With 10 years of experience behind him, Jack Prest is considered to be a veteran of the Sydney and Australian music scenes, a notion which beguiles his 25 years.
For the last year Jack has collaborated with dynamite MC Shantan Wantan Ichiban as the resident DJ for UMA (Urban Music Awards) and Ozhiphop.com award winning radio show Stolen Records on Sydney’s best underground radio station FBi 94.5 (www.fbiradio.com). Tune into the Sunset slot every Wednesday night from 6 – 8pm (or stream online) for all the best Hip Hop/Grime/Funk/Club and all related soul orientated dance music. The show has featured a who's who of hip hop including DJ Craze, A-Trak and Kid Sister, and Peanut Butter Wolf.
Jack has a reputation as one of the most versatile DJ’s in Sydney. He is currently a resident DJ at Copperlily Nightclub @ Kings Cross Hotel, where he can be found spinning the finest funk, soul, disco and hip-hop, and plays monthly at the Beach Rd Hotel in Bondi. Throughout 2006/07 Jack held residencies at Sydney institutions Chinese Laundry, Purple Sneakers, and Home Nightclub, playing everything from The Strokes to The Meters to Wu-Tang to Bjork and back again, with the basic philosophy of playing the perfect tune for a particular place in time as opposed to letting genre dictate. His DJing credits also include Sounds on Sunday, Spectrum, The Metro Theatre, The Basement, The Annandale, Manning Bar, Section 8 (Melb), Revolver (Melb), Laundry (Melb), The Croft Institute (Melb) etc etc etc, supporting the likes of Souls of Mischief, The Liars, Mark Rae, Koolism, The Herd, Muph’n’Plutonic, Hermitude, Macromantics etc etc etc.
Until recently Jack could be found scratching up a storm as the stage DJ for Live Hip-Hop legends Good Buddha. Featured on Good Buddha’s latest album “Hit the Sky Running†(which has received high rotation from Triple J and FBi) Jack was a part of the Good Buddha family for almost three years, having played the Pyramid Rock Festival (2008) with PPP, Digitalism and Salmonella Dub, the Good Vibrations Festival (2007), on the same stage as Jurassic 5 and Rahzel, the Cockatoo Island Festival (2005), alongside Ernest Ranglin and Coda, and toured everywhere from Hobart to Perth to Cairns with the likes of Public Enemy, DJ Numark, Jungle Brothers, Katalyst, TZU and Illzilla. He recently retired from Good Buddha to put 100% into his new live project Flatwound (www.myspace.com/flatwound) and to focus on his solo DJ career.
On top of the live sets Jack has also released two underground mixtapes that have become legendary in the Australian Hip Hop community. The Syd City Mixtape Vol.1 and 2 received acclaim from all over the country:
“Every once in a while a mixtape comes along that encompasses a time and place in hip hop history. Jack Prest has captured the art of beatmaking , mixing and lyricism in true hip hop styles.†- Three D World
“DJ Jack Prest is Sydneys own Frank Miller, mixing a million and one different beats behind a host of well known local MC’s…Get it because you like the dope Sydney scene, or you like Aussie Hip Hop full stop…†- Oz Hip Hop.com
“It’s been a while since I heard a decent no bullshit hip hop mixtape, so Jack Prest’s Syd City has done the job in all the right places.†- inthemix.com
This followed the success of Jack’s debut EP Peace on My Mind (Independent/Obese) which received recognition both in Jack’s home town of Sydney and around the country. In just a few short weeks after its media release, the independent EP had been: added to FBi’s playlist, 3RRR’s soundscape, and PBS’ Beat Sheet, received airplay on 2ser and nationally on Triple J, been featured on MP3.com.au (after debuting at 4 on the Hip Hop charts) and received rave reviews from both online and street press:
“…the production of Prest stands out on each and every track here, his clever use of samples, well programmed drums and highlighting synth lines are really what makes this EP shine.†– inthemix.com
“…every bit as good as you’d expect from the Elefant Traks crew…â€
- Three D World
2007 also saw Jack release his first mashup project Crowded Herd. This project sees Jack ripping apart Crowded House's Self-titled debut to create a host of new beats for The Herds 2005 release The Sun Never Sets. You can download this unique take on the mashup genre for free from Jack's website www.jackprest.com.
