The way of the ninja

Ysabelle Cheung gets behind the covert get-up of BBC Radio One DJ Jaguar Skills while he plots a break-in to Bruce Lee’s house

Jaguar Skills isn’t your typical international DJ. He’s made his name from purely promoting his well-honed DJ skills and has a loyal following of fans who like to scream ‘hoooooooo’ at him during concerts, where he wears a ninja mask and plays eclectic mash-ups of current tunes encompassing all genres of music. We speak to BBC Radio One’s resident ninja about masks, music and breaking the law…

Hi Jaguar. First off, can you explain the whole ninja thing to us?
I was an illustrator before and I came up with this character as a drawing. What’s cooler than having a superhero ninja DJ? I was DJing for two years under Jaguar Skills and then I just thought ‘why don’t I just dress this way?’ Wearing masks is super-fun. It’s interesting how people react to you.

How did you get started?
My dad was a DJ and I grew up surrounded by hundreds of records. I was never good at anything else apart from music. I was doing clubs and little bars and stuff in London and then I went to Spain. And I hooked up with Pacha in Ibiza. I was a resident for four years and that was amazing. Then I came back to England and got a job on Radio One.

What’s been your most unique experience so far?
My gigs in England lately have been massive, real big. All the festivals are just amazing. They’re so up for it, people are so ready to party! Everyone’s completely off their faces. For my tour last year, I went all over America and Australia and Japan. It was a dream come true. And the thing is… I’d DJ for free anyway, so being paid for it and being able to travel around the world is amazing.

So, Toolroom Knights (a compilation series from Toolroom Records)… what are five of your favourite tracks from your mix?
Shit, I don’t even know what I’ve got on there! I really love this track called War Face Curse, a giant bass record. I did this version of Strings of Life, which I really like, but I don’t think anybody else does. What I wanted to do with it is take you on a journey through hip-hop beats to some house beats to some dubstep and then drum ‘n’ bass, within five minutes, you know, and not have it fuck your ears up. I don’t want to limit myself to just one style.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Oh man, I love 80s pop music. If I could do a whole night of 80s pop music, I would. What else? I kind of love the shit power ballads… I also listen to a lot of TV theme tunes. I try and collect TV theme tunes. I sound super-nerdy.

Nah, you don’t! But… what’s your take on the K-pop, J-pop, and Cantopop music genres?
I once saw this group − they were called AKB48. There’re 48 girls. That’s crazy. You can buy like 48 different album covers.

What’s happening with your own music at the moment?
I do so much work on the radio and I do all these mixes all the time, I haven’t really had any time to make any of my own music. I’ve just started working on it this month. At the moment it’s like basically everything from hip-hop to electro to dubstep to drum ‘n’ bass. I’ve made a couple of really wicked tunes and hopefully in a couple of months it’ll be done. You know, I’ve DJed next to real big DJs who have got songs out, and they can’t DJ. They haven’t got the skills. I think with my DJ skills and some wicked tunes, that’s the winning formula.

Did you party hard for Chinese New Year?
I’m gonna celebrate it now that you’ve told me. Didn’t ninjas come from China, originally?

Er, no…
You know what, I DJed once before with Mark Ronson about five years ago in Hong Kong. That was quite cool. But it was in and out. I wanted to go see Bruce Lee’s house. I was just going to walk past it and then…

Use your ninja skills to break in?
Yeah, yeah, you and me could break in. We should do it. I’ll bring a mask for you!

It has always been a life-long dream of mine to do that.
But I’m really looking forward to Hong Kong. I feel very lucky indeed. I’m going to Cambodia and Korea and Thailand…

You have to check out the world-famous transvestite show when you’re over there.
[Laughing hysterically] Did you go to the ping-pong shows? Are they real?

Of course they’re real! You should check them out too.
[Still laughing] Maybe I will…

[Editor’s note: Well, we know ninjas aren’t from China. But ping-pong shows are for real. We swear…]

Catch Jaguar Skills spinning an eclectic set of mash-up tunes at Fly on February 11. Tickets: $150 with RSVP. 
Click here for more event information.

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