I first heard about Jaymo & Andy George a while back through internet hype on their club night ‘Moda’ in Lincoln. At this point they were doing very well for themselves and had one of the coolest clubs outside London, which big names every month gracing the decks. Next Radio 1 did an essential mix with them and it alerted me to the fact that these two guys like, and DJ, the exact same music as me. Next thing I know they have a show on Radio 1, big headline gigs and releasing amazing remixes. So it’s comes quite a shock when I’m sat in Salsa cafe in Newcastle with them having lunch, after a pretty hectic and crazy night at Rub a Dub Dub, and they’re two of the soundest and most down to earth people I’ve ever met. These two have done big things this year, and next year is only going ot get better for them. I present to you, Jaymo & Andy George….
1. So how did you guys meet? Friends before DJing or what is that that brought you together?
Was a bit of a co-incidence really, we both were djing in really local clubs, but both had wicked ideas on starting our own brand/club event, the club we were both planning on using put us in touch with each-other, and we met up to chat it over (it was love over a club sandwich!) realised we both basically wanted the same thing and joined forces to create Moda!
2. Did this lead to Moda? How did Moda start?
Just after a realisation that there was no really cool event brands in Lincoln, and we saw a gap in the market! One of my best friends, Ben, came on board as well – and one of Jaymo’s best friends, Tom (Tom Staar) and we went from there. Found a wicked little 350 capacity club, and started putting together line-ups that rivaled some of the cooler clubs in London, and it seemed to work!!
3. At what point did you decide to DJ together and why? And do you think that you two would have been as successful if you had decided to DJ separately?
There wasn’t enough time for us all to DJ at the Moda events, and after the first few show’s we realised Jay and I were playing really similar records and could both bring something different to the table! It just made sense as we were working on Moda together anyway!
4. How did the Radio 1 gig come about?
It’s a funny old question this really when we think back… Kissy has played Moda a few times before in his really early days, and he chose Jaymo & I as his favourite club residents back in early 2008, which entailed the Essential Mix recording our set live for Radio 1 (This was a big enough deal as it was!!!) We were joking around with one of the Radio 1 events team, who’s a friend of ours now called Lyndsey, and she mentioned how we should just do a demo for fun, we kind of shrugged it off and joked about stepping in for Pete Tong while he was away (little did we know we’d be depping his (now Annie’s) show in January 2010!)
We stayed in touch and did a demo in one of our home studios… It’s safe to say it certainly wasn’t radio gold at the time, we really didn’t know what we were doing, but we put our all into it, and talking about the music we were stupidly passionate about anyway seemed fairly easy! Radio 1 asked us to go in and do a proper demo with a producer from INDWT and it went from there! We didn’t realise the competition at the time (we were up against some real music-industry heavy weights) but it made our year when they asked us to come on board, and its been an amazing experience ever since.
5. How long have you two been producing? Was it pre-moda or as a direct result? Or was it just because it’s a natural progression of DJing?
Jay had dabbled with production before Moda started, but neither of us really had that much spare time as I’d just finished 6th form & Jay was doing Marketing full time. Now neither of us have to worry about day jobs we’ve been able to spend a lot more time in the studio. Jay has a small home studio, where we’ve done some of the most recent stuff. Fellow Moda member Tom Staar has an awesome studio in London too, we’ve done a lot of stuff there.
As is typical with us, we always want to get involved with every part of the scene. So when DJing & promoting wasn’t enough, making music was the obvious next step!
6. When was the idea for Moda records form and how difficult is it to juggle DJing full time, travelling for gigs, being on the radio, running a record label and having a social life?
We’d been toying around with the idea for a long time, and we finally decided to kick it off about a year ago (although its only been the past 6 months that we’ve really put some time in, got a full-time label manager on board, and found some amazing music that we’re incredibly proud to put out on our own label). A friend of ours who was a resident DJ for Moda, called Craig, was at Lincoln University at the time, and we asked him to come on to look after the label – which he’s now doing, and he’s wicked at it! Moda Music is in a really good place right now, our latest signing Fenech-Soler have taken things to the next level, even people like Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley have been playing the record on daytime Radio 1, which we think is a great achievement! Jay and I co-ordinate the label, but leave the day-to-day runnings to Craig who does an amazing job of sorting the logistics of running a record label, organising PR/promo, distribution and licensing!
Juggling time is a complete nightmare, as with most DJs/Producers! Not that we’re complaining in the slightest – we wouldn’t have it any other way!
7. Is it just you two who run Moda/Moda Music?
Moda is made up of 4 people, Jaymo & I, and then Ben and Tom. I guess Jay and I are the public “face” of Moda, naturally because of Djing and being on the radio. Moda Music is just an off-shoot of Moda and all decisions on new signing will go by us. Craig Durranti is our Moda Music Label manager – and we couldn’t do It without him!
8. How difficult is it to find unsigned acts and get them on Moda?
We get sent piles of music every day, so we’re constantly listening to new music (not only for our radio shows, but for djing and now obviously for the label). When you’re in that position it was a great opportunity to give other people the chance at putting out records, and keeping it in-line with what Moda’s about (we’re incredibly consciences on how art-work/branding looks etc) We’re always on the look-out for new acts/bands/producers!
9. Tell us about the Red Bull air race. You ever think that would happen 4 years ago DJing at Moda?
That was really strange, it was just something that our management had asked us about when Mixmag had approached them. We thought it’d be great fun – and it was… Don’t think Ive even been queasy for a whole 24 hours before though!! Was an awesome experience, though its safe to say I’m not sure we’ll hurry back to jump in a plane – the dudes that do those races are incredibly fit & healthy, regularly pulling 12Gs in those plans (We only did 6!)
10. Now INDWT has been moved to a more prime-time slot on Radio, what’s next for you guys?
Who knows! We’re just really happy to be involved with Radio 1 and will look at anything they throw at us! We’ll be dipping our feet into the world of daytime in January which im sure will be an awesome experience, and looking after Annie Mac’s new 7pm show while shes away for 2 weeks, but right now were just taking each week as it comes!
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