Being a man
who obviously bases a lot of his work around the use of vinyl turntables, do
you think you will ever move onto digital mixing technology – or are you a keen
advocate that vinyl offers something that CDJs and mp3s don’t?I only play Vinyl, although I accept it has its
disadvantages. It's annoying getting feedback if you play an old LP that is
pressed poorly and the sound levels aren't high enough, but I really hate the
sound of crappy MP3's that most DJ's play in clubs…it's a disgrace! If you
listen to the difference between my album digitally and on vinyl, it would be
impossible to argue. Even the top quality WAV sounds flat compared to the sound
of the vinyl. It just gives the sound a warmth that most people just wouldn't
appreciate because they only know horrible digital sound. There's not many DJ's left that can even be bothered
to carry a crate of records to a gig anymore. That's just lazy.
In dance music
in particular, there’s a massive focus on the resurgence of vinyl with a lot of
people only releasing their music on 12” acetate. Is the same still to be
said for hip-hop?I personally HAVE to release my records on vinyl or I
wouldn't consider it a proper release. I think there will always be people like
me that insist on vinyl but I also release my records on CD and digitally
because I'm not trying to take a stand or trying to force anyone else to think
like me. Maybe I'm just old and stuck in my ways but I'm not alone. There's
probably more -stubborn old fools like me in hip-hop than any other type of
music because hip-hop was born out of DJ's spinning records and cutting them
up. It's such a big part of the roots that I'm sure it will never completely
die, but it's great to see the recent resurgence of young people buying vinyl!
Of course, you
must be quite opposed to the awful culture of people sending in half-arsed
vocals to hash on the top of corny house-trance pop...Yeah I have to say I'm not really a fan of 'mash-ups'
of any genre. I don't like to talk too much about stuff I don't like as It's
too easy to be negative and critical...but I have to say I'm not a fan of that
at all!
You’re keeping
it true by experimenting with the old time, true meaning of the music, by
mixing and sampling, juggling different breaks and samples...who else would you
tip off out there for their turntablism skills?Mr Thing has the perfect balance of skills, great
records (and he collects vinyl!) and knows how to keep the dance floor happy.
He's my favourite party DJ.
Out of a
career that’s seen you release a much lauded Fabriclive mix and tour with Jurassic
5, what’s been a defining moment of career highlight for you?One of the best nights of my life was when me &
Abdominal had supported J5 on tour all over Europe and on the last night we
played to 5,000 people at Brixton Academy. Nobody was there to see us because
we were just the opening act and most people probably hadn't heard of us but by
the end of our show it felt like we had 5,000 new fans as the whole place was
going crazy while we played.
How will you
also be following the album up? What else have you in store for 2012?I'm currently planning the live show with Simon (The
Simonsound). I can't bring MC's on tour due to logistical and financial reasons
so we are building a great audio/visual show that uses some of my old material,
a lot of my new album, and also some of the more dancefloor friendly Simonsound
material. Beyond that I'm just going to keep making music while I'm inspired to
do so. I keep meeting more
& more people I want to
work with so I'm very inspired at the moment, I just wish I had more time!
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