We’re in the middle of a heatwave in the UK, but DJ Jezebel is used to the high temperatures. Even before she jets off to Spain to spin the vinyl at High Rockabilly at Calafell in Spain, she’s been feeling the heat at the Volcano Club down in London. “It was really really wonderful, it was a really good time. We planned it for a year with Pat [from the Deltas and DJs] Grinster and Batman. It just came to life a couple of weekends ago it was really good. We had Restless, the Deltas and Toto and the Raw Deals as bands: We tried to mix it between the neo bands from back in the day and then we brought Toto in to  that modern twist. It was wall to wall, it was jam packed, honestly! When the bands were on it was just crazy, I couldn’t move in there! The only complaint of the night was that it was too hot,” she jokes, “it was wonderful.” 

It won’t be long before she’ll be back in London for another Volcano Club spectacular. “We’re doing a New Year’s Eve Hollywood Ball at the Water Rats, so that’s gonna be good! The usual DJs –  so Grinster, Batman and myself  – and then we’ve got Little Carl as well.” Plus, of course, the fabulous Aisha Khan and the Rajahs to see in 2026.

Naturally, the vinyl DJ is very much at home in club nights across the land, especially since her own night, Jezebel’s Hepcat Hop, kicked off in Edinburgh earlier this summer. “We used to have a night here called the Spiders’ Web Rock and Roll Club and that was the thing to go to in Scotland, no matter what part [you were from, that was the thing people went to, but that closed its doors seven years ago now, and there hasn’t been a late night record hop or any sort of club in Scotland since then. I just really wanted to have something like that again without having to travel to London to find it.  I prodded a bunch of the promoters and nobody was silly enough to do it again so I had to give it a go myself! It went really really well. I picked three of Scotland’s –  in my opinion  – best vinyl only DJs: I had Killer Kim, Steve Newman and Tojo. They were all fantastic, the dance floor loved them. I opened the night and then of course I got Mr Rockabilly Rave, Jerry Chatabox himself, to come out of retirement for the night and the place just exploded. It was another one of those really sweaty, jam packed, full nights!  The venue I used for that one was really good. It was small, it only held about a hundred [people]. It was all decorated art deco-style with records painted on the wall, but it was just a basement bar which is exactly what I wanted. It’s a little bit too small, looking back, because we were sold out but it was a good venue for the first night.” 

If you didn’t make it to the Hepcat Hop, you might have seen DJ Jezebel at Bop-A-Lenas, and the huge club makes for a big contrast to her own night. “I try to give my absolute best, no matter the crowd size. The only thing I will say about bigger clubs is it’s almost easier because you’re guaranteed to have people on the dance floor . With smaller venues, they have more of an intimate feel and mistakes can be felt a lot quicker, but I like both for different reasons. It’s definitely a little bit easier for a bigger club. You wouldn’t think so, but it is!”

“I’ve always been around that sort of thing because my dad’s a rockabilly, so I’ve never known any different. He’s been into rockabilly since the seventies. The closest thing I can describe it is that [rock n roll] feels like home. I don’t know if it just because it got played all the time when I was growing up. But it’s just I feel it in my soul and it’s home to me. I like other sorts of music, I’ve never been afraid to admit that I can like some pretty funky things, but that one just feels like home.So when I was seventeen, I just started collecting seven inch records. I don’t really know why, I just got this sort of passion for specifically seven inch vinyl. I never really wanted to be a DJ or anything. I just really loved having the records, you know, and finding those really rare ones collected. Accidentally, when I was seventeen, I got asked to play for the Spiders Web Rock and Roll Club because they just needed an extra DJ and they knew I had a couple of records at home, so I took those along with the Spiders Web. That led to doing a radio show, which led to getting booked for clubs and weekenders,  and then before you knew it, I was a DJ apparently. It’s probably the biggest happy accident of my life.” What vinyl is she especially proud to own, though? “I recently got a hold of a copy of Wynonie Harris’ ‘Destination Love’ which has ‘Whale of a Tale’ on the other side. It’s not the rarest record in the world, but I was pretty proud to have it.” 

We have to ask: what’s the secret to putting together a great live vinyl set? “I have absolutely no plan,” she admits. “Of course I pack the box, say there’s a hundred and fifty records in there. If you’re only playing for an hour, that’s about twenty two records, something like that. So I just pack the box with my favourites and things I know that I can rely on if the dance floor dies a little bit. Then just when I get up there, I just look at the dance floor and you just pick one because you don’t have much time. And you just keep doing that. I never write a set list or anything. I just pack a box of about a hundred and fifty or two hundred and hope for the best. 

Your big hitters like Elvis, Mac Curtis, Carl Perkins… anything by them will fill the dance floor. It doesn’t matter what it is, it just will. ‘Half Hearted Love’, ‘Bottle To The Baby’: things like that. Everyone’s going to be off their seat. I’ll have my jivers [at the] front [or my record box] and then I’ll have my strollers in the middle and then boppers at the back. I tend to do four or five of each for the crowd.”

It’s completely different for the radio show. I try to play within my mood for that week, songs that’ve got lyrics in them that I’m relating to, usually sad ones. I try to play rarer tracks on the radio show. I don’t do radio shows for dancing purposes, so it’s always stuff that’s a little bit more obscure or just stuff that I genuinely really like. Stuff that other people like as well, within my own boundaries. I wouldn’t buy a record that I didn’t like and I wouldn’t play a record that I didn’t like live or on the radio.

I was DJing at the Rhythm Riot, I think maybe last year, and a man came over to me requesting a rockabilly track. Of course, with the Rhythm Riot being a Rhythm and Blues Weekender, I hadn’t packed any, because I’m autistic and I take things literally, so if you tell me it’s a Rhythm and Blues weekender, I’m bringing Rhythm and Blues. I politely told him I don’t have any rockabilly: ‘I’m sorry, maybe one of the other DJs will have one for you?’ He said,  ‘you’re the worst DJ I’ve ever heard!’ He was going on and on about how rubbish I was. He finally went away and the next year I was playing at the Rockabilly Rave, so of course everything I’ve brought was white Rock n Roll and Rockabilly. The same man comes up to me and goes, ‘best DJ I’ve ever heard!’ I just thought, ‘he’s obviously not remembered that he’s met me the previous year and slagged me off!’ Swings and roundabouts, he was great,” she laughs,  “I thought he was wonderful.” 

Jezebel is very definite about her advice for aspiring vinyl DJs. “Do not. You’re gonna travel all around the world crating about extremely heavy record boxes full of little plates of vinyl that you’ve spent a small fortune on, rare records…if that doesn’t put you off, don’t do it because you know you want to be DJ, do it because you really love these records and you love sharing them with people. If you do it that way, the rest will come naturally, in my opinion. 

If you can’t make it to a live set by DJ Jezebel, at home or abroad, then why not take add the next best thing to your record collection? “The DJ spin-off I’m doing with Carrie Hope has just been released. Bob Thomas has them and so does Clive at Rebound Records. They’re in stock, and we’ve got pink and black wax. They’ve literally just come out!” If it’s anywhere near as cool as her DJ sets, it’s got to be a winner.

Kate Allvey

Grab a ticket the Volcano Club’s NYE Hollywood Ball here

Pick up a copy of DJ Spinoff #2 from Rebound Records or Bim-Bam Records