DJ JACK BAGSHAW!!! This young DJ/producer is dominating the scene throughout Birmingham and it wont be long until his career blows up. If you haven't yet heard of him then crawl out from under your rock and get to know it b.
Photo @lanixlmtj
Where did your vision start and how did it progress?
My vision started with my guy Ethan Capelli, aka Hunter Bravo. It was literally just a sleep over at his yard when we were in year seven. We were just talking about music and obviously we appreciated music so much that we just thought about making a brand. I wasn’t a DJ at the time and he wasn't a rapper either, then yeah, from there the vision just popped. He started rapping, oh and I tried to rap. Didn't work.
I followed steps into my cousin's lane because he was a DJ and took inspiration off him. He showed me where to start, then I brought some decks and then it went from there. Yeah, man then from that there took my own path. I learnt everything myself. You know, from where we live in Tamworth, there wasn’t a lot of inspiration, no motivation there to do the djing because no one did it. So everything was just off my own back and created everything myself, man, obviously with help from the likes of Ethan and a few other people, but yeah man apart from that i've literally just been perfecting my craft.
Along your journey who have you been inspired by throughout the process?
So when I was younger, my biggest inspiration was probably Odd Future just because they were the ones you know, they were doing everything different. Just not giving a fuck about anything really, which is what inspired me and made me want to do what what I was doing, you know what I mean? Some of the biggest inspiration in what I do right now with you know, making mixes with genres such as future beats, soul election. The guy who runs that called Joe Kay, I'd say, Joe Kay with soul election have been one of my biggest inspirations especially at the minute. And then mostly hip hop. Throughout my life, I've listened to a lot of hip hop. So hip hop has been a massive inspiration to me too. But yeah, I'd definitely call myself a multi genre DJ, everything from reggae, you know, house, garage, hip hop, R&B and even jazz.
Photo @bigfootishy
How has living in your local area shaped you?
So, living in Tamworth has definitely shaped the way I brand myself, and even how I'm influenced now really. Back when I started, there wasn't anyone that was doing anything different. So it kind of made me want to progress and do so much and show people what I can do. Because I'm always wanting to do something more. I'm always wanting to do something next. So Tamworth is probably a good thing and has been a good thing to me for that reason alone. If it didn't live in Tamworth, I think I'd be in a completely different mental space within music. I don't think I'd be pushing myself as much, so yeah.
Who are you rating locally at the moment that you believe deserves a bigger platform?
Right now I'd say the people that have got eyes on and I think are very talented are yourself Ben Charles and the group you're in Fresh Mess which definitely deserves more recognition. I'd say Still Blooming, a brand that makes earrings created by one person alone, she goes by the name of Polly Thompson. I'd also say Hyphen Skate, created by Oli Charles. I've got my eyes on them definitely at the minute even giving inspiration to me, because it's something different. They're doing something cool. And it's off their own back which is what i find most interesting.
Photo @photosbybenjii
How important do you think it is to be surrounded with like minded peers?
So, I think being surrounded by similar people is very, very crucial. Because if you're not surrounded by people that are like you or have the same outlook on life even down to the stuff that you watch, that you listen to and just the things that you do in general. It doesn’t help if you're not around them sort of people because you'll just end up not doing things that you are interested in and could potentially fade your vision, you'll end up blocking out stuff that you want to do. I feel like especially now I'm around a lot of people that are like me, which is good and that inspires and keeps me motivated.
But, yeah, I'd say being in school, I wasn't really surrounded by anyone that was like me. I was always the outcast of the group, always wearing different stuff, listening to different music, doing different things. And people thought that was weird. But it got to a point where people actually started supporting me. Before that, I got bullied, I got bullied for doing different things, for being a DJ. I thought that was ridiculous because I was brought up in Birmingham, where it was just, you know, normal to do different things.
But I came over to Tamworth, and people didn't approach it in the way that I thought they would. But don't force yourself to look for people who are like you, because they'll come into your life. That's what's happened to me. But 10 out of 10 it's very important to surround up, surround yourself with good people at least.
You mentioned school, what would you say was your favourite memory from high school?
I'd say my biggest memory in high school was just a general memory and that's being with my friends, and just, you know, fuckin about just doing whatever having a laugh, having fun stuff like that. Before I moved to Tamworth, in year nine, I obviously had half of my high school experience in Birmingham, having been around Ethan in Birmingham when I went to Park Hall. That was big for me, because we were just digging music all the time, just fuckin about, you know, freestyling around school, doing whatever, man. Yeah, I'd just say in high school, the biggest memory for me is just not having a care in the world and just being with your friends.
Photo @jack_bagshawww
What’s the message you’re always trying to convey in your art?
The message that I'm trying to convey my art, which obviously is my music, and to be fair, I have started doing photography. But in general, I try and you know, push freedom and being happy in what you do, not really caring about what people think. So in a general term, yeah, just freedom and as long as you have that, you will never have a problem in what you do or what you want to do.
Press shuffle on your favourite playlist and tell us the first song.
Tupac - Do For Love
What's been a highlight in your work so far?
The highlight of doing what I do right now is definitely doing the shows and being known for the music that I play. My favourite moment was probably December 2019 when I played at an event called Calm at Lab 11. It was just amazing. I couldn't even tell you how many people there's at least 200 people, something like that, maybe more, just going crazy to my set for an hour straight and it was just amazing.
What's next?
What's next, so I'd say carrying on with my brand, 'The Collective' but obviously we can't do shows at the minute, we can't do any DJ sets anywhere, because of COVID. So if it wasn’t for COVID it would just be concentrating on my brand. But in terms of stuff that I can do now, it would be to make my mix series more unique, which is another project i’ve been working on called 'Chat and Mix', which is basically a 10 minute mini mix and a 10 minute interview at the end of the mix with an up and coming or you know, like a famous artist. I've already done an episode on that. The first one which was with a guy called Masterpiece from London who is very big to be fair dropped his first EP like last month. So apart from that, there's nothing too much I can concentrate on until after COVID.
Jack Bagshaw's Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackbagshawww
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jack_bagshawww/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackBagshaw6
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jackbagshaw
Comments