T.
S. Heritage of Boosted Recordings, Mimai, FL
How
long have you been in Miami, what brought you here, and where
were you before?
Moved down here from PA in 1997. After spending my whole life
in Pennsylvania, and too much time in the freezing western part
of the state, I decided to get the hell out of the cold and move
to where it's warm and beautiful all the time. Growing up, my
fondest memories are the summers I spent at the Jersey shore or
at my grandparent’s house in Maryland on the Chesapeake
Bay. I visited a friend who lived in Ft Lauderdale while I was
in College at The University of Pittsburgh, and we wound up going
to South Beach one night to check it out. This was in 1994 or
so, back when SoBe was just getting into gear, and before the
multinational corporations started to invade the place ;-) I realized
that South Beach was the place that was like the shore all year
round! Crucial requirement for the city I wanted to settle in
after school. Besides, the club scene here was running back then.
How
long have you been dj'ing/producing?
I've been a DJ since 1991, and started producing in 1995. My first
track was released on the Boosted Recordings label in 1998. How
did you get into it? I started playing dancehall reggae on college
radio in the early nineties. I was on the radio every Sunday for
nearly 6 years straight. Around 1994 I started receiving different
kinds of promos from the labels that were servicing me dancehall
at the time. Back then, Greensleeves was branching out from reggae
a bit, and started putting out Jungle remixe of their singles.
Something about the vibe in early Jungle got me checking out what
was going on in the UK, and since then I've been fascinated with
the UK Underground scene. Although I've long since given up on
the drum'n'bass scene as a DJ, I still appreciate the work that
is done by producers who work in that style. Drum'n'bass is still
pushing the sound envelope the most of any dance genre, it's just
a bit fast and heavy for me at this point in my life. I much prefer
the stuff the UK Garage artists are doing, which is just as challenging
sonically as stuff produced by d'n'b artists, but is a bit more
my speed.
What was the first record you bought after you decided
to start djing?
Labello Records "Jungle Massive" compilation. What was the first
peice of music you ever bought with your own money or coerced
somone to buy for you? "Kiss Alive II" ...I bought it in 4th grade.
I still remember begging my father to take me to the concert.
Didn't get to go to the show, but I caught the reunion tour fifteen
years later and had a fuckin blast at that show! Did you bang
on pots or hum fur elise as a baby? Yeah, I got a drumset for
christmas when I was like five or something, one of those little
Fisher Price ones, and drove my parents crazy with it for a few
months until I wound up breaking the thing. I picked up bass guitar
when I was like 12 and have played it ever since. Do you come
from a musical family? If not, what was your guide? There was
always music in my family ... nothing formal or anything, but
my folks had a great record collection that I thoroughly explored.
How
did you come to discover the music you're into now?
When I started to grow tired of drum'n'bass, I moved onto playing
techno for a while, and then started checking out the trip hop
and downtempo that was taking off at the time. By 1999 I had given
up on d'n'b completely, and by some chance found a set by EZ and
Martin Larner on the Internet. The tunes at that time were so
fresh ... the collision of Speed Garage and early forms of 2step
resulted in tracks that reminded me of old school Jungle tunes
... really raw, but well soulfull. The ragga basslines were there,
paired up with the jazzy/soulfull influences of US Garage and
house. Tunes like Wookie's "Down on Me" still sound as fresh to
me as ever. Unfortunately, those days of 2step and jazzy garage
seem to be over, and now I find that brokenbeat and deep house
have the vibe I'm looking for. I still check the releases by UKG
artists every week on the distributor lists, but it just seems
like the artists I still rate have all started making more broken
sounds as well. Must be another genre shift taking place.
What
keeps you in it?
The drop in certain tracks that make dancefloors move, and the
rhythms that keep me nodding my head. So long as producers are
pushing the envelope and making funky tracks, I'll be listening.
Zed Bias, BITA crew, Alex Attias, Todd Edwards, MJ Cole, King
Britt, MAW, The Streets, Darqwan, Wookie and the like keep me
striving to do better.
What's
the most embarrassing music you own that you love dearly or for
whatever reason you can't get rid of?
Well, I'm not really embarassed by any music I have. I've gone
through lots of phases, from hardcore, to new wave dance stuff,
to reggae, to Jam Bands, to jungle, downtempo, to garage ... they
all remind me of phases of my life that got me to where I am today.
I like a lot of the pop stuff that's out these days too, not that
I'd ever try to play it in a set, but Christina Aguilera has some
banging tracks! O.k., so maybe my fascination with Christina could
be a bit embarassing.
what
do you like/hate to wake up to in the morning?
I wake up to Howard Stern every day ... same as I have for as
long as I had to get up to go to work. I hate to wake up in general
... nothing is good about waking up before noon.
what
was the most craziest, most off the hook, heavenly gig you ever
played and why?
My annual WMC party, Transatlantic, is by far my favorite event,
and the thing I look forward to every year. It's the only time
all of us Americans who focus all our musical time on Garage and
it's varients get to play for a large crowd of people who are
enthusiatic about the sound as we are. We spend 51 weeks of the
year discussing the sound on the Internet, and occasionally get
to play a party with another DJ or two with similar aims ... but
during one night of WMC we are all in the same place and get to
do it for real.
The shittiest?
I played a gig in Puerto Rico that had a lot of promise ... too
bad the promoter didn't realize that the entire Western half of
the island would be on winter break from college that week-end,
and the place was empty. I literally flew two hours, and drove
two more from SanJuan to Mayaguez, to play to twenty people! Best
thing about Miami? Worst? The best thing about Miami, besides
the weather of course, is the feeling that every day is a vacation.
Plus, I'm playing clubs every week that many people only get to
play once or twice a year. The worst thing about Miami, excluding
the Third World politics that flare up every now and then, has
to be the recent influx of hip-hop commercial junk. There are
some great underground hip-hop nights that are still keeping things
fresh, but unfortunately commercial/dirty south/ghetto crap is
what the tourists come to the beach to hear these days. Your impressions
of Philadelphia? I'll always consider Philly to be my home. I
grew up roaming around it's streets from center city to south
street on my skateboard, going to hardcore shows and learning
to be an individual. It's the first city I knew, and the city
by which all other cities are judged.
What
projects you got cookin?
Working on the tunes. I have tracks coming out on a couple of
CD compilations, and with luck will be reviving the Boosted label
in the spring to start releasing tracks again. Check the site
for updates.
what's
your day job?
Information Security
What
do you like to do when you can't stand to think about music for
even one more beat? aka, hobbies?
I almost never get sick of music. When I'm not doing the day-job,
I'm working in the studio. Of course, there's always days on the
sand enjoying the beach and nights roaming around the Miami...
but most of my time is spent in the studio. Music is neither a
job nor a hobbie ... it's a necessity of life for me.
Astrology: a force to be ignored at your own peril, or
stargazing new age hippy crap?
Screw you hippy!
Goal
for this year?
Same as always ... get the tunes out there, and one day support
my self and my family through that art.
Hope
for the world?
Is that a Jesus thing? I prefer to let things happen as they happen,
everything is everything as they say.
Contact
info?
www.boosted.com has all the info
parting
words?
"Rave" is not a bad word. Shouts out to the whole Beat Camp crew,
everyone on 2-step@f4.ca, and of course my bebbee grrl13 for always
being there with her unwavering support.
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