Just Jack talks to eFestivals

eFestivals had a chat with Just Jack before he took to the stage for his charity performance in an Oxfam shop in South London.

How do you feel about playing here tonight? Is it a different vibe from your other gigs because of the set-up?
It is but I've done acoustic gigs in pubs and I've also played in Camden Loch for a bit of a laugh before so it's kind of similar to that. I like these things though because you can see everyone in the room. I didn't think there would actually be a stage because a stage is usually a luxury at these kinds of things; they've got lights and everything. It should be a laugh as it's a little bit unorthodox but it's cool.

The festival season has just drawn to a close. Did you have fun?
I did. I didn't have fun in the way of actually taking part in the festival because obviously we had to leave quite quickly after our sets. I had an amazing time doing the gigs though – I’ve always liked doing the festivals so yeh, it was cool.

What was your favourite festival that you did, or your favourite festival experience?
There were a lot of good ones this year; there were a few in Europe that were actually amazing. There was one in a place called Belfort where we got to ride in a speedboat up and down this lake, and did a gig on a boat. It was wicked. It was really cool. With Bestival, it was quite difficult to get in and out off the site and there were a few hiccups with that but the actual gig itself just went off completely so I was loving that.

You worked with Kylie on your track 'I Talk Too Much'. What was that like and how did it all come about?
Yeah, it was good working with her. Obviously three and a half hours is not a very long working relationship but it was cool. It came about because we wanted to do a different version of the song for the US release of the album and she basically agreed to do it. So we got together for a short amount of time and had a bit of a laugh and laid down the track. It was cool.

Did you feel star-struck when you met her?
Not really. I'm never that star-struck. We were quite nervous before she got there but she's such a cool woman, she just puts you at ease straight away.

You've said in the past that your sound is not from a particular scene or genre. Would you say it's a mish mash of all different genres then?
Yeah. Everything that I like listening to, I try and put into my music, and I get bored quite quickly in the studio so I always try and do new things all the time – just sort of testing myself out and see if I can actually come up with something interesting that I haven't done before.

Leaving Just Jack aside, what makes you tick as an individual? What do you love?
Food. I do a lot of eating out and a lot of cooking at home and... what else do I like? I don't know – there's not that much outside of music. I think about it a lot – probably too much; my girlfriend would probably like me to think about it a bit less sometimes. I like to eat nice things, go to the pub with my mates, and do usual things like that. Life's changing – a lot of my friends are growing up and a lot of them have got kids now so things do change a lot.

What do you enjoy the most – singing, rapping or actually putting the track together?
I enjoy all of them; I don't do as much rapping as I used to do. I don't really know why. I think it's because I kind of want to be known more as a songwriter than an MC really. I love doing all those things, you know, they're all very different. Putting tracks together is really good. I mean, recording is great because you make something out of nothing and that's always a good feeling.

Finally, where do you hope to be, as an artist this time next year?
(laughing) hmmm, not sacked? I don’t know - maybe writing songs for other people. I quite like the idea of doing a song and then giving it to someone else and you don’t really have to think about it again, then it might suddenly surface and be a massive hit. That would be cool.

Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to eFestivals.
Nice one. No problem. It was nice to meet you and enjoy the rest of the evening.

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