dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

DJ Hyper

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DJ Hyper aka Guy Hatfield is one of those DJ’s who always seems to have his name associated with words like “seminal” and “ground breaking”. His ‘Y3K’ series of breaks set the formula for the successful ‘Y4K’ series, and ‘Bedrock Breaks‘, based on the back room of John Digweed’s Bedrock club where Hatfield holds a residency, is heralded as introducing the world to breaks. Holding residencies in 3 countries (the UK, Spain and the US), running a record label and writing for music magazines, considering he’s only been DJing “seriously for about the last 4 or 5 years”, is testament to his desire to spread breaks to the world at large.

Hatfield got into breaks because of his “boredom with house music. I used to go to the FREE Parties, but then started to get into hiphop and experimental breaks, ‘Mo wax’ and DJ Shadow and the like, and progressed from there into labels like ‘BeatBox’ and ‘TCR’. I like playing breaks because it’s got the energy, it’s very diverse and it comes from all sorts of [musical] areas. It can be so varied and has so many different styles that it keeps fresh all the time. I like drum and bass, but about half an hour it drives me up the wall, it’s too hard and repetitive – all sounds the same, but I could just be getting old [laughs]”

Having been a forefather of the scene, I asked what Hatfield thought of the breaks scene, both in the UK and abroad. “In the UK the scene is becoming very strong, with lots of people putting out records, some good, some bad, some good club nights and a lot more radio exposure happening. More so on the specialist radio show level, and definitely still underground compared to other music scenes, although there is the potential for cross over in the likes of Terminal Head, [who are signed to Kilowatt]. In the US it’s great, the vibe is great, and its scene is growing. I do some pretty full on touring over there, I will be over for the Miami Music Conference, then back to London, then back to the US for a month. World wide the scene is getting stronger and stronger too, there’s people from Sweden, Hong Kong, America, Australia – Kid Kinobe & EK – and they’re all producing some excellent stuff.”

With the scene growing, and even dnb record labels jumping headfirst into breaks, I asked Hatfield how he will keep ‘Kilowatt’ distinctive from the other labels. “Putting out quality records and not putting out any old shit [laughs]. There are a lot of shit records out there at the moment. The key is not to worry about what anybody else is doing, but to put out good records, quality and not quantity. ‘Kilowatt’ is for artists, in that I’m going to have people I respect and like do albums, not one offs.” The line up is already looking fantastic, with Terminal Head, Stir Fry, Fatliners, and False Prophet being the first signings. Hatfield is not afraid of production himself, being responsible for taking the rather average Addicted to Bass by Puretone (Josh Abrams) and turning it into a stompingly beautiful piece of breakbeat genius. He’s also got a new single Catnip out on Timo Mass’s ‘Acetate Ltd’ pressing.

Hatfield will be in Adelaide for the first time at Stardust Summer Edition, and I asked him what we could expect. “Quality breakbeat – not too dark, as a lot of people think breakbeat is dark, and that can cloud people’s vision of the scene, but I try to stay away from that. I play groovy, funky stuff, where people can have a good, fun time and not stand around the decks looking stern [laughs]”. “Mixing wise I’m a smooth, fluid mixer, or so I like to think, but don’t we all [laughs], blending the tunes rather than jumping around in the mix. And I am very, very fussy about what I play. I lot of records people go mental over I just think “they’re crap” [laughs] and that’s not to knock them down, I’m just really fussy about what I like.”

It’s that fussiness that has led him to be listed in Urb Magazines “Next 100” and put him in the “top 10 to watch over the next 12 months” in US Mixer magazine, as well as being voted the No 2 breakbeat DJ in the world in UK’s DJ Magazine. And it’s his reputation as being a unique and skilful DJ that has this interviewer counting the days to the release of Bedrock Breaks 2 out on Bedrock, and he plays the Stardust Summer festival.

 

dB Magazine, Music, Review, Writing

Y4K – Next Level Breaks – Mixed by the Dub Pistols

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The Y4K series of breakbeat mixes not only showcases the best in breaks tunes and breaks DJ’s, it pushes the boundaries of what is termed “breaks” with every release. The Dub Pistols Y4K mix does indeed take us to the next level of breaks, bringing a sense of fun and excitement back not only to the series, but the genre as well.

It’s an incredibly well crafted mix, moving from an Intro from the ‘Pistols themselves, featuring MC Planet Asia, into the sublime Let the Good Times Roll by perennial favourites Layo and Bushwacka. A stomper of a tune, Base 6 by the Chemical Brothers follows this, showing that the Pistols aren’t afraid of to throw a little commercialism in the mix.

Following this are two tracks that bring the mood down a little, Northern Lite’s Treat Me Better and Infusion’s Saltwater (It’s Alright), with their spooky lyrics and expansive basslines. It then comes as a welcome surprise to hear the incredibly funky house number Fly With Me by Coloursound, with it’s disco inspired bass and guitar that will get your nodding your head and grooving wherever you are. Over this is dropped another excellent acapella from the Dub Pistol’s Planet Asia. Following this is Mint Royal and Reckless, keeping the happy, accessible vibe of the CD alive.

Then the mix really fires up, with Adam Freeland’s reworking of Pressure Drop’s Warrior. Moving it forward, the mix gets harder with the Pistols own Problem Is featuring Terry Hall from the “Specials”, and Apex’s Base Design. Krafty Kuts’ remix of Africa Bambaataa’s Funky Hero’s brings the old and new together in Krafty’s own indubitably funky manner. Real Life by the wonderfully named Audio Bully, and Burning Up by the Alpine Stars, which sounds like it samples Ben Lee’s “cigarettes and alcohol”, nicely round up the mix.

The extraordinary thing about this CD is not only the track selection, which is a superb example of the wide scope that breaks can offer in the often stale world of dance music, but the additional production and remixing done to the tune’s by the Dub Pistols. It is truly an accessible CD, which will suit to listening to in the car, while working at the computer, lying in bed, or at a house party with the volume cranked to eleven.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

The Scratch Perverts

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The Scratch Perverts are Tony Vegas, Prime Cuts and Plus One, undoubtedly three of the best turntablists in the world. They’ve won more ITF’s and DMC’s between them than there are acronyms for DJ battle competitions. I interviewed Joel aka Prime Cuts, and asked him where how the name came about. “It was born out of names Tony and Theo from the Wiseguys were playing around with for a bit of a laugh really. I remember I really hated the name at first, but it kinda works and sticks in people’s minds… people don’t forget it too quickly.” And why didn’t Prime Cuts like the name? “It made me think of dirty old men in raincoats, and now I am a dirty old man in a raincoat, so maybe it is applicable [laughs]”.

They quickly became the UK’s premier crew expanding to an eight strong team that included names like First Rate, Killa Kella and Mr Thing, the latter of which was here recently with DJ Vadim on the Russian Percussion Tour. It was only at the beginning of last year that they decided to slim back down to the original members of Tony Vegas and Prime Cuts. This was partly done to keep the name synonymous with the absolute highest standards and partly because this year will finally see the Scratch Perverts record their debut album. The split is well documented on the web and in print, but I wanted to ask Joel if he had any regrets or is he just simply sick of hearing about it.

“For me it was a very necessary step in the evolution of the Scratch Perverts. The crew is now a three-man outfit and it will be that until the end of the scratch perverts. Legally, the name is owned by all three of us. And I’m hugely confident in this crew.” Originally the crew was cut back to Tony Vegas and Prime Cuts, but now Plus One has been added to the line up. “It never felt like we were adding a third member, he was always a part of the crew. He’s a good friend and really dope DJ. He has an incredible musical brain and maturity, and we just felt it is the right time (2 years ago) to make it official.” I had to ask if he thinks they’d do a big ‘Reunion’ tour ala The Stones in 20 years time “I’m not sure we’ll all be alive in 20 years time [laughs]”

Being from the UK, and wining the DMC’s in New York, the home of hiphop, I wondered if Joel felt there was a difference in styles across the Atlantic. “Every area brings its own influences. In UK we have a lot of different music. I don’t think you get the mix of music you get in London anywhere else in the world. The UK in general has a lot of different kinds of music; it’s very multicultural, very integrated. The States are a bit little more isolated and I don’t think things mix together so much. We’ve got forms of music that’s been born from that [multicultural mix]; chiefly drum and bass, which is a reflection of a lot of different music forms and cultures coming together to form a completely different sound.”

“And that’s something we really try to embrace as the Scratch Perverts – the music we are surrounded by at home, to just to be “us” and what we know, and what we’ve absorbed over the years. There’s no point us trying to do a real heavy New York sounding hiphop album because that’s not us, we’re not from New York and that’s not what we’ve experienced.”

Hiphop culture seems to be on the up and up. You see DJ’s in advertisements selling anything from juice to cars. Joel says “that it’s all good. You’ll go to a local bar in London and there’ll be “Nothing” by Noriega playing, and you’ve got Missy Elliot in the charts, and I think it’s fucking great. It’s a wonderful thing and it’s a music people can get their teeth into a lot more than some of the dance culture which is there for you on the night and that’s it. I feel there’s a little more substance to hiphop. It’s got a cultural background and history that other styles don’t have.”

I asked him what impact he thought the Scratch Perverts residency at Fabric has had on the UK hiphop scene. “I’d like to think it’s drawn some people into it” he says. “You get a real mixed crowd down there; you get the crowd that’s there to see us, and then you get your club crowd, and then you get those from out of town. I get a real kick out of playing records that I know a lot of people there won’t have heard of, and watching people leap around and go crazy to it. One moment really sticks in my mind where I played an old school tune “Rock the Bells” by LL Cool J, something that I don’t normally play out. I played it and people went crazy. We actually got a remix off the back of that night because Howie B came up and loved it so much.”

Having said this, I had to ask him what he thought of the commercialisation of hiphop, specifically through MTV giving the Best HipHop Artist award to Jennifer Lopez. ‘I don’t really fucking care to be honest. The whole kind of awards thing is bullshit anyway. Who are MTV to say ‘you now are worthy of this’?” he asks. “For me if you’re a creative and honest person when you put something out there hopefully a lot of people relate to it. That to me is the awards ceremony right there on the street, where people embrace your music or they don’t. You don’t need a panel of judges made from nobodys, has beens and wish-they-were’s to say, “Yes, you are now Hiphop”. The fact that they chose J-Lo shows they have no fucking idea anyway.”

Being one of the most talented DJ’s in the world, I was wondering what he thought the most difficult aspect of Djing was. “Allowing yourself to have the confidence to be completely original” he says frankly. “When you first start djing it’s natural to mimic the people that you like, and I think it’s quite difficult to have the self-confidence to branch out and do something totally mad original. I was DJing for years before I did any original stuff that was really my own, and it takes a while to build that confidence”.

With DJing becoming more popular, and technological advancements in sound reproduction, and innovations such as CD Mixers and Final Scratch, I wanted to know where Joel saw this all heading. “I don’t see that Final Scratch and CD mixers completely revolutionise the turntable per se, as they basically do exactly the same job. The nice thing about them is you can burn your own sounds and tracks and then manipulate them. I see those things as a studio based tool. I don’t see them replace the turntables in a live environment because what’s the point? The turntable is already a better equation. It’s a fucker taking 200 records to and from a gig, but I’d rather that than a laptop into a sweaty club spinning mp3’s that doesn’t sound too clever.”

“As far as a studio thing they’re incredible. I have one of those pioneer CDJ1000’s and I love it, its an amazing thing to have. It means you can cut your own sounds. You can burp into a microphone and scratch your own burps, whereas before to do that you’d have to cut a dubplate and they’re not nice to cut and scratch.”

“That isn’t to say I’ve been sitting here burping and scratching for the last six months” he adds, laughing. I asked if he has a preference for either DJing or producing, and, as I suspected, he enjoys both. “I like the insular aspects of working in a studio and creating something, then handing it over to Tony Vegas and Plus one and seeing what their reaction is, and I get a great kick out of it when they really flip on something that I’ve done. And I love Djing because it’s there and then and I like the atmosphere and the party vibe when it’s a mad night out. I imagine that for the first half of next year there’ll be more producing than djing, but once the album is out we’re going to hit the road again.”

Their up-coming tour of Australia will see them doing some larger festivals and some smaller club gigs, and asked him what he thinks about this. “It’s nice when you have the intimacy of a close club gig, but for me it’s all about the atmosphere – if you can created the same atmosphere you do in a small club in a huge venue then that’s even more incredible. When we played Sydney last year we played to 1500 people, which is a pretty large venue, but the atmosphere was unbelievable – I would site it as one of the best gigs I think we’ve ever done, of all time. The atmosphere was at fever pitch and when it’s like that it just drives you to perform better.”

My final question was what was it about DJing that’s kept him going, what does he like best about it. “I suppose the lifestyle – getting the chance to meet and see people you wouldn’t normally have, the chance to travel to places like Australia and get payed for the pleasure of doing it and seeing people have a good time. It’s something we never lose sight of, we have one of the best jobs on earth, and we try to break our balls and work as hard as we can, improving what we do so everyone enjoys themselves as much as possible if they’re kind enough to come and see us.”

And luckily Adelaide will not miss out on seeing this awesome act, as they’ll be here in Early January next year.

Event, Interview, inthemix.com.au, Music, Writing

Inbound

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Inbound has been an Adelaide institution for the last 5 years. Coming out of a total love for the music, Fiction and Filter provided the first pure drum and bass party organised and run by pure drum and bass heads for all “the bad boys and bad girls”.

“To start with our idea was to get our mates who we thought had talent to play out”, says Filter. “We wanted to do pure drum and bass party,” adds Fiction. “Other crews did do drum and bass nights, but they weren’t solely drum and bass promoters”.

When asked who are the Inbound crew, the answer is a core of Fiction and Filter, Luke B, Evn, Tommy Jnr, and MC’s Pab, Xpress and Grif, but caries on to encompass most of the drum and bass djs in Adelaide. “It’s an everyone thing” exclaims Fiction, “but we’ve got that core crew – they not necessarily the biggest names in Adelaide, but the combination of the DJ’s and the music they play that’s what makes Inbound unique to anything else”. “It’s what makes us tick,” adds Filter, “they work well together and the crowd feels it”.

With these guys the phrase “all about the music” keeps coming up time and again, and if you’ve been to an inbound show you know that it really is. The DJ’s and crowd are “educated about the music. It’s not about taking this or getting drunk or picking up. Everyone’s there to hear fresh tunes, feel a great vibe and know that they’re going to get a good quality night”. This attitude carries across to their choice of interstate and international acts such as Bailey (UK) and Mosus (NZ). “You know that these guys are really into the music and want to educate people whereas other DJ’s just come over and play the big anthems and it’s all about the money and being famous”.

The latest party is also the launch of www.inbound-sound.com, the official website. “These days you need a website to be taken seriously” says Fiction. “It’s going to be a site for people to find out about up and coming parties, and for people to find out what all the hype is about”. It will feature exclusive mixes, tunes, and a DJ Management page, so up and coming and established DJ’s can network to get gigs.

Supporting new and different DJ’s has always been inbounds goal, and the next inbound on Saturday November 16th will feature the first in the “Future Forces” series, with Run Tough and Rueben. “Expect these guys to tear up the floor with the regulars!” exclaims Filter enthusiastically. So, if you’re into drum and bass and are looking for something that’s different from the norm, head down to the Crown and Sceptre this Saturday night from 9pm. I can promise you won’t be disappointed!

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

The Dub Pistols

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The Dub Pistols’ Barry Ashworth is a mainstay of English Dance Music. He has been around since the first summer of love in 1988, when he started two seminal nightclubs “Naked Lunch” and “Eat the Worm”, as well as forming the indie band “Déjà vu”. They were a “dance music band signed to Cowboy records, similar to Happy Mondays and the like,” he says in a typical South London accent. When asked if he’d ever do it again he says that he doubts it, but “you can never say never – two years down the road you end up making music you said you wouldn’t”.

Recently the English music press recently heralded that the past (English) summer was the next “summer of love”. Ashworth says, “If it’s your first time out, then yeah, it probably is the same, but back then things were different from anything else and now electronic culture is a world wide thing. Back then people did it for the buzz, now there’s a whole business / industry surrounding it.”

Ten years down the road, after the disbanding of Déjà Vu, Ashworth formed The Dub Pistols in 1997. The name is a response to the scene at the time, with people being quite purist about electronic music. Combining punk ethics with dub mentality he and Lee “Einstein” Spencer caught the ear of Jon Carter, who asked them to remix the Monkey Mafia track “Blow the Whole Joint Up”. They did, and the result led to them being signed to deconstruction imprint Concrete, home of Lionrock and Death In Vegas.

With these and other seminal breakbeat acts such as Ceasefire, The Dub Pistols helped reshape the breakbeat sound from the formulaic bigbeat into what would become nu-school breaks. “Every sound changes, mutates and moves on” Ashworth says. “Triphop, Bigbeat, Amyl House, Nu-school breaks, Future breaks… but it’s primarily the same thing”. He’s also done a fair bit of work with other people, including working with Busta Rhymes on the Blade II soundtrack, Terry Hall of The Specials, and Horace Andy of Massive Attack of which he says “were big moments for us”. When asked with whom he’d like to work with, he says “Ian Brown (Stone Roses) is someone we’d like to work with… Chuck D (Public Enemy) and also Mike James from the Clash”.

His eclectic taste has seen him push the breaks sound to it limits again, The Dub Pistols’ Y4K release, surprisingly Ashworth’s first mix CD, continues the great tradition of this wonderful series. The album is quite funky, with the emphasis on FUN. This CD is not “me djing in club, people are going to listen to it in their cars and at home, so it needs to be a little more accessible” Ashworth says of it. Not only does it feature the leaders of the breaks scenes such as Layo and Bushwacka, Adam Freeland and Australia’s own Infusion, but also features exclusive Dub Pistols acapella’s by Planet Asia, all mixed seamlessly in a groovy, energetic, head-bop inducing manner.

Energy is what Ashworth is all about. He was kicked out of a club for being too “energetic” once, and his DJ sets reflect this energy and passion. He’s coming to Australia at the end of November (but unfortunately not to Adelaide) and says that while he’s never been here before “He’s heard nothing but good things about us”. For a taste of what he can do check out the latest Y4K breaks mix (out on Distinctive breaks), and if you’re lucky enough to live in the eastern states go catch one of his shows.

 

Written 10/11/2002

dB Magazine, Music, Review, Writing

Drumattic Twins – Drumattical

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Some breakbeat records tend to be too arty-farty now days. They try too hard to move away from the “big beat” sound and the negative connotations attached to it that they lose focus, tending to be a mish-mash of sound that leaves you wondering what the hell you’re listening to. Thankfully the Drumattic Twins haven’t done this with their first release “Drumattical”, but instead provide a very listenable and danceable album of wicked beats that ride the spectrum of breakbeat, without becoming cheesy or clichéd.

The album begins with the sound of searching through radio stations, with snippets of talk and music. The latter I suspect are some of their previous releases as “Shades of Rhythm”. This drops into “Smokin It”, which is just a small taste of what you’re about to hear. It’s a pretty simple breakbeat tune that gets your head nodding. This mixes seamlessly into “Start of Something”, a groovy electro influenced tune that builds up nicely to “Feelin’ Kinda Strange”. With it’s sped up vocal and funky guitar loops it is perfect pop, and this has seen it get a lot of air play on JJJ. It will stick in your head, but luckily you’ll want it to stay. After this the album tends to get even funkier, if that’s possible.

“Thinking About You” starts with a soulful sample and then counts down with an old school electro voice (that I just LOVE) to one of the funkiest breaks you’ll hear. “Wormhole” is another nod to electro, being retro without sounding dated. “Mutate the Beat” is one of my favourites, with a groovy bassline underlying an awesome funky wah guitar. “Mind the Gap” is another stomper, with a phat 70’s disco break that will rock many a dancefloor.

Then, showing their abilities to the full come tracks like “Drummatical” and “One Thousand Speakers”, with techno squeals and squeaks; and possibly my favourite, the incredibly dark “Hunt for the Twisted Desire”. This track has an evil bassline over a freaky sample about hunting vampires, then a phat beat that just pounds relentlessly is dropped over the top. The dark, techish mood is continued with “Invincible Bass” and the rolling “Dominate”.

By signing the Drumattic Twins, Finger Lickin’ once again show us they are the leader in breaks, and this album is yet another beautiful feather to put in their cap. Let there be no more doubt that breakbeat has come of age and is maturing beautifully.

Event, inthemix.com.au, Music, Review, Writing

Phil K & Nubreed

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Minke is one of the most forward thinking clubs in Adelaide, musically speaking. Some of the best DJ’s in the world have played there lately, and the place keeps getting more and more people through the door, hearing the best breakbeat music the scene has to offer. Phil K and Nubreed were no exception to this. If you missed this because you think breaks are slow and undanceable, then you need to seriously re-assess the situation!

When I arrived, the sweet sounds of John Doe were wafting out the speakers. Here is the guy that has almost single-handedly brought breaks to the people of Adelaide. His set was a nice blend of new and old nu school breaks tunes. He was followed rather well by K2, who played a harder set of favourites to a growing number of people, some who even ventured out onto the dance floor!

Then the people we were all there to see came on. Phil K stepped up to the decks, playing some rather obscure breaks, sounding like Art of Noise meets Herbie Handcock. Then the boys from Nubreed stepped up to their banks of boxes (how I would LOVE to have a play with all of that equipment!!!), joined by Phil on a turntable and couple of those funky new CD mixers, and the proceedings just went “Boom”! The guys obviously love what they do, with the way the groove about, switch places and equipment, sing and rap. Playing all kinds of samples from Prince, Music Youth, and even Adelaide’s own Groove Terminator over the fattest beats and nastiest basslines, they cranked it out solidly and smoothly for the rest of my evening!

If it wasn’t for the flu, I think I’d still be there, dancing away! They crowd were slow to get into the evening, but by the time I left there wasn’t a soul that wasn’t moving to the great sounds these guys make. All the hype surrounding these guys doesn’t even get close to their performance, and hopefully we will see them back again REAL soon!

Gigs & Mixes from the 2020s. Writing from the 2000s.