Introducing Jewel Kid

Introducing Jewel Kid

21 September, 2010 | 7.33AM

• Written by: Kornel Koch
• Filed under: Music News: introducing, jewel kid

The island of Malta is undoubtedly one of the gems of the Mediterranean, so it’s only fitting that one of its premiere DJs would take the name Jewel Kid.

Just 24 years old, Jewel Kid (J.J. Mejlak) already has a decade of experience playing records. He started out practicing on his brothers’ decks, and by the age of 15 he had already snagged a residency at Amazonia, a swank superclub hosting A-list DJs like Armand Van Helden and Frankie Knuckles. Fast forward to 2007, when he won the house category for the Carl Cox Worldwide Remix Competition, with his entry shooting to number three on Beatport’s house chart.

Since then, this Maltese falcon has been unstoppable, swooping down to snatch up accolades for his records on Cr2 Records, Coraza Recordings, Nervous Records, and more.

We checked in with Jewel Kid to learn more about his quick rise through the ranks. Hey may be a new-school talent, but his dedication and hard work are as old-school as it gets. Read on for the interview, and his recent Cr2 Top 10.

Jewel Kid, “Wolly (Ibiza Edit)” [Cr2 Records]

What was it like growing up in Malta? I’m not sure I’ve heard of any other DJs from there—what was the dance-music scene like, and how did you find your way into it? What were the first places you began DJing?

My country definitely has a character of its own. It has this special something that I never get to experience when I’m abroad. The people, the way of life, and the sense of humor all blossom differently over here. It’s a country like no other, especially when it comes to music and clubbing. When all the clubs are 15 minutes away from every home, one can imagine how vulnerable we are to ending up on the dancefloor. Every 15-year-old wants to be a DJ over here and most of them get their shot pretty soon, either in clubs or in small events. This also happened to me at only the age of 14.

My brother was a very well established DJ at the time, and I used to pass by his apartment every single day to mess around with his turntables. I quickly got swallowed by all of it and after a few months I decided that I was really going to take this seriously, practicing for eight to 10 hours a day. Little did I know that I was constantly being monitored by the promoters that used to pass by the apartment to visit my brother, and one day this very well known promoter decided to give me a shot in one of his festivals – Trigger. The gig ended up being bigger than what everyone expected, with this underaged kid playing illegally to 3000 people at one of Malta’s most respected festivals.

From there things just started to fall in place and in a very short time I ended up the resident DJ of Amazonia, the brand new superclub that everyone was talking about, catering for the likes of Armand Van Helden, Junior Sanchez and Frankie Knuckles. Being only 15 at the time the managers ended up getting a parental guidance permit from the police in order for me to perform in the club at such a young age!

How did you start out making your own music? Did you have a mentor, or did you learn on your own?

Making my own music was always something I wanted to do from day one. While my friends where playing games on their Playstation, I was making music. Music Generator on the Playstation was the first sequencer I ever laid my eyes on. I can remember my friends calling me a liar after I showed them what I had done, saying that it was a demo song that came with the game… I would love to search for it someday and listen back to what I had done. Anyway, later on I got in touch with this guy who was making it big with his psychedelic trance productions at the time, and soon I found myself in his studio, looking at how music should be made using Cubase. After meeting another guy who is a mastermind in computer and music technology, me and my dad started building my own professional home studio and in a couple of weeks we were ready and set to go. Forums, magazines, and music production tutorials were all I read, saw, and did for the next 100,000 hours, and slowly my tracks started shaping up.

What was the first record you got signed, and how did that come about?

The first record I signed was in 2007 called “Medina,” picked up by Peter Presta for his Digital Jaxx Label after I sent him a link by e-mail. Actually it was the first track I ever sent to anyone. HAHA… It’s crazy! There’s like a million sounds in it from every corner of the world. Every idea, every thought, every plug-in I liked—it’s in there. It’s like an explosion of madness that I had been keeping inside of me all through the time I was learning – no wonder it took me ages to finalize!

Jewel Kid, “Musica” [Cr2 Records]

What kind of studio setup do you have? Any favorite pieces of software/gear at the moment?

So to start with… I’m a proud PC user and Cubase is my everything. Tried Mac a couple of times and couldn’t find a solid reason why I should switch; everything running smoothly here. I then have a very old Yamaha PSS-795 keyboard back from when I used to learn piano with the nuns, a Rode NT2-A microphone going through a Behringer 200 mic preamp, a Yamaha futuristic EZ-AG Guitar which I hunted down after watching it being previewed on the Discovery Channel’s Beyond Tomorrow program, my Bose Speaker System for low-quality A/B testing and the mighty Genelec 1030A Studio monitors. I then also have a few other instruments such as an upright full-size piano, a Bob Dylan signature series harmonica, a three-string Thai guitar and a couple of Turkish bongos.

What’s your music-making process like? When you sit down to make a track, what’s the first thing you typically do?

I always tend to start by building up a nice drum groove followed by some sub bass, trying to get a nice swing which you can easily dance to. I then continue by layering in some vocal shots or key strikes to give a high, rich sound to the track, pulling it out from the mid-low hole generated by the kick, drums, and bass. This is basically all done in one day and I usually spend the next day searching and working on effects to spice up the flow of the track. If I’m done with this throughout half of the day I then move on to layering the track from start to finish, which I then always continue the next day. So basically if all these steps move smoothly I should be done within three days, but sometimes tricky parts arise which delay the track for another day or two. 

How would you describe your music?

My music is all about the groove. Even if I’m working on a dark minimal track like “R Dalam,” it still needs to have that feel to it. Drums also play a big role in my work—I like that jacking feel they give when layered smoothly next to each other. As for sound design, no stone is unturned in my projects. Every single sound must be in its correct frequency range and nothing is going to clip, crackle or click before it leaves my studio – I’m quite OCD on that!

Jewel Kid, “R Dalam” [CR2 Live & Direct]

How do you explain your music to your family members, and are they understanding of your career?

Very much indeed, I couldn’t ask for a more supportive family than the one I have. They help and push me each and every day, and they are very proud of what I’m doing, coming from a country that half of the world doesn’t know about!

Which record do you wish you had made?

“Knights of the Jaguar” by DJ Rolando—I still can’t figure out how he came up with the build of that track, especially at the time that it was released. I’m sure that there’s a hidden agenda behind all of it.

When you’re not making or playing music, what’s your preferred pastime?

I’m in the studio or at a gig every day of the week so I don’t really get much free time, and when I do get I try to do nothing.  Just chill, watch a DVD or play on-line, and once in a blue moon I head down to the beach for a couple of beers.

Jewel Kid Cr2 Top 10

Jewel Kid on Beatport

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