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photo: tristan shouldice
LISTEN TO MIX: download listen
EDDIE C INTERVIEW
Hey Eddie. Thanks for the mix and taking the time out to answer some questions! How’s
the weather up in Canada – as good as here in New York ? It’s snowing all weekend …
Hi Len. Ha! Yeah, it seems ever since I moved out here some 10 years ago from Southern
Ontario, the east coast seems to have been getting more snow than here! That being said, it's
been sunny and mild lately, making for quite pleasant spring skiing conditions.
Have you been enjoying the Winter Olympics and what are your favorite events?
I should be watching them more than I have! We don't have TV so the only chance I get is out
at the pub. I do try and watch the hockey.
On to music … after your dope tracks on labels like Jisco, SleazyBeats and Endless Flight,
it looks like there is starting to build quite a bit of hype around your record releases. People
are catching on for sure. Are you starting to feel it?
I appreciate the kind words! It's amazing, but I experience none of it first hand. I've played a
couple of really great parties on the west coast recently, but around here it's just not happening
at the moment. The town I live in is quite a transient one, being a ski town. The population is
always changing. It's pretty much impossible to develop a "scene". Not to say I don't love it
here! But if more people were into the music it would be paradise!
How would you describe your musical journey to where you are at the moment making slo-
mo disco/house bombs?
Again, I'm flattered, thank you! I think most people my age learned about music through the
radio, usually by making tapes. Radio was such an important medium to learn about new
music, and I made tapes from the mid-late 80s well into the early 90s and still have all of
them. I used to go record shopping in Toronto starting around the Acid House era, but I was
buying all kinds of music. I'm sure you've heard this before, but at that time, and even more so
earlier, dance music was so much less categorized than it is today. I've been into so much
different music over the years. I've just been doing whatever feels right at the time.
Your music sounds quite loose and for me the perfect tempo and blend between hip hop,
house and disco. Do you have a certain approach to your productions and what kind of
gear do you like to use?
Thanks! I was very much into making Hip Hop for most of the last decade. It's only very
recently that I started putting a 4/4 kick in there instead of the Boom-Bap:) A lot of the approach
of the early beatdown stuff was still like making rap instrumentals. "High on Love" on the new
Karat record is a good example. Honestly I think that's what was happening in Hip Hop at the
time anyways. Jay Dee was doing a lot of 'constant kick' stuff. It was very natural moving into
Disco-type music. Kinda backwards eh? I just do whatever feels good. Whatever feels
correct at the moment. I would like to write music in a much different way than I do. I am very
limited by my archaic studio, but fortunately not by my record collection!
I heard that you are also into collecting records. How did that happen and there any cool
recordshops left where you live?
You know when you walk into a good record store and you immediately have to pee worse
than you ever have in your life? Happens to me every time. Just the other day a friend of mine
and I went to Recordland and we got out of the car and I think subconsciously we were racing
each other to the door, cuz whoever gets there first will have the first picks at whatever massive
collection of $3 12"s Armand bought that week. I've always been into vinyl. I love everything
about it. The way it sounds, feels, smells. The thrill of the hunt! I couldn't do without it.
When did you get into recording your own music?
Same story as lots of people. I started with tapes, making pause edits of my favorite parts of
songs that were popular at the time. I used to repeat the part of "Peter Piper" by Run DMC that
had only the Mardigras beat. I used to repeat the beginning of "It Takes Two", the funky parts of
"Pump up the Volume". Stuff like that, just because I wanted to keep hearing it. I used to freak
out over loop records back then, like 900 number or stuff like that. I had a Simon Harris record
that had loops of all the great beats from the late 80s. Yeah, I just gave props to Simon
Harris! I loved scratching forever too! I still have all the old DMC vhs tapes.
As far as making my own music, I always had terrible Yamaha keyboards growing up and
wasn't able to write anything I was happy with until I got to high school. We used to use a
Roland JV-30, an Ensoniq EPS and Cubase. This was between 92 and 94. It was a great
time to be creative because the music was changing so quickly then. I took a long break from
writing and didn't get back into it until '02 when I went to visit some family in Port-au-Prince. My
friend there was making Dancehall and really bad Trance. He burned me a copy of the
program he was using. I'm still using it, but it's very limiting. Since then I've acquired a few old
synths and drum machines and some percussion instruments, but still using the same shit
program. It's kind of nice to not have so many options I guess.
You mention percussion, do you record any other live instruments over your drumtracks or
samples?
I do sometimes yes! I've recorded lots of completely original material, but none that I'm ready
to play for other people quite yet. I play a lot of the synth parts and bass lines, sometimes all
the way through with no loops, always without quantizing. I sometimes add handclaps,
shakers, congas, various other things, but I have a terrible microphone so the sound isn't
always the best.
What current producers are rocking it for you?
Dam Funk, Ray Mang, Theo Parrish, Andres, Harvey, Anton Zap, Omar S, LTJ Experience and
Riccio, Smith & Mudd, Disco Deviance, Social Disco Club, The Revenge, Mark E, The Mole,
Madlib, so many...
What releases have you got in the pipeline and should people be looking out for?
I did a remix for Sean Brosnan which should be out now on Need Want with a Ray Mang
version on the a-side!
Karat 41 "Wonderful EP" - this was supposed to be my first record should also be out this
week or next...
I have a record with Home Taping is Killing Music in about a month, a new 7 inches of Love,
and a few more in limbo at the moment:)
What 5 tracks did you listen to today?
Dorothy Ashby - The Moving Finger
MaryLou Williams - Praise the Lord
Woods Empire - Universal Love
Smith & Mudd - Le Suivant (album)
Dam Funk - Toeachizown (album)
You also worked for a record shop, when was that and how long for?
Yes! That was about 4 years ago at Goldy Music in Victoria. I would work at a record shop in
an instant again if there was one close by. Nathan Jonson (Hrdvsion) worked there at the
same time. Too many good stories to start talking about it now. It's the ultimate social
environment. You know that scene in "Rockers" in the crazy record store? That's kind of what is
was like;)
Are you into vintage motorbikes? I think I've spotted some real nice Norton or Triumph
bikes with your name ...
I like to think that I am, it's actually just a loose fantasy of mine inspired by"Rockers". I'm way
more into skiing.
What is the link of you blog again?
www.redmotorbike.blogspot.com
Would you like to give a shout out to anyone?
To my beautiful wife Brena!! To all my friends back home in Ontario. To Brendan, thanks for
buying my records! To everyone still buying wax and to all my skier friends who won't be
reading this.
Tracklisting:
1. Travis's record player doesn't work
2. Smith & Mudd - Wem (Claremont 56)
3. Riccio & LTJ - Laughable (Hidden History)
4. Linkwood - Nectarine (Prime Numbers)
5. Dam Funk - Rollin' (Stones Throw)
6. The Russell Brothers - The Party Scene (instrumental)
7. Mark E - White Skyway (Under the Shade)
8. Destroyers - 'Lectric Love (Lucci Capri Edit) (Messalina)
9. Daniel Wang - In the Street (Balihu)
10. Mr. Chinn - Mr Chinn Gets it Together (American Standard)
11. Positive Force - We Got the Funk (Sugarhill)
12. One Way feat. Al Hudson - Music (MCA)
13. Fast Eddie - Can You Still Dance (DJ International)
14. Trus' Me - Sucker for a Pretty Face (Prime Numbers)
15. Prince - Lady Cab Driver (Warner Bros)
16. Man Friday - Love Honey (Vinylmania)
