It took 7 years of trying, but finally, John Chea, Aka DJ Import, has become the national champion of the Jansen Rumble in the Jungle Drum and Bass DJ Competition. Held at the San Francisco Bath House, in Wellington on the 4^th of October, Import, from Christchurch, competed against 7 other DJs from around the country, to become the first DJ outside of Wellington to take the title.

For his efforts of taking out first place nationally, Import receives a massive first prize comprising of an Allen & Heath Xone:42 mixer, supplied by Jansen Professional Audio and Lighting, as well as a contract to mix the next Rumble in the Jungle CD from Empathy , a DJ slot at Phat09 Outdoors NYE festival, and a slot at ‘Super Club’, to be held in Wellington on Labour Day Weekend.

As always, the competition was fierce, with all DJs giving their upmost in front of a sellout crowd to get through each of the cut offs, where the number of DJs would be halved each round. With all the DJs showing such diverse sets of skills and tune selection, the judges - Ollie Cern, DDog and Solid State - certainly had their work cut out for them, with some very tough calls having to be made.

The eight finalists consisting of Drop (Dunedin), Dunk (Wellington), Import (Christchurch), Matchett (Dunedin), Merge (Auckland), Offset (Christchurch), Static (Auckland) and Wreckognize (Wellington) were cut down to the quartet of Drop, Matchett, Static and Import after the first round. With the set time slightly extended in the second round, it came to be that Import and Static were selected for the head to head shoot out to determine the winner.

It was a distinct clash of styles between the two in the final round, with Imports deep and calculated mixing almost polar opposites to Static’s heavy tracks and excited cuts. Having come second in the final last year, Static had a lot to prove, and you could tell he was throwing everything at it. However it was unfortunately a case of history repeating, with the final decision going the way of Import, filling the new champion with immense satisfaction after having tried for this moment for 7 years.

For more information check www.rumblejungle.co.nz or www.bassdrop.co.nz , or email info@rumblejungle.co.nz

Once again, the competition was a huge success and the organisers would like to thank everyone involved, especially the sponsors:

• Jansen Professional Audio and Lighting
• Allen & Heath
• Phat Club
• Empathy Recordings
• Hevan and Playground Entertainment
• Noise Zealand
• Earbuddies
• Bassdrop
• Radio Active
• Samurai Music

Coming soon: Rumble in the Jungle 2008 Mix CD by DJ Import (Empathy Recordings)