Hi Harry, one of my favourite DJs ever. You make my tingle when you place that first record on the decks. You been doing good things for the world of music for such a long time…
“Well thank-you. Well yes my first record came out in 1995 on Strictly Rhythm, so next year I’m celebrating 15 years in the music business”.
A great run in the music industry and still at the top…
“I guess so yeah, and considering I’m only 36 it’s been a big chunk of my life! “
Are you having to keep looking over your shoulder at all the new blood coming through?
“I’ll be honest with you Dan, my approach to music is the same now as it was in the mid-nineties and I don’t really think in terms of who’s on top, who’s at the bottom and whose left or right. I do it because I love to make music. But having said that, you also have to know what’s going on out there so I do listen to a lot of different styles of dance music and all music.I know whose coming up, I know who’s doing what and I know whose on top of their game as far as specific genre’s go, but my approach to music has always been taking a little bit of this and a bit of that – and putting a twist on it and then putting it out.”
So you’re constantly listening to the new people coming through…?
“Oh hell yeah! The cream always rises to the top and there’s always a different generation of kids that are making dope beats like we were and still are making. I’m a beat guy. I always listen to the beats, and there’s kids out there with their laptops just doing it right now which is really cool. If anything, going back to the original question, it actually inspires me and put’s a light under my eyes and say’s to me ‘Yo get busy, these kids are doing it lets roll!'”
Is there anybody out there at the moment who you’re really taking notice of?
“I really like Alex Celler right now, I really like what he’s doing. He’s doing a lot of dirty/Grimey massive and dope funky beats. Also there’s Santos, I really like what Santos is doing too. For me, that reminds me of the vibe that we felt when we started making beats whereby there was a lot of different tones and a lot of different drums and it was really dance-floor beat music.”
Let’s talk about the industry. How are you finding it at the moment?
Well you know as well as I do that it’s all over the place right now. I hate to sound like a veteran, but I remember going into record stores and there was only a few record labels out there – but now you can’t keep track of anything. Half of your working day is spent blogging and checking out blogging sites so you can see who is doing what and where, when and how – and also finding out what the new bootlegs are. I would say that its 60-70% bootlegs right now. It’s gone really ‘Wild West’ if you know what I mean.”
How many records are you being sent each day on download?
“Oh my god – honestly, I would have to say between 50 and 75 downloads a day of links which lead into other links etc…it’s hard to keep track. I think the way that promotion is done now has made it lose its’ thing because there’s just so much.”
We spoke to Kenny Dope and and he said he remembers when he would just receive a box of records and he could then just pick out the ones he wanted. Would you agree that it’s out of control?
“I agree – and going along with what Kenny said, it was more of a physical thing back then. Now it’s just e-mails and links, and to be honest with you, I’d just like to be able to drive to a record store, but the problem is record stores don’t really exist around me anymore.”
There’s a lot to be said about the old style…
“Yeah, they were good times, but if you look at it in terms of the timeline it was short-lived. I was still getting vinyl promo’s 3 years ago…”
So are you not playing off a laptop at the moment?
“No not yet, but I’m thinking of doing the transition in the early part of next year. In January I want to start playing all of my music off a laptop. I still use CD’s right now, but in January, laptop – here we come…”
Let’s talk inspirations. You’re Columbian yes?
“100% Columbian”.
Is that where all your soul comes from?
“Yes part of it is that, but I was born in 1973 and growing up in the New York Tri-state area meant that we were listening to a lot of different music. We were listening to Punk, Disco – we were listening to everything, so I feel very fortunate that I was growing up in a time when the music wasn’t so segmented. You could put on the radio and hear everything. We grew up on everything from Run DMC to Blondie to Afrikka Bambaataa to Journey to Billy Squire to Metallica, you name it. It was cool man and a really fantastic time to grow up as far as music goes.”
Let’s talk about your special relationship with Jose Nunez and Erick Morillo. I would say that you consider those guys’ as brothers rather than colleagues, is that right?
“Absolutely, more like red-headed step brothers!”
How would you describe Jose?
“Well Jose, on a musical level, is a perfectionist. Everything has to be perfectly right. And that shows when we collaborate together because it doesn’t sound like I did it or he did it, it sounds like we did it. I really go on gut instinct and what I feel at that particular second and I don’t necessarily question myself as much as he does, but when he and I collaborate, there’s a certain magic that I can’t really describe. It’s a mixture of his perfection and my gut instinct. It works out, and he really is an awesome person.
The good thing about having friends like that is that you can be in a creative space and be able to say ‘Woah man, that sounds fucking horrible – what are you doing!?’ – and that could be directed towards me, or Jose or Erick and it’s all good because we really, really talk to each other and we know that we’re not being judgemental, it’s just for the better of the project.”
What’s the dynamic with Erick like?
“If you put the three of us in a room, it’s just hilarious. We have a lot of fun, and don’t ask me how, but we actually get stuff done. That’s an interview in itself: ”How do the three of you get things done when you’re in the studio together!’ Ha!”
Let’s talk about Subliminal. It must be an important label for you because you’ve been there since the start. Tell me how you feel about Subliminal as a label.
“The best way I can describe it would be, Ok you remember when you lived at your mother’s house right? And you remember when you moved away and then came back to that house and the feeling you had when you went back? Well Subliminal is kind of the same thing, it’s Ground-Zero in terms of music for myself and Jose and Erick as well. We took a leap of faith and we believed in each other and we believed in the talents that we had. We believed in Erick’s drive and his position in the music business and we really leapt forward and we kind of put the blinders on and we just did our thing. We had a lot of fun doing it, and it will always be ground-zero when it comes to making music for me. I had a couple of years before that, when I was doing stuff on Strictly and other record labels, but I really want to say that that’s where Subliminal was where my career started in the music business.”
Let’s move onto your own record label – ‘Bambossa’. What’s happening with that at the moment?
“I’m just sticking to my model which is ‘yo have fun, make some dope beats, put them out and the people will either love them or hate them”. I am stepping the game up a little bit, I’ve just finished a record with Trailer M who is Mariah Carey’s lead background vocalist, and we did a record called ‘Is This Time Goodbye?’ which will be coming out in February. I’m also doing a lot of tracks which are more minimal, Techno, Acidy underground type of music. I’ve always been all over the place when it comes to genres and styles of music especially dance music and I’m influenced by a lot of things. Sometimes I don’t know that I’m being influenced. Bambossa was set up as a label to put out all my different stuff which perhaps wouldn’t sit right on Subliminal. I’m using it as a point of departure, I’m trying to create a trademark for myself and a brand – something that can be exploited a bit more than just tracks. I’m really gung-ho about it and I guess I’m putting all my eggs into one basket with Bambossa now that I’ve teamed up with Strictly Rhythm because they’re doing all my manufacturing and distributing and it’s great to have them as a partner.
Are there any tracks you’d like to give us the heads-up on that you’re doing at the moment?
“Well definitely the Trailor Rhymes track ‘Is This Time Good-Bye’ that’s on Bambossa, the one coming out on Ovum called ‘The Future’ is definitely worth keeping an eye out for – it’s a monster, you’re going see people like Karl Cox and Pete Tong playing it and it’s going to be a massive record. Supposedly it’s coming out this month, but I think it will come out in either December or January. Also another record on Bambossa that I did is called ‘La Luz’ which is latin for ‘The Light’, and that is a really kind of acid trip record with a lot of unexpected twists and turns. It’s coming out in the first week in December.”
And finally Harry. America is pretty much fucked up now yeah?
“We have to get the healthcare system going in this country, we’re fucked right now. We are so fucked – and I’m paying close to £700 a month in order for me, my wife and my kids to get healthcare, they’ve raised it by 20% like it’s no big deal, no explanation or nothing. I mean, if someone with no money breaks a leg or an arm they’re fucked because they can’t afford the healthcare. You guys have it much better in the U.K. There, I’ve got that off my chest!”
