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 JUNIOR JAMES
 GENRE: Funk, Soul, Disco, RareGroove, Roots, House, Hardcore... and much more!
LOCATION: London
SITE: myspace
MYSPACE: Junior James
LABEL: -
CONTACT: Junior James
ABOUT JUNIOR JAMES
Early influences
For me it all started in the early 80's, when Electronica was growing rapidly and the likes of Afrika Bambaata, Hashim, Kraftwerk and Paul Hardcastle were amoung my early musical Idols. Hand-me-Down tapes were my forte, as cds were not a realistic option for someone who was on a whopping 1.50p a week. Then, when we reached the 90's acid and hip-house were emerging as the music of a generation, hardcore followed, and I think this is when I decided I wanted to get involved.
DJ roots
My rebelious nature would mean it was cirtain I'd become a DJ, all those years of ''Dont Touch The Record Plyer'' from my father, only added to the intrigue. By the time I was 16 (1995), obsessed with hip hop and Turntablism,so desparate was I to get into it, i had two odd record players and a camera mixer from Tandy, made by Realistic and retailed at 19.95p! Untill i started working,i was buying records at a rate of 1 per week form the good people of Jingles in Tooting, but took the plunge a few weeks after my 17th and bought a pair of the original bedroom DJ decks, the Soundlab Dlp1's. By this time hip-hop had slightly lost its way in this pre 'www.' era, RnB was taking over and in my opinion having a negative effect on the traditions of hip hop.
I started to turn my attentions to house music - not a lot of my friends were into it -it was more of the older massive around the way that were comming and asking for mixtapes.
Idealogies
The people I have grown up with in the tight estate community that we had, has ben a massive influence on my musical ideologies. Funk / Soul / Disco / RareGroove / Roots / House / Hardcore / Old Skool Hip Hop / 80's / Trip Hop / Breaks - there is no way to define me as a DJ into any specific genre. The listed music above is where my heart is and I put 100% into anything i do behind the decks.
After all of this, I have turned into a competent DJ and underground music schollar! For me the love is what drives me on, the passion to show people new music, different styles or just tunes that mean something personal to me, when I'm behind the decks; although uncomfortable at frist, I have felt the power of controlling a crowd and getting intouch with them is a feeling that is like nothing ive experienced before.
Venues
Junior has dj'd at a number of leading venues in London, including:
> Click, Soho
> Progress, Kentish Town
> The Gallery @ Turnmills
> The Inigo Bar, Wandsworth
> Cratediggers at The Lodge
JUNIORJAMES - SNAPSHOT
YEARS DJING
7
COLLECTION
1500+ vinyl
STYLE
Quality soul, electro, house and hip hop, and all the good stuff in between.
EXPERIENCE
Potion Bar-Euston, Matt And Matt Bar-Islington, Progress Bar-Kentish Town, Jon Bull-Chiswick, Nabs.com/Kiss100 Battle Of The Dj's Finalist @ Click-Soho, The Gallery@Turnmills-Farringdon, The Southwark Rooms-London Bridge, Bar 38-Covent Garden
HOW DID YOU GET INTO DJING?
I've always had a love for music since the days of Paul Hardcastle, Afrika Bambaata etc, whilst others had 'Speak n Spell' I was one of the few who opted for 'Speak n Music'. I played the drums in high school, and found when I left that I couldn't just sit and listen to music, I had to be more involved - getting a set of Soundlab 'Dlp 1' belts seemed a logical next step. I got them on my 17th birthday and my beloved Technics on my 20th, and havent looked back since.
MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
Shouts to my Dad's cousin for all those electro breaks and ska tapes in the mid eighties. Also living on an estate helps as they're a melting pot of musical diversity, from acid house, hardcore, jungle, reggae, garage and hip hop - just about everything went when I was a nipper.
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DJ PROFILE: JUNIOR JAMES 
