The Jump And Switch Radio Show With Jeff The Fish

JEFF THE FISH'S "Jump and Switch" radio show, quality music from multiple genres on TWR Totally Wired Radio, the radio station from Acid Jazz Records.

Our story begins in 1973 when the shy and reclusive schoolboy Jeff would spend hours hiding in the "studio" (little more than a school broom cupboard) with a record player, a cassette recorder and a handful of scratched 45's endlessly trying to emulate the DJs he would listen to whilst hiding under his bedcovers with his battered transistor radio pressed to his ear all night long endlessly trying to maintain the reception to stations like Radio Luxembourg, the FAB 208, where you could hear music that the mainstream radio didn't play. The same transistor would serve as an invaluable asset as he was posted to the furthest fielding posts on the school cricket field where he would secretly tune in and dream, hoping that no one would bat a ball in his direction. . . Not a fan of school and not a "team player", music would serve as an escape from reality for Jeff throughout the agonisingly long school term times, and the happy excited voices of his favourite DJs became his closest friends. He would spend hours with his nose buried in his collection of music dictionaries, and in 1977 the publication of The Guinness Book of Hit Singles was a godsend, and he became obsessed with release dates, chart positions, and was proud to tell you how far random groups reached in the charts and when.

1977 was a pivotal year. It was the year of the Jubilee in the UK, and Jeff started out the year as a disco fan all decked out in his union jack souvenir merchandise, but 1977 was also to be the last year of his innocence, and teenage hormones, various personal and historical events were to bring about many changes. The Jubilee merchandise became torn Punk gear and Jeff was plunged headfirst into the "real" world, and began a long period as a rebellious "difficult" teenager. "Punk" never really suited Jeff though. While the spirit of youth and rebellion rang true through every bone in his body, he found the look uncomfortable, and had trouble with a lot of the music outside of the major bands, but it did introduce to him to one of the great musical loves of his life, Reggae. Until this time Reggae was not something that was common place on the music scene of the UK outside of occasional hits by Desmond Dekker and of course Bob Marley, who was reaching his zenith, and the Punks and The Clash in particular where very keen on it. Steel Pulse's seminal album "Handsworth Revolution" came out, and a mass of Reggae compilations flooded the market, and the UK Reggae scene exploded with Lover's Rock etc etc as well as much more rebellious and concious sounds. Jeff's eyes were opened, and thus started an interest he maintains to this day. At the same time the Mod Revival and Two Tone (the perfect fusion of Punk and Reggae) arrived, and he found his place in the scene of the day. Whilst the Two Tone thing educated and helped him dig deeper into his love of Reggae, The Mods helped him discover what was to become another musical love - Soul music. . inspired by Randy Cozens' top 100 published in Sounds magazine amongst others (he was an avid reader of the Music press which was enjoying its heyday at this period in time) and a myriad of club DJs he was well embarked on his long voyage of musical discovery. Eventually, after a few years of just being a fan, he moved from just being a fan to making music himself, and played in a series of bands, improving each time, experimenting with Rock, Funk and Jazz under the mentorship of his friend and educator Steve Roberts who was amongst other things the guitarist in Desmond Dekker's band the Aces. Eventually due to exasperation and record labels that were too prepared to bargain but not to actually sign, he and his partner managed to get control of the tapes they had recorded in various record company studios and booked into a studio to mix them and release them themselves. This was the period of Acid Jazz, and Jeff's insatiable interest in "new" sounds, led him deep into previously unexplored territories like Jazz and Hip Hop, all which were to become very important in the ever widening musical soundscape in Jeff's head and music collection.
It was the era of independent music, where more and more people were starting their own labels and circumventing the majors, and now partnered with the studio owner they mixed the tapes in, Jeff found himself running a record label (Revco Records), which in turn led to recruiting and managing artists, some of whom went on to be the stars of the following decade. . he continued on this path, and into a second label /project, which while similar was more focused on event promotion, and promoting Drum and Bass DJs and MCs, before finally personal disaster struck (no need to go into that here! ) prompting him to stop everything.

He left the music business, and set off for Australia and South East Asia, where he bought a pack of Harmonicas which he learnt to play looking to fall back in love with music, which had always been his best friend, but somehow had lost its shine in the "business". On his return to the UK he started attending Blues Jams and recording in the studio, making music for his ears only, and exploring music with no commercial angle until finally the love returned. He then returned to where he had started out, and started his club "Its Your Thing" where and his friends Rowly and Dean Rudland played a crossection of music from their collections from Soul, Jazz, Latin, Funk and Reggae at Charlie Wrights' in Hoxton, East London. . it was a great success, and Jeff soon realised that playing music as a DJ was the logical next step of his musical voyage. Soon after this he then joined a Reggae crew in London and for a few years played with them, with some old friends he had brought back from the past. It was a great way of being able to consolidate on all he had done and experienced in the previous decades, and a chance to play the records he had amassed during this time. He has continued on this path ever since as well as being an organiser of the JAZZCOTECH INTERNATIONAL WEEKENDER in the South of France where he now lives, as well as part of the KEEPERS OF THE LOST GROOVE organisation also France (see groups and pages on facebook). He also has a weekly radio show "JUMP AND SWITCH" on www. likwid. london which broadcasts on the internet and DAB in the South of England. Finally nearly 40 years after those legendary school broom cupboard sessions he is at last broadcasting to the world, realising those long distant schoolboy dreams. . . seriously though, his main focus as a DJ is to create a good atmosphere, good vibes and get a party going with some great quality music and he sees it as a mission in keeping the styles of music he loves alive and introducing them to newer and younger audiences who may not have been fortunate enough to hear all the great things he has heard on his long and varied musical journey. . . maybe somewhere there is a kid listening in as he once used to?

You can contact him via facebook on JUMP AND SWITCH WITH JEFF THE FISH or email at djjeffthefish@gmail.com. . . there is also a collection of mixes and past radio shows on MIXCLOUD (https://www. mixcloud.com/jeffthefish /)

JEFF THE FISH'S "Jump and Switch" show on Likwid London radio is an attempt to spread his eclectic taste in music to a wider audience and to maybe help people discover new music as well as reminisce on music they already know. From new music to old music, if it's good it gets played and Jeff tries to fill you in about songs and artists spreading the show as broadly as possible across all the styles he likes such as Jazz, Soul, Funk, Hip hop, Reggae. . .

Listen live on http://www. likwid. london / Sunday's 7-9pm UK time.

CONTACT: email directly at djjeffthefish@gmail.com

listen to club set mixes on his mixcloud page " JEFF THE FISH"

Join the Facebook Group and Page "JUMP AND SWITCH" WITH JEFF THE FISH for regular info and catchups etc.

You can follow live events etc on facebook via the group "KEEPERS OF THE LOST GROOVE"

Above all he hopes you enjoy the music!