hopefully, the first night is a success so I can do more – I’ve already got a big dream list of DJs I’d love to book, but we’ll have to see what the response is like. I’ve always seen Hull as a very eclectic city musically so maybe we can fill a gap in that. Although I’m a bit of an old hound it's not just a retro night – I want to be able to play new music too so will hopefully appeal to some younger heads at the same time. There seems to be a bit of a buzz in the city with other nights and labels doing stuff so hopefully people will check it out.

What’s your ultimate goal with this event?

It might sound a bit cheesy, but I’ve always said that Hull is seen as a bit of an underdog or best-kept secret when it comes to clubbing (hence the “runt” spelling in the name). Back in the 90s when I was going out every night Hull had just as many amazing nights as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, etc but for some reason, it’s not revered in the same way. I think it's because we Hull lot aren’t as mouthy and just get on with it. Also maybe a lack of documentation – look at the amount of photos, etc from Hacienda. Here we’ve got Déjà vu which I believe is now the UK's running club night which is legendary but still all the media ever bang on about is London, Manchester, etc. Massive respect to Terry – he’s done more than anyone to put this city on the map.

So my goal would be to add to that and help put it on the map a bit if I can. I don’t want that to sound naff or egotistical as Hull’s already got plenty being shouted about, but if I can convince some of the DJs I’ve got in mind to come and play maybe the word will spread and we can book more – I doubt most of them have played Hull before so it would be good to show them we can party as much as any other city.

How are you finding being back home, what’s changed?

Quite a lot and not a lot at the same time. The price of Chip Spice these days though? Madness haha. It’s been great to reconnect with old mates and bump into old faces in the street whilst also making new friends at the same time. Having lived in London for so long you hardly ever see the same person twice in a month, so having a bit more of a community vibe again is heartwarming. There still seems to be plenty going on musically – it’s always had a great local music scene and that seems ever more popular with things like The Sesh and their Humber Street Sesh. I’ve not been out loads but it's great to see venues such as Adelphi, Polar Bear, Welly, Social and Spiders still going strong. It’s tough times for independent venues, so to see many of them still standing is a testament to the supportive community Hull has – long may it continue!

When and where is the first Diffrunt event, and how can people get tickets?

Saturday 22nd February at Basement (formally Tunnel), which is underneath Atik, which used to be known as Waterfront. As it happens they’re changing the name back to Waterfront soon, so people of a certain age should know exactly where it is – if not, it’s opposite the lovely Still coffee shop on Posterngate (which is where we’re having some warm-up drinks on the night – come and check their cocktails!). Tickets are available from BROWSE HULL TICKETS: https://www.fatsoma.com/browsehulltickets/promotions/x29mtove/diff-runt-with-trevor-mac-jalapeno-records