Hailing from Middlesbrough, Appo has been on the scene since day dot, Establishing such clubs as "Havana" in the acid house 80's and the legendary "sugar shack" in the 90's.
These days, Appo has gone back to his soulful and disco roots and apart from being as busy as ever in the studio with original material and re-edits he runs regular nights at "The Medicine bar"
Fingers on the pulse, here's a mix for May with some choice cutz.
Hello all, and welcome to another edition from Sir Vinyls online crates. This month features a Sheffield great, a couple of artists that, as a collective, are known as Jube. Having heard these at a one off gig I was DJin for, as an interim between the nights hosts of bands, these guys truly stood out from the crowd.
Everybody on the night was good, don't get me wrong. However, every once in a while, certain artists manage to grab those ears in full swing, playings melodies and sounds that make those hairs stand on edge as you stare and listen in full awe, of what can only be described as rare, and undoubtedly astonishing, raw talent.
Here we have the description as on their SoundCloud page, alongside links to their Myspace too. So be sure to turn up that hi-fi, follow their links, and prepare to feel the same amazement as I did, not only when I first heard them, but everytime I hear their sound. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only, Jube.
‘Jube’ is a fresh new band from Sheffield. They are a soulful, funky outfit with expressive, acoustic guitar driven songs and a tight live sound. They are already receiving amazing response from audiences at gigs and rave reviews in local press. BBC Radio Sheffield has recently been giving the band regular airplay as well as other radio stations in Sheffield, Bradford and even Hamburg! DJs based in London, Chicago and Athens are playing Jube tracks in their sets as well! Recently Toddla T has remixed Jube's track 'Everything' and played it twice on BBC Radio 1!! Also, it was available to download on Annie Mac's blog!
They have had some fantastic comments on their myspace page from artists such as Stuart Zender and Nick Van Gelder (original ‘Jamiroquai’ members) who love their sound! Mozez, who provided the vocals on the first two ‘Zero 7’ albums, also loves their material. Please visit ‘Jube’ online to check out six awesome tracks as well as photos, reviews and gig dates at: www.myspace.com/julieandbennett
Julie Clarkson on lead vocals and acoustic guitar has a beautiful, soulful voice and writes most of the material for the band. She used to perform as a solo artist, as well as in a Sheffield Funk band called Salty Yet Sweet.
Bennett Holland on backing vocals and keys used to play for ‘Weekend Players’, Andy Cato of ‘Groove Armada’s’ project and toured the States and Canada promoting their album ‘Pursuit of Happiness’. He also used to play for Richard Hawley while he was promoting his first EP & Album. He has also played with Sheffield artists such as Frank White, Dizzy Club, Pete Simpson, Chris Walker and many more. Recently, Bennett has played studio sessions for local producers Toddla T, Groove Assassin and Jonny Montana.
Darren Campbell on bass used to play along side Bennett in ‘Weekend Players’ and tours with Errol Brown of ‘Hot Chocolate’. He also plays bass in local Soul project ‘Bare Knuckle Soul’ who have released an EP and played numerous gigs in London including two shows at The Jazz Café supporting Omar.
Richard Storer on drums has played in bands with Bennett since they were eleven years old including a Sheffield Acid Jazz band called ‘The Trance Plants’ in the late 90s who supported The James Taylor Quarter and Hamish Stuart from The Average White Band. Richard also plays in a Rock band called ‘Fire Suite’ who play live up and down the county.
‘Jube’ produce a timeless, classic sound with gorgeous vocals the warmth of a Fender Rhodes, a tight and funky rhythm section and above all great songs!
For all those that attended, here is a video clip of the Pseudo afterparty that we held down at Dirty Little Secret studios, where I and Fradaja did a mammoth stint on the decks - notice the sunlight, it's around 8am and it's still going strong!
Huge thanks to all those that attended - massive respect
As a founding member of Surrey’s Diversion Tactics crew, Jazz T has more than proven himself over the years as both a talented DJ and an astute producer. From the dusty-fingered beats of DT’s debut 2002 album “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop” to the unapologetically raw tracks heard on T’s new solo project “All City Kings”, the former UK ITF DJ champion has consistently remained faithful to the true-school Hip-Hop blueprint he first discovered back in the 80s. This unwavering approach to his craft has led to Jazz working with a diverse selection of like-minded individuals, from Bronx-bred underground icon Percee P to gifted homegrown mic-wrecker Kashmere.
Currently keeping busy supplying the beats at London’s respected open-mic event End Of The Weak, Jazz T recently tore himself away from sifting through old sci-fi soundtracks for new sample material to talk about his new album, production techniques, and future plans.
It’s been six years since the release of the first Diversion Tactics album “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop”. What are your thoughts looking back on that project?
We didn’t initially intend on doing an album at all. We’d dropped the original Diversion Tactics EP and had got together a tour with J-Zone and one of the guys who booked us for a show was Rob Luis from Tru Thoughts. Our manager passed him a copy of the EP and he was really interested in our music. Rob wanted to put us out as one of the first Zebra Traffic releases, and he already knew me from doing cuts on Mark B’s first EP with MCM and Big Ted.
After the tour we had a proper meeting with Rob and he told us that, at the time, he wasn’t really up for doing just 12″ singles and EPs, he wanted us to do a whole album. So we really had to get it together. Fortunately, me, a guy called Optiv, who was from a drum & bass crew called Cause For Concern, and Zygote had all been making a lot of beats together for quite a long period of time. So we gave the beats to Chubby, Barron ACJ and Squeaky and then talked about the direction of the tracks.
We’d already been doing a lot of shows together so we had a strong chemistry as a group, but I’d say the whole album was kinda thrown together, but I think that gave the project a real spontaneous feel. I think when you plan too much it can take away from the natural vibe of the music you’re making. We never actually thought we’d ever have the chance to record an album, so a lot of energy went into “Pubs, Drunks And Hip-Hop”.
At what point did you make the transition from being a DJ to considering yourself a producer?
I started DJ-ing when I was 15-years-old. I originally lived in Watford, then I moved to Birmingham, then I came to Surrey. I had a couple of mates at school who had turntables, not Technics or anything, they were just straight-up hi-fi decks, but I got into DJ-ing through that.
I soon started doing pause-button tapes and multi-tracking using a couple of cassette decks, which is really when I’d say I first started trying to produce. At the time samplers and studios were extremely expensive, so I really had to work with the equipment I had. I’d say I was about 16-years-old when I actually started thinking like a producer in my head with the intention of going somewhere with the music.
How would you say your production style has developed over the years?
The Diversion Tactics album was the result of fifteen years of being into Hip-Hop, so the sound of the album reflected the music we came up listening to. But if you listen to tracks like “Hong Kong” and “Yanking Off”, you can also hear the beginnings of the music we’re making now.
In terms of the beats, we’re still using breaks and always will use breaks. On occasion we’ll sample Zygote drumming, but we’re still using that live drum sound that you’ll find on an old break. We were heavy on the jazz tip on the first Diversion Tactics album, whereas now we’re sampling stuff from anywhere.
Obviously my production techniques have become more advanced, but we’re still working within that boom-bap true-school sound. We’ve got a lot better as producers and engineers and we’re able to do a lot more, so that’s apparent in our sound now. But the motivation behind the music is still the same.
You just mentioned that you’ll always sample from breaks in your music – how much is digging for old vinyl still a part of what you do?
Digging is still a very large part of what I do. Basically, whenever I see a record shop, I’m in there. I actually work in a record shop in Guildford, so I’m surrounded by records four days a week anyway (laughs). We’re lucky enough in Guildford to have two collectors record stores, which I spend a lot of time in, so we’re kinda spoiled. If there’s something that I know I want and I want it quickly, then I’ll buy it off the internet. But the excitement of actually digging for records and finding stuff no-one else has is still a big part of it for me.
Where do you stand on the debate surrounding producers downloading material to sample from the internet rather than going out and digging for it the traditional way?
A lot of people just haven’t got the patience nowadays. A friend of mine who makes drum & bass was telling me the other day how he’s just downloaded thirty gigs worth of samples. I’m of the attitude that I’ll always dig, so personally I don’t download stuff to sample. I’ll always sample from either live instruments that we’ve recorded or breaks that we’ve found. I won’t limit myself from only sampling from vinyl though, because if you find something on CD that’s worth sampling you should do. But at the end of the day, if you’ve got skills, whether or not you’re able to go out and dig shouldn’t really hold you back.
Is there a particular idea or concept behind your new album “All City Kings”?
Well, a lot of people don’t really know who I am and I’ve never really pushed for people to know me on a certain level. I’m not the type of person to boast about what I’m doing, so I’ve always kinda been in the background doing my thing. I felt that maybe it was time for people to know a bit more about Jazz T and for me to develop myself more as an artist.
I wanted to use the new album to showcase the artists I’ve worked with in the past, either through producing or touring as a show DJ. So that’s why you hear everyone on the album from Percee P and Tim Dog to Kashmere.
“All City Kings” was a way of me showing what I’ve achieved in my career so far while also making a tight Hip-Hop album and defining myself as an artist in my own right as opposed to just being known as a DJ.
How much input did you have on the lyrical direction of each track?
To be honest, I just let everyone do their own thing really. I felt that the tone and sound of the project had already been set by the beats I’d chosen to use. Because I’d already worked with everyone on the album previously, I was confident that I could let them all do their thing and it would come out the way I was hoping it would.
Considering the mainstream popularity of Hip-Hop today, have you even been tempted to take your music in a more commercial direction?
I make music because I love music, but at the same time I also make records to sell records. Now, in terms of me making something that’s formulated to appeal to the masses, it just wouldn’t work. When it comes to making pop stuff that the masses love, that’s a skill in itself, so even if I tried to produce those type of records I really don’t think that I could do it.
Although a lot of people knock the more commercial stuff, to make something that appeals to everyone across the board does take something. So I don’t think that’s a direction I could ever go in, not just because it’s not something I believe in, but also because it’s a skill I don’t think I have.
Plus, I think producers who do flit between whatever’s trendy at a particular time cut their shelf-life as they end-up not really standing for anything, as they alienate their original fans and the newer fans are only interested for a short time until the next trend comes along.
What advice would you give to young producers getting into the game today?
I’d definitely suggest that they take the time to study music and listen to what’s come before them as that can only have a positive effect on their own production. I also think any young producer should spend some time digging, looking for breaks and old records, not necessarily to limit themselves to only sampling from vinyl, but just to have that experience. Also, as a producer you really need to have a picture in your head of what you want the end result of a track to sound like. It’s no good going into making a track with absolutely no idea of where you want to go with the music.
An obvious question here, but if you could produce your ultimate posse cut, which artists would you want to collaborate with?
I won’t mention any of my own guys as they’re obvious choices, so we’ll leave them out for the time being (laughs). But I’d definitely have Bionic of London Posse on there, Kool G. Rap, Godfather Don, Freddie Foxxx, Roots Manuva, EPMD and MF Doom. I think that’d be a nice little line-up.
So what’s next for Jazz T?
The plan with Diversion Tactics has always been to do another album and we’re now about halfway through recording the new project. It’s sounding nice and I’m really happy with it. All the tracks are done so now Chubby’s just working on the lyrics. We were trying to get the album out this year, but then Chubb started writing for another Bobba Fresh project, so we’re looking at next year now.
Me and Zygote are doing a project with Kashmere, which as a piece of music is some next level business. We’re also doing a Boot compilation, as a lot of the singles that came out on the label have never been released on CD. So we’re putting out an album that will include previously released Boot tracks from artists like Robot Boy and HUG, plus some unreleased stuff from Kashmere, Verb T and Louie G.
Hey all, my skills are to be prevailed on Urban Soul Radio (urbansoul.ru) on Friday the 19th of March, 5pm UK time. Tune in for a fine slelection of hiphop and esque beats. Then after that, I'll be playing down @ Sawa in Sheffield - come chk it out!
Captain Sensible (born Raymond Burns, 24 April 1954) is a singer, songwriter, guitarist (and sometimes bassist) who grew up in Croydon, England, and co-founded the punk rock band The Damned in 1976. After leaving the band, he reinvented himself as an alternative pop singer with a rebellious, self-conscious image. His signature headwear is a red beret.
He was born Raymond Ian Burns in Balham, London. Before joining The Damned, he was in a covers band called Oasis. He was also in a tribute band called Punk Floyd.
The Damned
Originally a member of the Johnny Moped band, Sensible joined The Damned in 1976 on the suggestion of his work colleague Rat Scabies, the band's drummer, filling a number of positions during his tenure (including bassist, lead guitarist and keyboardist), and eventually becoming the band's main songwriter following the departure of Brian James. He left in the 1980s to concentrate on solo projects, but rejoined in 1996 after Scabies left, and co-wrote Grave Disorder, the band's first new studio album for 8 years, in 2001. He continues to tour with the band today and they released their latest album So, Who's Paranoid? on 17 November 2008.
Solo career
Sensible had a UK number one hit in 1982 with a cover of "Happy Talk", the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from South Pacific, featuring backing by the Dolly Mixture; this was later sampled for rap artist Dizzee Rascal's 2004 song "Dream".
Other songs which became hits in the UK and various European countries were Rap parody "Wot?" (sampled in 2000 by Brazilian rapper "Gabriel o Pensador" in the song "2345meia78"), the anti-Christmas "One Christmas Catalogue" and anti-Falklands War "Glad It's All Over". After quitting A&M Records he continued recording for various independent labels, including Deltic Records and Humbug Records. He has also toured with his solo band Punk Floyd.
His recording of "The Snooker Song" from Mike Batt's musical The Hunting Of The Snark was used as the theme music for the BBCgameshowBig Break, and he also wrote and performed a song called "Brain's Theme" for the movie Skinned Deep in 2004.
In September 2006, he formed a new British political party known as the Blah! Party."Politics is dead," he said in a statement. "The British public aren't voting because the parties are totally ignoring their opinions. At the moment, the only real method of mass protest against this is by not voting, which is why voting figures continue to fall.
"But we believe that voting is an important part of the democratic process, and we want the Blah! Party to be the party of protest; a channel through which the people of the U.K. can vent their dissatisfaction at nonsensical everyday things, and protest against the government and the current crop of political parties."
The party entered into a sponsorship deal with Seabrook Crisps in September 2006.
