Jamie S23 kicks off the first in a series of interviews with the legendary DJ Brockie, expect some wicked stories from way back when and some exclusive news on forthcoming projects.
Kool FM and pirate radio has been a massive part of your life for many years and back in 1996 you featured in a BBC documentary. How did the hook up take place? Do you feel it gave the right kind of representation back then?
“The BBC had to stand up and take note because our music was taking over the whole of the UK, it wasn’t a five second flash in the pan and quickly enough the media picked up on this. The original hook up with the interview happened exactly how anyone else would get in contact with the station – via the shout out line! We all thought it was a wind up to start with although we eventually get the message it was the real deal. Back then though it was the only way anyone could get in contact with Kool, we didn’t have a public address and we certainly didn’t answer to door to anyone.
We always try to represent Kool as a peoples station, we don’t swear on the radio, we don’t talk about gangs or political subject and have always had that 50/50 relationship with the authorities. We respect them and I think now we have outlasted some of the more senior officers, I’ve heard certain ex police officers say “are they STILL going?”. If I’m being honest though, both sides of the fence maintained an undisclosed respect.
We watched the broadcast at Eastman’s house, it was a fair representation and they were never going to make us out to be angels because at the end of the day we were the bad guys. People were still under the impression that our transmission could take an aeroplane out of the sky. These days though people are not so misguided.”
The documentary certainly did our reputation more good than bad.
Your record label Undiluted kicked off in 1998 with the smasher ‘Represent’. What prompted you to go in the studio and create a record label? Who taught you to produce?
“I always wanted to be a DJ and the thought of being a producer before anything else just wasn’t the way it was originally done. If you were a DJ in the early 90’s you were a DJ, if you wanted to produce you would make music and DJs would play it. Only a select few were doing a good job of being both a producer and a DJ, it certainly wasn’t a common occurrence.
Over time though things changed, I wanted to put out that ‘Brockie sound’ that I had crafted in my head and with the assistance of Ed Solo I started work on ‘Represent’.
Ed’s a trained engineer you see, he started work at the bottom as the studio tea boy and he’s never looked back since. I’ve learnt so much from him. I enjoy writing and arranging more than I do mixing down, that’s Ed’s speciality.
What you have to remember is that producing to us is kind of like a pension plan, it’s financial security. You look at artists like Rod Stewart and Tom Jones, these men don’t have to work another day in their life due to PRS!
The original vocal sample “I got to get on on on and represent” came from a KRS 1 mixtape which I picked up in Canada. It was at the end of the second side where he was being interviewed, I would love to track that interview down again.
People might not know this but a Krome and Time remix came out the ‘Kool FM presents The Fever’ album
Undiluted 07 is missing from the release schedule between 2001 and 2003, what’s the story? Is Celebrate ever coming out?
“We used to make so much music, some of it was just for fun but at the time I was really critical about my own tunes and when I played it out the feedback was that people didn’t like the vocals however a remastered version will be out on the forthcoming album.”
The release schedule for Undiluted has always been steady but consistent, did you ever consider having subsidiary labels for production that wasn’t quite suitable for the main label?
“Sonic Art was our main subsidiary and we released ‘Stampede’ along with a few other tunes on that label although it never really took off after that. Kane took it over but nothing else was done so it’s pretty much defunct now.
I had no intention of setting up a label to take music from anyone else and it wasn’t about giving away your own tracks back then. Look at it like this – it was our label with our people and our artists.
Nu Elementz & Profile released ‘Serious Shit’ on my label Octave which formed part of the ‘Serious Shit EP’.”
The VIP Remixes EP was released in 2002 and featured some very special remixes from the likes of DJ Zinc, Pascal and Ed Solo. Are you planning on doing something similar this year with different producers?
“I’ve got remixes of ‘Aimed at You’, ‘Sleeping Giant’, ‘System Check’ and ‘Turntable 1’ currently being worked on. The rest is still under wraps but the project is huge.’
Chase & Status remixed ‘Represents’ in 2007, shortly after they blew up commercially. How did the hook up take place? If you could put the Brockie stamp on one of their tunes what would it be and why?
“They contacted me asking to do a remix, I knew them both as normal guys who originally sent me some ragga jungle back in the mid 2000’s. At the time the whole ragga jungle thing had vanished off the drum & bass radar and when I heard their attempts at producing it I was unsure so taking a gamble of the remix parts for ‘Represents’ was worrying, especially as the original was such an anthem.
The remix was incredible though and I was really pleased with their take on it. Some people say it’s not as good as the original, others prefer it but regardless of that I’m happy I put it out on Undiluted.
People can knock Chase & Status but they don’t fully appreciate what they have done for the drum & bass scene. I fully respect them and if I was offered a chance to be in their situation now, I would jump at it.
I would love to remix ‘Take Me Away’, it’s one of the their best tracks to date and I still support it in my DJ sets.”
Talking of beef in the scene, what’s your take on the whole ‘Jungle Council’ set up from the 90’s? Do you feel the scene in 2015 has lost it’s way with the whole unity feeling?
“The scene was well controlled back then, it was effectively run by a group of us, the majority are still in the scene to this day. I speak for myself though when I say we probably made a mistake with the whole General Levy thing, although he was wrong for proclaiming he “ran jungle” he was taking our sound to parts of the world we were never going to reach at the time.
I’m tired of negativity in a scene that was built on unity, it has no place in drum & bass, especially with how far we have come.
Andy C is the best DJ in the world yet back in the days of Wax Club he was standing next to me beside the crack heads. You can’t knock our dedication to this music.”
Echo Box was originally released in 2002 via Tru Playaz, why wasn’t this tune directly placed within the Undiluted camp?
“I had promised Hype a tune for his label True Playaz and as I was making so much music at the time I offered him ‘Echo Box’. He loved it and as he was selling much more in terms of units than I was I felt it was the right business decision at the time.
Funnily enough, Micky Finn asked me for ‘Represents’ for his label Urban Takeover but I wanted that as our first tune for Undiluted. I then had the choice of selling 30,000 units or 10,000 but ‘Represents’ was always destined for my label.
‘Echo Box VIP’ was only really planned as a DJ special for my sets but it went down so well in the clubs I felt to do it justice it had to have a vinyl release. Hype was understandably annoyed that I didn’t offer it to him for his label but we are good friends outside of the industry and dealt with it properly.
You showed massive support for Future Cut’s remix of 20/20 around the time of the millenium, was this one of those tunes that fitted with your style? Can you name a tune from the 90’s that was a staple Brockie favourite?
“I still play that now, I love that tune!. Clayton from Trouble on Vinyl respects me for making that tune what it was, people used to think it was produced by me the amount of support I gave it. He had to re-release it all over again because so many people were asking for it.”