By
August 2002

Q: So you used to be a part of the whole hiphop/graffiti scene. Do you still get out to tag very often?
A: [laughs] I started off in the hip hop scene and I was shit at graf, so that's why I decided to go into the music side of it. I was always more interested in the music and that's how I got into it really. I had some friends who were MCs and we started performing around the local area, doing hip hop shows and some house parties.

Q: How did your love of hiphop lead to you becoming a breakbeat producer?
A: I really loved EPMD and I was just trying to figure out how they came up with their basslines. Investigating led me to analog synths and those types of things. I looked for ways to reproduce these and the only magazine I could find that explained this was a UK magazine that used to get submissions from all these techno guys that were using them. So I'd go out and buy these records to listen to how they were using the analog sounds.

Q: Would you try to mimic what they were doing?
A: Yeah, I'd try to see how they got these sounds and then it started rubbing off on me. So I started to really get into the music and then I went out to a couple of raves. I really started getting into trance, but at the same time, I was still into hiphop. As a producer, you experiment, so I began to blend the two sounds.

Q: When did you make the switch to breakbeat?
A: At the time, I remember making some hiphop tracks that had all these electronic sounds that I liked and it got a really bad reaction from the local scene. That was before I had ever heard breakbeat. I was just mixing together my own kind of sounds and then I started catching on to the UK breakbeat sounds that were coming in, which weren't really breakbeat, more big beat. Then I started listening to triphop, because I was making stuff like that already and it just progressed from there. There was never a switch, because breakbeat all goes back to hiphop really. To me, I'm making the same beats I was making ages ago, it's just that the tempo's been raised up a bit.

Q: Each one of your tracks seems to have a different feel to it? How do you write your music?
A: Every track I make, I try to make the effort to use different sounds. I really don't want to use the same sound twice. Otherwise, all of your records begin to sound the same. I love having variety. You'll always know that the flip side to one of my 12 inches will be different from the A side.

Q: You've had a lot of great things said about your music from some of the heavyweights in the scene. Is recognition something you look for?
A: Nah, it's not something I aim for. It's not a fame thing. I just want to write good tracks. Obviously, having people who you admire sending you emails giving you the thumbs up is really inspirational. It makes me think that I must be on the right track and that I'm not just wasting my time.

Q: Is there a Melbourne breakbeat sound?
A: If there was one thing that I think defines the Melbourne sound, it's production. Nubreed's production is top-notch, Phil K's production is top-notch. Hopefully my production is top-notch [laughs]. It's really good, too, because it makes it more competitive. I mean, I hear one of the new Nubreed tracks and I'm thinking, "Fucking hell, I gotta get back into the studio and come up with something better!" [laughs]

Q: Do you think the breaks world is beginning to notice Melbourne and Australia a bit more now?
A: Yeah, I think that what Australia's needed for a while now are artists. There's so many DJs, and they're all really good, but they're not going to make as much of an impact on the world as they would if they were releasing tracks. Maybe after we have more artists releasing tracks we'll develop our own sound. It's starting to happen.

Q: When you play out, do you play live only or do you still do DJ sets?
A: Both. My next show will be live, but the week after I'll be playing a DJ set in Canberra. Obviously, when I go overseas I'll be doing DJ sets. I'm not taking my equipment with me [laughs].

Q: What do you bring with you when you play live?
A: OK, a Yamaha RM1X hardware sequencer, Yamaha A3000 sampler, Mackie 16-Channel mixer, Yamaha DX7 keyboard, Alesis sound module, 2 BOSS effects units, a compressor to round off the whole thing and I've just recently bought a Roland electronic percussion pad which I haven't used live yet, but I want to incorporate it in the future.

Q: What do you play when you do a DJ set?
A: I just play breaks. It really depends on what's getting me at the moment. Right now it's that tech sound, like Meat Katie and Rennie Pilgrem, but then I wouldn't want to play a whole set in that kind of style. I like to mix it up really. I like well-produced stuff like Hybrid, BT and Plump DJ's.

Q: So you have the remix for Forged coming out soon. Tell us about that and anything else you'll have coming out in the future.
A: Yeah, the Brothers of Dub remix will be coming out this month, and then I've got a few other remixes on the way. I just did one for C83 on En:vision, but I'm not sure when that's coming out. I've also got the Drive [Melbourne progressive artist] remix coming out on Sound Not Scene, followed by a remix for Bizarre Groove on the Circular Orbit label. Then I'll have a new 12" coming out before the end of the year.

Q: Sounds like you've been busy. Any chance of that "Red Pill" remix coming out within the next century?
A: [laughs] Yes, it will. I've just spoken to Johnny Dangerously from Freakin' and he said it would be coming out later this year.

Q: So how did you hook up with Sound Not Scene?
A: Well, in 1998 I had released an album through another label that was a bit more big beat sounding. I had one song on there that started getting massive airplay on this national radio station. This was around the time that I started working with Sonic Animation, doing scratches for their live shows and on some of their tracks. Well, they were signed to Global at the time, which is Sound Not Scene. So I had released this album and Anthony at Global had heard it and wanted me to write some more stuff and sign me up. It just took off from there.