29 Apr 2024

I’m Jel, a British & Kiwi music producer with an obsession for Rickenbacker basses and their iconic sound. My double identity matches perfectly the fact that the 4000 series are infamous for being stereo. I’m on Muzic.net.nz as both the writer & producer of our band OLDER and as an album reviewer.

I grew up in the UK with Glam rock which morphed, or was subsumed by, Punk and then the Post-punk / New Romantic / New wave eras. I was also around the British New Wave Heavy Metal scene when Reading Festival was a sea of denim and leather. Post-punk is the genre that has most stuck with me, in particular with The Damned. They were exciting times for music with a huge amount of energy both in the music, the subcultures and the fashions. I was very lucky to have been amongst it both as a listener and a bass player in several bands.

(That said I declare The Black Parade by MCR as my all-time favourite album. Ever…. With several full-stops added!)

I first came to Aotearoa in ’93 about 3 days after the official start of Britpop but thanks to Real Groovy & Max TV I was able to enjoy all the wonderful energy of that period. Sleeper still get a lot of spins in our house.

I’ve owned recording studios in one form or another since the mid-90s mainly for my own projects which have ranged from Britpop inspired bands to Trance re-mixes and now Alternative rock where I have found my happy space. I’ve produced a handful of local artists however where I was most involved in the music industry was as a web developer from the late 90s long before social media. That led me to working with some of the royalty of Classical, Opera and Jazz music for EMI, Universal, Warner Music and many other major labels here and in London. I also supported countless independent artists online through the ‘digital revolution’ - it was an exciting time of change to be at the heart of.

In my work as a reviewer I love to discover artists with a passion for their craft that shines through. I’m not (and have never really been) interested in what is and isn’t in vogue, rather in that undefinable ‘something’ that connects a writer with a listener through music.

Outside a life of music I’ve been an engineer working on all sorts of crazy projects including space satellites, planetary landers and the Bugatti Veyron. No I didn’t get to drive one or own one. Or even sit in one. Now I live rurally where nature and the seasons keeps me busy and very content, and I’m far enough away from people to fire up the Ricky without getting complaints!

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