Dougie Jones

Dougie Jones was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in 1985 and was bought up in the surrounding area. His music obsessed dad ran his own independent record store in Nottingham and as a result Dougie was exposed to music from a very young age. This clearly had an effect on him because at the age of twelve he started his own Indie and Britpop band "The Sweenies" with some of his schoolmates (unfortunately though Dougie claims that the recordings are buried underground in a lead safe) and during his early teens he would listen to the Essential Selection and Danny Rampling on Radio 1 every Friday whilst drinking 20:20 and setting fire to things in his mate’s back garden... as fourteen year olds do.When he turned 18 Dougie couldn’t wait to go clubbing but unfortunately the "superclubs" such as Cream that he desperately wanted to attend during his youth had already closed. Luckily for him though the scene in Nottingham had moved underground to The Bomb with top events such as Firefly, Product and Renaissance. Dougie became addicted the club, and attended as many nights as he possibly could until the venue finally closed. Although he was gutted by the loss of the club Dougie followed the scene and regulary attended Firefly and Product in their new homes of Stealth and The Marcus Garvey Ballroom and also often took the short trip to Sheffield so he could go to Urban Gorilla. If there wasn’t much going on near home he would spend his weekend travelling around the country visiting other cities trying to find a place that would be a decent substitute. Using his knowledge of the scene he usually succeeded "They were great times!" Dougie beams, "Every weekend would be like an adventure, a bunch of us would jump on a train without a care in the world but know that whatever happened we were going to have an absolutely wicked time! I’ve spent a small fortune on these weekenders and I’m skint as a result but I don’t regret spending a single penny of it. Those trips meant the world to me and it gave me the chance to visit tons of great clubs... The End, The Cross, Nation, The Masque, The Key... and that’s just for starters! I could be telling you the stories from each of them all day... well the ones that I can remember anyway!" Dougie first got into DJing himself by playing at house parties. His cousin and main partying buddy Andy Marsden had some decks of his own and the two of them used to play at parties before they were old enough to go to proper clubs, sometimes on their own and sometimes back to back. "It was far from a substitute to actually being in a top club but it felt good knowing that I had prevented Beyonce and the like being played all night" Dougie laughs. "But the thing that used to really fuck me off more than anything was when someone would put on some CD like The Biggest Dance Hits Ever Ever Ever and ask if this was the kind of stuff I was into" Dougie says "By DJing ourselves Andy and I never had to answer that question again because we showed exactly what we were all about".Dougie decided that he wanted to take up DJing as a career some time ago but not everything went to plan straight away. "Going to clubs, listening to great music and all the hedonism that comes with it really is my favourite thing in the world. So it only seemed natural that I should try and make a career out of it" Dougie says. However unfortunately he had to put his dreams on hold until now because about a year ago he was involved in quite a bad accident and he suffered from tinnitus in both ears for months. "It was guttering, really really guttering. My music meant the world to me and the thought that I might never be able to enjoy it in the same way that I once did literally crushed me. The doctors advised me that if I stayed away from clubs and loud noises for quite some time then I might make a full recovery. Thankfully this ended up being the case... although I’m sure I missed some quality nights in the meantime!" Dougie smiles. Dougie’s musical style is quite different to what you would often find in a typical house or techno club. He says that he prefers not to be associated with a single genre of music and tries to make every one of his sets and productions unique "It’s quite hard to describe music using words without sounding like a dick" Dougie laughs "but I try to do something different and unique whilst making sure it still works on the dancefloor".The only thing that does seem to get Dougie aggravated is when critics say that the scene has explored every possible avenue and that nothing completely brand new could possibly come out of the electronic music scene. "As far as I’m concerned that’s complete bollocks" Dougie says "In my opinion the ones who say that are just not being creative enough. If that was the case then why did soulful house develop into acid, why did acid turn into progressive and so on - they should just be more creative". It’s not surprising that Dougie has mentioned progressive house at some point in this interview because he cannot seem to get over the fact that Sasha and Digweed performed at Venue 44 a couple of miles away from his house every week whilst he was still at primary school. "If I had to pick a single thing that made me want to DJ more than anything else it was listening to the Renaissance Mix Collection for the first time. When I first heard it I thought - this is incredible and this used to be going off in my home town before I could even make a set of decks out of duplo - it’s just not fair! Obviously there are great new clubs and amazing new DJs around now though that excite me just as much!" Dougie however doesn’t try to imitate his heroes in any way as he makes clear "As much as I love the Mix Collection and everything Sasha and Digweed have done since, there is no way I would try and imitate them or any other of my favourite DJs because they are pioneers and if you copy them you are simply following the pack. I try to make sure my mixes have their own style... In a good way!" Dougie smiles. Well, it’s been pretty hard to write a biography for someone so young but by the looks of things it is so far so good. Everyone who I’ve met who has seen Dougie play has nothing but great things to say and lets just hope that he can continue his form into the major club scene. But with his enthusiasm, obvious love for the music and hedonistic personality I don’t think that he will face many stumbling blocks at all and I can see myself having to update this article rather soon...