Continuing his recent onslaught of releases, Bristol’s hip-hop connoisseur and 45’ maestro Scott Hendy AKA Boca 45, now drops the third instalment of his 2020 Donutsseries. Teaming up with The Heavy’s vocalist Swaby and long-time friends and collaborators Bryan Munich Allstars, the release overflows with attitude from the get-go. DMCWORLD checks in for a big world exclusive…
Hey Scott, always good to catch up. We’re nearly halfway through the year and you’re about to release your third Donut, for those who don’t know can you tell us about the project and how it came about?
Nice one – thanks also for the interest in the 2020 Donuts project! It’s been a crazy time for everybody and I wouldn’t have dreamt in a million years what we’ve all had to deal with. Each year I’ve been embarking on different projects, i.e. 2017 was an LP collab with DJ Woody as “Bocawoody,” 2018 I did a series of cut and paste sampledelic 45s called “Boca Club Donuts” and last year was my semi-autobiographic LP ‘Forty Five’ on Mass Appeal. So, I planned 2020 to be based around a series of 7’’ singles (5 in total) every other month that eventually make up a full LP at the end of the year. Each 45 is stamped / numbered and strictly limited to 300 coloured vinyl copies. One side is a vocal track (a different vocal guest on each 7) and an instrumental cut on the flip. It’s lots of work as I don’t have a label this time round (out of choice) so it keeps me very busy!
What have the responses been like so far?
I’ve been chuffed to bits with how people have received them. The majority have sold via my 2020 Big Cartel Page and Juno have taken the remainder and they sell out in super quick time. I’ve also had tons of press writing nice things about them like your good selves and Radio 6 have picked up on the tracks without the push of a big shot radio plugger. I think people like the tangible / collectable side of things and I try to keep the quality control high on each one on the manufacturing side and track choices
You’ve worked with some incredible artists including Serge Pizzorno of Kasabian, Hannah Williams, Kelvin Swaby and tons more – how do you go about deciding who to work with and how do you know who will suit the track?
The majority of the guests I’ve known for a while and have collaborated with in the past. I believe that there needs to be a mutual respect for each other rather than just getting the hot new vocalist because they have a good reach on social media or playlists or any of that other shallow stuff! Craig G though (guest on Donut #2) was an MC I grew up with from the late 80s – I knew his productions from working with Marley Marl – followed him on IG and one night plucked up the courage to send him a message to see if he’d be up for being on a track and to my delight he was lovely, really up for it, got all of my reference points and recorded his vox brilliantly and quickly in NYC. It was an absolute pleasure working with him but I tend not to take that approach too often (hitting people up) – perhaps I should do it more often?!
Can you tell us about Donuts #3? It’s a bit of a beast this one, two very strong tracks.
Again, thanks for the props! “It’s All There” – I’ve been trying to get Kelvin (Swaby) on a beat of mine for about 10 years but he’s always busy away touring or recording with his band “The Heavy.” I knew what type of track I wanted to do with him with was a low slung disco / funk / hip-hop slice of goodness. It’s got a nice open drum break at the start for DJs who enjoy cutting up, and when Kelv comes in it just drops HEAVY (excuse the pun). “Hot Wheels (The Chase)” is a cover version of the B Boy classic track from 1973s Blacksplotation film “Gordon’s War.” I’ve always wanted a 45 of it but they’re really hard to find (and expensive) when they rarely show up so I figured why don’t I just do a cover version myself? So I got my good buddies back together in the studio from my football team in Bristol shortly before lockdown. The first time we got together we did “The Bryan Munich Theme” for my album Forty Five, this time it was this cover version. I believe this was take 2.
Like most musicians and artists, I can imagine you’re very keen on getting out there and touring again, what plans have you got for when lockdown is lifted?
I’m really missing DJing. The weekends seem so weird that I’m not heading off somewhere to spin my 45s. I’ve done 4 or 5 online DJ sets from my studio but it seems to be that every man and his dog is doing these now so I’m trying not to overdo that. The answer to getting out doing it again is that we simply don’t know. I spoke to Mickey who runs the Bussey Building in London which is one of my regular residencies and he’s unsure when his venue will be allowed to open again. Will it be reduced capacities? Will there be budgets for guest DJs? We just have no clue at the moment. All I know is that I’ll be ready to roll out with the 45s when asked again!
What can people do to help support artists while they can’t gig?
They can help me personally by buying these 2020 Donuts. This directly helps me to keep going and putting food on the table for my family. I know that some DJs are asking for contributions for their DJ sets but I find that a little bit uncomfortable and would rather that I give something like a hard copy in exchange for peoples hard earned money.
Finally, what is your tip to getting through the lockdown with a positive outlook?
My advice would be to find projects or to keep going with projects which you’d planned prior to lockdown. I’m very fortunate in a sense that I work fairly isolated producing alone at my home studio so not a ton has changed for me except for my DJ gigs disappearing. Stay safe, stay positive, big love from boogie down Bristol,
Boca 45 x
*****
Side A: Boca 45 ft Swaby – It’s All There
Side AA: Boca 45 & The Bryan Munich Allstars – Hot Wheels(The Chase)
Out June 1
Buy: https://2020donuts.bigcartel.com/product/2020-donuts-3
