- Rapidfire Royalty
Name: Jerry Poon
Royal Title: Head Honcho of The Operatives, DJ JPS, Melbourne Music Ambassador & Events Overlord
Hood: Footscray
Buy him a Strong Flat White at: Counterweight Records Vinyl and Espresso
Music Venue he misses the most – Miss Libertine’s or Roxanne’s
Current fave venue – Section 8 or the Forum Theatre
Fave place to be at sunrise – Running around the Maribyrnong River
It probably wasn’t the best idea to book an interview with Jerry Poon during Melbourne Music Week. But is there ever a time when The Operatives Director isn’t meeting with local councils, rescheduling tours, spruiking new talent, DJing, or hatching new plans to make your events calendar more interesting? Third time lucky Jerry and I manage to connect. I was thirsty AF to hear this legend’s backstory.
If you are a connoisseur of dancefloors and cultivate only the finest bass, electronic, jazz and soul music for your eardrums, there is no doubt that Jerry will have had something to do with your peak moments of joy. From Let them Eat Cake to the DOT, touring old friends like Flying Lotus, DJing as JPS and magically bringing to life some stellar new concept events while we were all locked up, there’s never a dull moment for Jerry Poon.
Overcoming the last two years
The last two years have been especially brutal for anyone working in event management.
“Guess that was a pretty sick party is no longer a compliment,” he says.
“There’s a saturation of events now; a big backlog to recoup after countless rescheduling, which looks set to continue. This also results in venue shortages. Factor in less disposable income and people’s hesitancy to be indoors and there’s definitely a big job on our hands. Running events was hard hard enough to begin with.”
Despite all these things, Jerry has managed to continue to raise the bar.
“We’ve worked with Melbourne Music Week (MMW) for over ten years,” he says.
As soon as Melbourne opened up, Jerry was straight back to running two events back to back in one day, with MMW Club: The Operatives Presents at Max Watts and then straight onto Subclub for MMW Kick Ons until 7am on 3 December. Then it was straight onto a sold out and packed Forward Ever at the Croxton the night after.
“It was a big weekend to get back into the swing of things but I’m not complaining.”
“It was just amazing watching everyone shine at MMW. They haven’t played gigs to a full capacity crowd without restrictions for so long.”
“The day gig was the best show I’ve seen from Billy Davis, I could see it was a personal moment for himself. Jo Jodun alongside Southside Denny were really upping their game; Teymori was repping fresh material from his new album today, in my opinion one of the best afro house producers in Australia. And of course a heavy psychedelic jazz tip from the inimitable Emma Volard.”
“Then at the late edition ensuring bass music was front and centre with Raptorhandz, Safire, Hans Dee Cee and Sistym taking us through til sunrise.”
The next big one for Jerry was the first gig of the year, Let Them Eat Cake (LTEC), held for the best part of the last decade on New Year’s Day at Werribee Manor.
“Artists and crew usually stay in the Mansion, everyone gathering on the grounds at one of the stages to ring in the New Year. But it’s mostly about the afterparty after the event itself. The mansion is crazy; the place is draped in decadence.”
“LTEC is an evolving festival; recreation and adaptation is a necessary thing in order to stay relevant. We’ve had so many limitations put on us without being able to host internationals. When you start to reach that saturation point how do you keep it fresh? Of course, there are plenty of talented Australians, but in the last year lineups have begun to look quite similar. 2021 was the last year that will be the case. In 2023, LTEC is celebrating 10 years in operation, so prepare for something really special for that.”
Looking back on 2021, the year that wasn’t, Jerry managed to squeeze out every last drop of goodness against all odds, deftly launching two fresh new concept events, while the rest of the world was still trying to unmute Zoom in their PJs.
27 November saw Flow come to life at Footscray Community Arts Centre, teaming up with Foreign Brothers on expanding their concept with a key focus on inclusivity, being family friendly, and having balance on the lineup, including Fly Boy Jack, Brown Suga Princess, Kee’ahn and Mildlife. With the tagline “Give, Take, Give” it was all about fostering and developing community partnerships, developed in tandem with The Foreign Brothers, Victoria University and PBS FM.
Back in May, Square Up at The Forum Theatre launched with a remit to champion new music and live creative collaboration.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without the Grant from Creative Victoria. If you want to do something with emerging talent on this level of production, it has to be funded. Part of the Grant scheme idea was to develop a blueprint for that show, which was designed to be taken to any city in the world and replicated, both production and concept. It would be great to see a Square Up in other Australian cities and then a big show with all the acts together.”
“It’s great to see Melbourne beginning to prioritise handing out grants to the music world, but it’s only something that’s been happening in the past five years. Why have the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra been getting a fucking million dollar grant every year to release a CD that sells ten copies? I’m so relieved that the city has started to create great new opportunities to value the music of young artists and support them. It’s hard to get grants, but also, they’ve got to go to someone. The process of applying actually helps you create and navigate a plan for yourself and what you are actually going to do. Even if you don’t get the Grant, you do get a ready made plan.”
“I still can’t believe we pulled it off” he reflects on Square Up.
“There were so many restrictions. The artists couldn’t come beyond a certain point of the stage; only one person was allowed backstage. It was so hectic.”
“It was one for the history books; it’ll be talked about in years to come. People who missed that show will regret it. As I was watching it unfold, I had one of those really special moments, realising this was some of the best emerging talent Melbourne had to offer, all under one roof. I’m talking Dallas Woods, Yung Shogun, Ijale…”
“A unique aspect of this festival was the collab and crossover with the artists. The first section was their own material solo, then the second was them coming out with another artist and doing something together. That show was a dream.”
The stage build for Square Up was really special, but demanded a lot of creative ingenuity.
“The team at The Forum had never actually built a two tiered stage themselves. There was a point where we were like can we actually do this?! But we did and it was mindblowing. Having secured more funding now and already having the formula for success ready to roll, I am delighted to confirm that we will be bringing in a new wave of emerging talent to you in Square Up 2022 this December.”
Community & Collaboration
Jerry buzzes off blending genres and elevating emerging artists by billing them alongside more established ones.
“Giving talented people a platform on which to thrive, is what really drives me. It’s also about opening people’s ears and eyes to new things within the same place. Even the most staunch of purists can be open to something new.”
“As much as I fucking love drum and bass I don’t think I would want to dance to the same thing for 12 hours straight.”
One of Jerry’s main talents is not just in showcasing new artists, but also opening up collaboration with emerging crews.
“My touring and events company The Operatives is 17 years old next year, that’s like 100 in music years!”
“Collaboration keeps us relevant. We are aware that everything is evolving and need to work with fresh faces. We need that young energy to bring it through.”
“Being respectful to other crews with bookings and scheduling and working together to revive this city. It’s how The DOT came about, and countless other projects; ensuring there is unity behind the scenes.”
There was a period of time for drum and bass in Melbourne when it was a free for all, almost like a war, but it’s not the way to be. Now it’s all about alliance. When you form these alliances, especially with established crews, and then you invite the younger crews in to join, it really helps to develop the scene and keeps the music culture of our city thriving. It’s just the same with hiphop or techno, or even mixed genre events. On a long term basis if you can then get all these crews to work together and form alliances it’s some Voltron shit.
“In the past, bass music was very male dominated.”
“Right now I am seeing a huge surge in young female talent and really enjoying my role in helping them find their place on the circuit.”
“I want to make sure the opportunities are there. You’re not in there just because you’re a young girl though, you gotta do your thing and do it well. There’s enough talent coming through to slowly develop gender equilibrium in lineups.”
“I think it’s especially interesting how trends are cyclical. Everyone seems to be playing jungle, or dropping that kind of vibe at the moment. Young female DJs are really enjoying getting on the hardcore tip. It’s clear we are dealing with some serial vinyl collectors.”
Melbourne has always had a ridiculous music scene. So what does Jerry think is the reason for it?
“Pre-Covid Melbourne had the most music venues per capita in the world. I hope we have managed to maintain this. There is a strong drive by the city to retain nighttime economy and a music strategy.”
“People wise, the city is driven by arts, music and culture and there are so many amazing diverse crew and multicultural musicians who drive our melting pot. Really fucking good ones.”
“Migrant communities change the ebb and flow of music here. Communities and their inhabitants, food and music have evolved and changed in different pockets of Melbourne. We’ve seen the rise of afrobeat; different types of hiphop. There are so many musicians; young rappers, soul artists, lyricists who offer the depth of their cultural origin backgrounds and infuse that into their music.
“Melbourne also has a world-class sSpiritual and nu-jazz scene, led by artists like Emma Volard, who write, play and sing like they’ve been doing so for 20 years, despite being not that much older themselves.”
“Although the city had a strong bass music community, I don’t think the city was ever really drawn into the Americanised dubsteppy kind of vibe. Melbourne music has always maintained its musicality.”
With such a rich musical background and depth of knowledge, I really want to know what’s top of Jerry’s Spotify Wrapped playlist for the year. The answer was definitely not what I was expecting.
“My Spotify playlist is actually what I use to put my daughter, Azami, to sleep,” he laughs. “Top tracks include You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy story. Mazzy Star Fade into you and Into my arms by Nick Cave. They’re also all songs she can sing back to me!”
How it all Began
Jerry’s Melbourne story began in 1999, which as he says was “a peak time for Melbourne drum and bass.”
“It was one of the reasons I came here. I was living in Sydney, having moved over from Singapore to study. But the Melbourne music scene was so much better, so I ended up moving here. It was a massive five bed house on Leveson Street in North Melbourne. That house was fun; a lot of music was bought,” he reminisces.
“We started a crew called Tact4 playing at Deep 11. My first ever gig was at Public Bar on the corner of Victoria Street on a Monday night. It was chaos, they had $4 jugs for a start. I started DJing, then we started putting on bigger parties, one of which was called Basement. In 1999, Elementz Sound Collective was formed and we booked one of our first internationals, an OG on Metalheadz, DJ Clarkey. That’s when the touring bug bit me In the first few years I toured Bryan Gee, Teebee, DJ Craze – so much fun.”
Jerry’s misty eyed glory days were between 2004 and 2008 at Miss Libertine’s. His office was upstairs.
“Essentially Miss Lib’s was the place that changed everything and flipped potential and possibility as we knew it on its head. We booked so many internationals for that place – and it felt like we were always catching the next big thing before it became just that. It’s where I first booked Flying Lotus. We had Flying Lotus, Dorian Concept, Robyn, Chaka Demus and Maurice Fulton, Theo Parrish, Gaslamp Killer, Justice, Diplo, James Lavelle – it was brilliant.”
All good things must come to an end, but it was a huge blow to the scene when Miss Libertine’s closed its doors due to sound complaints from the hotel next door.
“Have you seen the movie Batteries not Included?” asks Jerry.
“In the final scene, there’s a little house stuck between two towers. That’s what Miss Lib’s always reminded me of. It was a heritage building that couldn’t be knocked down, it had to be retained. But that didn’t mean its license did. Sound complaints were its final demise.”
“It was built right next to the Ibis hotel and for some reason, the designer kind of built it like a giant horn facing the hotel. The sound would roll up the blue stone wall, just firing it back at the hotel. I thought I’d test the theory to see what everyone was complaining about. I actually hired a room one night mid-gig. I had to concede that yeah, for a guest at the Ibis… it was pretty fucking loud. I went back downstairs to the club and turned the bass down a bit.”
“Another gig I really did have a lot of fun at during this period was Roxanne’s. They really took it to another level. And of course Platform One. The golden era.”
By 2004, Jerry had launched The Operatives, designed as a one stop shop for booking, touring, event management, production, touring, promotion. The upwards trajectory of what Jerry did best just kept on building momentum. But he wasn’t always working towards a career in music.
“Actually, I had been studying Hospitality, with a focus on Culinary Arts. Six months into it, the events were starting to vibe so I was like, fuck this! I changed my focus on everything to event management, which was still part of the electives. I focused my third year coursework on an intensive project about how to build a bar in Melbourne and how to run a dance music event company. My tutor almost failed me, she said dance music management isn’t viable within the hospitality area.”
Jerry has spent the last 17 years repeatedly proving this disillusioned person more wrong than she could ever have imagined, giving hope to everyone with a bad boss or short sighted uni lecturer. She wasn’t the only person who tried to hit the sabotage button on Jerry’s early career move.
“I worked my first two years in Melbourne as a kitchen hand in Punch Lane,” he says.
“I had a major blue with the Head Chef, who had a habit of throwing pans across the room when he got angry. You know those pizza pans? He threw one and it grazed my ear and burnt it. I went absolutely mental and sparked a riot. I took all the kitchen hands and incited strike action en masse, unless we got a pay rise. We got it, but I left after two weeks anyway.”
Despite what he endured in the early days, Jerry still has a passion for food. Growing up in Singapore, with an Armenian mother, his experience of food is just like his music, a spicy melting pot of flavours.
“One of my favourite memories was having Mark Pritchard and the late DJ Rashad RIP round to my house for dinner. I made Bak Kut Teh (stewed pork rib), which they had never had before. As we ate and drank, I picked Rashad’s brains about the Chicago footwork scene. He actually gifted me a huge bank of unreleased music, basically a history lesson and the ultimate library of everything I love.”
No doubt a wild party ensued afterwards?
“Actually, after dinner, we all sat down and watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones!” Jerry Poon is always full of surprises.
I had such a good chat with Jerry, it really gave me tingles from head to toe and made me even prouder to be a part of Melbourne’s music scene. He still won’t tell me what the acronym for his DJ name, JPS stands for – I guess some secrets will never be shared.
Images C/O Duncographic, or Jerry’s private collection
