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TRUTH & SOUL RECORDS

Drumsuite: What music did you grow up with ?

I grew up listening to Led Zepplin, Sabbath, anything my older brother was listening to. In 7th grade I discovered College Radio and all these new musical doors where opened for me. I eventually got into reggae, which led to ska, soul, funk, etc.

How did you come in contact with the Desco label ?

I had originally met Martin Perna and Gabe Roth, which led to me meeting Phillip Lehman. I became Desco's DJ cause they knew I had the sick 45's, and would spin at their NYC parties. That's how I met Leon Michels as well, he was coming through Desco Studios with The Mighty Imperials.

After Desco you started up Soulfire records together with Phillipe, can you tell us what the main theory was behind the label ?

Phillip started buying recording equipment and holding sessions in his loft. He wanted to record the music he loved, so he started Soul Fire Records. We always were with him from the beginning, so when Soul Fire took off, Phillip let Leon and I work with him. His theory, "Shitty is Pretty".

What instruments do you play and in what bands ?

My first project with Soul Fire was the JD & The Evil's Dynamite Band. I played bass on some of those tracks, drums on others. Most of the Soul Fire tracks were recorded with the same few musicians. Now with Truth & Soul, I find myself producing and engineering more than playing. The guys we record with are amazing musicians, and I couldn't compete.

The Truth & Soul sound is more soulful then your previous stuff, is this a conscious decision to get away from the rough edged funk ?

We're not getting away from it, but we are mixing it up a bit. I don't think any of it is conscious though, it's more of a natural progression.

How did the Wu-Tang thing come about ?

El Michels Affair was asked to back up Raekwon at a show in downtown Manhattan. It went incredibly well, and we were asked again to back up Raekwon, this time along with GZA, Inspecta Deck and U God live on XM Radio and eventually the SXSW Stubb's show. The instrumentals by themselves were so good, so we ended up putting them out as the Shaolin Series. There is an Extended Play 12" with Raekwon and El Michels Affair coming out soon on Truth & Soul that's different than anything we've done so far.

Being a part of the 'New funk' movement how do you see it progressing ?

I don't feel that it is a movement at the moment. It was a movement back in the 60's and 70's, it's more of a reinterpretation today. We're just bringing it back to it's roots, performing it live instead of using samples or an mpc. It's all about how you flip it. Let's see if all the Radio Made Producers start recording with live musicians again, then we'll know if it's a movement.

Any plans for a tour of europe ?

Nothing at the moment. We are going to be performing in Puerto Rico during the Candela Festival in October though. 

The unreleased stuff from the soulfire days on the Majestic collection CD, will these get 45 releases ?

Not on Truth & Soul. We have so many songs that are unreleased, but with all the new material we've been working on, I couldn't see us regressing. I think we may start releasing some Soul Fire Breaks records though, you know, like scratch records.

You do some djing as well, have you always collected funk45's ?

I've been collecting records since I was a kid. So many records have passed through my hands. I was lucky to learn about the underground soul scene of the late 60's and early 70's at a time when the really good records were still out there for the digging, even in NYC. I just kept looking, which led to discovering deeper sounds and more knowledge about the music. I became a vinyl junkie, and still am.

Future plans if you can share them ?!

I mentioned the upcoming 12" with Raekwon. We recently finished a Bronx River Parkway Lp, which is coming out on Candela Records, entitled "San Sebastian 152", and we are about to go to Puerto Rico to work on a second. Truth & Soul will also be putting out the upcoming unreleased full length by Sammy Campbell and the Funky Music Machine and an extended play 12" of the legendary Timothy McNealy. We're about to release our first 12" single, a re-release of an original soul/funk 45 from the early 70's by Black Velvet, and we got to remix the tracks from the original multi track masters.

Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview is anything else you'd like to say ?

Thanks for showing Truth & Soul some love.

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