Owner of Lionbeat, a company that advocates for bass culture and black music. Jean-Claude was born and raised in Brentwood. Bass culture happened when the sound systems from the Caribbean travelled to Europe and eventually African diasporic culture. Bringing people together with a uniform love for bass. People immigrated to Britain and brought over sound system culture - Bass and dance was a ritualistic behaviour for these people. Peace, love and unity in the dance.

Lionbeat is the ‘barristers for bass’.

Jean-Claude initially went to university to study law, and wanted to move as far as possible from the culture at home to grow and study. In Hull there was a black box nightclub called The Room, he got exposed drum and bass legends and met other DJs around the university. They started to put events on together. Learning law helped advocating for bass culture. Using his position to be able to build trust between the community and the establishment for creativity. The importance of seeing people like you in culture making culture. Knowledge is power, and knowing how the power system works. How it is hard to get into the mainstream power structure when you are different. How do you own yourself and present yourself in situations. Working in the city, spending earnings wisely - ‘Some people like to play golf, i like to put on parties!’ How to program a line up at a night to get people in, and to give up and coming artists a platform. Economic capital, social capital, cultural capital and symbolic capital. Being militant with your diligence. Be fully committed to anything you care about. How community music events teach young people how to be creative in events, music, production.

Lionbeat sound system event at Somerset House in London featuring Lionpulse sound system, the most beautiful sound system in the world. Combined with the Black Unity Bike Ride, black community cycle event with 2000 cyclists, including Jean-Claude’s mobile soundsystem bike. Lionbeat’s bass culture production arm is called BASSIS (Bass And Sound System Institute Streaming). Aiming towards an institute grade building for bass culture in the UK.

Jaiden tags in as guest co-host to ask some questions. We find out about the Unity Bike Ride - BCCS - Black Cyclists Changemaker Solidarity. A ride to take alms to the homeless, new sleeping mats, warm jackets, water etc.

Jean-Claude created a mobile sound system on his cargo bike. Taking the music to the people. He even cycled the sound system to Haarlem in The Netherlands.

Jean-Claude has been working with Hard Art - a study in community led activism and putting collaboration before competition. Producing a night for sound system culture in Manchester.

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/residents/lionbeat
https://www.instagram.com/lionbeat/

Are You Creative? recorded by Nick at City Sound
Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca Antenna

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Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support

Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Creative director for advertising and entertainment. Elliot is 1000% creative! Why do younger people not like advertising as a creative career? People are paying to avoid adverts, and using ad blockers. People are watching telly in a different way now - no longer are people sitting at the same time to watch the same scheduled show. Elliot loved the Benetton adverts when he was younger, and how it played with culture and broke the mould. Oliver Toscani was the creative director and photographer behind these adverts. Elliot was inspired by music and art, raving, parties, putting on events, making flyers, learning graphic design by mistake. Creativity in advertising is solving problems for brands. Experimenting with photocopiers. Elliot’s friend wanted to be a photographer and his focus on career inspired him - he tagged along. How rave taught Elliot sequencing, design, sampling, video etc. with a new wave of software and culture. Elliot is helping the next generation of creatives with the Platform program he established, and through the SCA Creative Mastery course he has co-authored. Making creative jobs available to more people than it traditionally had been. The importance of paid placements and reaching the right people for placements. The SCA Creative Mastery is a creative course run mostly on virtual reality headsets to make it available to all people, geography and travel are no longer a barrier to people to learn. Big up Marc Lewis from SCA who runs the course and Meta who provide the headsets. Using the Apprenticeship Levy to fund it. People learn in a different way in virtual environments than real life, it has been proven to be better for being locked in and not distracted. Do you have to move or work in a city to accelerate your creative career? Winning advertising awards. Cannes Lion chat. Ads that get made and get made well are like sperm fertilising an egg - they are the lucky ones out of thousands of ideas. Building a house is like building an idea. Making adverts is a lifetime of hope - always believing you’ll make something remarkable - and always putting the love into every project. Chatting about Jaguar’s new advert and the impact and reactions. Vying for people’s attention is harder than ever. Ads getting shouty! Brands need to have a sure sense of what their personality is - then execute against that - loads of small ideas with the same body language. In advertising you have to become an expert in random things to understand your clients’ products. Be around interesting people and interesting things will happen! Elliot’s first ad job was at D&Ad logging award entries, and by osmosis he saw the world’s best creative work. Being at D&Ad exposed Elliot to the award juries, and showed them his portfolio, which they gave brutal opinions about. The considerations in managing a creative department. Pull people up and bring people with you. Modern creatives need to be commercial savvy now. Obsess about your client’s problem as much as your solution. Also, Nick LOVES Liquid Death - send us water!

SCA Creative Mastery
Havas Platform

Are You Creative? recorded by Nick at City Sound
Edited by

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Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support

Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK

Professional opera singer. Donna’s origins story, she was spotted as a talented singer by a teacher who took her to a French chateau to perform Mozart arias - this was of course acceptable in the late 1980s. Opera has music, drama, costume, and the power of an orchestra - opera is massive! In opera the singers also act, there’s a lot to be good at. Donna’s first professional opera gig was at the Royal Opera House. Donna has been performing modern opera works, like The Little Prince performing as a mad robot calculator character. Donna has performed opera in China in Chinese. Nick did a best man speech in Japan - find out how! Donna’s very fancy gig at Glyndebourne - she has to get a fancy dress. Playing another robot! Are there any youth operas? Can any music instrument match the range and texture of a human voice - of course not! Fach is a funny opera word to describe the type of voice you have. Where do opera singers rehearse? At home, not giving it the full beans. Donna has done a lot of crazy performances - as a catfish, robots, and bile. How do you become bile? Where do opera singers find their jobs? Is there a LinkedIn for opera? Most opera singers are soprano, bass and tenors are more rare. How do you look after your voice? No caffeine, shouting or screaming and plenty of steaming. Donna and her children communicate through the house in opera when they want to get each other’s attention. Do you need to go on vocal rest before a performance? Donna Lennard is the Beyonce of Chelmsford. Opera has a lot of stereotypes about being old fashioned and diva behaviour. Donna sung opera for Chelmsford Museum to celebrate the birth of radio. Protein’s Little Prince featuring Donna is running for the third year in London and Ipswich - Nick highly recommends. How would you start your opera journey? Get singer lessons. Explore your repertoire. Take it easy. Your voice will reach its peak at 30 years old. Talking about Pavarotti being a legend! Traditional opera is in Italian, German, Czech, French - so learning the words can be hard. Opera should be about telling stories. Is there an Essex opera? All about diphthongs and the Essex accent and glottal stops. We need more venues for opera in Essex. Donna sings us out - and it’s MEGA! ALSO Nick reveals that the toaster was invented in Toaster City - Chelmsford. Big up Colonel Crompton!

Donna Lennard website
The Little Prince - Protein Dance Company

Are You Creative? recorded by Nick at City Sound
Edited by Nick Hearne
Artwork by Alpaca Antenna

Don't forget to like, subscribe, share and all the good stuff.

Follow our Instagram for latest news and behind the scenes photos

Send comments, questions, or suggestions for fascinating creative people in Essex give us a shout on our Instagram

Thanks to NGDA, City Sound and Essex County Council for their support

Recorded in Chelmsford, Essex, UK