The music I make combines elements of dubstep, jungle, 2-step/garage, idm, hiphop, grime, b'more and other forms of urban bass music, often using samples from jazz, soul and funk to add melodic depth. I use Abelton Live 7 and a small handful of VST's. I have a handful of tunes that I give out, so if you like what you hear, holler @ me.
John Gregory II, better known as
somejerk was born and raised in South Florida. From birth he was exposed to art and music, having been spawned by a drummer and a painter. During childhood, John's father would play the drums to a spectrum of sounds ranging from classic and psychedelic rock, to reggae, new wave and jazz. In elementary school, John was exposed to his first tastes of electronic music - house, freestyle, booty bass and some rave. He would make mix tapes by carefully recording what he liked from the radio and listened to these tapes until they broke, then starting another one.
In middle school, John was exposed to alternative rock and punk and became infatuated with the skate punk culture, changing his perspective on life. This continued through high school where he discovered hiphop culture (beats, ryhmes and grafitti) and his world was, once again, turned up side down. Around the same time, a skate video called 411 contained the music that would influence him the most in life - a segment for DC Shoe Company contained a tune by the drum and bass god Goldie called "Jah the Seventh Seal". Not comprehending what he was hearing at first, John would watch the segment over and over again, amazed at the spaciousness of the sounds and the haunting, almost nostalgiac feeling he experienced as the song came to an ambient calm and a single synth played. At this time, he also stumbled across a college radio station that was playing drum and bass and was listening to this on an alarm clock radio. The infatuation had begun, and he was almost lone in his love for drum and bass.
Fast forward a few years, through the blur of drugs and alcohol that was high school, through the joke of an experience that was supposed to be college, to finally getting a vehicle in which he could go where he wanted, when he wanted, John found the Florida drum and bass scene. "I was floored, I had no idea that these people were here, that also loved drum and bass. I had no idea it was like this" he says, saying further that he thought the drum and bass music he was hearing was a bunch of local kids making beats in their room. After becoming fully engrossed in the drum and bass, post-rave culture in South Florida for a couple years, going to nearly every party, promoting and eventually designing flyers for promoters, he was given a chance to start his own party.
Bumpin Sundays was a collaboration between long time rave and drum and bass promoter turned hiphop mogul Lex One, formally known as Dublex, who was throwing a very successful hiphop party every Wednesday, booking local and international stars. Every Sunday night at Roxanne's a diverse group of drum and bass, breaks and the newly emerging dubstep fans would meet, drink and sweat their asses off. This continued for a few months until controversy regarding the venue's management was unbearable and the night was canceled. A week later, Roxanne's burned down and has yet to be re-opened.
Later that year, John, now aged 24 years, purchased a pair of turntables and a mixer from a friend. Having collected records just for the fun of it without really djing, John was now determined to learn to beat match. After being offered a spot to open for Skream and Mala, John jumped at this chance and feverishly learned to beat match and began honing his djing abilities. After a couple of months of practice and being given more chances to play out, John became known as one of the leading dubstep dj's and producers in South Florida, organizing events at Laundry Bar and opening and closing for larger dubstep and other electronic music DJ's.
More recently, John "won" New Times Best of 2008 Readers Choice Electronic Musician for Broward County. He has shared billing with Skream, Mala, Joe Nice, MattyG, Plastician, Will Miles, Silver and many other heavy hitters in the electronic music dj circuit.
