Jaguar Skills

With the likes of Mark Ronson, Lupe Fiasco and Trevor Nelson unable to get enough of the original ninja - Mr Jaguar Skills - the rise (and rise) of this ground-breaking artist has been well documented. Honing his craft and love of music for the last 15 years Jag has remained true to his school and kept a mysterious edge to his character; with details of his real name, age and home town etc. left largely unconfirmed.  Pulse caught up with the man of mystery to discuss his brand new Toolroom Compilation and plans for Creamfields.

Pulse:  Hooooooooooooooooooooo! Hey Jag, how are you today? What have you been up to recently?  Jaguar Skills:  Very good thanks. I just got back today from doing a gig with Example and DJ Wire in Space in Ibiza. Me and Wire talked about music until 9am.

You’ve got a new album out on Toolroom Records, how excited are you about this?  Very excited. I mean, to do this project with Toolroom has been a wicked experience. They totally gave me 100% artistic freedom. I was pretty nervous handing it in to be honest. But the response I've got from it has been amazing.

Tell us about the album, how did you decide on the tracks?  I wanted to mix tracks that I've been playing in my sets, as well as other styles of music that I don't usually play out so much. It's a cross between stuff that I listen to at the hide out, and some head banging, mosh pit type music

 Where you nervous to release your own productions on the compilation?  A little I guess. But I only co-produced the tunes. I worked with DJ@WAR who's a great buddy of mine and also an amazing DJ. For the track, "9 Levels of Power", he emailed me the main loop section, and I was like, "DAMN!” So I messed around with some drums a little, add the vocal samples and boom! Done.  The album, although it's a compilation, is a weird mix album/production album hybrid. All of the tracks have been deconstructed and reconstructed to varying degrees, and there's quite a bit of unaccredited actual production from me also.

Will we ever see an album from yourself that’s totally your own productions?  Yeah, one day for sure.

What genre of music do you feel most comfortable playing?  Probably Drum & Bass. I really love the jump-up stuff. But then again, it's the 'feeling' of the music I go for, rather than the genre. I'm a music man. Like, right now, as we're doing this interview, I've got on this Brazilian Jazz album, "Talk Talk And More Talk" by the Beaujolais Band in the background. There's so much music out there, it's a crime really to try and listen to it all! To me Public Enemy and someone like, Original Sin, sound the same to me. Or a hard electro tune may have to same vibe as a dubstep record, so I'll check them both. An 80's Pop tune can sound like an uplifting Trance tune, you know? That's why I play so many style of music in my mixes and DJ sets, I guess.

The 20 years of Hip Hop and DnB mixtapes that you put together were amazing! Have you got any plans to do them for other genres?  I'm not too sure to be honest. I think that D&B and Hip-Hop kinda lends itself to the cut-and-paste, fast mixing style. You can't do that with other styles of music, without it sounding wrong. You can't do it with House music for sure. I think these projects were kinda one-off specials.

Where did the ninja persona come from?  I'm wanted.

Do you fight crime on the side?  I'm on the run.

Will we ever see the man behind the mask?  Probably not.

What songs can’t you live without?  Welcome To The Terrordome - by Public Enemy

 You have a great relationship with Radio 1 and the 1Xtra guys, how important have they been in building your career?  They're amazing and I love working with the BBC. Radio One have been super supportive. I think they've been pretty instrumental in my career so far. It still bugs me out when I hear my mixes on the radio. What's better than that?

You’re playing Creamfields this year, what can we expect from your set?  I wanna play a little more House music. I really like House, but due to the nature of the music, it doesn't really lend itself to my style. But other than that? I'm going IN. It's going to be a tear up for sure. And I just want to say, it's an honour to be playing Creamfields this year, I'm gonna do my best to smash it.

Will you be checking out any other acts? Should we look out for a ninja running around the fields of Daresbury?  If you see a dude in a mask that's covered in sweat. Do not approach. I'm quite smelly after a set.

Jaguar Skills performs in the Strongbow ‘The Graft & The Glory’ Arena at Creamfields on Sunday 28th August Bank Holiday weekend.

For tickets head here