We speak to the originators, Soul of Man.
You set up one of dance music’s finest ever labels in the late 90s. Your compilations, own releases and tunes from your roster that include The Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts, A-Skillz, Lee Coombs and The Drumattic Twins – Wow. Justin, what have been your personal favourite tunes over the years and what were the tunes that were important and groundbreaking to the whole scene you’re the king’s of?
“When the Plump DJs’ ‘Scram’ came out it was a very exciting time, the sound was fresh and powerful and everyone wanted a slice, but equally all our early Soul of Man releases – ‘Gonna Keep On’, ‘Love & Hate’; ‘Between The Eyes’ caused a stir and stuck some funk into the early breaks scene. Classics such as the Drumattic’s ‘Feelin’ Kinda Strange’ and the Krafty & A-Skillz remake of ‘Gimme The Breaks with Kurtis Blow back in the studio was massive.”
The whole breakbeat sound – it mixes up funk, hip house, electro – what made you delve into this infectious music in the first place? What clubs did you start partying out at, what DJs did it for you back then, what was the inspiration for Finger Lickin’ – why did you want to start a label?
“Jem and I initially met in ’95, I was a DJ and Jem had a studio, whilst my passion lay mainly with house, Jem’s was with funk. In fact it was when we heard the Freestylers’ early releases on Freskanova – we both thought this is amazing. It had all the elements and freedom of a sound that appealed. We had previously been releasing tunes on another label called Spirits of Inspiration, but now we had the inspiration to start something fresh and use Jem’s art talents to brand the label. Jem did an original illustration for every 12″ sleeve – this really helped to establish the label. We went on to start up a weekly Thursday night at the Dogstar in Brixton, it was a roadblock week in week out. We invited all our favourite DJs to come down and play – the Kahuna boys, Cut La Roc, The Freestylers, Barry Ashworth, Freddy Fresh… it was a total mash up of styles and Friday mornings were always a write-off! Slowly the sound began to spread and we ended up getting gigs in Australia, Europe and all over the UK, it was all very exciting.”
You have spun at some amazing parties. Fair to say you are absolutely huge Down Under! The first ever ‘Field Day’ in Australia where you DJ’d in front of 10,000 people must have been a blast. Zooming over to New York to DJ with hip hop legend Kurtis Blow, the Snowbombing events up in the mountains in Austria… quite a trip over the years?
“The day to day running of a label can be tiresome, there is no avoiding the admin, but the payback is huge and it comes in the form of travelling the world. I dare say, many moments have been lost in my memory, I’m banking on them flooding back in my senile years. I can see it now – in a rocking chair, smirking, then cracking up as I remember the madness!”
Jem, your artwork on the covers is just fucking incredible. Where did you learn to come up with such amazing work?
“I’ve always been drawing – I did a degree in graphics and animation many years back and as a kid always wanted to be an artist of some sort. During my teens I got seriously sucked into music – buying records and jamming in bands and during my art school years it fully took over – I spent all my time making music. It was an inspirational moment when we realised we could make the artwork a big part of the label – you’ll remember at that time, the 12″ market was still awash with anonymous white labels and we were the first independent label to start treating it seriously and spend time and money on our look. For me it is a great fortune to be doing both the things I love – music and art.”
The Plumps – nutbags eh?
“The Plumps have always been a huge strength to the label and have unquestionably produced some pace setting anthems. They have inspired hundreds of producers to step up their game and remain a huge pull worldwide. Answered like a true politician!”
What have been the highlights DJing this summer? Some good festivals?
“We love the festivals, and as ever, we managed to spend most weekends in a field somewhere. I have been going to Glastonbury – the mother of all festials, since the late 80’s and never missed one, but after the previous muddy years I was getting the fear. However this year was sunny and the spirits were very high. We had an amazing set outdoors on the Friday night – a sea of nutters. ‘Bestival’ was muddy and only for the debutants or the headstrong! ‘Bloom’ was soggy too, but great fun. ‘Get Loaded’ in London was off the hook, our 10 years tent swelling to explosion – the gig was incredible and finally ‘Beachdown’ in Brighton was great.”
You’ve done some commendable work for charity earning thousands for the likes of Oxfam and the Tsunami relief…not many DJs and labels go to such trouble…
“We managed to raise about three thousand pounds at a Spring Break party we did at the Key in London, it was a classic night. We all felt so strongly about the atrocities in Thailand etc. so were pleased to help.”
Every DJ worth their weight in gold must have one of your records always in their box. James Zabelia, Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Fatboy Slim, The Freestylers, Adam Freeland and Sasha all love you – you must be very proud?
“We have now released 100 singles, the diversity of our musical output has touched a variety of DJs, which is great. The more that DJs can stop thinking of us a breakbeat label the better, we put out quality dance music that all sorts of DJs can play.”
So the release ’10 Years of Finger Lickin” – three CDs – Vinyl Vaults, Classic Cuts and Future Funk. Talk us through each CD…
“Basically all the biggest and best tunes. Over 3 hours of audio treats from the Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts, Soul of Man, A-Skillz, Lee Coombs, The Drumattic Twins, Slyde and more. The distinctive label artwork is also in full display in a spankingly cool box-set with a specially commissioned sixteen-page booklet, making it a true collectors item. CD1: Vinyl Vaults – all the early anthems that put Finger Lickin’ on the map, CD2: Classic Cuts – brimming with
Plumpness and CD3: Future Funk riddled with current and hot new exclusive tracks – all mixed together by the boys behind the label, us , Soul of Man.”
Tell us about the forthcoming tour of the UK….
“We are hitting ten clubs in ten major cities; Blowpop in Bristol, Musicbox in Manchester, Fabric in London, Audio in Brighton, – you’ll have to check the
website for all the dates www.fingerlickin.co.uk“
And finally, you have some great new campaigns for a huge array of artists about to happen… what are gonna be the biggies…
“We still have some Plump DJs singles from their recent ‘Headthrash’ album, an artist album from the Drummatic Twins, a great single from Slyde and a very hot bigbeat-esque track from A-Skillz called ‘Happiness’.”