Fin Greenall, who is the voice and heart behind Fink, often gets mistaken for other people.
At the BMI Awards in the US, a ‘roomful of gangstas and playas’ were convinced the Cornwall-born, Bristol-raised Englishman was a lawyer, and not a songwriter picking up an ‘American Urban’ gong – one of three BMIs he received for his work with John Legend on the soul singer’s Evolver album.
In Berlin, clubbing capital of the world, they think he helps run a small minimal techno label. In certain London circles he’s known as the hardworking insider whose past roles at DefJam, Sony Music, Talkin’ Loud, and Source saw him work with a range of artists longer than the horizon. At the BBC, they imagine Fink as perhaps the only musician who has played both the Electric Proms and the actual Proms (was that really the same guy leading a 120-piece orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in an ‘immense’ cover of Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine?).
In record company circles, he’s the producer who worked on the first demos by Amy Winehouse and the writer who’s been crafting hooks for Professor Green. In big-room booths around the world, he’s the internationally-renowned DJ and Ninja Tune stalwart who finally hung up his Sennheisers with a valedictory set at London’s Fabric in 2003. ‘My skillset just seemed so old compared to these guys that could DJ for six hours without one high-hat out of place using Ableton or something,’ he notes admiringly.
Who is Fin Greenall? All of the above.
Yes, the now-Brighton-based musician acknowledges, he has done – does do – all of those things. ‘But none of that is as important as how I feel when I write songs like "Fear is Like Fire" and "Perfect Darkness". The Fink thing is my main thing.’
As a kid, the one thing of his dad’s that Fin Greenall wasn’t allowed to touch was the old Martin acoustic guitar. ‘It was his one possession where he said, “everything in this house is owned by everybody – apart from that.”’ But with age – and the burgeoning of his son’s skills as a player – came a relaxation of the exclusion zone: Greenall plays the Martin on the punchy, Jeff Buckley-covering-Radiohead-esque "Fear Is Like Fire". It’s sure to become a live stand-out on Fink’s upcoming, 18-month-long world tour. ‘It’s all about trying to look at fear and be optimistic – you can be really negative or fucking embrace it and use it.
‘The great thing about growing up in a house where music is a big factor,’ he continues, ‘was the fact that music being part of your life was a perfectly natural thing.’
Music, it seems, became more than that: it was Greenall’s life. He hoovered up the sounds he heard on John Peel: ‘The Cure, The Smiths, The Orb, African music, Japanese hardcore’. He embraced skateboarding, the music and the fashion – ‘it was an awesome way to grow your own culture’. At university in Leeds, electronic and dance music became everything.
‘It was definitely about wanting to be part of a revolution that I could call my own,’ he recalls. ‘A couple of friends and I clubbed together our student loans and bought equipment to make ambient techno – we were really inspired by Aphex Twin and The Orb and Moby. We were amazed at how fucking easy it was to make ambient techno. It wasn’t easy to make good ambient techno,’ he laughs. ‘But it was easy enough to make techno good enough to get us signed after six months of mucking around at uni.’
The young techno warrior was messianic.
‘I thought the song was dead, the chorus was dead, playing drums and guitar and bass was so old-school and outdated and why would you want to do that? Dylan did that 50 years ago! We should be part of this new revolution, instrumentalism, acid house, rave culture, techno – this stuff is a brave new avant-garde frontier and you should be involved.’
His ardour and his skills saw Greenall become part of the Ninja Tune family – first signed on the back of a cassette-tape demo - as artist, DJ, writer, producer, and remixer.
‘Brilliant times,’ he sighs nostalgically. ‘Sometimes you’d just have to pinch yourself. Then, other times, you wake up in Bratislava on a Tuesday morning and you’re reminded that there is hard work to all of this.’ All that crate-digging wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be either: ‘You can’t be shit!’ Greenall grins. ‘And because of the community that Ninja has worldwide, if you are shit everybody knows about it the next day. Eight years of DJing have given me an obscenely huge record collection. I just cleared out the breaks section – four crates of twelves that were total pony!’
So the wheels of steel started to fall off.
‘It wasn’t until I’d run that right the way through to its natural conclusion – I’m an international DJ on the biggest DJ label in the world – that I thought: I’m kinda over it. And it was actually working with a young artist straight out of school called Amy Winehouse that inspired me to go, “wow, songs are great! Now I get how difficult it is, and how much talent there is involved in this. It’s more of a challenge than clubbing.”’
Greenall melted down his turntables and recast them as a guitar and a stool. Metaphorically speaking. His parents were pleased. ‘My career only made sense to them when I picked up a guitar and started to sing,’ he says. ‘All of a sudden I was doing music, I wasn’t just mucking around. But in my rave days, DJing techno and breaks, they didn’t get that at all. That’s probably why I did it in the first place.
‘But I realised: if your music had songs in it, it had a much greater reach. Not in business terms, but if a singer of, say, Amy’s calibre sings over this beat, it becomes so much bigger than just a beat. I can’t get rid of my clubbing past, not that I’d want to. But the linear nature of some of my music is definitely because of all those years spent clubbing and DJing, when a very simple idea can make the best club record. And it’s the same with songs – I’m after a really simple riff or really simple lyric or melody. And it’s about keeping that beautiful moment going for as long as you can.’
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 15102 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => Finkmusic [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Fink [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-01-07 16:15:06 [slug] => fink [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Fin Greenall, who is the voice and heart behind Fink, often gets mistaken for other people.
At the BMI Awards in the US, a ‘roomful of gangstas and playas’ were convinced the Cornwall-born, Bristol-raised Englishman was a lawyer, and not a songwriter picking up an ‘American Urban’ gong – one of three BMIs he received for his work with John Legend on the soul singer’s Evolver album.
In Berlin, clubbing capital of the world, they think he helps run a small minimal techno label. In certain London circles he’s known as the hardworking insider whose past roles at DefJam, Sony Music, Talkin’ Loud, and Source saw him work with a range of artists longer than the horizon. At the BBC, they imagine Fink as perhaps the only musician who has played both the Electric Proms and the actual Proms (was that really the same guy leading a 120-piece orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in an ‘immense’ cover of Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine?).
In record company circles, he’s the producer who worked on the first demos by Amy Winehouse and the writer who’s been crafting hooks for Professor Green. In big-room booths around the world, he’s the internationally-renowned DJ and Ninja Tune stalwart who finally hung up his Sennheisers with a valedictory set at London’s Fabric in 2003. ‘My skillset just seemed so old compared to these guys that could DJ for six hours without one high-hat out of place using Ableton or something,’ he notes admiringly.
Who is Fin Greenall? All of the above.
Yes, the now-Brighton-based musician acknowledges, he has done – does do – all of those things. ‘But none of that is as important as how I feel when I write songs like "Fear is Like Fire" and "Perfect Darkness". The Fink thing is my main thing.’
As a kid, the one thing of his dad’s that Fin Greenall wasn’t allowed to touch was the old Martin acoustic guitar. ‘It was his one possession where he said, “everything in this house is owned by everybody – apart from that.”’ But with age – and the burgeoning of his son’s skills as a player – came a relaxation of the exclusion zone: Greenall plays the Martin on the punchy, Jeff Buckley-covering-Radiohead-esque "Fear Is Like Fire". It’s sure to become a live stand-out on Fink’s upcoming, 18-month-long world tour. ‘It’s all about trying to look at fear and be optimistic – you can be really negative or fucking embrace it and use it.
‘The great thing about growing up in a house where music is a big factor,’ he continues, ‘was the fact that music being part of your life was a perfectly natural thing.’
Music, it seems, became more than that: it was Greenall’s life. He hoovered up the sounds he heard on John Peel: ‘The Cure, The Smiths, The Orb, African music, Japanese hardcore’. He embraced skateboarding, the music and the fashion – ‘it was an awesome way to grow your own culture’. At university in Leeds, electronic and dance music became everything.
‘It was definitely about wanting to be part of a revolution that I could call my own,’ he recalls. ‘A couple of friends and I clubbed together our student loans and bought equipment to make ambient techno – we were really inspired by Aphex Twin and The Orb and Moby. We were amazed at how fucking easy it was to make ambient techno. It wasn’t easy to make good ambient techno,’ he laughs. ‘But it was easy enough to make techno good enough to get us signed after six months of mucking around at uni.’
The young techno warrior was messianic.
‘I thought the song was dead, the chorus was dead, playing drums and guitar and bass was so old-school and outdated and why would you want to do that? Dylan did that 50 years ago! We should be part of this new revolution, instrumentalism, acid house, rave culture, techno – this stuff is a brave new avant-garde frontier and you should be involved.’
His ardour and his skills saw Greenall become part of the Ninja Tune family – first signed on the back of a cassette-tape demo - as artist, DJ, writer, producer, and remixer.
‘Brilliant times,’ he sighs nostalgically. ‘Sometimes you’d just have to pinch yourself. Then, other times, you wake up in Bratislava on a Tuesday morning and you’re reminded that there is hard work to all of this.’ All that crate-digging wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be either: ‘You can’t be shit!’ Greenall grins. ‘And because of the community that Ninja has worldwide, if you are shit everybody knows about it the next day. Eight years of DJing have given me an obscenely huge record collection. I just cleared out the breaks section – four crates of twelves that were total pony!’
So the wheels of steel started to fall off.
‘It wasn’t until I’d run that right the way through to its natural conclusion – I’m an international DJ on the biggest DJ label in the world – that I thought: I’m kinda over it. And it was actually working with a young artist straight out of school called Amy Winehouse that inspired me to go, “wow, songs are great! Now I get how difficult it is, and how much talent there is involved in this. It’s more of a challenge than clubbing.”’
Greenall melted down his turntables and recast them as a guitar and a stool. Metaphorically speaking. His parents were pleased. ‘My career only made sense to them when I picked up a guitar and started to sing,’ he says. ‘All of a sudden I was doing music, I wasn’t just mucking around. But in my rave days, DJing techno and breaks, they didn’t get that at all. That’s probably why I did it in the first place.
‘But I realised: if your music had songs in it, it had a much greater reach. Not in business terms, but if a singer of, say, Amy’s calibre sings over this beat, it becomes so much bigger than just a beat. I can’t get rid of my clubbing past, not that I’d want to. But the linear nature of some of my music is definitely because of all those years spent clubbing and DJing, when a very simple idea can make the best club record. And it’s the same with songs – I’m after a really simple riff or really simple lyric or melody. And it’s about keeping that beautiful moment going for as long as you can.’
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [1] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10427 [date] => 2012-11-08 [artist] => Cadence Weapon [city] => Cambridge, MA [state] => [country] => US [venue] => T.T. the Bear's Place [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.songkick.com/tickets/9079799? [image_upload_id] => 3893 [created] => 2012-08-09 12:54:22 [modified] => 2012-08-13 11:00:22 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 8 [slug] => cadence-weapon-cambridge-ma-t-t-the-bears-place [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 3893 [media_type] => image [artist] => Cadence Weapon [title] => Promo Shot (Migrated) [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/cadence-weapon/cadence-2.jpg [checksum] => 1f73c81b6e92f3cbabbec40c7b7b2dc6 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 3150102 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/cadence-weapon/cadence-2.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => cadence-weapon [slug] => promo-shot-migrated-68 [created] => 2010-11-24 03:40:29 [modified] => 2010-11-24 03:40:29 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 122 [name] => United States [longname] => United States of America [numcode] => 840 [iso] => US [iso3] => USA [currency] => USD [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 117 [lft] => 241 [rght] => 242 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 72 [name] => Cadence Weapon [description] =>Roland "Rollie" Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon had never released an album, but by age 18 had become an infamous hip-hop reviewer at online indie music mecca Pitchfork, also writing reviews for Stylus and Wired magazines. He launched his own mp3 blog, RazorBladeRunner - now retired - and began remixing artists as a producer and posting his home mixes on his blog, to much critical acclaim. Early in 2005 Cadence Weapon decided to compile some of his favourite remixes and freestyles and released his "Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand" mixtape, sold only online and at shows. Canadian label Upper Class Recordings signed Mr. Pemberton on the spot. "Breaking Kayfabe"was released in Canada to instant praise and notoriety, culminating in two prized nominations; a Plug Independent Award for Best Rap Album and the Polaris Music Prize (modeled after the Mercury Prize). Anti/Epitaph Records, signed Cadence Weapon for the USA. In conjunction with Cadence's SXSW 2006 performances, Breaking Kayfabe was released in the USA March 13 through Upper Class/Epitaph. Big Dada re-released "Breaking Kayfabe" for the rest of the world and, in 2008, followed it up with "After Party Babies." He released a new album, "Hope In Dirt City" in 2012.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 3894 [label_id] => 2 [twitter_username] => cadenceweapon [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 0 [sortname] => Cadence Weapon [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:59 [modified] => 2013-01-09 12:46:55 [slug] => cadence-weapon [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Roland "Rollie" Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon had never released an album, but by age 18 had become an infamous hip-hop reviewer at online indie music mecca Pitchfork, also writing reviews for Stylus and Wired magazines. He launched his own mp3 blog, RazorBladeRunner - now retired - and began remixing artists as a producer and posting his home mixes on his blog, to much critical acclaim. Early in 2005 Cadence Weapon decided to compile some of his favourite remixes and freestyles and released his "Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand" mixtape, sold only online and at shows. Canadian label Upper Class Recordings signed Mr. Pemberton on the spot.
"Breaking Kayfabe"was released in Canada to instant praise and notoriety, culminating in two prized nominations; a Plug Independent Award for Best Rap Album and the Polaris Music Prize (modeled after the Mercury Prize).
Anti/Epitaph Records, signed Cadence Weapon for the USA. In conjunction with Cadence's SXSW 2006 performances, Breaking Kayfabe was released in the USA March 13 through Upper Class/Epitaph. Big Dada re-released "Breaking Kayfabe" for the rest of the world and, in 2008, followed it up with "After Party Babies." He released a new album, "Hope In Dirt City" in 2012.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [2] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10457 [date] => 2012-11-08 [artist] => Mr. Scruff [city] => Bath [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Komedia [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => [image_upload_id] => 17197 [created] => 2012-08-20 17:09:32 [modified] => 2012-08-20 17:09:32 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 8 [slug] => mr-scruff-bath-komedia-2 [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17197 [media_type] => image [artist] => Mr. Scruff [title] => scruff 8 nov 2012 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/mr-scruff/8-november.jpg [checksum] => 78bbe5dab36a1e9b59b71d72ff08491f [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 175370 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/mr-scruff/8-november.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => mr-scruff [slug] => scruff-8-nov-2012 [created] => 2012-08-20 16:11:52 [modified] => 2012-08-20 16:12:52 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 40 [name] => Mr. Scruff [description] =>A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff, making a name for himself under the shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records worldwide and playing countless tours and club events has cemented his now legendary DJ status; this is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.
More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of quirkiness and quality, so much so that when his range of speciality teas were launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long and illustrious history of Selfridge's Food Hall (see www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His 'CUP' tea shop in Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary travelling tea stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK. Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even people's bodies worldwide (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this phenomenon...)
But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...
Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker. As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks and loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years...
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.
I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds' LP 'Crucial Electro Volume 2'. At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it didn't occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out.
Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.
Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry Bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.
I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.
On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to late 1990's, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the Concorde 2 in 2001.
Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows such as First Priority's late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid 1990's, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the 'Hot Pot' show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester's Key 103 in 2002 for an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as 'Futureboogie' on Kiss 101, and 'Unfold' on Juice 107.2.
I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!
Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4258 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => mrscruff1 [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Mr. Scruff [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-01-08 14:17:25 [slug] => mr-scruff [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff, making a name for himself under the shadow of Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Releasing three critically acclaimed albums, selling over half a million records worldwide and playing countless tours and club events has cemented his now legendary DJ status; this is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London KoKo armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.
More than that, Scruff has established himself as a general guarantor of quirkiness and quality, so much so that when his range of speciality teas were launched they became the 5th best selling grocery product in the long and illustrious history of Selfridge's Food Hall (see www.makeusabrew.com for more tea shenanigans). His 'CUP' tea shop in Manchester packs in the punters and the now legendary travelling tea stall is a firm favourite at Scruff gigs & festivals all over the UK. Meanwhile, his wobbly potato people adorn t-shirts, brollies and even people's bodies worldwide (Ninja Tune has been sent documentary evidence of this phenomenon...)
But who are we to tell you the full-story? Over to you Andy...
Greetings! I am Mr. Scruff, DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker. As a DJ, I play across the board, including Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks and loads more. I make music that draws on these influences, with a large dose of cheek and good humour. There follows a rambling overview of what i have been up to for the last 20-odd years...
The event that first sparked my curiosity about music was in the early 1980's when, as a young 2 Tone fan, I discovered a stack of my father's original Blue Beat 7"s, including several Prince Buster songs that had been covered by my then favourite band, Madness. I suddenly realised that the new music I had been listening to had roots that reached far back, and this knowledge inspired me to explore the wider musical world which had just been revealed to me.
I encountered mixing as a 12 year old in late 1984, when a friend of mine played me his uncle's electro records, notably the Streetsounds' LP 'Crucial Electro Volume 2'. At first, I assumed that the reason for there being no gaps between the songs was to fit more on the vinyl, it didn't occur to me the mixing was a creative part of the presentation, and had been carefully thought out.
Soon after I was constructing my own crude pause-button mixtapes, inspired by the Electro compilations and various radio shows on stations such as Piccadilly, and Radio Lancashire & Southside. These shows exposed me to a wide range of dance music, which at the time was a blanket term to cover anything from electro and hip-hop to soul, reggae and early house music. Back then there were far fewer records being released each week, so DJs had to be versatile and play across the board.
As an enthusiastic young music fiend in Stockport, these stations were a lifeline to quality new releases, and exposed me to a lot of older music that I had missed. Little by little I was building a collection fuelled by this knowledge, all the while improving my DJ skills. By 1987 I was proficient at turntable mixing and editing, although I was still using primitive home hi-fi gear. In the summer of 1988 I had my first mix played on Waxmaster's show on the Manchester pirate station WBLS.
Fuelled by this exposure, I took a part time job at Kwik Save and ploughed all my earnings into vinyl. By this time I had a good knowledge of electro, hip hop, house, & 80's soul, and was busy expanding my knowledge of blues, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, African and Latin music. More pause-button mix tapes followed, as did demo tapes of my own early productions. My first break came in 1994, when I met Barney Doodlebug, a DJ/Doodler who was originally from Bristol, and now runs the international Doodlebug events. He gave me my first Manchester gig, in Dry Bar on a Sunday night, and he also passed a demo tape of mine to local label Rob's Records, which resulted in them releasing my first 12" single.
I gained regular bar gigs, as well as a short stint at Manumission alongside fellow Stockport lad Treva Whateva. Following on from this, I became a frequent guest at Headfunk, alongside residents Chubby Grooves & Tom Simba (who went on to form Groove Armada with Andy Cato). This night mutated into Eardrum, a DJ/jam night that I was resident at alongside Chubby, Mark One and Andy Votel. Other Manchester residencies included One Tree Island with Stefano, Guy Morley, Jah Conguero and Funk Boutique; and Dubism, with Guy Morley and Dom from Blood and Fire.
On the recording side, I released further singles for Rob's Records subsidiary Pleasure, as well as sides for Echo Drop, Grand Central & Cup of Tea. My work for Grand Central with Mark Rae inspired some 4-deck club performances, including friendly 'battles' with DJ Food, which introduced me to the Ninja Tune fold. My first remix was a DJ Food megamix for their 'Refried Food' box set in 1996. Then more gigs followed.
Some of my first DJ gigs abroad were with Grand Central in the mid to late 1990's, and following my signing to Ninja Tune in 1999, I did several European tours with the likes of Roots Manuva, The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation & Mixmaster Morris. The release of my Ninja album 'Keep it Unreal' also kick started my Manchester club night of the same name, borne of a desire to play exactly what I wanted, rather than having to fit in with the music policies of other club nights. After a short stint at Planet K, the night moved to the Music Box, where it remains to this day. The success of this night inspired me to take the idea on tour, so that instead of turning up with my records and playing the standard 2 hour guest DJ slot, I would recreate 'Keep it Unreal' in different venues, and play for the whole night. A similar situation occurred in Brighton, where after 7 years of regular gigs with Tru Thoughts' Robert Luis, we started the monthly Etch residency at the Concorde 2 in 2001.
Another logical step for me was radio. It was such a vital part of my own musical education that I jumped at the opportunity to guest on shows such as First Priority's late night function on Kiss 102 in the mid 1990's, as well as the many RSL stations that had one month licences. It was on these that I joined forces with Treva Whateva to present the 'Hot Pot' show. The show then progressed to the national Student Broadcast Network for a few years, and then onto Manchester's Key 103 in 2002 for an 18-month run, as well as a year long stint on the Virgin Trains onboard radio channel.. I am not doing a regular radio show at the moment, although my mixes do feature regularly on shows such as 'Futureboogie' on Kiss 101, and 'Unfold' on Juice 107.2.
I am now in a position where as a DJ I can play a lot of esoteric and unusual music, as playing for the duration of the night enables me to create a very relaxed atmosphere, before increasing the energy levels at my own pace, taking in many kinds of music along the way. Over the course of a night the music can include blues, jazz, soul, funk, 60's R&B, disco, boogie, deep house, reggae, ska, rocksteady, dancehall, electronica, electro, hip hop, african, latin, drum & bass, breakbeat, and any combination of the above. The only real criteria is that the music has to have soul!
Although I am a fairly technical DJ, it is vital to remember that the most important skill for a DJ is to play great records in the right order. Each record must complement the one before, and introduce the one that follows. Beatmatching is an obvious way of linking records, but there are other common factors, such as lyrical themes & complimentary keys that a DJ can use to aid the transition. Each piece of music has a mood and an energy level, and orchestrated carefully, you can create an atmosphere where every record that comes in is precisely right for that moment.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [3] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10565 [date] => 2012-11-08 [artist] => DJ Vadim [city] => London [state] => [country] => GB [venue] => Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=530424&referral_id=tw_uk_buyat&camefrom=CFC_UK_BUYAT_73074 [image_upload_id] => 16756 [created] => 2012-09-10 16:40:38 [modified] => 2012-09-10 16:40:38 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 8 [slug] => dj-vadim-london-hoxton-square-bar-and-kitchen [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 16756 [media_type] => image [artist] => DJ Vadim [title] => DJ Vadim - Artist Shot [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/dj-vadim/DJVADIMHEADSHOT2.jpg [checksum] => a68f43283e9e7ee67572db542b822ab5 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 39516 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/dj-vadim/DJVADIMHEADSHOT2.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => dj-vadim [slug] => dj-vadim-artist-shot [created] => 2012-04-10 10:30:19 [modified] => 2012-04-10 10:30:26 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 208 [name] => United Kingdom [longname] => United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [numcode] => 826 [iso] => GB [iso3] => GBR [currency] => GBP [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 191 [lft] => 413 [rght] => 414 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 35 [name] => DJ Vadim [description] =>Hardest working man in show business? Trouper? Tireless? However you want to put it, be sure of one thing: When DJ Vadim first heard the phrase "Don't Sleep" he obviously took it literally.
Over the last decade few people can have put so much time and energy into the culture they love. Founder of Jazz Fudge in early 1995, A&R, producer, DJ, promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter, writer, in-house producer/DJ and cohort of Latin Grammy nominees and Spanish hip hop super group 7 Notas 7 Colorez, Vadim has certainly been keeping himself busy. And that's before we even mention his DJing itself, which has seen him perform in virtually every country in Europe (east and west), all over North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, Turkey, South America and South East Asia (often within one year!). He has also performed with the likes of DJ Krush, Company Flow, The Roots, Pharcyde, Public Enemy, Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples, Kraftwerk, Ed Rush, Morcheeba and Paul Weller, as well as at events like Glastonbury and the Moscow Street Ball festival (to over 40,000 people!). To describe the man as an internationalist almost seems to sell him short.
In 1992, Vadim Peare bought a sampler and started working on the music that would become 'Abstract Hallucinating Gases' and 'Headz Ain't Ready' (both released on his own label, Jazz Fudge). Later in the year he signed to Ninja Tune and began work on his debut LP, 'USSR Repertoire'. From these early recordings came a remix LP, 'USSR Reconstruction', featuring DJ Krush, Kid Koala, Mark B and Silent Poets, plus various 12"s both for Ninja Tune and Jazz Fudge, and a mixtape and CD with DJ Primecuts (International Turntablist Federation World Champion '99 and Scratch Pervert). In 1999 there was the abstract funk collaboration LP, 'The Isolationist', produced by Vadim, scratched by DJ Primecuts and vocalled by New York avant-rappers Antipop Consortium. Relentless international touring followed with Swollen Members, then Company Flow, then Jazz Fudge, all of which led to the purchase of yet more obscure and dusty vinyls to add to an already burgeoning collection.
This all culminated in his critically-acclaimed last album, 'USSR: Life From The Other Side' in 1999. The record featured Company Flow, the Scratch Perverts, Iriscience (from Dilated Peoples), Blade and many others, and caused quite a storm in USA with the track 'Your Revolution', featuring Sarah Jones. The song was banned by the FCC (USA radio regulators) for explicit and provocative lyrics, despite Jones actually satirising the attitudes and words of the mainstream rap and r&b that could be heard pumping out of the radio every day.
To promote the record, Vadim put together a live group - The Russian Percussion - consisting of Mr Thing (turntables), Killer Kela (beat box), Blu rum 13 (MC), John Ellis (keyboards) and himself. They notched up a mere 200 shows in about 24 countries including most of Europe and North America.
Feeling tired yet? Hang on in there. Vadim has also presented radio shows for the BBC, including the Sony Award-nominated programme 'Around The World In Eight Relays'. He has toured with Sarah Jones, Killer Kela and as support and collaborator for Super Furry Animals. Oh, and he went to Latin America with the aformentioned 7 Notas 7 Colores and, and, and...
We'll stop now. Our guess is that the average human mind would actually struggle to take in everything that DJ Vadim has done in the last ten years, let alone do it. There really is only one way to revive yourself now - reach forward, slip 'USSR - The Art Of Listening' into your cd player and soak it all up. It is, after all, where he gets his energy from. And where he's putting it, too...
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 15942 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => [instagram_id] => [instagram_username] => [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => DJ Vadim [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-01-09 10:12:08 [slug] => dj-vadim [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Hardest working man in show business? Trouper? Tireless? However you want to put it, be sure of one thing: When DJ Vadim first heard the phrase "Don't Sleep" he obviously took it literally.
Over the last decade few people can have put so much time and energy into the culture they love. Founder of Jazz Fudge in early 1995, A&R, producer, DJ, promoter, record collector, radio presenter, occasional painter, writer, in-house producer/DJ and cohort of Latin Grammy nominees and Spanish hip hop super group 7 Notas 7 Colorez, Vadim has certainly been keeping himself busy. And that's before we even mention his DJing itself, which has seen him perform in virtually every country in Europe (east and west), all over North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, Turkey, South America and South East Asia (often within one year!). He has also performed with the likes of DJ Krush, Company Flow, The Roots, Pharcyde, Public Enemy, Beat Junkies, Dilated Peoples, Kraftwerk, Ed Rush, Morcheeba and Paul Weller, as well as at events like Glastonbury and the Moscow Street Ball festival (to over 40,000 people!). To describe the man as an internationalist almost seems to sell him short.
In 1992, Vadim Peare bought a sampler and started working on the music that would become 'Abstract Hallucinating Gases' and 'Headz Ain't Ready' (both released on his own label, Jazz Fudge). Later in the year he signed to Ninja Tune and began work on his debut LP, 'USSR Repertoire'. From these early recordings came a remix LP, 'USSR Reconstruction', featuring DJ Krush, Kid Koala, Mark B and Silent Poets, plus various 12"s both for Ninja Tune and Jazz Fudge, and a mixtape and CD with DJ Primecuts (International Turntablist Federation World Champion '99 and Scratch Pervert). In 1999 there was the abstract funk collaboration LP, 'The Isolationist', produced by Vadim, scratched by DJ Primecuts and vocalled by New York avant-rappers Antipop Consortium. Relentless international touring followed with Swollen Members, then Company Flow, then Jazz Fudge, all of which led to the purchase of yet more obscure and dusty vinyls to add to an already burgeoning collection.
This all culminated in his critically-acclaimed last album, 'USSR: Life From The Other Side' in 1999. The record featured Company Flow, the Scratch Perverts, Iriscience (from Dilated Peoples), Blade and many others, and caused quite a storm in USA with the track 'Your Revolution', featuring Sarah Jones. The song was banned by the FCC (USA radio regulators) for explicit and provocative lyrics, despite Jones actually satirising the attitudes and words of the mainstream rap and r&b that could be heard pumping out of the radio every day.
To promote the record, Vadim put together a live group - The Russian Percussion - consisting of Mr Thing (turntables), Killer Kela (beat box), Blu rum 13 (MC), John Ellis (keyboards) and himself. They notched up a mere 200 shows in about 24 countries including most of Europe and North America.
Feeling tired yet? Hang on in there. Vadim has also presented radio shows for the BBC, including the Sony Award-nominated programme 'Around The World In Eight Relays'. He has toured with Sarah Jones, Killer Kela and as support and collaborator for Super Furry Animals. Oh, and he went to Latin America with the aformentioned 7 Notas 7 Colores and, and, and...
We'll stop now. Our guess is that the average human mind would actually struggle to take in everything that DJ Vadim has done in the last ten years, let alone do it. There really is only one way to revive yourself now - reach forward, slip 'USSR - The Art Of Listening' into your cd player and soak it all up. It is, after all, where he gets his energy from. And where he's putting it, too...
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [4] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10580 [date] => 2012-11-08 [artist] => Kid Koala [city] => Vancouver, BC [state] => [country] => US [venue] => TBA [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => http://northerntickets.co m/detail.php?id=643 [image_upload_id] => 17066 [created] => 2012-09-11 11:09:16 [modified] => 2012-09-13 12:10:57 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 8 [slug] => kid-koala-vancouver-bc-tba [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 17066 [media_type] => image [artist] => Kid Koala [title] => Kid Koala 12 Bit Blues Tour Flyer [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/kid-koala/12bitadmat-4.jpg [checksum] => 2d42b53a93c92c243431a9e96c0239f2 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 82954 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/kid-koala/12bitadmat-4.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => kid-koala [slug] => kid-koala-12-bit-blues-tour-flyer [created] => 2012-07-11 12:17:28 [modified] => 2012-07-12 12:13:09 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 122 [name] => United States [longname] => United States of America [numcode] => 840 [iso] => US [iso3] => USA [currency] => USD [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 117 [lft] => 241 [rght] => 242 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 38 [name] => Kid Koala [description] =>Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their 'Hello Nasty' world tour.
In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome', which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called 'Nufonia Must Fall', accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release of his second album, 'Some of My Best Friends are DJs' complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as 'The Short Attention Span Theatre', which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book.
Kid Koala's most recent release on Ninja Tune was 'Your Mom’s Favorite DJ' in 2006. On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars.
In 2009, Kid Koala put together 3 'Music to Draw To' performances in Montreal for which he basically invited people to come and draw while he played records. There was no dancing allowed, but people could enjoy a free cup of hot chocolate, purchase some treats and either draw or do some writing. These events were initially created just for fun, but they became a huge success. As the series progressed, he received more and more requests for us to take our event to other parts of Quebec, North America, Europe... Even South America and South Africa...
Later that year, Kid Koala embarked on another journey, that of presenting a project called 'The Slew' – live with the former rhythm section of Grammy Award-winning Australian rock band Wolfmother. Featuring drums, bass/keys and DJs working across a truly excessive six turntables, the set featured raw guitar cuts and heavy beats that set out as a one-time-only tour across North America. Due to the high demand by fans for a return and the amount of fun the band had playing together, they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit and also appeared at SONAR Spain and Chicago. Somewhere in between their busy tour schedule the ex-Wolfmother rhyhtm section joined Kid Koala in the studio to lay down some new songs. Currently Dynomite D is working on the songs at his studio.
In late 2010, Kid Koala finsihed his latest graphic novel and soundtrack titled 'Space Cadet'. To work out the accompanying live show and gallery exhibition, he took part in an artist residence at MASS MoCA (Massachussetts Museum Of Contemporary Art) in December. The Space Cadet Headphone Concert and Gallery debuted on December 11 with 2 shows. The novel and soundtrack are set to be released during 2011 through Pigeon Press and a world tour will commence soon after.
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 4006 [label_id] => 1 [twitter_username] => kidkoala [instagram_id] => 209219810 [instagram_username] => realkidkoala [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Kid Koala [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:58 [modified] => 2013-05-03 14:51:56 [slug] => kid-koala [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In 1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the road to open for the Beastie Boys on their 'Hello Nasty' world tour.
In 2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album 'Carpal Tunnel Syndrome', which received international praise by the press for having defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own, opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a 350-page book called 'Nufonia Must Fall', accompanied by a soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of this book came the release of his second album, 'Some of My Best Friends are DJs' complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as 'The Short Attention Span Theatre', which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe, Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new book.
Kid Koala's most recent release on Ninja Tune was 'Your Mom’s Favorite DJ' in 2006. On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy guitars.
In 2009, Kid Koala put together 3 'Music to Draw To' performances in Montreal for which he basically invited people to come and draw while he played records. There was no dancing allowed, but people could enjoy a free cup of hot chocolate, purchase some treats and either draw or do some writing. These events were initially created just for fun, but they became a huge success. As the series progressed, he received more and more requests for us to take our event to other parts of Quebec, North America, Europe... Even South America and South Africa...
Later that year, Kid Koala embarked on another journey, that of presenting a project called 'The Slew' – live with the former rhythm section of Grammy Award-winning Australian rock band Wolfmother. Featuring drums, bass/keys and DJs working across a truly excessive six turntables, the set featured raw guitar cuts and heavy beats that set out as a one-time-only tour across North America. Due to the high demand by fans for a return and the amount of fun the band had playing together, they toured the North American Jazz Festival circuit and also appeared at SONAR Spain and Chicago. Somewhere in between their busy tour schedule the ex-Wolfmother rhyhtm section joined Kid Koala in the studio to lay down some new songs. Currently Dynomite D is working on the songs at his studio.
In late 2010, Kid Koala finsihed his latest graphic novel and soundtrack titled 'Space Cadet'. To work out the accompanying live show and gallery exhibition, he took part in an artist residence at MASS MoCA (Massachussetts Museum Of Contemporary Art) in December. The Space Cadet Headphone Concert and Gallery debuted on December 11 with 2 shows. The novel and soundtrack are set to be released during 2011 through Pigeon Press and a world tour will commence soon after.
[links_clean] => ) ) ) [5] => Array ( [Event] => Array ( [id] => 10590 [date] => 2012-11-08 [artist] => The Heavy [city] => Cologne [state] => [country] => DE [venue] => Gebaude 9 [promoter] => [description] => [ticket_url] => [image_upload_id] => 16903 [created] => 2012-09-12 16:57:16 [modified] => 2012-09-12 16:57:16 [year_slug] => 2012 [month_slug] => nov [day_slug] => 8 [slug] => the-heavy-cologne-gebaude-9-2 [description_clean] => [products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 16903 [media_type] => image [artist] => The Heavy [title] => Heavy Artist Shot 2012 1 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/the-heavy/theheavy-promoshot1.jpg [checksum] => 333ca971966ac881a09d97d3ec798fb0 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 76818 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/the-heavy/theheavy-promoshot1.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 1 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => the-heavy [slug] => heavy-artist-shot-2012-1 [created] => 2012-05-23 13:49:14 [modified] => 2012-05-23 13:49:21 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 230 [name] => Germany [longname] => Germany [numcode] => 276 [iso] => DE [iso3] => DEU [currency] => EUR [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 226 [lft] => 457 [rght] => 458 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 71 [name] => The Heavy [description] =>“What the hell were we thinking?,” exclaims Dan Taylor, guitarist for U.K. indie soul-rock titans The Heavy, of the band’s audacious new album, The Glorious Dead, to be released on Counter/Ninja Tune on 21 August 2012. “We wanted to make a bold statement – it’s not shy.”
“It’s over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.” As such, The Glorious Dead proves The Heavy’s most ambitious effort: Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and Gospel-soaked soul, it’s unlike anything you’ll hear this year.
The Glorious Dead builds off momentum from The Heavy’s international smash single “How You Like Me Now?,” off acclaimed 2009 album, The House That Dirt Built. “How You Like Me Now?” became the first song David Letterman’s ever requested an encore for when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter, and the trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted – and was even performed by contestant Tony Lucca on NBC’s hit show “The Voice.” “It’s become such a big tune, people ask, ‘How are you going to top that?’,” Swaby says. The Glorious Dead provides the answer with supernatural force. Album opener “Can’t Play Dead” thunders as if Jack White remixed “Ghost Town” by The Specials; “Curse Me Good,” meanwhile, balances sweet whistled hooks and acoustic strum with heartbreaking vocals. “It’s good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor explains. As such, the album’s soaring centerpiece “What Makes A Good Man?” contrasts Swaby’s gritty soul searching with girl-group backgrounds and epic strings. “Think vintage, but keep it contemporary – that’s our approach,” Swaby explains. “…Good Man?” proved the album’s breakthrough. Searching for inspiration, The Heavy traveled from their Bath, England hometown to Columbus, Georgia, hooking up with local church-trained singers and players for some Southern Gothic sublimity. Taking the material to yet another level was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs. “He’s such a talent,” Swaby enthuses.
The Glorious Dead also represents the first time The Heavy’s members – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby include Spencer Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – chose to produce themselves. To mix the results, the band first worked with longtime associate Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys) at Peter Gabriel’s famed Real World complex, then finished up with Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Björk). “Self-producing was all about being self-sufficient in realizing our vision,” Taylor says. “It’s our third record, which is when you’re judged if you’re here to stay, or sliding off the face of the earth. We want to stick around, so we took our balls out and went for it.” “I love what we’ve done,” adds Swaby. “We got our deadpan heartbreak down. This record suggests how we continue to walk among the dead – now just in a few more places, and with more of a swagger.”
[links] => [image_upload_id] => 16903 [label_id] => 5 [twitter_username] => theheavy [instagram_id] => 217232350 [instagram_username] => theheavy [link] => [listed] => 1 [sortname] => Heavy [created] => 2010-07-17 22:15:59 [modified] => 2013-05-03 14:56:03 [slug] => the-heavy [fuga_id] => [description_clean] =>“What the hell were we thinking?,” exclaims Dan Taylor, guitarist for U.K. indie soul-rock titans The Heavy, of the band’s audacious new album, The Glorious Dead, to be released on Counter/Ninja Tune on 21 August 2012. “We wanted to make a bold statement – it’s not shy.”
“It’s over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.” As such, The Glorious Dead proves The Heavy’s most ambitious effort: Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and Gospel-soaked soul, it’s unlike anything you’ll hear this year.
The Glorious Dead builds off momentum from The Heavy’s international smash single “How You Like Me Now?,” off acclaimed 2009 album, The House That Dirt Built. “How You Like Me Now?” became the first song David Letterman’s ever requested an encore for when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter, and the trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted – and was even performed by contestant Tony Lucca on NBC’s hit show “The Voice.” “It’s become such a big tune, people ask, ‘How are you going to top that?’,” Swaby says. The Glorious Dead provides the answer with supernatural force. Album opener “Can’t Play Dead” thunders as if Jack White remixed “Ghost Town” by The Specials; “Curse Me Good,” meanwhile, balances sweet whistled hooks and acoustic strum with heartbreaking vocals. “It’s good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor explains. As such, the album’s soaring centerpiece “What Makes A Good Man?” contrasts Swaby’s gritty soul searching with girl-group backgrounds and epic strings. “Think vintage, but keep it contemporary – that’s our approach,” Swaby explains. “…Good Man?” proved the album’s breakthrough. Searching for inspiration, The Heavy traveled from their Bath, England hometown to Columbus, Georgia, hooking up with local church-trained singers and players for some Southern Gothic sublimity. Taking the material to yet another level was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs. “He’s such a talent,” Swaby enthuses.
The Glorious Dead also represents the first time The Heavy’s members – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby include Spencer Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – chose to produce themselves. To mix the results, the band first worked with longtime associate Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys) at Peter Gabriel’s famed Real World complex, then finished up with Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Björk). “Self-producing was all about being self-sufficient in realizing our vision,” Taylor says. “It’s our third record, which is when you’re judged if you’re here to stay, or sliding off the face of the earth. We want to stick around, so we took our balls out and went for it.” “I love what we’ve done,” adds Swaby. “We got our deadpan heartbreak down. This record suggests how we continue to walk among the dead – now just in a few more places, and with more of a swagger.”
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[products_count] => 0 [hidden] => 0 ) [Image] => Array ( [id] => 16726 [media_type] => image [artist] => Slugabed [title] => Slugabed Artist Shot 2012 [credits] => [buy_link] => [filename] => images/slugabed/slugabed-trevortraynor.jpg [checksum] => 514c883ade8dc42810f9b75945117f48 [mime_type] => image/jpeg [size] => 105218 [external_url] => http://media.ninjatune.net/images/slugabed/slugabed-trevortraynor.jpg [image_upload_id] => [first_track_id] => [first_release_id] => [listed] => 0 [active] => 0 [processed] => 1 [artist_slug] => slugabed [slug] => slugabed-artist-shot-2012 [created] => 2012-03-26 14:24:49 [modified] => 2012-03-26 14:24:56 [embed] => ) [Country] => Array ( [id] => 229 [name] => France [longname] => France [numcode] => 250 [iso] => FR [iso3] => FRA [currency] => EUR [active] => 1 [parent_id] => 226 [lft] => 455 [rght] => 456 [level] => 2 ) [Product] => Array ( ) [Artist] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 141 [name] => Slugabed [description] =>Blending influences both classic and contemporary, from the outermost reaches of dubstep, hip hop and beyond, Slugabed has received unanimous praise for his debut album 'Time Time, released on the Ninja Tune label in May 2012.
Under his Slugabed alias, 23 year-old Greg Feldwick creates music which is at once complex, deep, thoughtful and above all distinctive. It channels the energy of the best of today's bass music, through spacey bleeps and meditative melodies to explore the outermost reaches of electronic music making today.
Originally hailing from Bath, UK, Feldwick relocated to Brighton in 2008, where he played an instrumental role in the success of local club night Donky Pitch for which he still holds a residency. The first rumblings of appreciation from his peers came at this time, from Slugabed’s initial pool of 12-inches. Releases for the Ramp Recordings and Stuff Records labels were the first introduction for many to his work, with both demonstrating his ability to combine intelligent and original production skills with serious dancefloor appeal.
Strong club and radio support followed from a wide range of respected DJs including Mary Anne Hobbs, Mark Pritchard, Benji B, Laurent Garnier and Surgeon as well as Tom Ravenscroft and Huw Stevens on BBC Radio 1.
With an already impressive catalogue of official remixes for the likes of Starkey, Eprom and Kelpe under his belt, he also created his own unofficial version of Pharoah Monch’s classic ‘Simon Says’ which devastated dancefloors worldwide. However, it was arguably his ‘Ultra Heat Treated’ EP, released in 2009 on the Planet Mu label, that propelled Slugabed into the spotlight, winning him new support and glowing reviews across the board, as well as interest from some of the best cutting-edge record labels around.
Partly as a result of this interest he was offered a chance to remix Roots Manuva’s all-time great “Witness (1Hope)” for Ninja Tune’s twentieth anniversary boxset. The result was one of the stand-outs of that mammoth collection, and made him one of only a handful of producers to successfully remix that classic cut. In fact, Roots Manuva himself liked it so much that he personally requested the instrumental so that he could use it in his live set. Almost inevitably, the album deal with Ninja Tune followed shortly after.
Since then, things have really taken off for Feldwick. He has played at the legendary Berghain club in Berlin as part of Scuba’s SUB:STANCE night, toured the USA, Australia and Asia, and remixed both Eskmo and Stateless for his new home label, as well as supplying another remix for the mighty Roots Manuva's 'Get The Get' single.
Funny, clever, referential, sometimes moving and never anything but completely himself, Slugabed is a substantial new presence in UK bass music.
With an ongoing touring schedule throughout Europe and the world, 2 new singles planned, and work on his second LP underway, things look set to stay busy for Slugabed into 2013 and beyond.
Blending influences both classic and contemporary, from the outermost reaches of dubstep, hip hop and beyond, Slugabed has received unanimous praise for his debut album 'Time Time, released on the Ninja Tune label in May 2012.
Under his Slugabed alias, 23 year-old Greg Feldwick creates music which is at once complex, deep, thoughtful and above all distinctive. It channels the energy of the best of today's bass music, through spacey bleeps and meditative melodies to explore the outermost reaches of electronic music making today.
Originally hailing from Bath, UK, Feldwick relocated to Brighton in 2008, where he played an instrumental role in the success of local club night Donky Pitch for which he still holds a residency. The first rumblings of appreciation from his peers came at this time, from Slugabed’s initial pool of 12-inches. Releases for the Ramp Recordings and Stuff Records labels were the first introduction for many to his work, with both demonstrating his ability to combine intelligent and original production skills with serious dancefloor appeal.
Strong club and radio support followed from a wide range of respected DJs including Mary Anne Hobbs, Mark Pritchard, Benji B, Laurent Garnier and Surgeon as well as Tom Ravenscroft and Huw Stevens on BBC Radio 1.
With an already impressive catalogue of official remixes for the likes of Starkey, Eprom and Kelpe under his belt, he also created his own unofficial version of Pharoah Monch’s classic ‘Simon Says’ which devastated dancefloors worldwide. However, it was arguably his ‘Ultra Heat Treated’ EP, released in 2009 on the Planet Mu label, that propelled Slugabed into the spotlight, winning him new support and glowing reviews across the board, as well as interest from some of the best cutting-edge record labels around.
Partly as a result of this interest he was offered a chance to remix Roots Manuva’s all-time great “Witness (1Hope)” for Ninja Tune’s twentieth anniversary boxset. The result was one of the stand-outs of that mammoth collection, and made him one of only a handful of producers to successfully remix that classic cut. In fact, Roots Manuva himself liked it so much that he personally requested the instrumental so that he could use it in his live set. Almost inevitably, the album deal with Ninja Tune followed shortly after.
Since then, things have really taken off for Feldwick. He has played at the legendary Berghain club in Berlin as part of Scuba’s SUB:STANCE night, toured the USA, Australia and Asia, and remixed both Eskmo and Stateless for his new home label, as well as supplying another remix for the mighty Roots Manuva's 'Get The Get' single.
Funny, clever, referential, sometimes moving and never anything but completely himself, Slugabed is a substantial new presence in UK bass music.
With an ongoing touring schedule throughout Europe and the world, 2 new singles planned, and work on his second LP underway, things look set to stay busy for Slugabed into 2013 and beyond.
| Artist | Date | City | Venue | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fink | Thursday, Nov 8th | Marseilles, FR | Espace Julien | Buy |
| Cadence Weapon | Thursday, Nov 8th | Cambridge, MA, US | T.T. the Bear's Place | Buy |
| Mr. Scruff | Thursday, Nov 8th | Bath, GB | Komedia | |
| DJ Vadim | Thursday, Nov 8th | London, GB | Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen | Buy |
| Kid Koala | Thursday, Nov 8th | Vancouver, BC, US | TBA | Buy |
| The Heavy | Thursday, Nov 8th | Cologne, DE | Gebaude 9 | |
| Slugabed | Thursday, Nov 8th | Besançon, FR | La Rodia | Buy |