Jean-Jacques Smoothie gave the world 2 People in 2001, watched it explode on Top of the Pops, and then spent two decades quietly DJing, producing, and asking himself what came next.
Now, at 52, he has his answer: a long-overdue debut album made entirely on his own terms, shaped by Cardiff’s electrifying DIY club culture, a stubborn refusal to chase BBC Radio 1, and one simple promise to himself: finish it before he turned 50. He almost did…
In this exclusive Inflyte+ interview, he reflects on the overwhelming reality of sudden fame, reuniting with vocalist Tara Busch after 25 years, and building an album that spans deep house, downtempo acid and psychedelic electronic country because no one could tell him otherwise. He also fires back at AI in music, and shares the disarmingly simple philosophy that finally got him to the finish line: success isn’t fame or money – it’s being happy right now, and not being a d*ck.
1. You came up through the Welsh club scene in the late 90s, which by all accounts was a pretty eclectic melting pot of sounds. What was it about that environment that shaped how you think about music, and do you feel like Cardiff still has that energy?
Cardiff at that time had a real, DIY, “have a go” atmosphere. There was a great selection of clubs with loads of promoters doing lots of different things. You could easily go to a UK Garage nights, a breaks night, a hiphop night, an indie night, a jungle night and know that the music would be solid and the crowd safe. It’s not a big town either so everyone knew each other and there was no segregation between groups or interests. Everyone went to everything. The 2 main clubs were The Emporium and Clwb Ifor Bach (The Welsh Club) and they were both such welcoming and diverse places. I think Cardiff has changed but there is still that range of sounds and diversity. Clwb Ifor Bach is still going strong and there is the Cardiff City Music Festival with Swn Festival every year.
2. What drew you to production in the first place? Was there a moment where DJing stopped being enough and you felt like you had something of your own to say?
We set up Plastic Raygun Records in 98 to release music that some of the boys were making. Someone just suggested I have a go. For some random reason that I still don’t know to this day they just felt I would have a good ear for making music! The label had invested in an Apple Mac and a sampler and I learned how to use them. It kind of went from there. I heard Gym Tonic by Bob Sinclar which was a real “I reckon I can do that moment”. Strangely I’m not sure I ever knew what I wanted to say at the time which was why I struggled to finish an album until now!
3. When 2 People took off the way it did back in 2001, how did you process that? Was it exciting, overwhelming… and did you have any sense at the time that it would still be getting played 25 years later?
It was overwhelming and looking back, quite frightening. For any UK artist of a certain age, performing on Top of the Pops was the pinnacle. Nothing else mattered! Apart from my wedding, it was the best day.
It happened so suddenly after starting to produce and I guess I wasn’t ready or prepared with what needed to happen next in terms of a follow up record. I suppose that gave me the label of “one hit wonder”. It took a long time to process and get comfortable with one hit being better than no hits.
It is amazing that people still love it and it still gets played and streamed. I am really humbled by it. It has kept me in synths and vinyl for such a long time and I will always be grateful.
4. The album opens with a new Dubwise mix of the track. What does revisiting a song like that feel like after all this time?
Initially I couldn’t face it. There are so many remixes, bootlegs and versions out there that I really didn’t want to even put it on the album. Everyone I spoke to just looked at me like I was crazy for not considering it. I felt then I had to do something totally different or I wouldn’t be able to do it. I love dub and reggae so a homage to that seemed the most appropriate. I was able to bring in some of the elements of the original version and the Mirwais remix from 2001 and craft something new. For me it brought the song back to life and I loved it. I hope people enjoy the surprise of pressing play on the album and hearing a totally new take on the classic.
5. You’ve also worked with Tara Busch again on the album. What was it like reuniting with the voice that was so central to what made that record what it is? Can you tell us more about your relationship?
I’ve known Tara for over 25 years. I am an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church of Modesto California and I officiated at her wedding to my friend and Plastic Raygun partner, Maf Lewis. We worked together a lot in the early 00s when she was living with Maf in Cardiff. We recorded a bunch of songs that I never managed to finish and release. For the album project I had been trawling my hard drives and resurrecting these old projects. The backing tracks didn’t fit where I am musically right now but Tara’s songs did so I have been rebuilding new backing tracks to fit with the songs she recorded back then. There will be more on the 2nd album!
Check out I Speak Machine for her own music. It’s the polar opposite to the quirky, twinkly dance pop of Jean Jacques Smoothie but absolutely amazing.
Tara is a true artist who does what she does for herself, without compromise and I am in awe of this. If you can give zero fucks and do what you’re going to do for yourself then for me that’s the holy grail of being an artist.
6. You first started sketching out this album back around 2000, and it’s finally here. How much of the finished record actually reflects where your head was then, and how much of it is who you are now?
I think the upbeat, whimsical nature is still very much there. I like music which is uplifting. As a DJ I’m probably most comfortable playing longer festival sets, taking people on a joyous, eclectic, afternoon sojourn through the genres and I think this album reflects that. Cowgirl is virtually unchanged from the original and is the epitome of that cheeky, whimsy I love.
When I started I was chasing the success of 2People which actually held me back. I was trying to make something to please A&R people at record labels who just wanted another pop house banger for BBC Radio 1.
In lockdown I promised myself I’d finish an album by the time I’m 50 and just release it myself if no one else would. This became a simple mantra. I used to think manifestation was a bit woo but I realised that I said over and over that I’m going to finish and album by the time I’m 50 that I must have somehow rewired my brain to be totally focused on this goal!
I just made the album that I wanted to listen to or that I thought represented who I was. I wanted to finish something and share it. This was so liberating. I was also in a confident place with my career and life and just had the emotional headspace to do it for myself rather than trying to make something intentionally commercial.
7. The tracklist is quite varied! There’s deep house, downtempo acid, something that sounds almost like psychedelic electronic country. Was that range intentional from the start, or did it just reflect the span of time and moods over which the album was made? What inspired you while creating it?
It was intentional. That freedom of deciding to make this for myself and release it myself meant I could choose my favourites from my archive. 2People had to go on. Cowgirl is one of my favourite tracks and represents that fun side. Heavy Lifting is another classic from the Smoothie canon. It used to be called Frozen Yoghurt and was a feature of my live sets. I asked my friend Rohan, who was the original studio producer on 2People to sing a song about how music can uplift in the dark times. Ro has MS so he can’t make music any more but he can still sing and I think the fragility of his voice and the message in the song is such a powerful combination. “Let the music do the heavy lifting”.
2 other albums specifically inspired me. The 2017 album “Melodies” by producer and multi-instrumentalist Lord Echo. His silky, modern take on dub, house, funk and soul really made me want to finish the album. Also the 2020 album “Up in the Air” by Bent just sounded beautiful. It was exactly how I imagined my album might sound. So much so I asked Simon Mills from Bent to master Sleeping in the Flowerbeds.
Hopefully I have been inspired by, rather than copying these total legends! I think my album is unique.
8. Has the way you approach the studio changed significantly over the years? How do you create your tracks? Are you more of a studio person or work anywhere on your laptop? What’s your setup?
In the early days I struggled to produce on my own and I had pretty much given up trying. Then in about 2017 I did an online course by Dale Anderson, recreating a deep house track. It was a total light bulb and gave my production skills a massive boost. I started to release music again through some cool boutique labels like Mabuk, Slightly Transformed and Colour and Pitch. I realised I could produce on my own. Other people were willing to put my music out which gave me a real lift in confidence.
I’ve got a really nice studio space in my loft at home in Cardiff. I use Logic Pro X on a Macbook Pro with a few synths and controllers but nothing too fancy. You can do so much in the box now but a few bits of hardware are good for getting a unique sound or texture that isn’t just another stock plugin or sample. I don’t tend to just work on the laptop. I like the space and a nice room. I’m also 52 now and I have one of those desks that goes up and down so I don’t get a bad back from sitting too long!
9. There’s a lot of anxiety in the music world right now around AI, particularly around sampling, originality and what production even means going forward. Where do you stand on all of it?
I think it almost doesn’t matter where I stand. It’s happening anyway.
AI is another technical advancement, the same as samplers were or digital DJing. If your music is made predominantly with AI then I don’t think you can call yourself an artist. For me the process of making the music is the thing. If you’re feeding a prompt into AI then you’re not an artist. Is it even music? Music should be made by people or it’s just content.
I’m angry that the streaming platforms are allowing AI generated content to have a monetary value and dilute the pot of money distributed to actual artists. I’m also irritated that the way music is presented to us we’ve all stopped caring about where it’s come from. The average listener probably doesn’t care that half the tracks on the “ultimate deep house” playlist is AI slop because they’re not actively listening.
A good friend of mine refuses to listen to algorithmically generated playlists. He insists on human curation and I think that’s a good way to go.
Ultimately as all new tech, in the hands of genuine artists, AI can be a helpful new tool to boost creativity. In the hands of greedy corporations and governments it’s going to bring the doom of us all.
10. Success for Dummies closes the album on what sounds like a tongue-in-cheek note but there’s usually something pretty sincere underneath that kind of humour. What’s the actual advice in that track, and after 25 years in the music industry, what does success genuinely mean to you now versus what you might have thought it meant when you were starting out?
For me, the measure of success is “am I happy right now?”. If I can say yes to that question then I am successful in that moment. The more I can answer yes to that question, the more successful I am. It could be finishing a great tune, DJing in a tiny club/bar to 50 people, it could be spending the afternoon at my allotment in the sunshine, it could be closing a big deal at work (I have a side hustle as a BBC lawyer), or having a lovely meal with my wife, Kate.
I take full responsibility for my own happiness and success is finding those moments of joy, and stopping to appreciate them.
When I started, I thought that success meant writing another banger and getting back on Top of the Pops. Anything other than that was a failure. This just made me unhappy and unfulfilled.
The message from Success for Dummies is that being successful isn’t being rich or selling records. It’s being happy with what you have and not being a dick.