The Very Good Agency

Katalyst Interview

Hey Katalyst, thanks for taking the time, how are you? What’s going on with you at the moment?

Too much….wheres all the time gone?? Damn!!
So just lots of music really. Many different collaborations as well as some solo work. Also the release on BBE worldwide has been great. Giles Peterson named “How Bout Us”. The track I did with Steve Spacek his in his top 20 songs of 08. It came in at No13. Right now Im mixing a record Ive done with a vocalist. And recording lots of MCs for a project Im doing called ‘Quakers’.

How did you first get into production and spinning records? What was it that inspired you?

I was inspired by the music. Simple as that. I realised I loved music and the way it could make you feel so many things. Hip hop in particular…but that led me to all the genres that make up hip hop. My Stepdad sold Hi Fi so it was sound was a bit of a focus at our house growing up.

Your sound brings to mind names like DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist and Pete Rock; are these artists that you feel you can relate to? How would you describe your sound?

I undersatnd why these comparrisons are made and I like work by these artists. I realy like Shadows’ early work. Releases like “what“does you soul look like”, and Pete Rock was right up there, then he dropped ‘The main Ingredient’ and he was one of my fav producers of all time for sure. My favourite producer of all time is probably Premier. And also my man Geoff Barrow from Portishead. I don’t try to describe my sound ’cause it changes depending on the project. But I guess I’m into old sounds mixed with new sounds. Especially bass. Basically I’m into music with soul

What artists were you bumping back in the day when you first got into the scene?

I first got into groups like Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, and more mainstream acts like Ice T and Ice Cube etc. As well as in the late 80’s groups like Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers, Black Sheep (Native Tounges) etc When I first got into the scene I was meeting peeps that all gathered at the only hip hop store in Sydney, ‘The Lounge Room’. Hip Hop wasn’t really part of mainstream culture here in Australia like it is today. There were very few international artists coming here to Aus exception of acts De La Soul and Public Enemy that had crossed over onto main stream radio

Katalyst – Say What You Feel

You’ve collaborated with many different artists over the years, what have been some of the more memorable connections? Is there anyone in particular that you’d love to work with in the future?

Lots of the artists Ive worked with I’m still working with today. And I’m working with a lot of people at the moment who Ive wanted to work with for some time. But I guess as your taste and ideas change you want to work with different people. Being a producer I will always be working with new people and that’s what keeps it interesting and exciting. I think if I was to work with everyone I’d like to work with I’d need more time than I have.

‘Watts Happening’, released towards the end of 2007, has received great reviews, did you enjoy making the album? Is there another album in the works?

I always enjoy making music. Some projects are more enjoyable than others. I enjoyed making this album a lot. It was so long since my previous album that I hadn’t had that much time making music for a few years. So just getting back to writing was a pleasure. And then collaborating with so many other talented artists from here and abroad made it even more enjoyable.

I first came across your music when I heard ‘Dusted’, it had such a party vibe and the track selection was sensational, is this how you like to rock shows when you play live?

‘Dusted’ was a compilation album that had some party jams for sure but also had some more chill tunes on it. When I play live with my band I mostly play my own music which ranges from party to more chilled soul so in a way ‘Dusted’ does reflect the vibe of my live show. If I’m just DJ’ing then a few tunes on the comp will be sure to get a run.

Vinyl or Serato?

Live its all Serato now…… just due to convenience. Not so convenient is its playing up which is another consideration. But I still love vinyl. I don’t even have Serato set up at home cause I’d never use it.  My records are there and nothing sounds better. Vinyl is still the best playback medium around.

Recently you were a part of the ‘Days Like This’ festival in Sydney, which included the likes of Public Enemy, Atmosphere and Fat Freddys Drop; how was that for a gig? Did you get to catch up with many of the other artists?

That show was great. It was a really nice day over all. The crowd really tuned out for our set even though it was early in the day. The Forum was packed and everyone was hyped. As far as catching up with other artists, I caught up with Flying Lotus, Wajeed and Vadim introduced himself (again…as I had already met him years ago) as were now label mates on BBE Records. Even managed to say a quick hello to Chuck D the man himself!

Katalyst – All You’ve Got

You’ve also toured with artists such as Jurassic 5, The Roots and DJ Shadow; tell us about life on the road with such hip hop legends, what has been your favourite tour so far? Any crazy stories?

All the crazy stories are for another time but generally those guys are cool. There just over here doing their thing. Everyone’s different too. And depending on the gig you might or might not get to chill with the other artists. Some of the national tours like Good Vibrations mean you spend a week with the other artists and you might go record shopping etc with a few of the guys and get to know then a little better. I’ve had big international artists approach me as “fans” which was cool. Z Trip already had my music before I met him and introduced himself as a fan.  He’s a really nice guy into the bargin..

When not making music you’re busy running your label, Invada Records, does that take up more of your time these days?

It takes up more time than I have for it so I’m looking to collaborate with some other label soon. Just so I have more time to make music which is what I got into this business for. I stopped signing new acts a while back because of time limitations.

How do you think the music industry is going to cope with all this recession business that’s going on?

How is the music industry going to cope with the fact changing technology has meant recorded music has only a fraction of the value it used to have? That’s the real question here I think. The recession will come and go but free music is here for good….so how is the industry going to work around that? Good question! As usual time will tell.

I’ve heard recently that you are working on a project that is “somewhere between Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Gnarls Barkley”, can you shed any light on this for us?

I guess that would be the album Im doing with Steve Spacek. We’ve called the ourselves Space Invadas, and the album is almost done. I hope people dig it ’cause we had a great time making it. So far the feedback has been amazing. Its title is ‘Soul – Fi’

What are you listening to at the moment? Care to share your opinion on the current state of hip hop?

Im listening to a lot of old records as usual but also trying to cop anything new making waves out there. The latest Black Milk album was tasty. Still keeping an eye on what Madlibs up to. The new Q-Tip album is cool. There’s some dope jams on there. His live show was great as well. I’m working on a hip hop project as I mentioned with my man from Portishead. Its called ‘Quakers’ and it will be my contribution to the current state of hip hop…..because quite frankly….its boring as batshit out there….and the commercial stuff is the worst its been in a long time

Can we expect to see Katalyst out on the road anytime soon?

Yep but more likely as Space Invadas. That’s the next project to hit the road. We’ll have a 4 or 5 piece band and some guest vocalist along with Steve and myself. Looking forward to getting that out there. I guess there could be a Katalyst show or two as well……..

Many thanks for your time,

You can check out more of Katalyst at:

www.katalystmusic.com.au

www.myspace.com/katalyst33

…crack

Tags: Australian Artists, Collaborations, Funk, hip hop, Soul

The Next Level

Get ready to party! No strangers to Australia, regular party-starters and mixtape masters, The Nextmen, are returning to our shores for a series of gigs across Australia and New Zealand in April and May. With their reputation of stomping live shows, pristine track selection and turntable tricks to boot, you can be sure they’ll have you waving your hands in the air like you just don’t care.

The Nextmen are UK song writing/producing hip hop DJ’s Dom Search (aka Dominic Betmead) and Brad Baloo (aka Brad Ellis). They’ve become known for their dope remixes and awesome two-man four-turntable live shows where the tunes range from hip hop to drum and bass, funk to breaks, reggae to soul and everything in between. As usual, they will be accompanied by an MC, and one of the UK’s finest at that in MC Wrec.

If you’ve ever listened to any of The Nextmen’s mix albums such as ‘Moving Amongst the Madness’, ‘Listen and Lose’ and ‘Not the Nextmen’, then you’ll be well aware of the kind of party atmosphere they’re going to bring. If you haven’t heard them before, do yourself a favour and get over to their myspace now and listen to their “Annie Mac Mini Mix”, a frenetic head-nodding mix of everything from Fat Freddys Drop to Jurassic 5 to Dizzee Rascal, including a couple of classic Nextmen remixes, that’ll give you a small taste of what to expect. Better yet, cop any of the albums above for a real good insight in to the Nextmen madness; all of their albums are sure to have you nodding your head in no time.

The Nextmen ft Zarif – Something Got You

Tickets to the Melbourne gig are a bargain at $20 presale, so pick one up today before they’re all gone, this will be a night filled of dancefloor killing bangers and tight rhymes from some of the best in the business, not to be missed!

The Nextmen on tour in April and May:
17th April – Coherent & Ink Bar Auckland
18th April – Summerset @ Basin Reserve Wellington
19th April – Groove is in the park Adelaide
23rd April – Transit Bar Canberra
24th April – Roxanne Parlour Melbourne,
25th April – Halo Hobart, Tasmania
26th April – Villa Perth, Western Australia
1st May – Oxford Art Factory Sydney
2nd May – Groovin’ The Moo Townsville
2nd May – Shifty Beats @ Empire Hotel Brisbane

You can check out more of The Nextmen at:

www.myspace.com/thenextmen

Cracked…

Tags: breakbeats, Funk, gigs, hip hop, Soul

Fat Freddy’s long awaited return to Australia!

New Zealand’s most talked about group, Fat Freddy’s Drop, are back in Australia this month kicking off their week long tour of sweet sweet dub reggae, roots, breakbeats & soul.

The tour starts in Melbourne tomorrow night at the ‘Palace Metro’ in St Kilda, our apologies for not posting this earlier for those who are in Melbourne and haven’t already heard, just take it easy tonight and then whooshtaaa! get up in there.

Fat Freddy’s Drop – The Nod (Live)

Fat Freddy’s Drop will play:

Thursday 19th – Palace Metro – Melbourne

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com.au

Friday 20th – HQ – Adelaide

Tickets: www.venuetix.com.au venuetix outlets & B Sharp Records

Saturday 21st – Enmore Theatre – Sydney

Tickets: www.enmoretheartre.com.au, www.ticketek.com, 132 849 & ticketek outlets

Friday 27th – The Tivoli – Brisbane

Tickets: www.ticketek.com, 132 849, & Rockinghorse Records

Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th – The Great Northern – Byron Bay

Tickets: Hotel Great Northern, 02 6685 6454 & www.oztix.com.au.oztix.com.au ph 1300 762 545

If you haven’t seen any of their recent material you can See earlier article here.

You can check out more of Fat Freddy’s Drop at:

www.fatfreddysdrop.com

and for full tour info check out the dude’s who are bringing them at:

www.nicheproductions.com.au

…bs

Tags: Dub, Funk, gigs, New Zealand Artists, Reggae, Soul

Kiwis in Australia – Katchafire and Opensouls

Two of New Zealand’s best talents are hitting Australian shores in April again to show Australia the roots, reggae, funk, soul style that is bursting out of Aotearoa’s seams these days. New Zealand’s most successful reggae group Katchafire, and up and coming funk, soul, hip hop crossover group Opensouls will hit

Brisbane @ ‘The Arena April 2nd

Melbourne @ Queensbridge Hotel April 3rd

Sydney @ The Forum April 4th

With Katchafire regularly crossing the ditch over the past few years they are well known for putting on a great show which is usually largely filled by the millions of kiwi’s who have made the wee trip to live in Australia. Opensouls having been here less however will be sure to catch Australia’s attention with their smooth blend and energetic group performance to pave the way for many more shows to come.

Opensouls – Rise Up

With both of their first two albums placing in the US Billboard top ten, Katchafire have made world success which is very restricted to reggae normally. Starting out as a covers band (mainly of Bob Marley songs) around New Zealand pubs and clubs, they have come a long way to tour the world on a regular basis selling out shows and receiving rave reviews alike. Definitely one of the more ‘fun’ bands to see out of New Zealand, their light hearted show and mellow reggae beats make for a sweet boogie, and usually a room filled with good vibes and a smoke of some assortment. If you haven’t see them, it’ll be a great night out especially for reggae fans who don’t often get treated with international tours.

Katchafire – Colour me Life

You can check out more of these guys at:

www.katchafire.co.nz

www.opensouls.co.nz

…bs

Tags: Funk, gigs, hip hop, New Zealand Artists, Reggae, Soul

Pete Philly and Perquisite take some Q&A

Following a considerable amount of touring throughout Europe, Asia, and the world over the past two years, Very Good friends Pete Philly and Perquisite have finally taken a break to work on some solo projects in 2009, but don’t worry… they assure us that they will be back with another album in time for 2010 … ish. Having been nominated again for ‘best alternative group’ by 3FM in the Netherlands, and an Edison award for ‘best song’ in ‘Mystery Repeats’, they continue to produce quality ish like the new video for Q&A which was directed by ‘Nokia Trends Lab’ winner, Lucinda Sedoc, and was shot entirely by using a cell phone!

Check it out…

Pete Philly and Perquisite – Q&A

Aside from this, Pete is currently rehearsing for his lead role in ‘The Man From Nowhere’, a theatre play by Kasper Kapteijn, which premiers at the ‘Melkweg’ in Amsterdam April 15th. Perquisite on the other hand is creating the soundtrack for the upcoming Dutch film ‘Carmen Van Het Noorden’ which also stars Mc’s GMB, Duvel, Jiggy Dje, and Turk.

With a couple of shows in South Africa, and a couple in America coming up, probably one of the better known spots to play in the world is the ‘South by Southwest’ festival, where Pete and Perq will be playing March 18th right before Beyonce’s little sister Solange Knowles hits the stage… two of my fabourite artists playing consecutively… what a dream come true huh ??? yeah well maybe not, but Pete Philly and Perquisite will be sure to drop some heat anyway.

You can check out more of Pete Philly and Perquisite at:

www.petephillyandperquisite.com

www.myspace.com/petephillyandperquisite

…bs

Tags: Funk, hip hop, Music video, Soul