Jimpster Interview

The Freerange boss talks deep house, improvisation and being out rock ‘n’ rolled by his dad…

Jimpster, aka Jamie Odell, has been DJing and producing for over 15 years, and running the highly respected Freerange Records for more than a decade. Somewhere along the way he has mastered the art of making tunes that are just so damn beautiful you want to wine them, dine them, and hell, maybe even go the whole hog and take them up the aisle. With melody and soul always at the forefront of every remix and original production he turns out, Ben Watt’s description of him as a ‘future soul kingpin and bittersweet house don’ pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Jimpster’s Freerange imprint has grown to become one of the UK’s best loved house labels, with consistently great releases and a roster that includes artists such as Milton Jackson, Palm Skin Productions and Shur-i-kan. No matter which artist they’re coming from, Freerange releases always manages to tug equally at the heartstrings as they do the feet, and show how deep house for the dancefloor should be done.

With his latest remix collection just hitting the shelves, Jimpster chatted to Roz Wilson about what’s in store for his label, tour antics with The Bays, and dabbling with hardcore.

Endclub.com: You are about to release a collection of your remixes from 2004 to 2008. This collection is markedly different from the last one, which embraced more downtempo sounds, whereas this one is aimed squarely at the dancefloor. Was that a conscious decision or just how your style has naturally developed over the years?

Jimpster: It’s really the fact that I’ve been doing more DJing, and that obviously dictates the kind of productions that I’m making, plus I think the majority of people that are asking me to do remixes these days are expecting them to be more club orientated. The downtempo and more eclectic scene has kind of disappeared, and the broken beat scene just doesn’t really exist commercially any more – I don’t think I’ve done a downtempo remix for a couple of years now – so I guess it was just a natural development.

Endclub.com: Do you miss making that kind of stuff?

Jimpster: Well, at the moment I’m hardly getting any time in the studio anyway, and the one day a week I get to spend doing remixes and production I want to concentrate on clubby stuff that I can actually play in my sets. The rest of the time I am either DJing or running Freerange, or trying to have a life outside of that!

Endclub.com: Who’s on your ‘to-remix’ list that you’ve not got your hands on yet?

Jimpster: Well it’s always nice to get asked to remix high profile artists, it’s a bit of an ego massage! The last year or so, I’ve been getting to do some more high profile remixes, which is great – I’ve just remixed Osunlade for Strictly Rhythm and then Sandy Rivera for Defected, for example.

Endclub.com: And what about artists you’d like to get in for Freerange?

Jimpster: It’s actually quite hard these days, as you find someone up and coming who you want to do a remix for you, and then they get busy so quickly that you can’t pin them down any more! We’ve been quite lucky with Freerange in that we’ve managed to get people like Stimming, Solomun, Nicky Curly, Pash Ostovar, Wahoo and a guy called Lovebirds too. The way I generally approach getting remixes is by going through my record box to see what my favourite tracks of the month are, and then poaching the artists from there.

Endclub.com: When are you going to treat us to another Jimpster artist album?

Jimpster: Sometimes I go through phases of not wanting to do another artist album ever again! The trouble is, the artist album market is so bad at the moment, you’re really doing it just for the love of it – which is great if you have the time, but if you’re trying to juggle a few different things then it’s pretty hard to commit to doing something that you know will only shift a few copies. But having said all that, at the moment I’m going through a phase where I feel like I would really like to do it. It’s just waiting for the right inspiration to come along - sometimes you just need to hear something, or come up with a concept to inspire you. I quite fancy doing some pure ambient stuff, something totally different to what I’m normally up to. I am in the process of getting a studio built in my house, so once that’s all up and running I’ll be able to lock myself in there for hours on end, so watch this space…

Endclub.com: You’re also a member of improvisational dance music act The Bays. The mind boggles as to how this works - are you all secretly telepathic?

Jimpster: Well it’s been 7 years we’ve been playing together, and by now it all gels really nicely - like any good musicians, after that long together you have to develop a rapport. It’s got to the stage now where we barely need to look at each other on stage, we don’t give each other any signals or anything. It could so easily fall apart, I suppose, but I find it really liberating as there’s no set guidelines or framework to follow, so we can take it in whatever direction we want to.

Endclub.com: Tell us honestly – when you’re improvising have you ever had a moment when your mind just goes blank and you want to start playing chopsticks?!

Jimpster: The good thing is, that if that ever happened there are always other people around you to fill in or pick it up if you’re struggling. I find the hardest gigs are when you’re in a venue with a really bad soundsystem, as when it doesn’t sound good and you can’t hear it properly, it’s hard to feel the inspiration. The best gigs for The Bays are often the ones where we have really lovely sound and a seated audience, then you can do more lush stuff. In a club situation, often you have to bang it out a bit more which isn’t necessarily always the right thing to do.

Endclub.com: It says on The Bays website that you are the sensible one. Would you like to refute this claim?

Jimpster: Erm…actually I have to say I’m the least sensible one, that’s why they wrote that! We always have a good time when we are travelling – I’m afraid The Bays can be a bit of a rock ‘n’ roll cliché! Although I’m certainly not allowed to divulge any of the stories, what goes on tour stays on tour! Playing with The Bays is the first time I’ve actually got to go on a proper tour where you’re on a sleeper bus for a good few weeks. You do the gig, you get trashed, you fall asleep then you wake up – often lying outside the pub - and start all over again. It’s pretty grim, as you stagger off the bus not having had a shower and generally feeling ropey as hell - but at the same time great fun. It’s not real life – it’s like living in a bubble.

Endclub.com: Your dad (Roger Odell – drummer & lyricist from Brit jazz-funk outfit Shakatak) has obviously been a huge influence on your musical career, he sounds like a bit of a legend. Do you intend to be still touring and making music when you’re in your sixties?

Jimpster: I do hope so - he is definitely an inspiration. He’s actually doing really well at the moment and having a bit of a comeback. Sometimes I’ll be chatting to him and he’ll be like, “How many gigs have you got this week, son?” I’ll say three, and he’ll be like, “Well, I’ve got five!” Plus he runs two jazz clubs out in Essex. I think the older you get, the more you know what your true passion is. I quite like the idea of being a bit of a grumpy old man and getting set in my ways!

Endclub.com: Are you going to be the Victor Meldrew of dance music?

Jimpster: Yeah maybe a bit like that. I think when I get to about 70 I’ll just get specifically into techno from 1992 – 93. There’s no point trying to keep up with what’s going on so you might as well just alienate yourself completely and do whatever the hell you want!

Endclub.com: One of the first tracks you released was a hardcore tune called ‘Eruption’. We’ve been trying and failing to find a sample of this on the internet, so please can you describe it to us instead? We’re intrigued!

Jimpster: Well, it kinda goes (sings) “E-e-ruption” and it’s got a dodgy piano on it, then some sirens and squeaking noises. I actually mixed it at home – I didn’t have any proper equipment so I just did it through a 50 watt keyboard amp in mono. It sounds alright actually, considering! I’m sure my dad thought it was dreadful though. It was released on Jumpin & Pumpin, the same label as The Future Sound of London, so it did okay. I also did two more EPs of rave stuff, then a techno EP. I think most producers my age have probably dabbled in a bit of hardcore.

Endclub.com: What will you do if bassline house becomes the new deep house?

Jimpster: Well it probably will in 6 weeks! I’ve always been into the deeper sound, so whatever trends come and go I’ll just keep doing what feels right for me. When I go through my old record collection it’s full of nu-groove and stuff. What I was listening to when I first started out (barring the hardcore and rave stuff!) isn’t a million miles away from what I’m listening to and making now. I’m not so worried about genres and sub genres – at the end of the day it’s all house music. I love playing in places like Panorama Bar, and some of the other German clubs, it’s almost like the weirder or the deeper you play the more they love it. It’s the only time I’ve been to a club where at the beginning of the gig the promoter has asked me to play as deep as I can!

Endclub.com: How has Freerange adapted to the challenges facing small, independent labels these days?

Jimpster: All we try and do is focus on the music, as we figure that as long as the tracks we are signing are really nice and good quality then it will just look after itself. We tend not to do much marketing or worry too much about the future – we just sign stuff we like and hope that people agree with us!

Jimpster ‘ Selected Remixes 2004 – 2008’ is out now on Freerange.

Published: 26/06/2008

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