dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Soul Of Man

Leave a comment

The mighty breaks record label Finger Lickin’ would be nothing without the dedication of Justin Rushmore and Jem Panufnik, also known as Soul Of Man. From running the day to day admin work, to sourcing new talent, and designing the iconographic and wonderful album art, as well as produce fine singles, remixes and mix albums, they’ve certainly got reason to be a little less prolific than other artists. Add to this Panufnik’s recent marriage and Rushmore’s recent baby, and the fantasy of running a label starts to look less like a fun time sitting around listening to good music, and more like real work!

One of the things that make Finger Lickin’ stand out beyond the incredible music is the artwork decorating every piece of vinyl they release. It’s bright, funky and attention grabbing, and all done by Panufnik. “We wanted to have a really strong visual identity,” Panufnik says of his artwork. “It’s important that the music is upfront, funky and in your face and the visuals to reflect that. And it’s great fun for me to do that,” he adds with a smile, “and more often than not it’s a piece of music that inspires it. And especially now that vinyl sales are very much in the balance it really makes a difference to have something that grabs people’s attention and is something they want to buy and keep. It’s much more exciting than downloading an MP3.”

“However,” he continues, “doing the Artwork is a full time job, so on top of the admin it is very time consuming, and Justin and I want to do less of the 9 to 5 drag and concentrate on producing music now. But it is kind of hard to let go. Whilst I may moan about doing the artwork and other things I’m often frightened to let anyone else take it over, and the same with Justin really. It is our baby, and it is frightening to start to let go, but having said that the whole of this year has been geared up to let things run themselves and to let go of the reigns and let us get along with our own thing.”

Even as touring DJs they don’t do things by half. Last year I was lucky enough to see them at Field Day in sweltering 44 degrees heat in Sydney. “Field day was particularly agony because it was a pretty full on tour. By the time we arrived in Sydney we had already done a gig in Perth, a gig on New Years Eve in Hobart, had to go without any sleep to Melbourne to do Summerdayze in the afternoon, and then literally take the last record off, leg it to the airport, and, I think our plane was the last allowed to land before the tarmac was considered too soft for planes to land! The whole baggage system broke down because of the heat!” he laughs. “We were really lucky to get there – we arrived maybe half an hour before our set, we were stinking of booze and sweat and it was pretty hardcore but we soldiered on,” Panufnik chuckles again.

Due to their recording commitments, they unfortunately won’t be back in Australia until next year sometime, but the first step on their way to getting back amongst the music is to produce the annual Finger Lickin’ Thang mix CD. Always funky, vibrant and featuring the best Finger Lickin’ has to offer, this year is no different, but does offer a slightly different sound. With computers and music software becoming more advanced, breaks are shifting from sampling funk and hiphop to producing its own sound, becoming a little more electro in its direction. “The whole electro angle is a production thing, and I think it’s probably kicked a lot of breaks people up the arse when they realise that there’s some amazing music being made out there that has fantastic dancefloor appeal,” Panufnik enthuses.

“The grooves are wicked, and apart from anything else the production sounds absolutely amazing. That’s the sound we’re very inspired by at the moment, because of the way it’s heading really. It’s giving breaks a really good shake up showing there’s a lot of great stuff out there. For example, I think it was a good move to put the D.Ramirez remix of the Plumps on Finger Lickin’ Thang 4. He’s woken a lot of people up to this sound, and the Plump DJs track adapted brilliantly as well.”

Finger Lickin’ Thang 4 Mixed by Soul Of Man is out soon through inertia.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Mystro

Leave a comment

The name Mystro is well known to Aussie hiphop heads, as he’s appeared on a slew of records which hit their hearts and local charts. Resin Dogs, Downsyde and Adelaide’s own Hilltop Hoods featured Mystro on their major releases, and he’s toured around the country, impressing audiences with his flow and dialogue. Now he returns the favour with his own album ‘Diggi Down Unda’, due out January, alongside artists such as P Money, Hilltop Hoods, Dazastah (Downsyde), DJ Bonez (Hyjak N Torcha), Phrase, Macromantics, Maya Jupiter, and more. Released in the UK and Australia, it will hopefully impress the UK punters in the same way Mystro has impressed Australian audiences.

Mystro got introduced to hiphop at the age of 12 through artists such as NWA, Public Enemy, and De La Soul. He was also introduced to ragga, and even dabbled in a little bit of jungle MCing. “There was a time when hiphop kinda droped out for me,” he laments. “It wasn’t as interesting as when I first heard it, around like early 90s. There was jungle, and that was all UK music, everyone in the area was heavy into it. I had a friend who had a local radio station and people were going “you should go on the radio show” so we did. I lost interest in it quickly because people didn’t care what you were saying, just going “yiidayyiddayidda” to the music, man,” he bursts into laughter, and I have to admit it’s one of the finest dnb MC impersonations I’ve witnessed.

Luckily his interest in hiphop perked up as artists like MC D and Blak Twang appeared with a uniquely UK sound. Mystro set about impressing people at open mic clubs and battles which eventually led to Deal Real signing his first single ‘Kiss That Arse Goodnight’. His rise is not too dissimilar to the way a lot of Aussie hiphop acts start, and it’s no surprise he won many fans not only in the UK but Australia as well.

That fan base wanted to hire him to play in Australia. “I originally got booked to play in Australia in 2004 and it was only a 3 week tour, hitting the major capital cities. The promoter basically introduced me to anyone I could meet at the time, and it went from there,” he says of how he got involved with many Australian artists. “I came back and toured for 3 months, and we hit Adelaide on that run – it was actually the Hoods who booked us to do the show. We stayed at Debris house and ended up recording the track on their album. When I had a gig in Perth Downsyde booked me to support them. Most of the time when I got to a city I’d be approached by the promoters or an act I was working with to do stuff with them.”

Originally ‘Diggi Down Unda’ was just going to be an EP, but the talent here and Mystro’s love for making music led to a full album. “Australian hiphop has its own identity. Everyone I’ve got on there uses their own accent. There’s no body on there who sounds like anyone else they (the UK listener) ever had heard of,” Mystro says of the artists on the album. “There’s a range of different voices and flows. Whether UK people get into it is another matter, but I think it will be easier with a familiar voice there. But that’s the goal – to let UK people know there’s talent all the way over there.”

Although both the British and Australian scenes have strong local following, it’s still rather underground, and hasn’t made a blip on the American Radar. “The people at the top still don’t take it seriously. There are still people in the industry saying “ah, nah, UK hiphop will never blow up” and there’re still probably rednecks in Australia who say the same thing about Aussie talent,” he laughs. “But I think it’s just a case of being marketed the right way. It’s sad to say it, but that is what it’s turned into now.”

“It’s not about just having a good album, you’ve got to have a good album, you got to push the album, hit all the radio stations and posters, flyers, magazine interviews, and now even you’ve got to pay to get the front page and get slotted in the right place in the store,” he sighs. “And this makes it harder especially for the independent artist and labels to get their name out there and get their promotion done as well as all these majors are doing. The majority of homegrown talent isn’t signed to major labels and I think that’s the backbone of the problem – no body really gets to hear it because it can’t be promoted well and there’s not that much talk about it because it’s not on the big billboards and that.”

However, he doesn’t see all gloom, otherwise he wouldn’t be still in the game, and the success of the Hilltop Hoods has buoyed his spirits. “The stuff the Hoods are doing is really good for the scene. It’s not like they’re making stuff that all of a sudden changed for punters or labels. It’s good that a group like Hilltops won the Aria and not some bubblegum rap that Sony have just signed or something,” he chuckles.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

DJ Craze

Leave a comment

DJ Craze aka Arith Delgado is one of those rare performers who can bridge the gap between various styles of music, and somehow please and impress everybody. He started out playing Miami Bass, a type of hiphop that’s bass heavy and sexually explicit, but received notoriety by spinning hiphop, winning the DMC World Championships three consecutive years, being the only solo artist to do so. He was also part of the Allies with Canadian DJ A-Trak, but lately has been focussing his attention on mixing and producing drum and bass.

He’s also one of the busiest DJs, and I had a very early morning (our time) chat with Delgado as he was driving to the airport to DJ in France. This was just after being in China, Japan, and the UK. “Word! You’re from Adelaide man? I love spinning in Adelaide,” he says when I blearily announce myself. “I really like Australia. I’ve been going since 1999 or 2000, and make sure I go out there every year. The parties are always popping out there!”

I ask him about his recent trip to China, interested to hear how he was received and what he thought of the scene there. “That was my first time to China, and it was dope,” he enthuses. “I was spinning at a jiggy (RnB) club and there were all kinds of people there, and it was hard trying to please everybody at once. I had drum and bass kids in there, I had hiphop kids, and the underground crew, and every time I’d spin one style the other would get mad. So that was kind of difficult, but it was dope because it was my first time in China. But I wasn’t even there for a day, I was there for a couple of hours and had to get on another plane and leave.”

With his departure to France imminent, I had to ask if the star liked travelling. “I like the meeting new people and spinning at different spots but I hate the travelling – the security, the immigration, the waking up early, the hours flying… all that I’m not a big fan of, but really I can’t complain, I’ve got the best job in the world!” he cries. “I’m used to getting on a plane and falling to sleep right away, but if I can stay awake I will always use that time to plan out a set, catch up on stuff, you know?”

As Miami Bass isn’t a music that’s heard too much in Australia, and is often unfairly lumped in the RnB basket, I wondered if he still played it. “I grew up in Miami and of course there’s a big Miami Bass and Freestyle scene. My Brother listened to it, and it was on the radio all the time. Lately, I have been getting bored of everything, but I’ve been listening to [Miami Bass] again, and thinking “man, this is some good shit!”

One of the biggest hiphop and drum and bass DJs getting bored of hiphop and drum and bass? “I’m not bored, I just want to do something else, you know? Mix it up a bit.” Delgado begins to explain. “I get bored of stuff real quick, and with drum and bass it’s not like I’m bored with it, just that lately I’ll hear stuff and think “Meh,” you know? I want to do something else; I can’t stick in the same scene for ever, it’s bad for me” he laughs.

I suspect it’s something to do with his perfectionist nature, and perhaps he feels, and listening to a Craze dnb set will convince anyone, he’s perfected the art of mixing dnb and needs to find a new outlet. This perfectionism stretches to his production, too. He’s only had a few releases of his own out on his own label Cartel, and also on A-Trak’s Audio Research imprint.

“I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable with the music that I make,” he says. “I’m a perfectionist though, so I never feel it’s really ready. I’ll let some people listen to my beats and they’re like “what the fuck you waiting for! You should put this out NOW!” but I always think I could make it better. I kind of hurt myself in that way, I have like a 100 or so beats in my computer and I’m only really feeling four or five, and others are telling me I should get my shit out there because I’m sleeping on a lot of good stuff,” he chuckles.

You can check out Craze’s new album and order his Cartel dnb releases through https://www.beatport.com/

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Dynamite MC

Leave a comment

Dominic Smith, who tears up the mic as Dynamite MC, is one of the greatest MCs in the drum and bass scene. He’s performed with Roni Size and Rapresent, Zinc , Andy C , Marky and a host of other dnb superstars, as well as performed with accomplished hiphop outfit the Scratch Perverts, beat masters the Nextmen, breaks supremo Krafty Kuts, and had his own albums incorporating hiphop and drum and bass. One of the reasons he’s so versatile is because his father was in the armed forces, so his accent is a blend of European accents from everywhere and nowhere. He’s also got a quick mind and a demon wit that helps him perform so strongly on stage in a club of hundreds or in front of tens of thousands.

Smith was forced into MCing “coz I couldn’t afford decks!” he chortles. He fell into performing it as a living “very naturally. I never planned it as a career,” he grins “I had a genuine love for the music, back in the day, and I was happy to be on stage and getting into a party for free, but I’ve improved on that!” Smith laughs again.

I’ve always wondered how MCs do their thing, and found it fascinating that so many can just spit lyrics off the top of their head. I ask if education plays a role in being able to rhyme so well. “I think it’s paramount!” he exclaims. “A stupid conversation leads to stupid rhymes! Education still is and will always be the key.” He mostly rhymes off the top of his head, saying in this way he can customize them for any beat, fast like dnb or slower like hip hop. “I used to have a bunch of writtens (pre-written rhymes) in my mind, but by the time I figured out which one fitted best on top of what was playing, I’d missed the moment! I still got a couple though, I let them stretch there legs at some point,” he laughs.

Smith has worked with a variety of DJs on both their albums, as well as his own tracks. His versatility shows in the fact that he sounds at home busting it to Roni Size or tearing up the tracks alongside the Scratch Perverts. “Different tempos alter the flow, hip hop vocal tracks don’t need MCing over them so I change modes, get behind the scratching, sing more in places; it keeps me on my toes and always interested”. But he does sometimes find he’s rhymed himself into a corner, with a word like orange for example. “Yep, I call it the “MCs cul-de-sac”. It happens but you learn how to style it out! Syringe rhymes with Orange, depending on how u say it,” he adds, chuckling, and then aptly demonstrates.

I try and pin him down on which DJ or which gig has been his favorite, but he’s rather complimentary about all those he’s worked with, and the gigs he’s played. “Honestly, there’s too many to choose from! The Exit Festival in Serbia is amazing, the Big Day Outs I’ve performed at have been wild, Tokyo is always on fire, and Fabric is a winner! As for DJs I’m fortunate to work with some of the greatest , working regularly with Roni, Zinc, Andy C, Marky, Scratch Perverts, Krafty Kuts, The Nextmen… they all bring there own style to the table and are great to work with.” When I inquire if there’s anyone he’d like to work with, quick grin he says “Toni Braxton… And she don’t have to do nothing!”

Dynamite MC plays alongside Roni Size, TC1, Keir, Diamond D the Beatsmugglers, Djon & Skyver plus locals on Sat 30 Sept at Earth

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Total Science

Leave a comment

Total Science is made up by DJs Q Project ,or Jason Greenlaugh to his mum, and Spinback aka Paul Smith. Hooking up in the mid 80s on Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford, the two didn’t really get along well at first. “We hated each other at first,” Smith laughs, “but then got chatting about our love of hiphop and our friendship grew from there.” Their love for hiphop was sidetracked by the heavier beats of early rave and jungle, and Greenlaugh was quick to get his hands dirty with not only DJing but producing as well.

Q-Project’s now infamous early 90s junglist anthem Champion Sound was a stand out track in a sea of anonymous dubs, and helped leverage them in the drum and bass scene as producers of class. Recording under the moniker Funky Technicians, 1994 saw their debut with ‘Got to Believe’, a funky rolling number that helped dnb emerge as a dominant force in the clubs.

As the music evolved, Greenlaugh and Smith saw a need to changed their name. “We were at a point in our careers where we wanted to change our style and start making some harder beats so we thought we should change our name to suit our style,” says Smith. As to the origins of the name ‘Total Science’, “Quiff (Q-Projects) made it up. Nicked it off an old electro artist,” Smith says with a wink and a grin.

Total Science are about to hit Australia with their fourth Album ‘Mars Needs Total Science’. Being hiphop heads, you may think that it’s a reference to the seminal Mantronix, but it started off as a bit of a joke. “Quiff had made it up in an interview on Dogs On Acid (the Drum and Bass website) and the concept came after,” Smith explains. “It was that reference from a sample in a Mantronix tune ‘King Of The Beats’, but it was the first thing that came into my head when I had to think of an album title,” he laughs again.

After so many years in the dnb scene, I wonder if they still like hiphop, and if this has inspired them on this album. “We get inspired by all sorts of music from hiphop to broken beat, to house, to rare groove. The list is endless. So I guess the answer to your question is yes, we still listen to hiphop, alongside a number of other music genres that inspires and informs our musical choices.” The guest artists on the album confirms the variety of influences, with guests from all over the broken beat spectrum with MC Conrad, Bugs In The Attic, Grand Agent and DJ Craze.

Drum and Bass has persisted through some ups and downs, but has weathered as a music, even bordering on becoming mainstream, when it could be passed off as a mere novelty in it’s early years. It’s even appeared in video games and in advertisements. “I think drum and bass will always dip into the mainstream, but will never be the mainstream because of its tempo,” Smith muses. “Most people can’t get their head around the 176bpm. As for me wanting it to, I would never want dnb to ever become over commercialized as being underground is intrinsic to the music. But I think it has lasted because it is ever changing. Each year, a new style comes in which freshens up the scene again”.

“I think that push comes from both the producers and technology. Most people will get bored making the same old stuff so mixing it up makes it more interesting and with computers nowadays you can make music at ease and at a really good standard! We have grown so much production wise for a start.” he says of the album. “It is a lot more musical and features more vocal tracks than previous with a number of highly acclaimed artists such as Grand Agent, Bugz in the Attic, MC Conrad and DJ Craze”.

Speaking of games, I had to wonder if they had played FIFA Street 2, which features Groove Rider and Marky presenting the in game radio stations, and they include Total Contrast’s Defcon VIP tune. “No I never did play it because I always preferred Pro Evolution Soccer. And I’m still rocking FIFA 2005 on my gameboy! He laughs.”

Total Science play at the Crown and Scepter on Sat 19 Aug

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Krust

Leave a comment

DJ Krust has been an integral part of drum and bass since its conception. He and Roni Size hooked up at the beginnings of the V Recordings label and they’ve been a big name through their individual projects and also through mega-group Raprezent, and also through running the labels Full Cycle and offshoot Dope Dragon. Of late Krust has been a little quiet, but he’s sure to shake floors and hips again with his latest album ‘Hidden Knowledge’, a double studio album full of new compositions and a retrospective of his Full Cycle recordings.

“It’s a Krust album first and foremost,” Krust states about his new album. “What I wanted to do is make an album that was all me. It’s been such a long time since I’ve made an album I really wanted to focus on what I’m about and what my music is about and what people could expect from me. I didn’t want any guests, I didn’t want too many vocalists,” he tells me. “I tried about 4 vocal tracks but I wasn’t happy with them. The vocal track on there, How to Mutate, was the last track I made, and I changed that about six times until I was happy with it. It was a real conscious effort to make some music that was real typical of what I was about and what the label is about and where I’m coming from and where I am going. It was about asserting myself in the scene as an artist and as a producer.”

Krust has included a retrospective disc as well, featuring classics such as Warhead and Jazz Note, in an effort to school new listeners to his sound. “There is a whole core audience that doesn’t know the music, that doesn’t know the foundation of it. It’s to give people a reminder of what I was about, where I came from, and where they can get more of that from,” he claims. From this, I wonder if he thinks it’s a little strange that there is an audience out there that has listened to nothing but drum and bass. “I do find that strange, but I have to really break it down and see how it is for real,” he agrees

“I’m about the source, I try and get the essence of the whole thing. If I hear a record I might hear a great sample, and I’ll wanna know where that sample came from. So once I find the sample, I might buy the album, then a few more albums, and I think sometimes today I think the kids of today don’t know where the music comes from. but I think that’s changing very slowly though,” he smiles.

“This is the same generation that came into colour and cable TV and listened to CDs straight away. But that’s not their fault. They were born into that and they don’t know anything else, whereas we were born into a different generation. We never had colour television or CD players growing up. It’s a generational thing. My nephew who’s 22 is making music and we were talking and I said “Bro, you’ve got to listen to music, listen to records, vinyl, that’s the vibe you’ve got to understand”. And at least he asked the question and that’s good and I respect that of him. I hope more kids back pedal and look at the history of music.”

We then discussed the current state of dnb, with lots of great artist albums coming out and impressing not only traditional junglists, but making waves all over the place. “I think we went through a period where it really got stale, and I know a lot of people weren’t stimulated by the music so much. I myself kinda lost interest in it for a while,” he laments. “But the beauty of what’s going on now is that we’ve been through that cycle now, and the people who make drum and bass have decided to do what they do best, regardless of the scene is trying to dictate, or what the press is trying to dictate. I think it’s really interesting because we’re seeing some proper players talking about the music and the state of play and what they’re gonna do about it and where the music is going to next, that can only be healthy when it comes from within the scene.”

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Bass Kleph

Leave a comment

Stu Tyson is no stranger to accolades and awards. Having got a boost from winning the Triple J Noise remix competition with his awesome remix of Downsyde’s El Questro, he’s continued putting out choice singles under the moniker “Bass Kleph” on various local and international labels. This year he’s helped put the Aussie Breaks scene firmly on the map as he and fellow breaks jock/producer Nick Thayer won Best Remix at Breakspoll for their remix of Feelin’ Kinda Strange, originally recorded by the UK’s Drumattic Twins. He’s also been pushing breaks at home with his inthemix06 mix CD and subsequent tour.

“It was a bit of a shock really!” Tyson says of the Breakspoll win. “I mean, we work really hard, but I didn’t expect to get so much acknowledgment from outside of Australia as we have now.” This has of course led to many offers for both himself and Thayer to work with other people abroad, but Tyson has been happily busy in Australia. “I’ve had heaps of offers, but only had time to do a couple as I’m too busy finishing a couple of things including my debut album, ‘Breaking Point’. I think I’m only starting to have the time again now. But I’m really looking forward to travelling the rest of the world. I’ve had a lot of good feedback on my music and remixes from outside of Australia. Apart from the UK, the USA is definitely on the cards. I just got a very flattering email from Jason Nevins the other day actually. It said: “Holy Shit…. I just found an amazing bunch of music on MySpace….BASS KLEPH !!!!!  Amazing, wicked, bangin’ tracks!” he laughs

Like most music scenes, the breaks scene has had its ups and downs. It’s just starting to take of in Adelaide, whilst some Sydney punters are complaining about it being on the way out. “It’s definitely not going away anytime soon,” Tyson states. “The numbers at our new weekly night Break Inn are proof of that. It’s the best breaks night I’ve seen in Sydney since old Beat Fix on Pitt St. I think what’s happening,” he explains, “is that Breaks is stepping out of the fashion spotlight a little. It hasn’t lost its following, it is just becoming underground again, and so far that’s been very positive. That’s the way it was when I first fell in love with it, so I prefer it that way.”

“Globally is a different story,” he continues. “I don’t know how well the nights are going, but I’m not into a lot of the new breaks records coming out. There are a lot of tunes that sound like bad re-makes of older tunes that weren’t that good to start off with. There are still breakbeat gems out there; you just have to dig a little harder and further now. I think I get most excited about the breaks Australia is producing,” he smiles. “Everyone is looking at us now, I think we’re about to take the lead. Guys like Hook n Sling, Dopamine, Nick Thayer and The Street Punx are making some amazing music.”

The inthemix06 CD has also kept Tyson busy, as he’s headed around the country promoting the CD as well as DJing. “Overall it was awesome!” he exclaims. “There was one bad night in Brisbane were they booked it at a new venue, and it seemed like not a lot of advertising was done or something because there was literally ten people there. Which is weird because even when I go there by myself for a DJ set there’s several hundred every time. But all was back on track the next night in Melbourne with 1200 punters ready to have it. Actually all the other shows were dope. Melbourne was massive, Perth was rammed, and so much fun, Byron was a little quiet, but an amazing vibe, Sydney was just enormous then the last show in Canberra with Zabiela was also off the hook!”

Sometimes mix CDs cause a DJ some headaches as they struggle to find a groove for a home audience, but Tyson is happy with the way the CD worked out. “I’d say it’s representative of my live sets. I just did what I normally do, but I kept in mind the environment it was to be heard in, like in the car, or on the home stereo. When I listen to mix cds in those places, I prefer them to have a more up and down, attention grabbing flow than what is often played in clubs.”

You can catch Bass Kleph at Electric Circus on Fri 21 July with Luke Lombe, Noodle, Spark and Activist

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

A.Skillz

Leave a comment

I was chatting on the phone with Krafty Kuts’ partner in crime, the incredibly talented Adam Mills, aka A.Skillz. He was chilling in bed and having coffee brought to him by Melbourne’s Nick Thayer, who was staying with him working on a track in his studio. “It’s very early; it’s 9:20 in the morning!” he exclaims, “I didn’t have a big one last night so I’m travelling pretty good. Sometimes I have lunchtime lie in and recoup from the night before,” he chuckles

Mills started as a drummer, but exchanged sticks for decks after messing about playing records. “I grew up playing drums and always though that would be my career because that’s what I spent my time studying, and then I started DJing for a hobby and started making beats,” Mills says. “I actually had a music program to record the band, and I thought why not have a bash at making something with that. I made Trickatechnology, and I took it to Brighton to Krafty Kuts’ shop and he really liked it and asked if he could cut a dub plate and play it out. Naturally I said ‘alright’ and from there on I got more and more into DJing and it snowballed really. I started getting gigs and having clashes between DJing and the band, and in the end I had to leave the band because it wasn’t fair they’d miss out because I had a DJ gig.”

Apart from having Nick Thayer over, working on a track, Mills’ has been busy making mix CDs, gigging and trying to concentrate on his eagerly awaited first solo album. “This will be the first one that I’ve done totally by myself. I’m really in the middle of it and aiming to finish it by the end of the year, with a release next year.” No doubt he’ll get some help from Krafty, and he’s been working vocalists such as Curtis Santiago from Canada, who won the Galaxie Rising Stars Award from the CBC a few years ago, and is making waves on the hiphop / funk scene over there.

“I’ve been fitting that around doing a lot of other things, doing the odd remix here and there,” adds Mills. “I’ve just put out another bootleg, called Money Banger and Hotdog, part of the Insane Bangers series, which is something me and Krafty started”. He’s also been on tour in the USA, Canada and recently Australia. “Canada was quite similar to Australia in terms of the scenes there. I’m not strictly a Breaks DJ, although I’m somewhere in that bracket, and they’re really into it and I was really well received, with clubs of about 500 people really going for it, but the American leg of the tour was a very different story. I was playing to smaller bars, and I’m not as well known and don’t have the exposure I do in Canada. But all the shows were good, it was just like starting from the beginning again. There’s a few people over there doing what I do – Fort Knox Five, All Good Funk Alliance, Malente. It’s a small scene, but America’s so big that thier small scene is actually quite big.”

Whilst a lot of DJs including Krafty Kuts are getting into the harder sound of breaks, A Skillz is doggedly a funk fiend and plays the funky side of breaks. I asked him his opinion of the harder stuff, and he is a fan but more philosophical about the whole scene. “With really hard stuff, when a tune is new or unreleased, that’s when it’s having its day, but by the time it’s released it’s got about a month before it’s old news when the next heavy tune comes out. You’ve got to have the new stuff all the time. But with the funky, more musical stuff that’s got more of a hook, and got that melody you really enjoy listening to, it has a longer shelf life, even 2 years down the line. You might find an old tune and think ‘I’ve always wanted to buy this tune’, but if you find an old drum and bass or hard breaks tune you wouldn’t really consider buying it. I think the funkier, soulful stuff has a longer shelf life.”

Talk shifts to his latest mix CDs, namely FreshTrax on the Finger Lickin’ label. “When I did the FreshTrax mix I was slightly frustrated because it was purely Finger Lickin’ material. When you’re quite limited in what you’re allowed to use it is a little frustrating. I did a ‘BoxFresh’ (clothing label) mix with Krafty, and because there was no limit to what we could use – there were no licensing issue or anything because it was a give away – we could use anything. I think when you’ve got unlimited choice in music it becomes really fun! The FreshTrax was at the opposite end of the scale, it was a lot harder to put together. But it’s a showcase of Finger Lickin’ rather than me as a DJ. The one I’ve just finished called Export 2 (due on Finger Lickin’ soon) but I had a lot more choice, and I really had a lot of fun with that too. I haven’t really done a lot of mixes on my own, I’ve done so many with Krafty that it’s not tedious at all!” he laughs.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

Koma and Bones

Leave a comment

Often mistakenly called a ‘duo’, Koma and Bones is actually comprised of Chris Kirkbridge, Andy Duckmanton and Jude Sebastian. The three of them met through the usual way most DJ / producer hybrids meet – through a love of music. Duckmanton (Koma) has been DJing since the late 80s, playing in clubs in his home town of Lancaster, close to Manchester. “We met just as all the rave culture was kicking off,” Duckmanton begins, “and I believe Chris and Jude used to come down and sample what was on offer, if you get my drift,” he chuckles, “including the music! But we didn’t get together until some years later. Chris (Bones) by this time had been doing his own thing DJ wise, and in about 95 and we formed a DJ partnership as ‘Koma and Bones’ doing a few gigs here and there but nothing major.”

“Jude, or ‘And’,” he laughs, “had been getting down with a few keyboards and samplers, learning his trade so to speak. I had met him a couple of years previous and knew him quite well, and by this time he had already had a couple of tracks out on his own, so it just seemed a natural progression for myself and Chris to get together with him as our producer and engineer to see what we could come up with, and so here we are ten or so years later.”

A few years ago, Koma and Bones seemed to be everywhere. They had tracks on numerous record labels, and had done remixes of artists such as New Order, Crystal Method, EZ Rollers, with a remix of X-Press 2’s Smoke Machine winning them ‘best breaks remixer’ in the US’s Remix magazine. But of late they’ve been a little quiet. “Funnily enough we have probably been busier in the last 6 months than we have ever been!” chimes in Kirkbridge. “We have launched our label Burrito, recorded for lot49, TCR and Thrust. I guess when you are not doing albums your profile does tend to seem a bit quieter, but that’s the route we have taken”, he grins. “We’ve done plenty of remixes, maybe not as high profile as the New Order one,” Duckmanton chimes in, “but we’ve remixed the Breakfastaz, La Liga, Uptown Connection, Headrock Valley Beats, plus made a track for Rennie Pilgrem’s TCR 100 release, Time Waster. So to us it’s been business as usual really, but I think because we haven’t done another artist album or mix compilation you just don’t get all the same publicity.”

DJs / Producers seem commonplace now days, but Koma and Bones were almost driven to produce to find the sound they wanted to play. “It was the natural thing to try and do in the beginning, myself and Chris just wanted the chance to get a track together just using samples at first to see what we could come up with, but we needed someone who could put it all together someone who had the knowledge and the equipment, so that’s when we approached Jude to see if he would be interested,” says Duckmanton.

Now with a wide range of breaks and producers making excellent music, the boys feel a bit spoilt for choice. “Evil 9, Freeland, Meat Katie, Jono Fernandez, Metric, Cirez D, John Dahlback, Sebastian Ingrosso, anything really that sounds fat in a club,” quips Kirkbridge. “We like to embrace a few styles when playing,” adds Duckmanton. “At the moment we’ve been playing a bit of techno and electro, producers like King Roc, Justice, Oliver Huntemann, D Ramirez to name a few, but we still mix it up with the breaks… I think as long as it’s got a ‘breaks mentality’ we will be into it, the Justice remix of Franz Ferdinand is a fave at the moment and Oliver Huntemann’s Bastard is awesome!”

They’re also well known for making cheeky bootlegs. “We make them, we just can’t talk about them!” cracks Kirkbridge. “Yes, we’ve done quite a few over the last couple of years, of big artists too,” adds Duckmanton, “but I think unless your selling quite a few thousand the record companies wont bother you. I would have thought as its pretty good promotion for the artist – almost like a free remix!” Kirkbridge chimes in again “Hopefully the artists see them as a compliment. But who knows?”

You can catch Koma and Bones playing at the We Love Sounds Festival alongside Grandmaster Flash, Mampi Swift plus IC3, James Zabiela, and Patife with Cleveland Watkiss plus a host of local and interstate guests on Sun 11 Jun at the Shores Entertainment complex, West Beach.

dB Magazine, Interview, Music, Writing

The Hilltop Hoods

Leave a comment

The Hilltop Hoods shot to prominence with ‘The Calling’, becoming the first Australian hiphop act to gain a Gold record. The follow up, ‘The Hard Road’ has a hard act to follow, and not only in terms of sales, but also in of ‘keeping it real’ for the Hilltops. I’d heard rumours and stories that the new album was ‘commercial’, and that the band were tearing themselves apart from within. But talking to Suffa a day after the album was finished made me realise that the Hoods still have it very much together, and no matter what happens, they will always be The Hilltop Hoods.

I asked Suffa if there was any extra pressure to record The Hard Road. “It wasn’t a struggle to record it, but when we started mixing it Baz (Debris) went on holiday to Vietnam,” he laughs. “So that made the mixing down a little bit more difficult.” Of course not having heard the album, I asked Suffa to describe how it sounded. “It’s similar to The Calling but it’s sort of a darker version of The Calling,” he mutters. Dark hey… Could this be a reflection of the way the band is feeling the pressure? “I don’t know,” he chuckles. “It just turned out that way. We don’t plan albums. As the beats are made, as we like certain beats and the album makes itself. There’s a couple of party tracks on there, a couple of jazz influenced tracks, it’s not like it’s some kind of melancholy beast,” he grins.

The Calling’s most popular track is the Nosebleed Section, containing the Melanie Safka sample. Seeing as how she was apparently enamoured of the tune, I wanted to find out what Suffa thought of her and how she came into knowing about this little group from Adelaide. “She got sent the track by a fan she has here, but to be honest I’d rather not talk about that because”, he hesitates, “we’re not having legal issues, but it’s not sorted out completely and I really shouldn’t be talking about it,” he says, and fair enough too.

He does openly speak of how that whole exercise has changed the way the group approaches sampling, however. “We had to either use things on this album that didn’t need sample clearance, or the ones that did need sample clearance we had to chase after and get it,” he explains. “You can sort of take care of it in the processes (of making a track). If you’re sampling a funk artist, they’re sampled so much they’ve got the process in place to legally sample them. You just need to contact their people, they’re people tell you how much it’ll be and how much royalties they want, blah blah blah, and that’s sort of easy. If you go into other genres and sample someone not used to it, it can become difficult. And also during the process you try not to sample records you know you’re going to have trouble with,” he adds with a smirk.

Thanks to the efforts of the likes of Hilltop Hoods, Delta, Downsyde, the Triple J Hiphop Show, and the seminal Aussie hiphop label Obese Records, Aussie Hiphop has blossomed and become a lot more respected by the wider community. “Yeah, the scene, if you compare it to 5 or 10 years ago, the amount of exposure, the amount of groups, the amount of interest, the amount of media attention, it’s a lot healthier than it was,” Suffa exclaims. But when I ask him about the down side of it, he’s quite frank in his answer. “I don’t really want to say negative things about it, you know? I just don’t want to sound like one of those guys who’s gone all cynical,” he laughs.

Although I didn’t like to keep the interview on a negative vibe, I had heard rumours that there was some tension with in the group over creative control. Having chatted to both Suffa and Debris in the past, I found it hard to believe, and of course Suffa set those rumours to rest with a big laugh. “It’s absolute shit!” he cries. “The reason why those rumours come about, and we’ve even seen things where people said we should have a media coach,” he laughs incredulously, “is because we’re such close mates all we do is fucking hang shit on each other all day, so even if we’re being interviewed or there’s a camera there we’re still hanging shit on each other, it’s just the way we always have been. So you know, I don’t know why people want to turn it into some kind of… thing, maybe the people starting these rumours are trying to turn us against each other or something, but it’s just not going to happen. We know each other so well, we just don’t care what they say.”

To help the launch of the Album, the trio will be hosting ABC’s Rage. “We’ve always been so disappointed when hiphop artists go on Rage because for some reason whenever hiphop artists program one of these shows they try to show how open minded they are and play anything but hiphop,” he groans. “Our sole mission was to go on there and play nothing but dope hiphop. So we played 40 songs of just straight up hiphop. We were limited a little by what catalogue they had, but we tried our best to play clips that just don’t get seen and the artists we think should get a little more exposure.”