Long time house innovator Mr C is using this lockdown time to get as creative as ever as he announces FreqStream, a vast portal presenting podcasts and live streams procured & produced by Mr.C & Future Magic. These include upfront house, techno, acid, and retro Mr.C DJ mixes, special guest podcasts, Superfreq artist mixes and record reviews to keep you dancing through these difficult days and beyond with the likes of Carl Cox, Art Department, Clive Henry, Eddie Richards and many more all locked in. Mr C has been at the forefront of the underground for decades as a DJ, label boss, producer and vital figurehead. He has a wealth of knowledge, understanding and passion that continues to burn bright and will now manifest itself in this bold and exciting new platform that allows you a widescreen window into every aspect of his musical life and rave culture itself. DMCWORLD locks down the main man himself for a world exclusive…
Where are you locked down and how are you finding it?
I’m locked down at home in the Elysian Heights of Echo Park, Los Angeles. I’m dealing with it OK. I live in steep hills so there’s very few people walking the streets around here, so I get to hike these hills with the dog each day, which helps. If I do on rare occasions see someone else walking their dog I cross the street to retain a healthy social distance. 2 metres is not enough for my liking. So I’m OK with the lockdown as I care about others. I’d be more concerned about passing the virus to other people than dealing with the illness myself, although I have got friends who have their own horror stories in dealing with SARS-CoV-2 & lost a best friend & my wife’s uncle to this nasty disease. The hardest part about dealing with all this is putting up with the deniers & conspiracy theorists online & seeing Covidiots not social distancing. Sometimes it can be quite infuriating.
What have you learnt about yourself, what are you doing to keep busy?
I’ve learned more about other things than myself. I’ve learned so much about the technical side of the internet. I’ve been keeping conducting daily guided meditations as live streams from my Facebook & Instagram Mr.C accounts. Due to the crisis there’s a lot of people losing work, friends & family & also getting cabin fever. Lockdown is driving people sit crazy. That’s why I decided to start doing these guided meditations as daily meditation not only brings you luck, synchronicity & creativity, it also take away worry & fear reducing stress & anxiety, so it’s very important work to be doing. I’m also doing my 2 or sometimes 3 live DJ streams on my Mr.C pages. Lastly I’ve been catching up with my taxes, which is taking up a lot of time.
Any new books, films, hobbies discovered or tips to share with us?
I haven’t had time to read books but I do read lots of science stuff around COVID19 online to keep myself informed. I have been watching some great movies in the evenings as well as our favourite TV shows Ink Master, which has stopped before the finale was completed sadly. The other is RuPaul’s drag race. We love that. Movies that I’ve really enjoyed have been Peanut Butter Falcon, Parasite, Birds Of Prey & the TV show I’m Not OK With That was brilliant. Tips…don’t watch the news too much, try to meditate very day & be kind to yourself as well as others.
What is it that you look for and what makes music right for your label?
Superfreq has a release lined up every 3 weeks until the end of 2020 & I’m extremely picky about what I want to release. What makes something right for the label is that the tracks are not in any way generic. I really want our artists to be artistic & think outside the box. The tracks need to be playful, mischievous, twisted & fun in a dark & sexy way & very well produced. Good is no longer good enough. Only amazing will do.
Tell us about the new Superfreq podcasts and live streams you have started – firstly, why?
When the lockdown started my Radical Inclusion remixes was just released. I thought how in the hell are people going to hear my new release? So I decided to play the EP in it’s entirety as a live stream on my Mr.C page, presenting each track & having a giggle with my fans. It was a huge success & i was shocked how many people joined me & viewed the stream afterwards too. This is how it all started. I’m not going to review each Superfreq release the Monday after they’re released in the same way from the Superfreq FB & Instagram pages. It also inspired me to start Techno Tuesday & Class of 88 as weekly streams.
One of my label partners Noel Jackson, who’s also half of East LA Tek with me is an IT & coding genius. Together we’ve just launched freqstream.com, which is podcast & streaming website. We’re releasing my Techno Tuesday weekly podcast, which are recordings of my live streams. I also do my Class of 88 live stream weekly but I’m only releasing that once a month as a podcast. I’m also about to start a new monthly stream & podcast called Mr.C’s Magnificent 7 reviewing my favourite 7 tunes of the month.
Secondly, explain all the different offerings to us and how you decided on the theme of each?
Techno Tuesday is 95% unreleased music. I want to keep it that way to showcase all the great new music I’m getting. The labels releasing music through this crisis period really need the support so I”m happy to do that. I’m releasing the podcast from each stream 2 weeks after the stream is live. This makes the live stream special for those joining in & encourages people to come back & listen to the streams before they’re released.
Class of 88 is music from 1986-1992. I’m completely staying away from the commercial hits from that period & focusing instead on the tracks that created the Acid House Revolution making this a specialist look at the roots of our music & Rave Culture much to the delight of trainspotters & chin strokers alike. The podcast will be monthly where I chose my favourite retro tracks & mix a 2 hour set from them.
Mr.C’s Magnificent 7 will be more like a radio show. I’ll be presenting & reviewing my favourite 7 tracks from a whole month of Techno Tuesday streams. Again this is to help support the great artists & labels that have turned me on over the previous month.
Next is FreqStream’s weekly guest DJ podcast called Mr.C Loves. I’m asking my favourite DJs to submit podcasts. It’s not only about how much I like the DJ’s music but also how much I love each of these DJs as Souls. Of course I’ll be having many huge names do these, but I’ll also be giving a podcast a month to local DJs who are unknown to the oder world. Not just producers either but proper DJs who I’ve come across on my travels. I’m starting off with the DJ I learned from & who was my own guru so the first podcast will be Mr.C Love Eddie Richards. After that come Carl Cox, Murf, Clive Henry, Art Department, Tara Brooks, Steve Bug & Colin Dale. I have a whole list of amazing DJs who have agreed to join in who I’ll start to announce in the coming weeks.
Lastly is the Superfreq Stream. For this I’mm be getting Superfreq recording artists to make me a podcast, which I’ll be releasing a week or 2 before their new EP / Single releases. Therefore we have podcasts from J. Gabriel & Chuffing Buffy kicking things off followed by my Wonkytonk partner Radio Rental, then Ne.Nau, then Noel Jackson for our East LA Tek release, followed by my other Superfreq partner David Scuba for his release with Lubelski.
How hard has it been to get these off the ground? How much time goes into planning each one?
It’s been a lot of hard work. Obviously as techno Tuesday is weekly & mostly unreleased music I’m spending a lot of time searching for content for this. Class of 88 means a lot of digging through my collection. Then of course getting the guest DJs to agree & then deliver their podcasts takes a lot of time & hard work. Then making sure the Superfreq artists have their podcasts together too. Noel Jackson is doing the IT & artwork side of things thankfully, which is also a lot of hard work in building the website with code, maintaining it, mastering mixes & making sure the content is the highest quality possible. Basically it’s now become a full time job. along with my A&R work for the label.
What is the ethos of Superfreq, how has it evolved over the years? How hard has it been to stay in the headlines and relevant for so long?
We’re now 18 years old & the Ethos of Superfreq remains the same. That is to provide the best possible quality events for likeminded adults to come together to celebrate life. The music at these events, like the Superfreq label needs to be forward thinking, twisted, adult fun. We at Superfreq encourage mischief. Due to our ethos it’s been easy to stay relevant for so long. Most parties seem to get stuck in a groove, which makes staying relevant harder. It’s like DJs too. Those who don’t keep it fresh & upfront are the ones that eventually get left behind. No resting on our laurels.
What will be the first thing you do once out of lockdown?
That really depends on what is allowed or what is responsible. I really miss playing great music to help people to celebrate life on dance floors big time. I”m also looking forward to getting back in the pool to swim, which is my favourite exercise. The first thing though is to see my friends & get lots of hugs.
What else have you got coming up/are you working on?
My Radical Inclusion remix package is out. I’m delighted with my own remix on that as well as those done by Radio Rental, J. Gabriel & Chuffing Buffy & In.Phrequent. My Wonkytonk single with Radio Rental Wonk is our in about 5 weeks time & in July my Spell EP with Noel Jackson as East LA Teck is out. I’m also working on my follow Mr.C EP & remixes for j .Gabriel & Chuffing Buffy for Superfreq, Ian Taylor for rEJECT mUSIC & another for my friends Joel Britton & Miss C aka Chloe Sinclair, who’s now one of our Superfreq residents & promoters.
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