Jack J and Suzanne Kraft will play Zebulon together on Saturday, July 1st.

If you’ve been following the selections on this site, there’s a very good chance you’ve also been following the music of Jack J (1/2 of Mood Hut‘s Pender Street Steppers) and Suzanne Kraft (aka LA-based musician Diego Herrera). We’ve been longtime fans of both artists from their early ambient experiments to their chart-topping dance tracks and most recently, song-based projects. It’s incredible how their paths have somewhat mirrored each other over the years, and I guess it’s no surprise that the two are old friends.

Some amazing news arrived recently… Jack J and Suzanne Kraft will tour the West Coast of North America together in late June and early July. “Herrera and Jutson have shared similar music philosophies over the years, a live tour being a natural step for two vital, like minded artists.” The tour will begin in Jack’s hometown Vancouver and end in Herrera’s hometown in LA. For LA locals, we highly recommend locking in tickets now to this not-to-be-missed show on July 1st at Zebulon in Frogtown.

Ticket Link: https://dice.fm/event/a3p5q-jack-j-and-suzanne-kraft-1st-jul-zebulon-los-angeles-tickets

If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to Jack’s Opening the Door and Diego’s About You. Also, check out a brand new track from Jack J released today:

Below, a quick chat with Jack and Diego about the upcoming tour along with a playlist featuring favorites from both artists.

How did you meet each other?

D: We met almost 10 years ago now! In 2014, my good friend Parker and I, as fast fans of Jack’s productions and Mood Hut label, invited Jack down to LA to DJ the first edition of a series of parties we started throwing. We’ve remained friends since and, despite living in different cities, have been lucky enough to hang in various locales throughout the years.

You are fellow travelers of sorts in terms of a journey to, from and back to "songs." Prodigal sons of songwriting if you will. What are you trying to accomplish with music these days?

D: All I’m ever aiming to do is make music that I’d like to listen to – that either satisfies the critic in me or addresses some challenge I’ve set for myself. 

J: See below!

What do you have in-store for tour? You'll both be dropping new music to mark the occasion?

D: These shows will be the first tour with the complete SK band – Colin, John, Scott and myself. The setlist is composed of most songs from ‘About You’ and a handful of newer stuff. I have a  7” containing two of those newer songs coming out any day now, but whether or not it’ll be sitting on the merch table remains to be seen. I’ll also have some special “tour-only” items including an 8-song cassette.

J: I played guitar and sang in a touring band for many years before DJing and studio production took my focus away from live performance. But over the last decade, every night, I’ve had this dream of getting on the stage and playing my songs live once again. After I released my album last year I decided it was time and it’s felt so good to reawaken this side of my musical world. I’ll be singing and playing guitar, Linda Fox will play saxophone and Hussain Bokhari is on bass. We’ll be playing songs off my most recent album as well as some new songs to be released soon. I’ve also pressed up a batch of the very rare Babylon Nightclub Demos and Dubs Vol. I mix tape which is a collection of studio experiments I made between 2011 -2014, originally issued in an edition of 2. I’ll have a beautiful t-shirt designed by Mela Melania as well as copies of my LP ‘Opening the Door’ available at the merch table. Really excited about merch. 

Tell us about the playlist?

D: It’s tone-setting music.

J: Music that is currently informing and inspiring me and my music and also music that makes me think of Diego’s music.