INTERVIEW - Getting behind the groove with Russ Dewbury PT 1/3
With more than 30 Years of service to the music industry and still with skin in the game, Russ Dewbury is held in high regard as a key influencer and shaper of the UK's independent music scene over the last 30 years. Russ's accolades include conforming to an ongoing international DJ schedule, label owner/manager, artist manager, seasoned compilation compiler, producer, festival organiser, radio broadcaster... oh, and founder/promoter of one of the longest running club nights on the planet... Suffice to say then, that when I got the chance to spend some time with the man himself, we had a little bit to talk about. . .
Part 1/3
The early years... Jazz Rooms & Jazz Bop
BTG: Russ Dewbury, welcome along! . . . 30 Years plus with skin in the game and still going strong, take us back to the beginning. . . Take us back to pre 87 (the dawning of the Jazz Rooms) and tell us a bit about the root of your passion for funk, soul, afro beat and everything else in between. . . where it all begin for you?
RD: I was brought up in an non musical house, my dad was a potter and mum was an art teacher, artists but not musical. So it was more top of the pops in the beginning, but I got into music when I was about 8 years old and I entered in to the right kind of music, David Bowie 7” and that sort of thing. That led me into a real passion for music and I started take in Punk, I loved the energy of it and thought it was just great, but towards the end of the 70’s I started to pay attention to the re emergence of the Mod scene that was developing at that time. I’d always been into fashion and I found the whole scene of how the scooters and the cloths looked, really interesting and so ended up getting really involved in that.
