Artists like JAWNS are the reason FUXWITHIT exists. Emerging in the early 2010s at the height of electronic trap music’s peak with his take on the hip-hop-influenced subgenre, the Richmond native injected east coast club’s playful punch into his sound, breeding more bounce into the budding scene.
Making his mark on festival stages alongside names like TroyBoi, FLOSSTRADAMUS, and Valentino Khan, there’s no doubt the veteran knows exactly what he’s doing, although he chooses to remain lowkey, sporting a beanie, mask, and sunglasses wherever he goes. While JAWNS isn’t necessarily an anonymous artist, he still proves to be an enigma. Aside from skating clips, memes, and of course, music promotion, it’s hard to find a lot of information about the producer.
What we do know: JAWNS has an EP, called Last Resort, dropping this Friday on Deadbeats. He’s a Sable Valley signee who performed at RL Grime’s illustrious 10th year anniversary of Halloween in LA last October. And although he stayed in the game longer than most producers from his era, JAWNS chooses to uplift the next generation of electronic trap producers. In our Q&A, the beatmaker doesn’t fail to shout out his fellow SV labelmates, Knock2 and ISOxo. And with Juelz, he sneaks his way back into a live-act duo called Enter The World. Check out his guest mix and interview.
Hey, JAWNS. This interview and guest mix has been a long time coming and we really appreciate you doing this with us! How are you doing?
I’m great, thanks for having me! Been a fan of the work you all do!
Congratulations on your upcoming Last Resort EP with Deadbeats! What’s been the best part about releasing this EP so far?
Being finished with the shit haha! But honestly, for a while, it’s been a work in progress trying to connect all the sounds I’ve been experimenting with back to trap music. I’ve put out a few songs in the genre but I think this EP has been the closest to what I’ve been trying to accomplish so far.
With the tools I use for creating music, all I really do is guide it and record the chaos it’s creating.
How do you approach crafting a single versus crafting a more cohesive project?
For myself, I don’t think there is any difference between the two. I just start with a mood. When I sit down with my synths and have a feeling in mind, I just start plugging shit in and turn knobs until it’s giving me the feeling I want to capture. Or maybe it evolves into something I didn’t have in mind. With the tools I use for creating music, all I really do is guide it and record the chaos it’s creating. I never really know what it will give me. I think the tools and process itself combined with my personal taste glues everything together.
Can you describe the lightbulb moment that signifies a project is complete, in your eyes?
You mean when I’ve beaten a song to death until I have to tell myself to stop working on it and that it’s done? lol
Your aesthetic branding is extremely strong and you help with a lot of your own creative direction. When it comes to building something within the JAWNS universe – what comes first, the visual or sonic idea?
It’s been a few years in the process but the music obviously came first. Actually, before that, there was a feeling I wanted to capture that I got from listening to old punk and rock shit but with electronic music. To elaborate on influences, at the inception of JAWNS, I was listening to and watching a bunch of Beastie Boys shit. They were heavy and raw with the music but also hilarious. Visually they were ridiculous but there was a perfect balance of raw and serious with their comedic approach. To go back to the question, actually, I think the processes for sonic and visual are separate. I make the music, it’s kinda serious, it’s dark and heavy but when I make these videos I just try to have fun and make stupid shit. I guess I just enjoy the challenge of juxtaposition.
I think both are common in the way they can bring people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds together.
Aside from music, one of your biggest passions is skating. What are the similarities and differences between the skateboarding community and the electronic music community?
I think both are common in the way they can bring people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds together. Both have very specific subcultures that make it special when you form bonds with those few other people you find that share that interest with you. Even better when those people would typically be people you wouldn’t bond with otherwise.
Is there anything you’ve taken from skating that you use when making music?
I would say the motif of JAWNS is purely derived from my identity sculpted by skateboarding culture. Skating has always meant defiance, being in the streets, and experiencing life in a raw form. It’s hard to explain but I got into modular and analog synths because, to me, it has the raw feeling I can parallel to skating. In comparison to producing music, it’s being in the real world, the streets, versus using only a computer, a perfect machine, boxed in. I’m drawn to the unpredictability and imperfection using these tangible machines. Also, the most important part of skating is style. The way you do tricks is more important than what trick you’re doing. It’s about doing the trick in a way that when you watch the way someone moves, without looking at their face, you know who it is.
To come back to music, as an artist, wouldn’t you want someone to be able to close their eyes at a festival and know exactly who’s playing just from what they hear? I bring this up because I think a lot of us would agree a lot of music, in general, has become homogeneous due to the accessibility of software and learning resources. For example, the last song Skrillex released, the very next day someone recreated the song almost exactly in a step-by-step Youtube tutorial. As much of a blessing, as this is for learning, it’s also been a detriment to the variance in music. It feels like the same song keeps coming out. I was starting to notice this a couple of years ago and instead of beating the same virtual synth to death trying to make something new and interesting, I decided to find other methods to make shit and keep myself from going insane. Don’t get me wrong, there are brilliant people who can make amazing shit on the computer. But for me, it wasn’t fun and I just said fuck it let’s try something else, experiment. Now I feel like I have a way to make music that’s purely my own and most importantly, I’m enjoying it. Style over tricks.
Can you tell me the significance of “Audio Ammo” and “BRAIN DRAIN”?
Audio Ammo is a DJ collective of my friends and myself when we lived back in Richmond, VA. We were all friends and DJing together for a while. When the electro and bloghouse era began, we started getting interested in electronic music and mixing it with hip hop which evolved into us becoming Audio Ammo. We threw an event called Brain Drain which was the culmination of the variety of music we were into. We eventually started booking other DJs such as AC Slater and Drop the Lime, actually all of the Trouble & Bass crew. We even had Skerrit Bwoy from Major Lazer come DJ and dagger college kids lmao. We also were one of the first people to book Dillon Francis. I’m really proud and fond of this time as electronic music was not even close to how popular it is now. We brought it to Richmond, VA of all places and the party grew so big we eventually had to move it to the biggest venue in the city. This was also the beginning of the journey for me to becoming an electronic music artist/DJ.
Everyone’s into different shit so if you’re bringing people with different tastes together and presenting it in a way that everyone can enjoy it and expand perspectives, you’re gonna have an awesome party.
As someone who used to throw live events yourself, what is the recipe for the perfect party?
The typical things: a good venue/space, sound system, and ambiance. More importantly, if we are talking about non-genre-specific events, DJs that are able to bring together people with a variety of music. Everyone’s into different shit so if you’re bringing people with different tastes together and presenting it in a way that everyone can enjoy it and expand perspectives, you’re gonna have an awesome party.
What makes the perfect party tune?
I don’t know what makes the perfect party tune, but I know that all the best ones have the best grooves.
Grooves, tunes, the number two. That’s a bar. Do you think 2 is a cursed number?
First is the worst.
Can you rank these electronic solo acts that were once a duo: Flosstradamus, Hotel Garuda, What So Not, DROELOE, JAWNS
All number 2. See previous question.
Fair. You’ve been in the scene for a long time now. Which rising artists do you think are the future and should be our next guests for this series?
Shout out to my boys Knock2 and ISOxo. They’re already flipping the scene upside down. Nitepunk, demon son of The Prodigy.
Feel free to give them my email! What music do you listen to outside of dance and electronic music?
A ton of rock, hardcore, alternative, new wave.
What can we expect from this mix?
Just all the stuff I’ve been into lately! Techno, Trap, DnB, Breaks. All the dark basement devil orgy music.
Is there anything you want to talk about that I haven’t asked?
To all the music makers reading this. Keep being psychos, keep being weird.
JAWNS’ upcoming EP, ‘Last Resort’ is available for pre-save here. The project will be available everywhere via Deadbeats this Friday, July 8th.
Tracklist:
JAWNS – Sanity Burn
Guilt Chip & VARI – Panic
G Jones – On My Mind (Cerdin Remix)
ISOxo – Redloop x Baby Keem – Family Ties
MOTVS, T78 – Daje
JAWNS – Body Breaker
Smashing Pumpkins – Zero (LeCastlevania Remix)
Wuki – IGD
X CLUB – Don’t Fuck Around
Aponaut – No Cure (ADM Remix)
The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up (Psycho Boys Club Remix)
Deadmau5 & Kaskade – I Remember (RIOTCODE EDIT)
Faithless – Insomnia (Psycho Boys Club Remix)
Hermeth – Devil’s Reject
JKS – Get Crackin’
X CLUB – Sports That Require Petrol
Santigold – Creator (NIKKO Remix)
Must Die – Delete it All x Cool Rave Tool 41 (FCZ Edit)
Nirvana – Tourette’s x A.M.C. – Clack (FCZ Edit)
Dimension – Techno
Gydra – Lava Run
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