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Considered by many to be the first lady
of breaks, 10 Sui aka Tracie Storey has
developed into a genre leader as both a
deejay and a producer, regardless of gender.
Darin McFayden aka Freq Nasty foretold her
success in 2000 when he said that, "there
are precious few DJs who play more quality
music that holds the floor without resorting
to the obvious than 10 Sui. Breakbeat and
electro are in safe hands and her own productions
will only heighten her rep."
 Listening
to her talk about her music, one can easily
look back a decade and see why she got into
music in the first place and, furthermore,
see that not a thing has changed.
"I started going out when I was 16
and that was like 10 years ago. Then friends
started getting decks so we were going out
partying and I was like, 'Wow', this was
my thing and I couldn't imagine not been
involved in music".
Initially, getting involved in the blanket
saturation that was house music, it soon
became obvious that she intended to go where
natural progression would take her.
"I didn't realise it at the time but
when I was going out at the time, it was
always the more breakbeat-orientated house
music, so when breakbeat came along it was
like, that's what I've been into anyway,
that's what had always resonated with me.
I was spinning at home and it wasn't like
'I wanna become a DJ', but just something
that happened. I think you can tell if it
happens in any other way, to want to be
a DJ for any other reason is kind off strange."
Having being part of the dance music explosion
of the early 1990s, Tracie views the rise
of breaks over the past two years with great
interest.
"What's happening with breaks now
can be compared to what happened in 1991
when dance music went out and exploded,
in parties and raves. And I think breaks
is doing this 10 years on, just in a more
controlled way. Breaks was always going
to be big, it has influences from so many
different genres - techno, electro and even
trance sounds, hip hop beats, and house
and tribal flavours. Everyone can find something
in the sound or the beat that they relate
to. Even when you don't consider the brilliant
finished product of breaks in its own right,
its success was going to be a lot more widespread
than, say, when drum 'n' bass first came
onto the scene".
 "Eventually
I hope it will match house and trance…
I hope so, 'cause I really don't like trance
at all and it's fucking huge. I think it
has the capability but it could take a fair
while before it started to match it with
the larger genres".
Reading a 10 Sui bio reads something like
the tale of a label nomad, having worked
with Botchit & Scarper, Ninja Tune,
Warp and TCR.
"I think its reflective of the variety
in the areas of the music I'm producing.
I couldn't say that I am just into the techier
stuff nor the more bassline stuff, coz I
really like the oldskool-like 2-steppy breakbeat
style, but also produce the techier, more
melodic, bit darker kind of style. So I
don't really want to tie myself down to
one style… that's not really me. Basically,
I was associated with Ninja Tune a few years
ago, I never released anything on Ninja
Tune, just DJed for them and did their radio.
I am more associated with TCR and Botchit."
Getting hired by TCR to mix a CD on their
'TCR 50' release ensured the 10 Sui skill
was finally seen by those that had somehow
managed to avoid her turntable skills, which
Kid Koala once described as "rearranging
furniture in your ear".
"TCR 50 was really good ... basically
TCR is one of the best breakbeat labels
and one of the most famous as well, so it
really put me on the map in a more significant
way.. [and] kind of validated what I was
doing on a personal level as well."
Watching 10 Sui's set in Sydney, I am struck
by how busy she is behind the decks, with
her electro breakbeat feel making her stand
out from the sound of the night  (she
played with Stanton Warriors, FreQ Nasty
and Kid Kenobi).
"That's part of my roots, the oldskool,
electro and electronica. I used to do stuff
with Warp Records and a lot of those acts
and labels influenced those sounds. I like
my set to be my sound not just my records.
I'm very much into all the channels, the
gains, all the effects, just to add a little
of a live element to what I'm doing as well.
I do like to tweak a tune to the point of
subtlety where you may not even know that
I'm doing it sometimes."
Although not the basis of her success,
it is worthwhile noting that 10 Sui's success
has been in a genre where only a few deejays
are female and, of those, even less produce.
"There aren't that many females in
DJing, period. Let alone in breaks, look
at any of the genres and you'll see that
there always far more guys doing it. It's
so fucking competitive. It [being female]
has got its advantages and its disadvantages.
It's not an easy path to take because there
is so much competition. Basically, it isn't
easy but that's more the nature of the business
than being female. It's not like guys DJing
have it easy…its all really fucking
competitive. I don't have another option
though because I can't even contemplate
doing something else, so I just battle out
the tough times and enjoy the good ones.
Coming to somewhere like Australia is fucking
amazing and makes all those long days sitting
in the studio where you are struggling to
make ends meet, worthwhile".
Tracie has primarily been known as a DJ
but is increasingly moving into the production
fold.
"We've got tunes, we've been producing
quite a few things… it just takes time,
people only see them when they come out
but it just takes time for them to come
out. I've been working on tunes the whole
time, and am trying to carve out a niche
that is formed around my own style rather
than go where someone else has been for
the past three years.  In
a DJ set I can always go down a number of
genres. I could go down the techy hard route,
a more electro-inspired set, or bring the
oldskool sounds. I kind of want to hold
that same quality in my production".
On being asked whom she thinks is taking
breaks forward, Tracie responds that, "Adam
Freeland is doing a really good job of getting
the breakbeat sound more into the foreground
into the sort of comnmercial sort of things,
Rennie [Pilgrem] is very much carving out
a niche in the more tribally house breakbeat
tip, along with Mark Pember [Meat Katie]
and BLIM. Everyone's doing there own thing
at the moment and there's lots of good tracks
coming out because of it. Also Koma &
Bones, I really fucking rate what they do".
I'm chatting to Tracie during her third
trip to Australia in three years. We are
lucky enough to witness her next Australian
tour in July, in conjunction with local
breaks label Nine09.
"Everyone is really enthusiastic here
and everyone that does it here is there
for the right reasons, and big respect to
people like Kid Kenobi who really works
at taking it forward and makes possible
for us to make it go off when we come out.
We don't hear a lot of Australian breaks
overseas, just Nubreed and Andy page. Would
be good to hear more actually."
Tracie describes herself as a DJ who produces,
rather than a producer who DJs, a definition
she is going to find hard to defend in light
of her impending release schedule
"I've got a track with Tamsin, 'Transcendance',
on the '4 Vini' album on Botchit; a 10 Sui
remix of 'Irresistible' coming out on Holland's
Moving Target Recordings; a 10 Sui remix
of 'Gospel According to Mant', which is
a track by New Zealand's Salmonella Dub
outfit, which will be on Virgin; [and] a
10 Sui vs Dub Species (aka West Palm Beach,
Florida's Freakin crew) track, 'LSD', which
comes with the original mix and a mix with
Draco and Scott Weiser from Jackal and Hyde".
Phew!
10 Sui plays live
on www.groovetech.com
every second Wednesday of the month 4-7pm
GMT, and writes a monthly column in Sydney's
free weekly '3D World', which appears online
at www.threedworld.com.au.
You can also check www.elitemm.co.uk,
www.thefatclub.com
and www.tcr.uk.com
for more info about 10 sui, including upcoming
DJ dates which will include gigs in the
USA and Australia before year's end.
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