Rising Star Plays Sankeys With Coxy
It takes a lot to get the attention of Mr. Carl Cox, but Jon Rundell has done just that. Entrusted with the somewhat enviable task of warming up the dancefloor for Carl, Jon travels with him to gigs all over the world, and the pair will be landing at Sankeys on April 24th.
Jon has spent his career DJing across the globe, making music and also immersing himself in the industry by working for distributor Amato before helping set up the global dance download portal, Track It Down. Music, not surprisingly, brought the two DJs together. Jon would head down to Club UK in Wandsworth during the nineties to hear Cox play, becoming such a regular club face that he would say hello to the big man, before eventually offering him demos of his own productions. Carl listened, started playing them, and then signed one, Dirty Disco, to his Intech label before eventually asking Jon to come on board as label manager.
So how does Jon plan a warm-up for Carl? "It's about keeping the bpms a bit lower and keeping the music a little bit deeper, so that when Carl or whoever comes on next, they can literally go where they want from there. I'm there to keep the anticipation level ready so that when someone like Carl comes on after me, it just explodes and goes off. It means you haven't peaked too early and the crowd aren't too knackered."
The amount of self-discipline it takes, to not showboat to the audience and play your biggest and best, must be tremendous. "Sure. It is tempting to let it go sometimes when there's a packed crowd in front of you but you have to respect the fact that there's someone coming on after and you don't want to spoil that. I really enjoy doing the warm up because I can play a broad selection, from house and techno to more progressive stuff, and draw elements from all genres of dance music." There must be a buzz gained from knowing you're warming up for a dance music deity. "Yeah, it's great polishing his shoes (laughs) and carrying his bags and everything. I have learnt a lot from it, the parties, the promotion, the sound systems are all great, everything's in place. So to go and do it on your own is different from doing it with Carl. But it is still equally as important for me to do that." Nothing wrong with some personal development. Even a padawan must become a jedi someday.
After touring solo across America, Europe and playing twice for the Big Day Out in Oz, he must have enjoyed bathing the limelight purely on his own merits. "Definitely. Things have really progressed in the last two years and I've been able to get out there on my own as well. That's really, really important. Eventually the big DJs will step aside and when they do, I want to be able to do this for the rest of my life." His sound, like that of many jocks, has changed over time. Is increasing maturity affecting his sound? "Across any of the genres there's still got to be an element of funk in there somewhere. If it's got a groove and it's got some soul and it's got some feeling then it's in the bag basically, and it's gonna get played."
As for the Sankeys gig, he says, "I'm really, really looking forward to it, purely because it's a club that I have always wanted to play. To play in a city with such a heritage in the clubbing scene. I'm pretty excited to see more closely what it's all about."
Jon plays at Tribal Sessions alongside Carl Cox, Greg Vickers and Nick Curly on Friday 24th April.
Order your tickets for Carl Cox at Tribal Sessions here
Words: Justin Richards
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