A few years back, Jack Laven was messing around with music software in his room, now, you’ll probably know him better as 33 Below. For those who don’t, the DJ/Producer has been bouncing bodies as a support act for Fred Again, collabing with Sammy Virji and has been newly embraced by London’s electronic music scene, so if you haven’t seen his name popping up on posters in your feed or given his new EP ‘PUSHER’ a listen yet, now’s your time to get in the know on 33 Below…
Broke Magazine: Do you have any music-related stories your mates would rinse you for?
33 Below: One time I bootlegged the death scene from the movie Marley and Me into drum and bass. The soundtrack for that movie is just so good, but a lot of my friends gave me shit for it haha.
Broke Magazine: You’ve been selling out headline shows across New Zealand and the UK. As a DJ, do you see any differences between the rave scenes of these locations?
33 Below: think the main difference is things seem to run a lot later in the UK, whereas in NZ the headliner would usually be on around 12:00am – 1:00am. I’ve had to come up with strategies to stay awake later on (not what you think haha). The crowds are both quite similar though and very receptive to the music that I play, which makes all the shows a good time.
Broke Magazine: Can you take us back to your first-ever show in comparison to the crowds you’re playing for now?
33 Below: My first ever show was at the Masterton Wave Rave. I was 16 years old and I was playing for about 10 kids who were in a swimming pool. To be honest, I was just happy to be playing for people other than myself for once! These days, it still blows my mind that people are coming out to see me, and the crowds seem to be getting better and better every show.
Broke Magazine: What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever heard your music played?
33 Below: In an indoor trampoline park, or a bowling alley in Wellington. Both are quite strange lol.
Broke Magazine: You swing between and blend a number of genres, from drum & bass to house and UKG. Which of these were mixed into ‘PUSHER’?
33 Below: All of the above! I think the biggest challenge for me is trying to keep a cohesive sound across all genres, but with ‘PUSHER’ I put in a lot of energy focusing on my own sound rather than specific genres.
Broke Magazine: ‘LOYAL’ is the last track you released before ‘PUSHER’ dropped, and it’s really something special. Can you tell us the story behind this particular tune?
33 Below: I started ‘LOYAL’ in LA with RL Grime, around April of this year. I arrived back in London and kept working on the track over the course of the next few months. It was probably the hardest track to finish on the EP, and I ended up running through 4-5 different versions before I settled on the final. I also struggled to find the right vocals for the track, but then I met DRIIA and we wrote and recorded her vocals in one session – she smashed it!
Broke Magazine: We spotted a remix you did for SILK’s track ‘Quiver’. Are there any other artists on your radar with a remix on the horizon?
33 Below: Yes! I was lucky enough to release a few official remixes this year, including SILK, Martin Garrix, Rudimental & Venbee, and Odd Mob. I’m taking a bit of a break from them for now but we’ll be releasing remixes of some of the ‘PUSHER’ tracks in the not too distant future.
Broke Magazine: You’ve been a support act for Fred Again, and you’ve just completed a tour around the US with RL Grime for his 18-date tour. What’s life on the road like?
33 Below: It’s super fun. It’s cool to be able to get to go to all of these new places, for the purpose of playing music. It’s every musician’s dream I guess, but I feel very grateful to have the opportunities I’ve been given so far and hopefully they keep coming!