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Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category
August 10, 2010
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Interview – Cappo
By Ash in Interviews
Earlier this year Nottingham’s – and perhaps Britain’s – finest MC, Cappo unleashed his best album to date, Genghis, on Son Records. I spent a bit of time with the elusive Cappo.
Tell me a little about your initial attraction to hip-hop. What was it about groups like Public Enemy and NWA that appealed?
Yeah, Public Enemy and NWA were the first tapes I ever had and I played them to death. Before that, I heard my cousin playing Silver Bullet and I remember hearing ‘Walk this way’ [Run DMC] and the ‘Only bugging’ track [Whistle’s ‘Buggin’’] somewhere. Just picking up on the music from here and there, but it was definitely the Public Enemy and NWA tapes that showed me there was a whole other sound out there.
July 2, 2010
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Interview with me – Cloudspeakers.
By Ash in InterviewsPersonal info:
I’m 35, married and an OK person.
Your Twitter/Blog url:
http://twitter.com/sheq / http://asheq.co.uk/
Which music website(s) are you writing for?
Clash Magazine, The Line of Best Fit, Drowned in Sound, Subba Cultcha, musicOMH, God is in the TV, Rivmixx, Brainer Magazine
What was your biggest motivation to become a music journalist?
I adore good music: it’s been with me for many years. I use journalism as a creative outlet. I never expected to make any money out of it, and I’m glad I had those realistic views. With so many fine writers, music journalism – particularly on the ‘net – teaches you new ways to apply your skills and fine tune your hearing.
What’s your opinion on the future role of music journalism?
I don’t believe music journalism will ever disappear as I still believe it is valued by music fans. With Bauer’s attempted clamp down on its writer’s content, there was a real tacit surge of outrage. There has to be a level of quality control, and I believe good writers cover the records that don’t receive the attention many mainstream records do. With the internet increasingly becoming the main source to harvest information and mobile technology creating accessible services like Spotify, good writing must serve to bind these outlets together.
What was the first record you bought?
Break Machine : Street Dance (7?).
Of which album you have reviewed is your opinion completely changed over time?
Probably Speech Debelle’s ‘Speech Therapy’. I gave it 10 / 10. It went on to win the Mercury Music Prize and Speech went on to drop her label. I can’t really believe I was ever so enthusiastic about it: with hindsight, it’s truly cringeworthy stuff.
http://www.subba-cultcha.com/album-reviews/speech-debelle_speech-therapy/article/contentID/7721/
Which are your favorite three bands of all-time?
The Beatles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Public Enemy.
Which are your favorite three albums of 2010 so far?
Elephant9 – Walk The Nile, Cappo – Genghis, Rene Hell – Porcelain Opera.
What is your favorite new act everyone should listen to?
Child Abuse.
http://blog.cloudspeakers.com/2010/07/interview-with-ash-akhtar-clash-tlobf-dis-a-o/
January 11, 2010
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Henry Rollins – Interview
By Ash in Interviews
Plucked at random from one of Black Flag’s innumerable gigs in the late ’70s, Henry Rollins went on to became frontman of his favourite band. Touring relentlessly, his memoirs ‘Get In The Van’ were released after the band’s acrimonious split. Drawn to spoken word concerts during his time with Black Flag, Henry continues to write, act, sing and travel the world to politicise and educate himself at every available opportunity. His latest spoken word tour arrives in the UK this week.
Henry was in Bamako, Mali, when I caught up with him.
November 25, 2009
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Interview – Kid Koala (The Slew)
By Ash in Interviews
Mild mannered Canadian, Eric San, is better known as deadly turntable maestro Kid Koala. Earlier this year, he released ‘100%’: a free, downloadable rock / hip-hop project under an alternative moniker, The Slew. As a performer, San takes turntable trickery to new heights and anyone who has been to one of his live shows will attest to that. Rivmixx caught up with the man himself as he takes a well-earned break between tours.
Dylan Frombach (Dynomite D) and San began recordings for The Slew over four-and-a-half years ago. Though the pair were approached three years ago to score a documentary (one that never materialised) using the music, they continued with their initial vision of frayed needles juxtaposed against bleeding, blues guitars and vocals. Coincidentally, this year’s Black Keys’ project, Blakroc, also features hip-hop and rock colliding, albeit in an altogether different fashion. San explained why he believed rock and turntablism could go together, “We wanted to make something Black Sabbath fans and Public Enemy fans would both dig. There’s an inherent heaviness to a lot of those albums that we liked. Plus we’re both fans of that manipulated, twisted feel of scratching. So we decided to make that hand-cut rock record we hadn’t heard yet”.
Hand cutting is quite literally what San had in mind and took to his personal record cutter at home, “I’ll often just record something like an E-chord on a hammond organ and cut it to vinyl for about 8 minutes. Then, once it’s on wax I can bend it into all the other keys [using the turntable speed control] by hand. A lot of The Slew album was done this way. We would also plug the turntables into old tube amps and overdrive them and mic the amps – just to get that crunchy tone. We wanted to keep this record as dusty as possible. Cutting guitar and harmonicas onto records and then re-cutting it back onto the tracks was a good way of keeping that vibe there. We brought a lot of the production techniques of those old rock records to the turntable”. Taking this into account with the fact that every aspect of ‘100%’ was constructed from the turntable, and with no live instrumentation whatsoever, the four-and-a-half year term becomes somewhat more rational, adding a real sense of value to ‘100%’.
With that amount of time spent on just the record, attempting to take it out on the road must have seemed a task of Herculean proportions. To help, San roped in Wolfmother’s ex-rhythm section, Chris Ross (bass) and Myles Heskett (drums). “We met them on the first Wolfmother to of North America. Prior to that, Myles had come to see one of my shows in Sydney when I was there on tour with [fellow instrumental hip-hop producer] RJD2. I was surprised when he told me had attended that gig. I always thought people in rock bands just listened to other people in rock bands. They checked out our studio in Montreal and I played them some of the then work-in-progress Slew tracks. They liked what they heard and for the next two years, anytime I would see them in Australia they would ask, “What’s up with that Slew record?””
Though it’s completely plausible that the Zeppelin-esque rockers were simply in dire need of a righteous hip-hop injection, it still came as a surprise to the DJ. “Those guys are big rock stars, so we didn’t know how it would work schedule-wise. But they totally got it – there’s rawness to scratching that I think they could hang with. I think the two musical worlds meet very well. Wait until ya see the gig!”
For those who are understandably curious about how the live show works, it goes like this: San and fellow DJ P-Love have 80 custom cut records to scratch all guitar, harmonica and vocal parts from record whilst Ross and Heskett provide the thunder of the rhythm section. The use of vinyl when most DJs are employing the use of software like Serato, is testament to San’s adherence to a rock n’ roll ethos.
”We had moshpits going in all the cities in the States. That’s a first for me. I built special earthquake-proof turntable stands so we could jump around and rock out and not have to worry about needles skipping. It’s a whole different kind of show for me. And it’s very, very LOUD! Hair-standing-on-the-back-of-your-neck loud. It’s super bad ass”.
Super bad ass, indeed! With the UK tour scheduled for February / March 2010, this is the only UK tour planned: a complete one-off. With ‘100%’ currently only available as an MP3 download, the tour is the only place for fans to pick up one or two copies of The Slew’s physical CDs / records. “Yeah, we did that because the label weren’t able to release the record before the U.S. dates and we figured people would have more fun at the gigs if they’d heard the tracks before they got there. People did pick up the CDs and vinyl at the gigs though… I don’t know whether they just want something higher quality than mp3s, but they seem to want to support this project. We’re super excited about the response.”
With Ross and Heskett now officially part of the band, San intends to return to the studio (this time with the duo) to record new bass and drum parts for the next album. With any luck – that won’t take another four years. And what’s next for the restless, rapidly evolving San next? “I’m working on a new book called Space Cadet. The soundtrack to that, in contrast, is really quiet. I’m going to do a tour where everyone can sit around on beanbags wearing headphones and we’ll transmit all the keyboards and turntables to their headsets. It’s funny to go from doing shows with moshpits to shows where everyone is lying around on the ground, but I gotta keep a balance in this world somehow.”
November 25, 2009
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Interview – Renaat Vandepapeliere
By Ash in Interviews
Belgium is responsible for more than mere waffles and chocolates. With a roster that includes Aphex Twin, CJ Bolland and Derrick May amongst others, the legendary R & S Records has been making an impact on dance music since 1984. I was fortunate enough to spend a little time with label founder Renaat Vandepapeliere who, along with partner of 27 years, Sabine Maes, also created the Apollo label which has resurfaced in 2009 with a superb compilation album that includes classic tracks and new cuts alike. Such is his attention to detail, Renaat spent a year compiling the tracklist for the release. But why did the label disappear in the first place?
“I’ve been away because I was totally bored with the business side of music. At that moment, I though the whole dance music scene was repeating. I was listening to the same records with the same sounds, so I said ‘I’ve had enough. Bye, bye’. I could have been a very clever businessman and exploited it. I could have made much more money, but if I don’t feel something in my life – I stop.”
This strikes me as a somewhat unconventional view for a label manager, but this is simply part of an unusual history for the enthusiastic and engaging Renaat. “I’m a frustrated drummer!” he confesses. “That was my first ambition, but I didn’t have it in me to be as talented as heroes like Gene Kruper, Billy Cobham or Tony Roster Jr.
Like most children growing up, music was always around, and Renaat often found himself listening to the radio. His father, perhaps sensing his son was paying more attention to pirate radio stations than to his studies, took the radio away, smashing it in front of him. Nevertheless, that exposure to the diverse nature of radio undoubtedly set Renaat on his path to embracing a variety of music.
“I have a soul background, I have a jazz background – I listen to various kinds of music. You can’t put me in one category. Yeah, I love dance music as a DJ, but I can go from Metallica to Kraftwerk to Vangelis to classical music. For me, music has a time and place. Sometimes I can’t listen to dance music and sometimes, I can’t listen to rock. It has to fit with the right atmosphere and the right people: you have to capture a moment.”
This desire to craft moods becomes more apparent when Renaat graduated from DJing to the development of R&S Records.
“I worked in a record shop, but as a DJ I was getting very frustrated with the Belgian scene. The clubs were so commercial and American music just wasn’t accepted. The guys that were importing records here, they went straight into the studio and created a bad cover of it. I didn’t like that. I said ‘Respect the artist. License it in, and let’s have the original track’. That’s where the idea to start the label started, and it was New Beat that gave me the chance”.
As formed in Belgium, the New Beat genre was borne when Ghent’s Marc Grouls and Antwerp’s ‘Fat’ Ronnie Harmsen began playing 12″ techno records at 33rpm instead of the prescribed 45rpm. New Beat’s influence spread to the UK, with the NME devoting a front cover to this emerging form that would come to influence electronic artists such as The Prodigy, KLF and Autechre.
Never one to pander solely to fans, Renaat sought to expand the label’s catalogue by releasing incresingly eclectic electronic diversions.
“When you create a label, and you’re trying to do different stuff, your core fans don’t accept it. This was part of my frustration.” Releasing Aphex Twin’s seminal ‘Selected Ambient Works 85-92′ seemed to typify this. “It was very strange during that time: people thought I was crazy. Everybody said ‘Why are you putting Aphex Twin out?’ I remember the first year we sold twenty copies. But this is the sort of record that goes from hand-to-hand, and builds on word-of-mouth.”
The ability to tap into the musical zeitgeist was something that R&S became apt at, and Renaat himself is unable to recall how many releases from the label triggered scenes within the burgeoning dance explosion. The inexplicable intuition and diversification of R&S and Apollo’s output accounts for much of this ability. “Apollo was an escape for me, it’s balance. Dance music is something serious. I can have fun, I can drive home, but then I would put on an Apollo CD.”
Of course, you don’t need to have been out on a bender to listen to an Apollo CD, but the times have changed since Renaat’s been away. Drugs are different, cheaper and more accessible and though the intention of dance music has remained the same, its method of delivery has noticeably shifted with cultural and technological changes. So how does Renaat feel to be back in the game again?
“Now I feel vibrant again, I feel great again. I was preparing for a return anyway because I want to build a hi-tech club that travels the world. If you took ecstasy at that party – you’d die. It’d be too much!”
I asked Renaat why he felt the need for this travelling ‘superclub’.
“When I go out, it’s not the same vibe any more. Maybe it’s me, because I’m so spoilt, but don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to live in the past, I’m not nostalgic. For me, I see the kids and I think they’re missing something. Now you get a list of very expensive DJs, big lights, and a big soundsystem, but when you walk in – you can smell the money. There was a certain passion and love put into the old parties. When those guys put something on, they were ready to be slaughtered: their hearts were in there!
Looking to the future, Renaat continues to develop new artists. “I don’t care what it is, so long as it’s done from the heart – not a McDonald’s product! I can smell that a mile off.”
In running from that hideous, ubiquitous, corporate smell, Renaat has stumbled across Irish quartet, The Plea and has now started his own indie label, Bull Records. “Hopefully, I can do R&S jazz!” he laughs. His enthusiasm for music and risk-taking is deeply infectious. But what of the result?
“Let the consumer decide – let the people decide. Not me! Who am I? Who the fuck am I? Nobody! I’m just Mr Nobody. I like music, and that’s it.”
History is sure to judge this specific loss to percussion a significant cultural gain.
October 14, 2009
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Win a limited edition Gallows Tee
By Ash in Interviews, Random
COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED!
Want one of these? Well, Topman have convinced Lags from Gallows to create a design specifically for them as Gallows roll through Topman’s CTRL. There’s only 50 in existence and I’ve been offered one as a prize to give away.
SO, if you’re a fan of the band (and after their album ‘Grey Britain’ earlier this year why wouldn’t you be?), drop me a line through the contact page with the answer to this simple question:
What is Gallows’ drummer Lee’s favourite Metallica album?
HINT: Read the following interview with Lee and Lags from the band.
CTRL: Gallows Interview
Q: OK so new bands then, give us a few off the top of your head…
Lee: The first band is probably Sharks we’re taking them out on tour in November December… They’re a bit different you know, they’re like a mix of Joy Division and kind of a new….
Lags: ….Undertones.
Lee: Yeah, Undertones, a lot of like more Indie Brit pop influences, they put on a really good show too.
Q: Are they still quite heavy as well?
Lags: They’ve got a real new wave feel to them, which is cool cos’ there aren’t too many new wave bands around today, like they look as though they should be in the Smiths or something not Kings Of Leon like most other bands these days.
Q: Are they going to confound the expectations of the Gallows crowd?
Lags: I think what we’ve always done in the past, like when we took out Lethal Bizzle, is show our eclectic taste in music, we don’t want to be one of those bands that gets thrown in with every heavy punk hardcore band.
Lee: Also on this tour is Trashtalk - this Californian hardcore band, and you need to check out their live shows on Youtube because they are just insane.
Lags: I’ve got a feeling there will be some sort of competition – who can destroy themselves the most?
Q: What is the worst gig related injury sustained by Gallows to date?
Lags: Well I knocked myself out recently on stage, there are loads! Hit myself in the face with my guitar, Frank’s been knocked out…
Lee: …I broke a rib stage diving!
Q: Any other new bands? Anything else you’ve heard recently?
Lags: This band called More Than Life who are from the West Country – they’re farm boys. The thing about the UK hardcore scene is that I think a lot of it sounds the same whereas these dudes bring a bit more musical edge to it. The songs are quite catchy but are still really heavy and raw.
Lee: I’m gonna mention our bass player Stu’s band, this other band. They’re called Spycatcher. It’s actually 3 or 4 of our friends from back home are in that band. What does Mitch play? Guitar doesn’t he?
Lags: Yeah
Q: Can you see yourself shifting towards other styles as the band goes on?
Lags: Oh yeah definitely. I mean if you listen to our new record there is big piano and orchestration and stuff on it, which I wrote myself. I’m really into the idea of writing soundtracks and more epic soundscapes as it were
Lee: I think it could go any way really, I don’t really know what’s going to happen with our new record. It could end up even heavier!
Q: Shall we talk about places around the world – maybe its places you’ve visited, certainly venues that you’ve enjoyed playing around the world, or maybe scenes that you find inspirational.
Lags: One of my favourite places is Austin in Texas, we’ve done it twice, with south by south west, and we also played there again on our last headliner US tour. The atmosphere is electric and there is such a creative vibe and buzz about the town and we have so many friends there, and like all my favourite times hanging out with people have been in Austin. And the girls are beautiful!
Lags: Another place, which is just amazing, is Japan, if you want to go somewhere and feel like you’ve landed on another planet, then Japan is probably the ultimate place. Its just got such a crazy atmosphere, when we’re hanging out in Tokyo, and we’re going around all the shops and the cool parts of town, everyone is just dressed as if they are going to go on the biggest night out ever, but that is just how they dress everyday.
Q: What is the scene like for you out there?
Lee: It was actually really weird when we touched down the first time we went over there, like literally two or three minutes after we’d left our hotel a gang of Japanese kids came up to us, they knew who we were and they had all our records ready for us to sign, and that totally blew our minds, like no one recognises us in England.
Q: How do you go down in the rest of Europe, where about are the kind of hot spots for you?
Lee: Milan is also awesome.
Lags: I really like Berlin, I think Berlin is an awesome city, its quite a big place but there is a lot to do.
Q: Do you get much of a crowd in Berlin, it doesn’t really seem like that much of a rock city?
Lags: Last time we played Berlin we were supporting Korn and Machinehead so it was a bit of a weird gig, it was in some fort just outside of the city, some castle where you have to cross a moat to get in.
Q: Cool, shall we talk about albums that you either grew up with or there are stories associated with.
Lags: You’re going to say Bowie aren’t you.
Lee: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars! My dad is a huge Bowie fan and he took me to go see him when I was about 4 or 5. Its like 11 tracks of the best rock and roll music you’ll ever hear- the production is awesome considering it was made in the early 70’s and every track on that record is a classic and I’ll never get sick of listening to it. If anyone doesn’t have that album then they need to buy it or their house will fall down.
Q: What other Bowie albums come close?
Lee: A lot of his older one’s come close, like Hunky dory is great and I really like Low even though it is a bit more experimental, I like every record he’s put out to be honest. I think he is just one of the greatest artists of all time, well the best Britain has ever produced anyway.
Q: Which Metallica album stands out to you?
Lee: The Black album is the one I remember. I was in my early teens back then and I’d not really heard any heavy music. I remember going into Virgin Megastore in Watford and you were working there..
Lags: Right..
Lee: … and I remember asking if I could listen to the ‘Black Album’ and you put it on for me on the listening post and I remember thinking this is the best thing I’ve ever heard. It was so heavy and sounded so tight. Being a drummer, I’d never even heard much double pedal, I took it home and listened to it everyday for about two years. I still listen to it every week – its one of my all time favourite. Its still not as good as ‘Justice For All’, but The Black album that’s the one with a story for me behind it.
Lags: I think the Beatles are such an inspirational band, they are one band who have created modern music to me anyway. They came just after the whole rock and roll boom but they just took music and made it pretty much unreachable for other bands at that time. For me I think ‘Revolver’ was that change and songs like ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, and I just think that back then that was probably the craziest thing that any band could ever do and they were doing it and they were all the more successful for it, and so for me like that album definitely set the bar for every other band to follow them.
Q: Have you ever seen McCartney play live?
Lags: Our second Gallows gig was in London and we were walking past EMI in Soho Square, or Apple, well whichever office, and Paul McCartney was walking out and that was the closest…
Q: You didn’t run up to him then?
Lags: No there was already a million Beatles fans there with records.
Q: Was classic British metal important to you or not? You share management with Iron Maiden.
Lee: I think they put on one of the best live shows out of any UK band.
Lags: I’m a huge Sabbath fan. I know people have argued that the first heavy metal songs were The Kinks ‘You really got me’ or even The Beatles ‘Helter Skelter’. But Sabbath, they created heavy metal as we know it from the imagery to the music and the first album. They recorded that album in like two days, so at the same time they are inspirational to other musicians out there to just get tight and play instruments and don’t rely on Pro Tools.
Q: Okay, lets talk about favourite things.
Lee: Well I’d start with my parents and my girlfriend, family. They are probably my biggest fans. My dad comes to near enough every show- he likes to think he’s the fifth member of the band sometimes.
Lags: I’ve got a mum and dad tattoo and then I’ve got family on my wrist. I can’t believe how supportive my mum and dad were, even when they had doubts that I was ever gonna get anywhere in life.
Q: How did you expect your parents to react to the announcement that you were jacking everything in to be in a band?
Lee: I think they were a bit resentful at first that I was sitting around some days when we were not on tour doing nothing. My dad was still going to work and I used to just laugh like ‘yeah I’m just sitting here getting paid for it you know’.
Q: Maybe that’s why your dad wanted to become the fifth member of the band!
Lee: Yeah but then they realised that the band’s an every day thing- that even when we’re not playing, the band is our lives. I think it’s hard for any parent really to understand that their son or their daughter is going to be in a band and tour the world. It’s just something you don’t expect!
Q: Better than working in an office then?
Lags: The problem with rock and roll is that there are so many vices connected to it – parents are bound to be scared that you’re gonna go on tour and come back a heroin addict or whatever. But they know us so well and they know that we’re not the kind of people to fall into any trap, whether it be drugs or alcohol or women.
Q: Okay that’s a good entry, what’s number two?
Lee: I’m gonna be really geeky and say my collection of Batman comics, they are a favourite thing of mine because I’ve spent about the past 6 months to a year building up my collection so I now pretty much own them all. I’ve got a batman tattoo so, it’s just a personal thing to me!
Lags: Definitely my music collection. I remember when I was buying CD’s growing up my mum would go spare that I’d be spending all my pocket money just buying music. Even today I’m not the kind of guy who would download something, I have to have the physical format.
Lee: My season ticket to Tottenham is probably one of my favourite things. I’ve had it for about 10 years now. Football is my main passion other than the band.
Also, I think our laptops should probably be in there somewhere..
Lags: Yeah everyone has got to have an laptop, I don’t think I could survive without it, if you’ve got it on tour its just the ultimate tour accessory; you’ve got movies, music, you can record guitar riffs, you know it can do everything, you just compile all the things in your life into it. If it could cook for me, it’d be amazing. If I could just press a button and sushi rolls started coming out!
September 8, 2009
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DJ Q-Bert Interview
By Ash in Interviews
I got to interview the legendary DJ Q-Bert for Clash Magazine ahead of his appearance at the DMC Championships this weekend.
The DMC World DJ Championships are set to take place this Friday and Saturday at London’s O2 Indigo venue with guest appearance from Dj Yoda, Dj I-Dee, Dj Fly, Rob Swift and Dj Q-Bert.
THE competition for any aspiring DJ, the event, which boast Clash pals Drunknmunky as official fashion sponsor, will see a Battle For World Supremacy, a World Team Battle and the Dj Championship World Final itself as well as some of the planet’s best Djs entertaining the crowds including Dj Q-Bert.
ClashMusic caught up with the three time World Champion, and member of the DMC Hall of Fame, ahead of his appearance to discuss DMC, turntablism trends, technique and talking to aliens.
DJ Q-Bert Battle – Lamb Chops
2009 is the 25th anniversary of the DMC championships; aside from the advance in technology, what’s been the biggest progression in the history of scratching in that time?
Just the fact that people are learning that the turntable is a musical instrument. From that, there are infinite ways of using it as one. The technology can keep advancing until it becomes a mind reading device in the future where all you have to do is think about it and everyone can hear you scratch… but still with it all, the best is raw hands on vinyl for scratching!
What’s been your contribution to that?
All the noise I make on the turntables, I guess. I don’t know if I’ve actually contributed anything: maybe a scratch or two, here and there.
Why is the final held in the London when turntablism is effectively an American creation?
Probably because Tony Prince [founder of Mixmag and the DMC Championships], who is the president of the DMC, happens to be from the UK. Just maybe.
Why do you think it is that body tricks have practically disappeared from the championships?
Because people have found out that it’s a musical instrument. Actually sometimes, I’d rather see that than someone hurting my ears with a bunch of unoriginal noise. It’s all fun and people become too nerdy with the skills…body tricks are fun! Hmm, come to think of it, with all the noise I make, maybe I should start doing body tricks, ha!
What’s more important: scratch technique, juggling ability, routine flow or feel?
All things combined, just like in music – there are many facets to the overall presentation. Tone, colour, melody, harmony, soul, feel, originality, rhythms, chord changes, tempo, timbre, background, foreground, blah blah etc, etc.
Do you think that by elevating the role of the DJ to this insanely high level, it’s managed to reduce the amount of scratching heard on mainstream rap records?
I think it’s become more of an underground elite kind of world. Do you hear a great piano or guitar or even sax soloing on commercial mainstream music all the time, too? Do you even hear a great song there on mainstream rap records?
It used to be that the DJ was the beat-maker, but we now have dedicated beat producers, do you think this has led to this public demise of the DJ?
Scratching has always been underground, so I really see no difference from back then or now. You always have to hunt for the good, underground stuff anyways. The true school hip hop world is alive and growing, but definitely not in the eyes of the mainstream consumer.
Serato [a software based scratching system] certainly seems to be the preferred method of DJing live, and really – anybody can be a DJ. Is vinyl now in danger of disappearing?
Not to a true scratcher. The new thing is that both worlds have come together: Serato, Traktor, etc. We’re even making vinyl now that is one side digital, and the other side analogue!
With this evolution of technology, are we looking at a revolution in rap?
Of course… just like with any art, there are real lyricists out there too doing it for the love and not the money. Graff artists, break dancers, beat boxers, sex fetishes etc. All advancing! Just look on YouTube… Do a search on ‘Percee P’ for a dope MC. Check out a popper named Salah, look for B-boy battle of the year, Freestyle sessions, Mighty 4 – a beat boxer named Kenny Muhammad or Killa Kela…
Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the DMC Championships and why?
Everyone, because I’m gonna learn something. Everyone has something different to offer and knows something that the next man doesn’t. Also it’s a great time to see my brother and sister scratch DJs!
With so many great DJs, who, in your opinion, is the most, all-round, complete DJ?
Wow… there’s always a DJ that will know something more than the next, so I haven’t seen one that is all around that I really pointed towards, but I’ll name all the ones that I really like: Precision, Rob Swift, Roc Raida, Mista Sinista, Total Eclipse, Ken One, Koukji, Mike Boo, Miyazima, Toadstyle, Vajra, Craze, A-Trak, Mix Master Mike, Shortkut, D-Styles, Teeko, Klever, Noize, Scratch Perverts, Beat Junkies… there’s too many to name.
And what’s been your favourite DMC performance?
Lots of older ones, but I forgot their names! Aladdin in the USA finals 1988. A-Trak vs Craze. Also probably Vajra, but his routine went over the judges’ heads and he didn’t make it to the finals.
Is ‘Super Duck Breaks’ still the best battle record?
I thought it was one of the best back then… still a classic, but I haven’t used it in over ten years! I mostly now use the skipless ‘Superseal dirt style’ ones, and have been for the past 10 years, especially since they were designed user-friendly for us! I really do hope that there will be another ‘Super Duck Breaks’ though!
A while ago, I read somewhere that you tended not to scratch to hip-hop at home – preferring the medium of jazz for more expressive scratches. Does that still hold true?
I love how the rumours get twisted! I listen to jazz, but use the ideas and scratch to hip hop beats mainly, especially funky B-boy breaks looped. But there have been a few times where I would scratch to jazz just to play along with it.
How’s the Skratch University [Q-Bert's online tuition site] doing?
It’s been 3 months and it’s just about reaching 550 students worldwide! Super fun and I learn so much and have a ball giving all the knowledge to them!
Are there any specific projects you’re working on now?
I want to make another film like ‘Wave Twisters’, and seeing about it becoming much more than that! I hope it all works out. It usually does when you put in a lot of work. The universe helps out a lot when you are making a creation, especially if it is to make the world a better place. I want to make it a story where people can learn about life in a positive way somehow, but at the same time, still true to real hip hop in a future sense.
Do you think the DMC will need to create new heats, such as a Serato only round or a vinyl only session, as we embark on the next 25 years of DJing?
Of course! I would also like to see a round where the DJs only just scratch question and answer style against each other to a fast beat or halftime and also a mid tempo beat! That’s how we do it anyways when we all get together to practice. Not sure if there is an ITF [International Turntable Federation] anymore, but there should be head-on battles since those are really exciting.
Are you still talking to aliens when you scratch?
We are always talking to aliens… They see us but we can’t see them. We’re kinda like a fish in a fish tank with many higher beings in different dimensions observing us. So think about that, the next time you masturbate!
You ever had a spiritual dialogue with Hendrix?
I think about a lot of artists on the other side and sometimes wonder if they are in the room helping out my flow. I try to call them and hopefully they aren’t too busy in heaven to help out.
Finally, what should we expect from ‘The Super Jam’ when you, Rob Swift, DJ Fly, Shiftee and Switch go up against each other?
Ha ha! Now we’re going against each other? I’m just gonna flow and blend in with the sounds. They can battle each other if they want. I’m just gonna have fun jamming with them.
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Words by Ash Akhtar
Q-Bert appears at the DMC Championship Finals, taking place at IndigO2 at The O2, London September 11th & 12th.
See http://www.dmcdjchamps.com/ for further details.
July 21, 2009
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Bibio – interview
By Ash in Interviews
Stephen Wilkinson (aka Bibio) is the latest signing to über-cool label, Warp Records. The 30-year-old Wolverhamptonite’s penchant for mixing up guitar-based, electric folk alongside digital bleeps and squeaks effectively lie together on the curiously titled, Ambivalence Avenue.
“It’s not got anything to do with ambivalence in particular, really, ” he says somewhat non-committally. “It was triggered off by a weird daydream I had on a coach going down to check out some universities in London. We were travelling down a road similar to that on the front cover [of Ambivalence Avenue] with white hotels and trees lining the streets – stuff like that. Obviously, I was approaching a time when I was moving away from home, going to university and though it wasn’t confusion as such…it wasn’t really that in itself that was so important. That was the trigger; and the sensation that accompanied it is what I can’t put my finger on.”
On the first of numerous occurrences during the interview, Wilkinson refers to emotion, and how he uses music as a platform to transmit it to the listener. Outlining the construction of track ‘London Planes‘ (which features on earlier album ‘Fi’ released on Mush), which sees arpeggiated guitars harmoniously entwined, he says, “It had this kind of spirit or vibe that was very particular to the blissful side of London as opposed to the city side. And then a couple of years ago, I was writing a guitar riff and it brought back the same, weird emotions that I get that…like flickering shadows casting through trees in London avenues.” And this “Idyllic, London avenue” is represented on Ambivalence Avenue‘s artwork with a character one assumes to be Wilkinson out and about recording ‘found sounds’ for his recordings to thrive on.
Ultimately, though, what Wilkinson wants is for the listener to imbibe a “Summery, nostalgic vibe,” from the track. “Hopefully the lyrics are building blocks to someone else’s imagination – that’s really what I prefer to do. Whereas lyrics put words in people’s heads, instrumental music might more likely paint pictures in people’s heads.”
Strangely enough, title track, ‘Ambivalence Avenue’ put me in mind of an American children’s television programme, one captured by an innocent, retro-styled recording exuding an ineffable charm.
“I think that, not just with that track, but also with the track ‘Lover’s Carvings’ as well, there’s an intention to get a bit of ‘Sesame Street’ in there: where kids play out on basketball courts in this idyllic, blissful Bronx! It was also really influenced by [Brazilian pop artist] Marcos Valle. The album that really influenced me is ‘Previsão do Tempo’“.
Moving on to talk about specific influences, I asked Wilkinson about the legendary ’70s trio, America, and did they have any significance on the development of Bibio?
“I’ve got a couple of America LPs that I’ve picked up from charity shops and they’re the kind of band I wouldn’t rave on about, but there’s maybe something within their sound that I’m trying to capture. Sometimes, influences aren’t necessarily stuff you listen to; it could be stuff heard as a kid, on films, or on radio – but it’s not necessarily at the forefront of your attention. With someone like Marcos Valle, that was something I was obsessing about”.
On listening to Valle’s recordings, it becomes clear that Wilkinson is not so much trying to recreate styles, but sounds. So who else makes his hit-list?
“Around that time, I was really getting into J-Dilla, MF Doom, Madlib and you can probably hear that in a couple of tracks. ‘Fire Ant’ is very much an ode to Dilla. The chopped-up vocals that you can hear on that track, that really stems from being a Daft Punk fan.” The mention of the French duo sends Wilkinson into hyperdrive as he begins enthusing at great length about their album Homework. “I got it on cassette from the library about a year after it was released and their track ‘High Fidelity’ has got all these chopped-up vocals that don’t make sense. That just blew me away. A lot of the time, people just presume I listen to lots of hip-hop and stuff like that but really, Daft Punk have been in my musical history along with a lot of other mid to late ’90s French House stuff. There’s something in that music that’s got a tinge of melancholy, but also an uplifting feeling.”
That sentiment itself seems to sum up a lot of what Bibio is about, but how does he feel being included amongst Warp’s output which famously features artists like Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus and Two Lone Swordsmen? “It’s a dream come true,” he admits. “I’ve always been a huge fan of the label and I think that I’d have to admit to being influenced by Warp artists than any other label.”
It isn’t just music that spins a heady web over Wilkinson, he also gets his kicks from nature, “It would seem odd to me if anyone didn’t have an interest in nature, because you are nature; you are a part of it. I get a lot of elevation from going somewhere natural, like going camping, going out somewhere wild, climbing mountains. I think my favourite places in the world are river and valleys – places like that which are mossy and green – places that are really psychedelic.”
Drawn in comparison to Wilkinson’s experience of clubbing, roaming England’s green and pleasant land would seem to be his preferred option: “I’m not much of a clubber,” he confesses “I don’t dig everyone gurning and the hot, sweaty, dark environment and spending 30 minutes queuing up to get a can of Red Stripe. I don’t really go to concerts much either…I’m more of a hi-fi person.”
With leanings towards the natural, Wilkinson eschews computer plug-ins in favour of his guitar commenting that “You can sit on the garden with that, it’s quick and accessible”. Most sounds on the album come from outside the computer due to Wilkinson’s continual search to escape the digital, sequenced and rigid. “While I use the computer to record, it’s like an advanced recorder where I can capture things, move them around and edit them. I’m not really a computer-based musician as such.
My music doesn’t have that clean, in-the-box sound: it sounds a bit softer and a bit rounder, production-wise because I use microphones. I’ve got these old tape-recorders that I use to degrade stuff – that’s how I get that sound.”
Unlike contemporaries like Autechre who work solely in-the-box, I was keen to understand how Bibio will be presented live – purely because the music is a mix of a traditional band setup alongside the electronic.
“That’s a good question and it’s one of the problems of electronic music: it’s created with machines as opposed to live manipulation of an instrument. My music is somewhere in-between because some of the tracks aren’t electronic at all, they’re effectively a band recording but with one member. So a future plan is to try and get a band together to make some of my songs happen in the live situation. The important part is to get them sounding right because I spend so much of my time making my music sound a particular way with lots of studio trickery, it’s not often possible to do that live.”
Because of this obstacle, it’s clear that Bibio will not be performing tracks live any time soon. But without live shows, how do you promote a record?
“The live show isn’t going to happen soon as I’ve got a lot to work on, especially if I’m to get a band together: it’s not something you can put together in a week. So for the moment, I’m going to be doing DJ sets just to get out there and get used to it all. I’ve been really enjoying putting this DJ set together – I’m playing a lot of exclusive tracks so it’s not just a case of playing tracks that people have heard. I’m not a DJ, I’m a musician!” he says somewhat cheekily, before going on to explain that he’s already working on his next album.
“I just write music constantly so when it comes to album time, I’ve got lots of tracks to choose from. I don’t sit down and write and album, I just sit down and write tracks. Usually it ends up at 50 tracks by the time I’ve cut it down.” This would explain why Wilkinson doesn’t have the time to learn flamenco guitar or to learn how to be a ‘proper DJ’ using turntables instead of a laptop. And as the nature-loving, analogue-friendly musician points out: “Being on Warp has become a full-time job in itself…”
May 10, 2009
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Akira the Don – Interview
By Ash in Interviews
On Sunday May 10th and across the internet, I had a chat about hip-hop, Vanilla Ice and Bill and Ted comics with a hungover, G.rap-fruit eating Adam Narkiewicz, where I discovered a soulful ambition driving this lucid, multi-faceted talent.
Born in West Brom, raised in Wales – on the playground is where he spent most of his days…
So you support West Brom, then?
ATD: My Dad does. Birmingham City Football Club, mayne.
You’re a bluenose?
ATD: Oui. Couldn’t tell you shit about what’s going on since ‘98 though. No time.
Script writing, rapping, writing, drawing – what don’t you do that you wish you could?
ATD: I wish I could play the piano like Billy Joel and I wish I could do astral projection. And I’d like to ride a horse.
Apart from Chris De Burgh, you appear to have excellent music taste – but what’s the beef with The Beatles?
ATD: Deaded! The beef is dead, I am happy to say. It was born out of rage and frustration and more the fault of their Britpop era copyists than themselves, la. That and Paul McCartney wound me up
Generally? Or with his music?
ATD: Oh, all of it. His stuff I found unbearably saccharine, and his face annoyed me. I was emotional as a youngster.
Emo?
ATD: Haha! Emo didn’t exist then. It was a different time
Aye – it were all METAL
ATD: HM Gear catalogue
Skid Row.
ATD: Youth gone wild. And Pornograffitti, mayne.
Extreme? You fancied Nuno.
ATD: My mum did.
Extreme III was shite.
ATD: It was a terrible shame. I bought it, all excited, on vinyl and it sucked balls. It was Queen’s fault. That Freddy Mercury gig went to their heads. That and Brian May saying they were the new Queen.
I reckon you’re the UK’s most political rapper. How say you?
ATD: Depends what you mean by politics I guess.
Everything, really. Not just Labour, Conservative etc. You have an opinion that’s not balls.
ATD: I do have an opinion, and I am not bothered about disguising it behind nonsense I suppose. Hunter S Thompson always used to say: “Politics is the art of controlling your environment.” He was onto more than he knew, I think.
Did you stay up to hear the results of the US elections?
ATD: I did! I drank a whole bottle of Jack Daniels that night. It was disgraceful.
That is very Guns n Roses.
ATD: I was at my girl’s friend’s house. They had an election party, and I was yelling “HE’LL STILL MURDER THE BABIES!” at her Dad. But I was pleased cos I like it when people get to be happy for a short while – even if it is a hollow kind of joy.
Which life are you currently trapped in amongst the Omega Sanction?
ATD: Good question. I think that since I figured it out, and completed The Life Equation, that I am out, but I might be in another one and not know.
What’s your favourite tune on the mixtape?
ATD:‘Steam‘, ‘The Omega Sanction‘; ’18‘ too and…well it is all pretty fresh!
You sound pretty loved up and happy on this record…
ATD: In places, yeah – prolly the newer stuff. Life is as kind as you let it be.
I know you lost a lot of data when recording it – you held it down though.
ATD: Man, I had to restart the mixtape AND the album twice. I lost what was going to be the second album in New York. 30 odd songs fell off a table. Bang! Start again, and it came out much better so I am glad.
Can you briefly sum up the writing process?
ATD: In general?
Please. Tis vague I know.
ATD: It is often different these days. A lot of times I’ll be cycling and a song will appear, pretty fully formed, in my head, and I have to sing it into my phone and try not to crash.
Or I wake up with one in my head; or I’m going to sleep and one appears and I have to get up and record it; or I do the Tom Waits thing and sit down at the keyboard and hit chords; or I make a beat, and something appears over the top; or I’ll hear a record, and a new song will appear on top, like a harmony, so I sample it. I bet there’s other ways I’m not thinking of.
Songs are everywhere. The air’s full of them, they’re like ghosts. I get what Stevie Wonder means when he says he doesn’t write them; he gets them from God these days. Cos it’s pretty much like that.
Are you religious at all?
ATD: Man is a religious animal, but I don’t subscribe to any, no. I suppose I have my own.
Akiraism?
ATD: Haha – that’s a good one. I am very interested in religion. I think the ancient wisdoms we have forgotten must all be hidden in the major texts, and I intend to study them all.
Could you have managed to fit any more songs on the CD?
ATD: No. I left off about 2 CDs worth. There are songs that didn’t make it that some might say are better, but I was trying to create something that flowed, had structure, and told a story, even if its not that obvious at first. It’ll make more sense when The Life Equation‘s out.
Are you a gearhead?
ATD: As in techie, or man wot does lots of drugs? I’m too poor to be a gearhead, but I love what I have, and I’m interested in what’s out there. I get excited when people show me new stuff like Ableton 8. And Trigger finger wot Joey2Tits (collaborator) showed me the other day, wot is fucking awesome and will change the way I make musics.
What instruments do you play?
ATD: I play rudimentary most stuff. Like, enough to paste together into a song. A bit of guitar, bass, keys, xylophone…that sort of thing. Nothing with any great level of skill.
Auto-tuning. Please explain the prevalence of this effect on the Omega Sanction.
ATD: Is there a prevalence?
Well – on a few tracks.
ATD: I hadn’t noticed. Oops. Ummm. its FUN!
Thought you’d be listening to Cher a fair bit, that’s all.
ATD: Haha! Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder. I swear they were using autotune. The backing vocals sound like robots. I love that shit, though it’s not for everyone. I wish Mef hadn’t bothered, but I am of the arrogant opinion that i can do whatever the fuck I like!
Any predictions for Hip-hop in 2009?
ATD: Drake‘s looking good; Eminem‘s looking bad; Wayne will be better than any of us I expect. Big Narstie‘s album is amazing and Max B will release a classic.
What’s the beef, chicken and lamb with TV?
ATD: Fuck a TV.
Could be tricky.
ATD: Just cut a hole in it, and line the thing with steak. EW, nah. TV though, really it’s like having a load of dickheads in your front room that won’t shut the fuck up, or talk about anything that isn’t poisonous bullshit.
But what about The Wire and stuff like that?
ATD: I download it. If something’s good, I’ll hear about it. And if I have time, I’ll download it, and enjoy it projected on my wall
RIP John Martyn. Good call on ‘I don’t wanna know…’ When did you first hear that tune?
ATD: Thanks! That was Joey2Tits actually. It was snow day when he sent it. I listened to it all day long and wrote it a fortnight later after it had settled into my unconscious. I must have heard the original tune when I was little: my Dad had it.
Who’s your favourite Streetfighter character and why.
ATD: Dhalsim for the same reason my favourite character in Soul Calibur is Voldo: they’re awesome, scary fuckers!
If bankers rhymes with wankers. MPs rhymes with…
ATD: MPs spent cheese…spent fleas. Poor bastards, its like a feedback loop.
Speaking of wankers – is the forthcoming Life Equation gonna make Interscope go for that?
ATD: -It’s gonna make them vomit in their mouths
You must still be sore from that. I know I would be.
ATD: Nah, not at all. Serious. I got so much out of that experience. It confirmed a lot of stuff I knew, I met amazing people, spent a year travelling America, got a studio. Lucky mud.
I see you still got love for Vanilla Ice.
ATD: Hells yeahs. I was really sad when I saw him dissing himself on that Virgin ad.
I thought ‘Roll ‘em up’ was really underrated.
ATD: What was that?
I can’t see it on youtube.
ATD: youtube has gone to shit lately. They took all the Wang Chung videos down!
ATD: Wow. This is gangster. Wow.
Yeah – his flow’s pretty good, right?
ATD: Always. He looks fucking terrifying. He just did a dope wiggideywizzack thing. Biggedy bone its oooown!
I love that triplet shit.
ATD: Yep. No-one does that shit anymore.
The Life Equation – so you believe existence is not futile?
ATD: How can it be?
How can it be futile?
ATD: Yeah.
I don’t know – I was inferring from the title. I thought you’d adapted the anti-life equation.
ATD: I did
Now I’m confused.
ATD: Haha. Well, I considered the opposite.
You considered that life was NOT futile?
ATD: I have always been of that opinion. I am the opposite of my father, in that respect. I see awesomeness wherever I look, and the potential for awesomeness; like the way some sculptors see the figure in the rock before they carve it.
That relates back to your approach to songwriting, really.
ATD: Yeah. It all links. Everything fits together perfectly, no matter how hard you analyse it.
Zen, baby.
ATD: Word.
Was Jack Kirby a big influence on your art?
ATD: Yeah, definitely. More so as I got older. I actually used to love that Rob Liefeld shit when I was 10. I have no idea why. You look at it now, it doesn’t even make sense. Just loads of ugly scratchy lines. Kirby’s work had such grace, it flows like poetry. Kirby was a true artist.
Why, in your opinion, are comics still so popular?
ATD: Comics as an artform or superhero stories?
As a medium and as something people continue to buy.
ATD: It’s a unique way of presenting something, of transferring an idea or an experience. It can do stuff no other medium can, so it has to exist because it has value. And the stories people tend to tell within its confines are the oldest stories know to man.
Unlike TV?
ATD: Well, TV has its place but its very limited. Comics have but one limit, which is the imagination of the reader.
Are you becoming Darkseid?
ATD: What’s the opposite of Darkseid?
I have no idea. Lightseid?
ATD: Haha! Well, it’d be nice to be becoming that. He had a dope helmet though…
What can we expect when the album drops?
ATD: You can expect humanity to evolve, all at once
I had someone else say that recently.
ATD: Who was that?
The guitarist from Blk Jks. He said he was searching for the ideal song to dissolve all matter.
ATD: Wow, I respect that.
It’s a bit Bill and Ted though.
ATD: I shall have to listen to them. I love Bill and Ted. They had a brilliant attitude. You ever read Evan Dorkin‘s Bill and Ted comics?
Nope. Bought the soundtracks tho.
ATD: GOD GAVE ROCK N ROLL TO YOU!
Would you be Bill or Ted, then?
ATD: Was it Bill with the hot Mom?
Yeah
ATD: Ted, then. Get the comic, it’s amazing.
Is it different to a graphic novel?
ATD: Yep.The guy who did Milk & Cheese did it. He’s a g.
Gangster or genius?
ATD: Both. Double G. You can get the comics collected in a graphic novel. I recommend highly.
What can we expect from an ATD live show?
ATD: Ooooh, sheeeeeeeeee-it. This one’s gonna be awesome. We’ve rethought the whole thing, stripped it all apart, and put it back together in optimal form for the night specifically. It’s gonna BANG!
What’s this I hear about Zombies?
ATD: We’re filming the I Am Not Dead (YEAH!) video cut scenes.That’s a zombie film. I wrote 6 months ago. It’s gonna be ace. Me and my band are le resistance fighting the zombie plague with super-soakers.
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
Akira The Don & Fiends play Dawn of The Don.
Live at The Gaff, London, May 29th
You can order the 74 minute, 23 track, Omega Sanction on CD or MP3 now.