The first time I saw JFB was a few years ago in Fractal Forest at my first Shambhala Music Festival (2013). I didn’t know anything about electronic music or DJ culture outside of hip-hop. While my friends were talking amongst themselves, trying to decide where to go dance next, my eyes were directed to the large screens surrounding the stage. I was instantly mesmerized watching the hands of JFB work magic on the turntables. It didn’t hurt that he was crushing the tasty hip-hop vibes I needed. I asked my buddy who I was watching and BAM, named locked in. He was the first DJ I paid to go see outside of Shambhala. (I met him at that show, but being overly shy I couldn’t bring myself to start an actual conversation.) Since then JFB has become one of my go-to DJs when I don’t know what to put on. Dude’s output is so damned prolific with a constant stream of routines, tracks and mixes (Including those bloody rad BattleJam mixes he lays down). This is a long-winded way of saying JFB was a huge catalyst of my journey into electronic music and if you’re not listening to him, you’re making a huge mistake. Don’t keep making the same mistakes: Listen to JFB.

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with you own money?

1st album I bought was with my own money, but that money was given to me by my mum. It was 10p = 5 cents (Canadian) Anyway was at a car boot sale. A 'Readers Digest' Vinyl compilation of film soundtracks themed 'The Musical', 'The Western', 'The Drama' & 'The Action.' So we are talking Orchestral soundtracks of big films, but like re-runs/ variated versions of the main themes, almost like remixes...

I was only 6 or 7 years old and forgot about it quite quickly, Can't remember if I was allowed to play with my parent’s record player back then or not. Just remember finding it, 2 or 3 years into DJing when I 1st started scratching and sampling... probably made a few tracks out of it... can't remember the favourite track, but probably one of the Westerns. Still got it somewhere, might pull it out!!

Vancouver filmmaker Kevan McGovern is in the midst of a huge undertaking, attempting to document the importance and impact of electronic music and festival culture with his feature-length documentary I/O (Input/Output). What started as a love-affair with the legendary Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, BC, has become an all-encompassing passion. Last year saw the release of the Shambhala Experience, a smaller documentary that dives into Shambhala specifically. I had the pleasure of catching it last summer right before the festival and highly recommend it for those who have gone to the festival and those that are even the least bit curious about the festival. Luckily it’s been made easily available as part of a new Kickstarter to help with the completion of the feature-length I/O. The documentary goes beyond Shambhala to capture the spirit that makes the EDM festival culture so vibrant, unique and ultimate important. (I know EDM is a shitty term, but it’s all-encompassing and easy to type, so lay off.)

It’s not every day you get a chance to nerd out hard about something you love with a genuine expert (And a bigger nerd about it than you) so I couldn’t just leave it with the 5 Questions this time. Take a moment to check out what I/O is all about, and then enjoy our nerdy Shambhala chat and another rousing round of the 5 Questions!

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1. Do you remember the first album you bought with your own money?

The first album I went out and picked was the the Crystal Method’s first album. That was probably my first exposure to electronic music.

I think that was a lot of people’s first exposure, right? Certainly the beginning of mine.

They were some of the first electronic music pioneers that made it into the mainstream before a lot of others.

Have you seen Crystal Method live?

I’ve seen one of the members play at Burning Man, but haven’t seen both of them?

2. Can you think of a movie that you saw that had an effect on the way you saw the world?

The first thing that comes to mind is the Matrix. I was very deep into that. My favourite movie is Almost Famous and that made me see things very differently. I saw myself in the protagonist. I just love that movie so much. I could watch it forever.

I could watch Philip Seymour Hoffman doing Lester Bangs for all times and be happy.

I know right. “Do not make friends with the rock stars.” There are so many amazing cameos in that movie. It’s mind-boggling how many people pop up.

It’s got my boy Marc Maron!

A lot of people don’t remember Jimmy Fallon is in there too.

5 Questions with Rags #34 - JFB

5 Questions with Rags #27 - Kevan McGovern (Filmmaker)