The Quick 6 – Jerk Boy (Sosilly Edits)

The Quick 6 – Jerk Boy (Sosilly Edits)

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Jerk boy has been behind two of the best vinyl edit’s releases this year on his own Sosilly edits label with Vol 3 of the series landing earlier in the year and VOl. 4 just about to drop. You can check out the series on Juno here, they’re well worth picking up: https://www.juno.co.uk/labels/Sosilly+Edits/

Yam Who? featured volume 3 in his disco juice column for us HERE and we premiered Volume 4 which you can check below. He’s a really exciting artist crafting some great disco edits which sound beutifully produced which are all perfectly suited to today’s dancefloors when that becomes a thing again. We asked Jerk Boy to put together a mix for us, it’s dynamite, you can check it below and we asked him a few questions about the mix HERE.

We spoke at greater length to Jerk Boy below about the Sosilly series, his studio, his influences and he also gave us some ace studio tips.

Check it all below and make sure you give the mix a spin. If it starts you party, please give it a share over on Soundcloud!

Q1: Who is Jerk Boy?

Jerk Boy is me (Adam Stivala) I’ve been DJing and making music since let’s say 1993. I got into hip hop and early (house/techno) rave music at a really early age, and was going out to raves with my cousin and friends in the early/mid 90s and really haven’t looked back, I have had loads of different aliases and projects over the years which I have produced music and DJ’d under.

I always seem to start a new project when I start making music that doesn’t seem to fit any of my other projects. I would have to say this latest project (Jerk Boy) has been the most fun to date musically. Not that I didn’t enjoy all the amazing time I had making music and playing all over the world with my other projects, but I guess this one just feels like I’ve finally found the spot I’m going to be staying in for a while. From a production perspective I’ve learnt so much more so I feel a lot more confident with my musical output. I guess you never stop discovering new music and sounds but with this one it just feels like everything fits.

Q2: Please can you tell us about your Sosilly Edits Series and your latest release? 

Sosilly (a play on Sicily) and the 3 legged symbol of Sicily is a project born from edits I’ve been making over the years of tracks I play out at gigs and random things I find. I’m a bit of a stickler for correctness especially when I’m DJing and sometimes those old tracks just don’t sound up to scratch sonically, obviously because they’re old! When you’re playing new material and then you drop in something old, it can be a pain to mix in and out of, and can sometimes kill the vibe a little so my re edits are an outlet for me to give them a little more snap, crackle and pop to fit in between all the new tracks I play out.

I sent them to some friends, they dug them and encouraged me to release them so I thought why not just make them a vinyl only thing 🙂 they all seem to get some love and here we are 4 x EPs in!

Q3: Who are your greatest influences as a producer?

Hahah how do you answer this in only 3??? I’ll go with the guys that inspire the
‘Jerk Boy’ thing. Ok here we go

Idjut Boys – These guys have been stand outs for me for a good 2 decades! Whether it be something sample based on their label Noid/U-star or more original material on labels like Nuphonic/Disfunction, etc I love the whole cut and paste aesthetic they have when it comes to sampling and re editing. It’s always this wonky mind bending work out with efx’s and delays, you either know the groove sample they used or don’t know it and spend eons trying to find out what it is. I always found when I heard a new record they did that it had this fresh new approach not just some loop for 8 minutes.

Idjut Boys – Girth Soup

Norman Cook – He has had an amazing career with so many successful projects, and some not as successful, but still quality output. I find sometimes it’s the not so known ones I’m drawn too. I find he is probably my biggest inspiration, I remember getting a copy of his old Skip to my loops sample pack (I think there’s a few Simon Harris bits in there) many years ago, and just listening to it and being blown away by how many people had made so many big records over the years using that sample pack. I think he’s another producer that has a kind of cut & paste aesthetic to his production but he’s still able to keep it song based if he needs to. I released an ep under one of my old projects on his label Southern Fried many years ago and that was a big win for me. 🙂

Mighty Dub Cats – Super Disco Brakes

Terry Farley – Boy’s Own – what a label! Such a sad loss, Andy Weatherall (RIP).
I have spent years collecting the whole Boy’s Own / Junior Boy’s Own and Just Trax 12” releases. I love and still play the hell out of anything he’s touched like all Fire Island tracks and remixes. I put him in the same league as Kerri Chandler, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, Frankie K – he has a definite sound and you know within the first 8 bars it’s a Junior Boy’s production.

Fire Island – White Powder Dreams

Q4: Please tell us about the electronic scene where you are based. Which artists from your local scene past and present have inspired and encouraged you and what parties that you loved going to have helped your musical evolution?

Currently I’m based in London, I moved here from Sydney Australia in September 2019, it was great then but you know… 2020! I feel like I have one foot in London and one foot in Sydney still.

When I first moved to London I did get to head out and play a few shows and check out some clubs and see some great gigs! I hit ADE in Amsterdam every year including last year 2019 and went out to some amazing parties. I was booked for a show with La Discothèque alongside Bondax / PillowTalk / The Revenge / Fouk / Marcel Vogel which would have been amazing, but the techno party the night before blew the club’s sound system (!) so that got cancelled which sucked. De School and Radion are always the best fun over at ADE, plus the millions of other gigs I check out that week.

I managed to play a gig this summer with the Sense Traxx crew in August which was fun – all socially distanced of course. I didn’t get to experience London’s scene as much as I would have liked to over the last year but I’m looking forward to diving in when things open back up.

Sydney has been through a lot over the last few years – we had a nightlife lockout introduced which really impacted the music scene and lots of amazing venues closed, but it did mean a lot of cool underground warehouse parties and events started up. Lockouts have now been repealed so hopefully Sydney is on the up – there’s so much amazing talent and Harvey Sutherland and Sophie Forest are probably two of my top ‘get an uber across the city to see them play’ artists.

Clipp.Art is one of my favourite record labels from Australia and we threw some awesome parties before I moved to London – I got to play alongside Gerd Janson, Auntie Flo, Demuja, Black Loops, Laurence Guy, DJ Boring, Coeo, Hidden Spheres, FYI Chris, Breakbot, Ross From Friends, Bloody Mary and many more. They had a great little basement club in Sydney  called Tokyo Sing Song and we did a summer season in Bondi at the Beach Road Hotel too.

Last but not least for Sydney is my Refuge family – these guys have had my back for a long time, super supportive and always trying to do fresh and exciting things. The label has some great music coming out, keep an eye on Donald Leicester, Sondrio and Melbourne Drum Authority (who I’ve just recently remixed).

Q5: Your Studio: Please can you tell us about your studio. What is your production set up? What is your indispensible piece of equipment or plugin that you use for your sound? What is next on your studio shopping list and please can you give us your three favourite studio tips for up-and-coming producers?

Hmmm it’s a hard one I have a great set up back home in Sydney all my old hardware like my Juno 106, Korg Trinity rack, and my big Mackie 32-08 desk and other out board gear, Fender Jazz Bass and a couple of electric guitars.

I had loads more gear, but many years ago I stupidly sold a lot of it. I stopped using my Akia S5000 sampler, Korg M1, Korg MS2000, SH101, Roland Sound Canvas, Roland JX-8p, Novation Bass station, Compressors and the list goes on 🙁 once VST’s became a thing I was working in the computer so much that it became hard to work with the out board gear, and I was touring so much I was making most of my music on the road.

I was really fortunate that the guys at Roland hooked me up with all the fun boutique remakes of the classic drum machines and synths and I’ve been playing around with the out board gear again. At some point I will get back into the whole hardware thing again, I do love playing with all the toys and will prep a live show in due course.

When I moved over to London I had to condense my studio down to a laptop and a controller keyboard. In saying that I have found have less is more! I find I don’t waste time going through hours of stuff, I just have a few go to things like the Roland Cloud subscription, it’s amazing! It has everything you need remodelled like the Juno 106, Jupiter 8 and so on in one place. I still fall back on to my Korg M1 plug. I love the Arturia series which has loads of great VST remakes to play with, the Waves Platinum Bundle for pre and post production plus an extensive folder of audio samples I’ve been collecting for 20 or so years… I’ve managed to condense my working flow down to the basics and it works for me. I know what I want and I can execute my ideas quickly.

My front of house in the studio has been RME for the last 16 or so years, and I have an Apogee Duet to take on the road, but I think I’m going to upgrade to a UAD card soon.

As for new pieces of gear when I have the budget I think I want a Roland CR78 if I can find one in good condition and the right price.

3 Studio Tips

1. I find testing my tracks out in a mix works well. I’ll bounce a draft, then mix it in Ableton between two tracks I would play in a DJ set if I don’t have a gig coming up. This method has been a big life saver considering our current global nightlife situation.

2. Be different – it’s great to be inspired by people but always try separate yourself from the pack and stand out. I find I spent so many years trying to sound and make what everyone else was doing, but the best years have been recently just being me not trying to please anyone other than myself and trusting my instincts.

If no one likes it I don’t give a hoot. As long as I like what I’ve made and I can’t wait to play it out ! I remember reading an interview with Tiga and he said something along the lines of “Fuck what everyone else says, for every person that doesn’t like your track, there’s going to be two people that do”.

3. $$$$ Don’t spend the dollars unless you need to! There are a lot of people out there with big flashy studios and they aren’t doing shit. Having the latest and greatest stuff isn’t going to make your music sound better. There are plenty of guys out there with the bare minimum and still making some of the best music coming out. Spend your time and effort on good ideas and finding your own line. You don’t have anything unless you have a great idea.

Q6: What else can we expect from Jerk Boy in the next 12 months?

– Loads of new cheeky edit EPs
– New singles and remixes (I’m particularly excited about one which features the vocals of one of my all time favourite Chicago house music godfathers!)
– I have a new label Sosilly Records which will be all my new original material TBC 2021

Love this? Check out our Disco and House playlists HERE

For more info check

Jerk Boy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerkboymusic/
Jerk Boy Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jerk-boy
Jerk Boy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerkboymusic/