1.The First Record I Bought
The first record I bought was the Car Wash soundtrack by Rolls Royce after I had seen the movie and loved it. One day I was shopping with my mum at Westfield shopping centre in 1982 and I saw that they had the original double gatefold vinyl from the movie for $1, so I proceeded to beg my mum until she bought it for me. I was 12 at the time, this was my intro to the funk side.
2.The Last Record I Bought
The last record I bought was a StreetSounds compilation LP from 1983, which was a big year musically for me – it featured Dayton’s The Sound Of Music et cetera. It just transports me back to the city square in 1983 like Doctor Who in the TARDIS [laughs]. I love the funk and electro coming together as one almost in a Zapp way, but mostly the memories that this comp makes me picture from those good ol’ days.
3.The First Thing I Recorded
I first started recording on my Emerson double cassette tape recorder ghetto blaster, which I still have and can be seen on 1200’s clip for ‘Hard As Hell’ all graffiti’d up. And I had a mic input on there and just went straight off some instrumentals that I had actually tape-looped myself, so that’s how it all started for me, and a little later my brother Kem got me a Tascam Porta four-track recorder which was the next step in my evolution in around ’85-’86ish.
4.The Last Thing I Recorded
The last thing I recorded and produced was the remix of 1200 Techniques’ ‘Move On’, from our soon-to-be-released EP Time Has Come. This was recorded at my home studio, as had all the 1200’s albums before (Choose One and Consistency Theory). This track remix was made more for a bar/club party vibe and is a little different from the original with a heavier, thicker bassline – even though I like both versions, so far it’s been getting great reactions on the dancefloor.
5.The Record That Changed My Life
I would have to say a turning point single and track not only for myself but for hip hop worldwide would have to be Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’, which came out in 1984, and was the first time I saw the turntablist DXT be seen as a musician with poppers and lockers live onstage. I had just got into breakdancing barely a year before, and then I saw the DJ cut and scratching with a jazz legend live – this totally changed me forever.
Time Has Come out Friday January 23 through Rubber Records.
