[This interview was originally recorded and published in April 2023]

So within the fourth chapter of this series I wanted to have a chat with a fascinating figure and a man who is putting it on within the modern day Jungle scene: Jon Stockwell aka – The Jungle Connoisseur [https://www.instagram.com/the_jungleconnoisseur/].

I first came across The Jungle Connoisseur’s Instagram page when he posted a reel of Dillinja’s ‘Ja Ya Know Big’, the B-side to Dillinja’s classic ‘The Angel’s Fell’, around May of last year. And since, the page has just gotten bigger and bigger, with 21.2k followers as of April 2023. And thus, in March 2023 The Jungle connoisseur hosted, along with a number of other wax djs such as Dj Azure Dee Jay Endo & Artificial Red, the page’s first live event. A classic of ruffneck ragga, soulful tunes and amen tearouts in the basement of the Crown in Bristol, it had all the makings of a first rate night. Nutty bass and sound system courtesy of Dharma Hi Fi, low ceilings, and enough sweat to fill an ocean, the DJs dug deep to bring out their best tunes. And so, it seemed fitting to document this and delve a little deeper into how the page and events all came about.

Before delving into mine and Jon’s chat, I wanted to explain a little about the page and also the context of the article. The popularity of The Jungle connoisseur’s page is part of what can only be described as a perceived ‘resurgence’ in demand for authentic Jungle, but most importantly it’s a demand for the archival of the genre’s material. Pages like MickeyBeam75 and BackinthedayJungle are further signs of such an occurrence. As many ravers settle down and reflect on what was, pages such as The Jungle Connoisseur and the aforementioned Youtube channels provide refuge for lost memories and dubs that ravers and DJ’s had all too well forgotten about. And importantly too, like my previously mentioned example of Ja Ya Know Big, The Jungle Connoisseur is putting it down for the B-sides, the ones ravers might have heard on a pirate many years ago but it might never have really gotten the light of day it deserved during the golden years. And so, new life is given to these tunes; where these tracks develop a cultural currency stronger than a classic and revered tune which was mixed in sets multiple times a night. An example of this would be Baraka’s ‘I’ll be There’. What we see then is of course the increase in price of these tunes but fascinatingly the creation of a paradoxical new (sort of) Jungle scene with old tunes that might only seem new due to their relative lesser-known status. An example of this would be the track ‘Jungle Rock’ released as a white label on Street Tuff records in 94′ . Simultaneously, where The Jungle Connoisseur manages to differentiate himself from others archiving material, is the physical aspect associated with it and the page. The true essence of these tunes and the music is only really grasped when it’s physically experienced. It’s all well and good experiencing everything through the internet, but much of what makes the music so special (ear-shattering bass) can only be felt in real life. Here’s what The Jungle Connoisseur has to say about it all.

Me: So Jon, how did you get into Jungle in the first place?

Jon: I first heard about raves when I was about 10 years old, around 88’. My sister came home one time talking about “Acid House!” and I remember thinking Acid house? That sounds like a strange type of music but I was intrigued from then on. My family was always musical though, especially my mum, she used to play stuff like Motown, Soul, Funk and Disco and so I always liked that sort of stuff growing up.

I remember around the same time there were formative albums Rap Trax ‘Megabass’ and the Deep Heat compilation albums that had a style called hip house, a mash up of hip hop and house. Really liked that as a young kid. I used to record house music onto cassettes from the radio. Graham gold, Pete tong etc. It was around 90–91 when I moved from a village to a town that I became more aware of rave music and raves themselves. A lot of the teenagers were ravers around my area and it was a big thing in school, especially the later years. I was fascinated by it. The whole culture and its underground nature. From merchandise to fashion and of course tapes – rave tapes from all the big events at the time. Used to walk around with my pockets full of tapes for the Walkman – mostly live recordings of events or big raves and I’d think wow! Events like Universe & Fantazia and Obsession. If the dats were good…You could hear the crowd and the buzz of the event!!

I grew up in a small market town called Newbury in Berkshire. Its just off the M4 corridor between London and Bristol. South Central as I used to call it, Newbury sits between London and Bristol, almost right in the middle. Fantazia did a big New Year’s Eve event at Littlecote house near Newbury. Think I was around 14 at the time, 20,000 ravers on your doorstep, I think it even made national news as most of the big events did back then. And just like that I was hooked! I wanted to go to all these big raves. To Experience the music and the atmosphere that was off the scale on the tapes we were playing and videos we were watching. There was also a local record shop in Newbury called Whirleycog records which would have a table outside with the latest flyers that the promoters would drop off. I would go down there and snag two of each flyer – put one on my bedroom wall and keep the other in a box. They also sold tickets, merchandise and tape packs too…

I was about 15/16, the time came and I went to my first Dreamscape. And by 1995 I was attending raves like Universe tribal gathering, Dreamscape, Helter Skelter etc. I was going to a lot of big raves and particularly the Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. I got the raving bug! From house and trance to gabber techno and even happy hardcore – I liked a bit of every style. I had a thing for techno for a few years dj’s like Colin dale, Trevor Rockcliffe and the harder more gabber side of Techno dj’s like Clarkee and the Producer attending the infamous Technodrome at Helter Skelter. At the Sanctuary, the upstairs Room/Room Two, the floor used to flex a lot due to all the stomping that went on. The decks were suspended on chains. Crazy scenes…

Me: You say you remember the changes in music from ’88 to Jungle. Were you hesitant at all towards the shift to breaks and bass around 1992/93?

Jon: No not really I would have only been around 14 so it was like a new sound anyway, I loved the breakbeat element and was hearing a lot of breaks in hip hop and bass early 90’s. So that’s where I heard a lot of breaks first, but, mashing up amens, adding other elements and samples changed the game and with 93’ being a pivotal year for rave music and defining of styles.

I was into a lot of the music, but I enjoyed the more Happy Vibey stuff that was upbeat but still had breaks. People like Slipmatt, Seduction, Dougal, Vibes… I loved breakbeat hardcore because everyone was happy and Jungle was a bit more moody so because of that I was a bit hesitant at first. But by 1995 though for me anyway it was all about Jungle, all about One Nations, Jungle fever and desert storm, telepathy etc. You would see the odd incident here and there at raves and sometimes you had to watch out for pick pockets etc. rude boys and girls. Same as anywhere really, some bad eggs trying to ruin peoples vibes. The Sanctuary’s security for instance was basically run by gangsters, you would always have some trouble with them praying on people getting messy and stealing their drugs and sometimes giving them a beating. I got a few stories of some things I witnessed first hand there but we’ll save them for another time. CS Gas Etc. Sometimes You would get people firing blanks at the ceilings. I saw that happen at a Telepathy event, a guy blasting a gun into the ceiling right next to me at the event at Club EQ Or The Wax Club as it used to be known in Stratford East London; not going to lie that was a bit scary. Always preferred the bigger events at the time, Dreamscape, One nation, Helter Skelter – Keep the Fire Burning & Best of both worlds. Devotion New Year’s Eve in Cardiff CIA ‘96. And then I continued into ‘97 but by then jungle had morphed and changed into Drum and Bass – the golden era of drum ‘n’ bass 97–99’.

I think with Jungle people don’t realise it had a really short lifespan, it was a time and era. ‘93 to ’96. That’s the era that I love the original foundation but by 1996 it was changing and going away from the ragga vocals and amens, more towards tunes like Badass by Micky Finn and tunes like shadow boxing by doc Scott and a step towards to the more techy stuff, DJ Trace, Nico, Ed rush & Optical. Jungle and amens have always had an influence but by ’96/’97 it was all about Drum and Bass.

Me: Do you like the Darker techy stuff that came in the late-90s, stuff like Ed Rush, Bad Company etc.?

Jon: Yeah I do, As much as I love Jungle, I love Drum and Bass. Bad Company’s ‘The Nine’ was the late 90’s banger that still goes off today. A lot of the Jungle Producers at the time started making Drum and Bass. Ed Rush was originally making Jungle on No U Turn with Nico. The scene as a whole just progressed at a really fast pace – as did Drum and Bass. I love Wormhole by optical and Ed rush. It’s one of my favourite D&B albums… I had some of the best nights of my life in Drum and Bass raves but I’ve always had a love for Jungle.

Me: Who was your favourite DJ that you listened to on tape packs and things?

Jon: Probably Tango man, RIP. His tunes and his production were on another level for the time. ‘Tales from the Darkside’, ‘Further Intrigue’ – those darker Jungle tunes. He was ahead of his time. He was making stuff in ’93 which could have been released a lot later. I loved Easygroove, Ratty, but then also my techno DJs like Colin Dale, Colin Favor & Carl Cox. Mickey Finn, Kenny Ken, Nicky Blackmarket, Hype and Brockie. Had a lot of love for some MC’s too Early 90s MC’s Such as Ribbs, Robbie Dee, Joe Peng, and Mad P to Fearless & GQ and Stevie Hyper D & Skibadee, RIP. The 90’s was just a mash of styles. Raves like Obsession playing Hardcore, Techno, Jungle Techno all on one night. It would be so many different DJs playing so many different sounds. It wasn’t like a one style rave or music like it is now. It was really cool at the time. You would have ravers come to see the Techno DJs and they would all leave when the set was over and then the Junglists would come and see the Jungle DJs. The crowds would swap over and the vibe would shift from one style to another which was mad to see.

Me: You mention that you were going to Dreamscape when you were 15/16, which is pretty young, was everyone else a similar age a lot of the time?

Jon: There were a lot of underage people going to raves back then. Today that’s a lot harder. Back then, it was relatively easy to get into a rave. There was a lot of 14/15 year olds getting into 18+ raves and looking back on it now, that’s crazy! Not sure it would happen nowadays. A lot of young people started raving early, on account of their big sibling usually. And it just shows how raves and raving swept the country. Loved the fact that Jungle was a British thing and from the streets. When you got into a rave, it was a vibe thing, it was a happy thing. Every stranger was your mate and people came from all over the country. People from Scotland, people from Liverpool, people from down south going up north and vice-versa, people would travel as there were raves happening all over the country. Your local scenes and then you had your national scene and that was a cool element.

It wasn’t all necessarily about the big raves, it was also about clubs as well. One of my local clubs was Brunel Rooms in Swindon. It had an awesome revolving bar. The fruit club was held there in the mid to Late 90’s and then around 2005/6 with the Valve sound system nights there; Dilinja’s nuts sound-system. Brunel rooms has Legendary Status! It was once the longest running independent nightclub in the country. Goldiggers in Chippenham as well, One Nation did a few events back then. A lot of people would travel to Goldiggers regularly. I have about 4 ring binders of flyers of events at diggers, Brunel rooms etc. I had hundreds but kept the best ones in ring binders. I Used to collect merchandise from the raves I went to, tee shirts, bomber jackets etc but used to give away a lot of what I collected strangely enough.

Me: In terms of the history and collecting, were you buying records when Jungle was beginning?

Jon: The first ever 12 inch record I bought was in 1991, it was 2 Unlimited ‘Get Ready’. Hilarious! But I was like 12/13. My second vinyl was everybody in the place by the Prodigy and my 3rd was ‘Playing with knives’ by Bizarre Inc and then something by Altern 8! By 16/17 I would go into London occasionally and go to places like Mash in Oxford street and that was when I first got to know about records. Blackmarket too. One summer my mate lent me his decks for two weeks, around ’97 I reckon, and I learnt to mix with the two records he gave me. It was Scorpio ‘Trouble’ and Krust ‘Warhead’. And by the time he got back I learned to beat match and mix two records. That was a great feeling! Started to buy records regularly by ‘97.

Me: Those tracks mix very well!

Jon: Exactly. They do don’t they?!?….I didn’t really want to be a DJ when I first got into it for some reason. It was Gemini direct-drive decks that I learnt on with a Gemini mixer. I got my first proper decks in around 1999/2000 – Vestax decks which I still run today. Some mates and I set up our own little crew called Dub Rollers and we did some party’s in our local area. And that is how my career as a DJ really started. We are all still DJs as a matter of fact, all four people who set up the crew originally.

Me: Were you mostly playing current tunes or were you playing some older stuff?

Jon: Well as the music progressed so did you – as a DJ you always want to play current stuff or stuff people haven’t heard but it’s also good to play older stuff that perhaps people haven’t heard. I got to know a lot of the older tunes from older friends of mine that Dj’d back then. Another friend of mine was selling some old early-90s tunes like ‘Obsession’ by DJ Vibes and ‘Trip to the Moon’ by Acen. The slammer by Krome & Time. I would then learn the history of it all these tunes and I’d remember some of these tunes from tape packs. Sometimes I would pick up tunes in second hand record shops and not really know what they were. Then I would get back, put them on the deck and play it and go “oh yeah it’s this tune”. It was pure luck really.

Me: No Discogs back then

Jon: No there wasn’t… It was all about the shops and the second hand record shops. Another thing that ties in, is that my local record shop was the Record Basement in Reading. And obviously associated with them was Vinyl Distribution who were responsible for the great majority of Jungle record distribution in the 1990s. And Basement Phil of course ran some labels. He did the Photek stuff, Source Direct street beats etc etc so many labels and tunes came out of vinyl distribution and the record basement. I had a part time job at Sainsbury’s around ‘96/97 and I would get about 100 quid in wages and go up to basement and blow most of my wages on records.

Interestingly enough, vinyl distribution went defunct [around the turn of the millennium] but Basement Phil set up a new Distribution company called New Urban Music with Mickey Finn in my home town Newbury. Tobie from Serial Killaz worked for them and that’s how I met him and Phil. We used to do a regular Sunday night DnB thing called 36th Chamber at a pub in Newbury called The Tap. A small long backroom that used to get absolutely rammed! The night ran for about 10 years. I used to MC at these nights. Some big names would come down there – Ray Keith, Nicky blackmarket, then Sub-focus before he was a superstar, and ‘king of the jungle’ DJ Dextrous. That was about 2001/2002. Absolutely wicked vibes for a Sunday night!

Remember also going down to Blackmarket records on a Saturday sometimes and it would be rammed. Most of Soho was great too; Sister Ray records. Chemical Records in Bristol was an interesting one too. They were an online record store and they would drop promos every Thursday by this point we had the internet 97–98. Capapult in Cardiff was also a good record shop and massive in Oxford.

And it was because of the culture and a way of life that I started that shift from being a raver to wanting to DJ and know every tune being played. For instance, every Thursday afternoon, about midday, you would get onto Chemical and see what promos they had. But they would only have four or five of each promo. You’d get the promo but then your mate wouldn’t. And between us DJs that would be a bit of a competition, a friendly rivalry of who could get the best tunes or promos in any given week.

I had accumulated a ridiculous amount of records by this point, like thousands of records. At the time I had about 5000/6000 records and now I have about 1500. Moving about 30 odd boxes of records when I would move house was no good or fun and so I had to slim down my record collection. I will always be a record collector and keep buying records and every day is a school day though. I think I know a fair amount about Jungle / DnB but there is so much out there I still don’t know about. So through the Jungle Connoisseur I’m still learning about labels and tunes and the ones that I missed.

Me: In terms of the page, what’s the process for choosing a record then? Do you own a lot/many of the tunes you are posting?

Jon: Yeah I do, I own quite a lot of what I post. But then there’s tunes that I don’t own that I would like to own. There are tunes that are £100 – 150 that I can’t really justify buying. For me, it has to be worth it. And even then, I will see the price of a tune and just think back then that tune would have been a fiver. Like your conversation with me at The Crown, asking if Tom & Jerry are worth it. Certain tunes are worth it. It amazes me how expensive a tune can be and what makes it expensive. Is it because there was only a few pressed? The rarity? The popularity of it? I still don’t know what goes into making a tune expensive on Discogs. I guess when a more unknown tune is put on discogs and there is only 2 of them and 1 is snapped up for a fiver and the other a tenner. It’s then a 10 pound tune very quickly. The price can then be raised again etc.

“I read somewhere that between ‘93 and ‘96 there was 15,000 tunes released”

Me: Do you reckon you have a part to play in a price increase in tunes? Like you posting a rare tune and someone new finding out about it?

Jon: Maybe I do without realising: see if I post a rare tune, people will then go and Discogs t straight away. Because I get a lot of people commenting that they just discogs’d it and found out it was hundreds of quid. I guess you have to be serious to spend that much on a tune. I’m putting what I know about Jungle out there for people to use as a resource that I didn’t have back in the day. There’s no set routine. What I post it can be quite random to be honest.

“It’s for the people that know and the people that don’t but want to know”

And again, with back-catalog tunes there are still so many to be discovered. There are some labels that only released 4 or 5 tunes and then went defunct and are pretty obscure. And then there are those larger labels such as Moving Shadow that did over 200 releases. It’s hard to know everything about all the tunes. I read somewhere that between ‘93 and ‘96 there was 15,000 tunes that were released. I’ve posted about 300 – 400 tunes and potentially there are another 13/14 thousand more out there that I still haven’t posted. And I’ll keep posting until I’ve exhausted all resource but that’s gonna be years and years from now. There are however lots of tunes I can’t post due to certain copyright issues.

Me: How did it come to be?

Jon: It all sort of just happened when I was going to bed one night. I was just thinking how can I create a platform for Jungle music for people who don’t know about it or people that do remember the time and want a place to share memories. It’s for the people that know and for the people that don’t but want to know. I’m aware I’ve got quite a few young people following me that want to know about Jungle music and think it’s great that the younger generation that want to find out about jungle music. All styles too from jump up jungle to intelligent jungle such as Photek, There’s a massive spectrum to it.

I’m grateful to be able to do The Jungle Connoisseur and bring my vision to life though the page and the events and also grateful to have experienced the early days of jungle and and rave scene. I’m also grateful to be able to tell some of my story and continue to DJ and now dipping my toe into events and hopefully leaving my mark and contribute to the jungle scene going forward. Jungle is a UK thing that’s gone world-wide. It started off with humble beginnings. House music started it off in America with Detroit and Chicago, it came over here and we added a mish-mash of sounds from funk soul and samples to amens, breaks and sound-system culture… and jungle was born. And that leads us to modern-day Jungle. People always say it’s in resurgence and that jungle was dead or that it got cool again but Jungle has always been there and it’s always been fashionable and I’m grateful of course to share what me and others, experienced back in the day and long may Jungle music continue to thrive.

And finally I want to say respect and thank you to Jon and everyone who has and continue to make Jungle possible.

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