Legendary Status #04- DJ Freshtrax (UK)
We first met Jon The Dentist back in 2024 when he supplied us with a deep DNB journey guest mix, but what many people reading this may not know is that Jon's journey started way back in the late 80s. He was also responsible for a number of massive hardcore tracks during the early 90s before he went onto forge a career in the hard dance and progressive house scenes.
It’s been some time since we did a Legendary Status feature, but if you follow them, you’ll know that we are absolutely dedicated to publishing historical contributions to the scene as a whole. Preserving the history of the DNB scene is a top priority for us. So, step forward, DJ Freshtrax!
As is well documented, London in the late 80s was one of the major cornerstones of the underground dance scene in the UK, with Glasgow and the Midlands also having their fare share of the limelight.
It is the capital however that will always be recognised globally as the starting point, with the seeds of the acid house movement germinating in its backstreet venues, warehouses and other derelict venues.
This is where we start Jon’s story, at The Mud Club located at 157 Charing Cross Road, a venue that opened way back in 1927, which later went on to become known as The Astoria (home to the now legendary Sunday Roast jungle events) and previously The Sundown, where the Sex Pistols played in 1976.
So Jon, before we dive headfirst into your music, and the wikked two track EP you’ve very kindly donated to the label as a FREE DOWNLOAD, let’s set the scene.
Tell us a bit about the buzz and the vibe of late 80s London, and what it was like as the sound of acid house started permeating through the city?
Absolutely amazing. I had this job in the City and I had a convertible BMW company car so my memories are acid house blaring out of my car with the top down- that was 1989 in a nutshell. I mean the clubs back then were outstanding – I’ll answer that in your club question!
London was THE place to be for record shopping in the UK at this point, so where would you have been going to procure your tunes?
City Sounds – all the time – mostly because Dave was in there doing the best ‘barrow boy’ sales technique you have ever seen! The man could sell bacon to a vegan! I bought some shit from him over the years. LOL
The Mud Club. That was a heck of a venue by all accounts, so tell us a bit about how you got into DJing, and especially how the gig at 157 Charing Cross Road came about?
Literally cannot remember tbh.
You were a huge fan of what was going on at the likes of Shoom and similar club nights too though. Riding the original acid house wave must have been a pretty special experience!
The Shoom will always be my greatest club memory. Danny Rampling is the best DJ I have ever seen and danced to. Weirdly, in all my years DJing I have never played on the same event with him- done all the others- perhaps it is some sort of divine intervention that means I cannot enter his DJ universe.
Also back in those early years, Legends, Dingwalls and the Boys Own events spring to mind. And lest we forget The Wag club in Soho- the greatest venue ever in my opinion (though The Park in Knightsbridge runs it close). So many great DJs back then- way too many to list in full but Grahame Park has to have a special mention and Trevor Fung at The Wag.
As we’ve alluded to in our HISTORY OF DNB, by 1989, under the loose influence of hip hop, hip house and techno, the very first rumblings of the sound of UK hardcore were making themselves heard on the underground scene, and by that we mean the sound of breakbeat.
What was your story going from DJ to producer?
I started producing music because it was an itch I wanted to scratch really. I wanted to make acid house like everyone else, and have the buzz of getting something on vinyl. It wasn’t like now – I didn’t do it to get gigs really, I just wanted Trevor Fung to play my tune at The Wag!
So I made a track called Destruxshion – pressed up a load of white labels – flogged a bunch to Dave at City Sounds and handed the rest out to London DJs. It was amazing really- especially the night Graham Park played it out. It was for the buzz- not Tik Tok views or popularity- just the buzz of hearing my tune played out in a club- hadn’t thought beyond that really.
Your first outing as DJ Freshtrax on Beatfarm Recordings was really right at the very forefront of that initial breakbeat sound. The track was officially released in January 1990, which of course means that the tracks were among the very first breakbeat driven hardcore cuts out there, having been written the year before.
What is your interpretation of the way the hardcore sound was developing, and what were you being directly influenced by at the time? It must have been very exciting watching those breakbeats start to filter their way onto the dancefloors!
Yea- it came from nowhere really. One minute it was all 909s and 808s and 4/4 beats and then all of a sudden breakbeats started happening – there are train spotters out there that would know better than me who started using sampled drums as opposed to drum machines but it definitely started happening with acts like The Prodigy and the stuff XL were doing- and then of course Suburban Base, Kickin’ and Basement.
I found it an exciting new sound! I think I would cite Dominator as the first non conventional 4/4 kick track I remember- along with Stakker’s Humanoid (which of course was The Future Sound of London who went on to do the seminal Papua New Guinea). These are all my influencers of that music back then.
Also in 1990 came the 2XL release, Destruction. The piano hardcore sound was mostly prevalent in ’91, coming to full fruition in ’92 and then becoming the main driving force for the happy hardcore scene a few years later, so where did this idea crystalise?
I wrote this on my Mum’s piano! Lol I found this studio that was on a boat- the guy was called Richard- what a bloke! The boat creaked and moved in the Locke every time you hit a kik drum! Tbh – he knew nothing about dance music- but he had a lot of weed and was fun to hang out with. So that first release is low on quality but high on, well – just high! LOL
1991 seems to have been relatively quiet, but 1992 was a big year for releases! I’m guessing you were still DJing a lot at this point?
Essentially 1992 went nuts because I met Steve (HMS, rest his beautiful soul). We just clicked – firm friends immediately. One of the nicest guys I ever met in the music industry. We loved hanging out, clubbing, making music and DJing and touring together. It was an incredible partnership and friendship and we were prolific in 1992 recording for Little Giant Music, and of course we went on to release on Jumpin’ and Pumpin’.
Teaming up with DJ HMS, you created the Harmonik Distortion EP with 4 absolute smashers on it. Tell us about your friendship with HMS and how getting into the studio with him came about?
As above. But to expand – now I am in later life, being nearly 60, I think about him a lot. It makes me so sad that when I go to London he isn’t there to hang out with. I think we would have made two great old men in the pub, getting hammered, drinking beer and playing dominoes! Yea – it’s heart wrenchingly sad when I sit down and think about it and I wish we had done more work together and especially on the label we started, Boscaland. Hindsight and all that.
We simply HAVE to talk about 10 B&H. It was without doubt a stand out track of 1992. Crisp, clean, as hard as nails and with that oh-so-catchy mix of cheeky vocals and samples, it was and still is a definite proto jungle tune. Spill the beans man!!!!!!
I mean the reality is it was inspired by Kicks Like a Mule- The Bouncer and Mr Kirk’s Nightmare – really just injecting a bit of fun into music. I have always enjoyed being a little cheeky – so this was my ode to a day in the studio with Jon and Steve. King size only – not the Greens!
It’s pretty amazing how much the tempo on the dancefloor had changed in just a couple of years. The intensity of actual sound had changed too, with that ‘hardcore, you know the score’ mentality running through the productions of the time. Although you moved into the hard house scene shortly afterwards, did you ever really picture it morphing into DNB, and into a global phenomenon?
Nope. I do regret not sticking with it – but how was I to know it would morph into the amazing stuff Ed Rush and Trace did and all the stuff on Metalheadz, and Goldie’s incredible stuff. Listening to the stuff I do now and the way I love dark sci fi style music I imagine I’d have been decent at DNB. I did love going to the Metalheadz night at The Blue Note. Great times!
Thing is, I wasn’t keen on the middle part between something as brilliant as ‘The Terminator’ (Ruffige Kru) and the tech step sound that happended a few years later, because I wasn’t so keen on the jungle sound- those breakbeats were just too fast and messy for me, I couldn’t dance to them. When they were tightened with kicks and snares and the tech step beat, it all made sense- head bobbing to the half beat- sexy and dark as you like. Then ‘Timeless’ comes out – I mean- that album is something else!
For all of the seriousness of the hardcore sound, the scene itself also had a great sense of humour, and this is quite prevalent in many of your tracks of the era. Notably in 10 B&H, but also in ‘The Vodaphone You Have Called Has Not Responded’. Interestingly it also sounds like there’s a bit of Felix thrown in there. Was this a hint at your future in 4/4 by any chance?
I really can’t remember any context other than as I said – it was just a bit of fun really. But- I think it sold more units than anything else I have ever released as a single- we sold like 20,000 copies! Mad eh! lol
One thing I am particularly interested in is the technology in place at the time, and how easy (or difficult it was) to layer breakbeats with accuracy on that old hardware?
Nope- wasn’t easy at all. I mean if you listen to a lot of the breakbeat stuff of that time, even into jungle, there were beat clashes with breaks- it definitely wasn’t an exact science using Akai 1000s! (Actually more like 950s!) Also the quality – wow – not great. But hey- it was new and exciting and that was what mattered I guess.
Some of these tracks are fetching serious money in good condition these days. It’s been alleged that ‘The Believer’ for example is worth in excess of £300 for a mint copy. Mad innit!
I’m guessing you have mint copies of every slab of vinyl you’ve ever put out there?
It is mad and no, I have virtually nothing of mine- certainly no hardcore stuff whatsoever! I wish I’d kept all the vinyl copies we didn’t sell and just threw away. I’d be on to my third home in Monte Carlo! Lol
And this brings us on nicely to the two tracks you have very kindly agreed to donate to us to help get the label off the ground.
Electrostatic Parts 1 and 2 are Amen slammers with a distinct old skool era sound to them. Our Green label is all about the breakbeats, whether that be jungle, breaks or old skool. What’s the back story with these two?
I’m going to keep that a secret if you don’t mind – it’s personal. 🙂
I couldn’t think of a better way to start the label off than with these two stompers. Thank you so much!
FREE DOWNLOAD LINK!!
