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Jane Fitz began DJing back in the early 90s, spinning a mix of rare groove, funk and soul at a variety of clubs and parties, including her own Shake It Baby Shake It parties in north London. From there she progressed to guesting around London at places such as the Jungle Studios and the Conservatory. However, after six years spinning soul, Jane decided it was time for a change.
Work commitments took her to Hong Kong, and it was there she fell into playing house. 'I was going to some mad parties in Hong Kong, unlike anything I'd been to back in London,' she recalls. 'I'd always liked house, but I couldn't believe I'd missed so much music.' Fired up, she headed to New York with her credit card, and came back to Hong Kong months later with a whole new stack of records. Quickly switching styles, she was soon offered a residency as one of the founding DJs at Hong Kong's only underground house night, Robot. Next came regular slots at Bar City, Hong Kong Stadium, CE Top, Club Star and a residency at Club 97.
At the end of the 90s, Jane returned to London. After a few guest spots at the now defunct Project, she decided the only way to get gigs in a country from which she'd been away for so long, was to start her own night. And the Peg parties were born. Offering friendly vibes and underground house music, Peg was an instant hit. And the buzz continues to grow. Guests at the warehouse bash have included Charles Webster, Phil Weeks, Paul Woolford, Chris Duckenfield, Funky Transport, Jimpster, Palmskin, David Duriez, Sean Dimitrie, LHK, Souldoubt, Jason Hodges, Rithma, Rhythm Plate, Lo/Rez, Bionic Bump Band, alongside local underground talent such as Dub Kult, Richard Grey and Tom Baker.
Now based in London, Jane plays a hard-to-pin-down mix of house music. 'I can mix it up, but the core of my set is sexy, tripped-out music with fat basslines, techy sounds, strange noises and most importantly loads of heart. It can embrace everything from deep techno to electro, chunky tech house to warm deep house to cool, vocally bootlegs. It seems to move crowds as much as it moves me.'
And it's a mix that works. Jane has guested at legendary underground house nights up and down the UK, such as Wiggle, Babble, Kerfuffle, Reverberations, Coalesce, Black Sheep, Scuba, Chunky, Blonde, Rhythm Centric, Arriba, Dizzyfunk, Fluid Groove, Deep South Sessions, Housewerk and tVC as well as appearing at The Egg, AKA, Plastic People, Electrowerkz, Herbal, Mass, Jamm, The Fortress, and the Rhythm Factory, among many others. She currently holds DJ residencies at Peg and feelthalove.
She's also been called overseas to DJ in France, Croatia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cyprus and Hong Kong. And has appeared regularly on radio stations KissFM, Groovetech, Pulse radio, Interface, WWFM and Gaialive. Jane now hosts a weekly show on radio.my house-your.net every Monday night between 10-midnight GMT.
Recently Jane has been rediscovering her soul-girl roots, and is also regularly playing sets of underground disco and boogie, electro, funk and street-soul. She co-runs the FeelthaLove boogie parties.
Respected just as much for her eye for talent as her DJing skills, Jane has been a music writer/ reviewer for over ten years and has written for DJ, Update, Muzik, IDJ, The Face and MTV. Says Jane: 'Playing music is giving away a piece of yourself every time you get behind the decks. If that creates a great crowd reaction, that shows you're doing something right, and that it's from your heart and soul.'
April 2006
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