RB Deep Exclusive Interview: Justin Jay, Master of Good Vibes

Justin Jay is easily one of the most impressive young producers on the scene. With releases on top niche labels like This Ain’t Bristol, Black Butter Records, Pets Recordings, he’s constantly pushing the envelope and showing listeners all the tricks he’s got up his sleeves. Never pressured into sticking to one style, Justin Jay has spent the past year taking his unique sound to cities all over the world, but he’s also taken to experimenting with his sound. With his friends by his side, Justin Jay took to the stage at Shady Park, unveiling a bit of his latest project, Justin Jay & Friends. Before he took the stage, we got a chance to chat about this new venture into live instrumentation, his infamous house parties, and what awaits fans of Justin Jay in the months to come. As we spoke, fans enthusiastically came to the windows, expressing appreciation for his art and Justin Jay expressed a genuine appreciation back. With heartfelt smiles and a good vibes bracelet, he got on stage and gave everyone exactly what they came for, a Fantastic Voyage.

How did the Justin Jay & Friends project come about?

“Yeah, so really organically so Josh and I we pledged together freshman year, joined the same frat and Josh was the kid who was writing songs and playing ukulele and I was the kid making weird house and techno music. We became roommates sophomore year and we’re really good friends and spend all of our time together and we are both really into music, but he was like inspired by like Jack Johnson and like John Mayer and I was into like warehouse party music so we always had a mutual respect for what each other did, but just like, yeah it’s super different. Last semester of college we were finally like, ‘fuck it let’s jam together’, because we’re spending all of our time together anyways and Ben was our mutual homie who also was in our frat and was playing guitar in Josh’s band. When we started the first song, that Josh and I wrote together, like a day in we were like, ‘dude let’s get Ben in on this’, and we wrote a song that week because I had like a gig that Saturday. We were like guys let’s finish this song and I was playing in San Francisco and I had the homies, on a whim, drive up with me and we played the song live in the middle of my gig with Josh on the mic and Ben playing guitar and it was just so much fun. The next week I had another gig and we made a new song and [performed] it like five or six times and in five or six weeks. It was just like I spent all of my time with Josh and Ben in my bedroom making music and it was like so much fun and yeah that’s how it all started.”

Did you guys going into the project with an album as the endgoal go or how did that come about?

“No definitely not.  We were like, ‘oh I guess we kind of have an album’. We were just making songs and before we knew it had like 12 songs and a lot of them are really different from each other but it really came together out of nowhere. It’s pretty it’s like surprising to us how well it’s kind of flowed together because we were making music and Ben was in the studio jazz guitar program in college and sometimes is flexing those muscles and sometimes I’m flexing dark, techno production sometimes it’s like beat chief feel good funky music you know. We’re so all over the place but I think because it’s the same people and just like the same sort of like same place it ties together for some reason.”

So what is your favorite song on the album so far?

“I don’t know they’re also different that it’s hard to say but you know I think one of the songs, that while we played it, when we played it at the Dirtybird Campout in particular, we all talked about it afterwards but when we were playing we were all just like ‘holy shit this is like this is such a surreal magical transcendental experience’ and that song is called “Climbing Trees” and it’s coming out on Lee Foss’s label at the end of May. And yes definitely that song at the Dirtybird Campout that song was like mind blowing.”

So how does the creative process differ from your Justin & Jay Friends project to your solo productions?

“I mean, for me this is like a really crazy learning experience like I was just getting pushed outside my comfort zone doing things I’ve never done before like recording vocals and guitar and dealing with verses and choruses instead of just like builds and drops and definitely learning a lot, but when it comes to the beats themselves, it’s really not that far from home. I definitely tried a lot of new things but yeah I think like in a way, it just kind of like brought new life and freshness into making music for me because lyrics, in particular vocals it’s such an interesting dimension to have in production, you know, you can play off the energy and like the vibe off the lyrics and those cool things you can do to vocals, it was just like really fun. My last EP on Dirtybird that came out almost a year ago which is called Mom, I Graduated, those two songs I couldn’t have made without without having made four or five songs with Josh and Ben because it inspired me to do vocals myself and just to definitely help to get me more production chops and it’s very cool, very interrelated, hence why it’s Justin Jay featuring Josh Taylor and Benny Bridges, it’s supposed to be this whole new separate thing.”

Do you think you’d ever tour with a band and a set up that included live instrumentation?

“We’d like to try all these guys are amazing musicians and I feel like I need to do my part to really get those chops there and I intend on doing that, but like, today we have drums, guitar, we’ve got a little synthesizer and yeah we played one show with a full band and like 30 minutes of just completely live music and it’s so much fun, but I think it requires a lot of practice and we have a lot of practicing to do. We’re just figuring it out and experimenting at this point and just having a lot of fun that’s the main thing on our minds.”

The Fantastic Voyage Tour came about from the House party series can you tell me a little bit more about the Fantastic Voyage house party series?

“Yeah I’m so glad you’re so in the know! Yes my homie Ulf, who was my roommate for two years in college, this kid from Sweden makes really dope music. He’s collaborated with me Josh and Ben on a handful of the songs on this album he was like ‘I want to throw a house party’ and it was at this spot that we had a bunch of mutual friends at. But also when you go to a party that’s really cool, forward-thinking music sometimes it gets a little serious so we kind of wanted to like do something in the middle and the “Fantastic Voyage” that is the song by Lakeside like is really cool, it’s like cool production, cool jazz chords, and stuff like that, but it’s just like the silliest funky feel-good song ever. It’s got like a touch of hip hop, a touch of disco, a touch of this and that and  because it’s like both eclectic and straddles that balance between serious but also fun, it just kind of summed it up and I think a good party takes you on a journey and so for that reason all those reasons Fantastic Voyage is the name. And like sailor hats and silly facial hair you know it all worked out.”

What made you want to take the house party on tour?

“I got to really grow as a DJ by doing these house parties. I started playing songs that I thought you were cool but I wasn’t sure if they would work in a real club or a big room. I wanted to keep that’s going and to really continue to push myself to play whatever music I could at a party because I think when you are playing at a house party it’s just like this intimacy that lets you play anything because it’s like you can hi-five the person in front of the decks, at the front of the dance floor and when you have that connection you just do things that you couldn’t do otherwise and I just wanted to feel that intimacy and that amount of silliness outside of my little house party, so that was the idea.”

So this afternoon you just played wet electric want was your impression of the Arizona festival?

“It’s really cool to see, you know, parties in really interesting locations and, I mean, a waterpark, that’s so dope. I had a lot of fun, me and my homies rolled out and just got silly. It was kind of funny playing after 3LAU you know definitely a different style of music but I felt like I was just playing college party, which I am very comfortable doing. Definitely done my fair share of those. So you know, I didn’t go too Berlin, I didn’t go too deep, but you know definitely had a lot of fun and yeah that’s what it’s all about.”

Did the water park atmosphere maybe encourage you to bring the fantastic voyage into some water?

“Oh damn you’re so right subconsciously I was totally feeling that yes 100%.”

What can we expect from Justin Jay in 2016?

“I’m playing a bunch of festivals this summer, which is really exciting like Hard, Splash House, Lightning in a Bottle, are a few in California that I’m particularly stoked for. The album will be completely out by mid-June, the EP’s on Soul Clap’s label and then Lee Foss’s label this month, and then two extra bonus goodies, one on Dirtybird and then one which you’ll have to wait and see. I’m just really trying to work as hard as I possibly can and make remixes, making new lots edits of silly tracks like “Whoomp There It Is” and you know just for fun bootlegs to play.”

Now you have had a huge year since you graduated you’ve been all over the world do you ever take a day off what does a day off for Justin to look like?

“That’s funny, I definitely, I’ve just been working as hard as I possibly can just like you know finishing up tracks on the road and getting home and pulling an all-nighter. Definitely in the past couple of weeks or months, I’ve just been trying to achieve more of a life balance by trying to eat better and do all of that LA stuff, like yoga and meditation. It’s funny, like when you get to be behind the decks or just be on the dance floor, you know, there’s no question, it’s like the best thing ever and it’s just like it’s all worth it, but then I’m not sleeping as much as I should and all of the other stuff. It’s like having that effort to be healthy and stuff it’s cool and I think anyone who does anything creative, your emotional state and physical state really affect the creative process. I’m just like learning to navigate all that stuff and just really grateful to be getting to do all of this and I just want to learn and get better and that’s it.”

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Photo: Jacob Tyler Dunn