Girl about town Jade talks to Steve Jones, Director of Shakedown
Brighton’s Shakedown Festival
For a city that strives on its love for music, fashion and all things outrageous, I am happy to tell you all, if you haven’t seen the posters splashed around Brighton already, Brighton is blessed with its fourth dance music festival Shakedown, and it’s in two weeks’ time. I caught up with Steve Jones; Director of Shakedown on the Latest’s exclusive music channel Bmusic; where we talk all things melodic with Brighton’s musicians, singer/songwriters and artists who have travelled from far and wide, to bring rhythm from all over the world to our fellow Brightonians!
Talking to Steve for Bmusic’s noise reel #7, he tells us Shakedown is having a bit of a new start this year with the date set for the middle of the summer in July, where it would usually take place in September.
Last year we saw the soulful Maverick Sabre, Brighton born and bred Rizzle Kicks and the feel-good, beat-breaker, DJ Fresh. This year we have the brilliant Basement Jaxx, Groove Armada, Jaguar Skills and special guest Gorgon City, plus a lot more.
We are so much of a musically cultivated city; where better to have one then where the after party can carry on to the early hours of the morning in our insomniac city. Steve also told us, part of Shakedown’s new start, is that it will be held at Waterhall this year rather than the usual Stanmer Park (don’t panic, there will be transportation).
“The beats will be rolling”
“It was through working at the radio station where I started to get involved from an outsider’s point of view and a lot of other festivals I had worked at; festivals in Brighton like Beachdown festival and a couple of other little ones, kind of came and went, Brighton festivals didn’t really have a very good reputation; we started to get known as the graveyard city of festivals. I was just like… this is so frustrating! Because Brighton is such a cool place. People here feel like they want a really good music festival and I was convinced that with the right sort of festival and the right line up, that something could work. So I guess that was my main motivation.
“This year Shakedown is embracing dance … and I think we’re quite lucky, because if you look at the charts now, the top 10 songs at the moment, only about five or six them could be classed as dance music, so in that respect, a lot of our artists are kind of underground but popular. This year it’s slightly more DJ-focused.”
A city that is so in love with its music, we had to have some people from Brighton performing! This year we have DJ Outbreak, who was voted one of the top 10 DJs at shakedown last year, and you may remember me talking to him last month about the art of disc jockeying, and his new Friday night show on local radio station Juice FM.
This year’s Shakedown will be like no other; new location, the forecast is set for sunshine, and the beats will be rolling through the crowds! Go to the Shakedown website for ticket availability and to sign up to be the first to know of all after-parties! If, unfortunately, you have to work, stay tuned in to the Bmusic Youtube channel were we will be covering all the weird and wonderful carnage at Shakedown this year, talking to the festival-goers, and hopefully some of the artists who will be performing!
Ticket and event info: www.shakedown.co.uk
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Bmusic channel: www.youtube.com/user/thisisBmusic
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