Enfield DJ Ben Geffin of Jack Beats on a hectic year, new live show and the much-awaited debut album (From Haringey Independent)

Enfield DJ Ben Geffin of Jack Beats on a hectic year, new live show and the much-awaited debut album

12:56pm Wednesday 29th February 2012 in Music By George Nott

The last year has been a hectic one for DJ duo Jack Beats. As one of the hardest working outfits in the industry, Ben Geffin and Niall Dailly have touched every continent in the past 12 months, rocking clubs and festivals from Crotia to Hawaii.

“We’ve done every sort of stage, big and small,“ explains Enfield-born Ben, also known as Beni G, “and every kind of place, from dark little clubs to massive spotlights-blaring-in-our-face type scenarios.

“We toured every part of the globe from Asia to America. Every week we’re on the road.“

As well as the regularly released remixes and singles, including takes on La Roux, Beyonce, Passion Pit, Florence & The Machine and many others, the pair are committed to their ever-popular residency at London super-club Fabric, and are working on a new live show with Daft Punk and Deadmau5’s stage designers. Oh, and there’s the debut album, very nearly complete and due for release this summer.

“We’ve been pretty lucky,“ explains Ben who started his musical career playing violin for his Edmonton school orchestra. “It’s been such a heavy workload because we’ve been on the road simultaneously, so that’s probably why it’s taken so long to finish!“

Every spare hour not on the road has been spent in their east London studio, working intensely on their much awaited first album.

“We’ve got two rooms in the studio, so we split up and worked seperately on different things because we’ve had to, to get things done. One person might be doing a mixdown and another doing a bassline – because of time we wouldn’t have got it done otherwise.

“We’ve spent a hell of a lot of time in these four walls but we’re out the other side now – nearly.“

Since teaming up in 2007, Ben, from hip-hop DJ crew The Mixologists, and Niall, from turntablist collective Scratch Perverts, have put their spin on the pop-charts, bringing the catchiest of hooks to the club scene. Drawing from house, dubstep and drum & bass, pundits have struggled to pigeon-hole the pair, describing them as anything from ’fidget-house’ to ’dark-wobble-dub’.

Their friendship goes back even further, which is important to the working relationship.

“The beauty of how we work,“ says Ben, “is that we’re such good friends and we respect each other. We have heated discussions about what direction we should take but on the whole we just follow the rule that unless both of us are completely happy then we don’t roll forward.“

Their position on the frontline of new dance music means their upcoming record has been constantly evolving.

“Some stuff sounded a bit dated,“ adds Ben, “some stuff just wasn’t good enough, and weirdly, some stuff which was done earlier felt like it was a bit more forward thinking.“

Featuring some of their better known remixes and a number of new tunes, the as yet untitled debut delivers ’what people want, some deeper stuff and a couple of wildcards too’. Most importantly of all, Ben and Niall are happy with it.

“Because it’s taken such a long time to finish,“ says Ben, “however it’s received, me and Niall are super happy with it and we’ll always have that.

“You always hope people will play it and like it but the bottom line is, if we like it and we’re into it and we feel like we’ve done the best we possibly can, then we’re happy.“

Jack Beats are at Fabric, Charterhouse Street on March 2. Details: 0207 336 8898, www.jackbeats.co.uk