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TRAMP RECORDS

Drumsuite: What music did you grow up with ?

Luckily my brother influenced me a lot. He was listening to HipHop and Funk/Soul. He was the main influence, and that's why I thank him all the time when people ask me how I got into (Funk) music. So, to answer your question, in the beginning I was listening to Jungle Brothers, Beastie Boys, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash etc. and of course James Brown, Kool & the Gang, Meters, etc. There were two radio shows who helped me too. One was called "Black Friday" (every friday), the other one was "Silly Solid Sound System" (every saturday). So I was spending almost all weekends at home while my friends were going out, always on the look out for Funk music to satisfy my needs as I was sooooo deep into it! This was probably from age 12 to 17.

When did you first become interested in funk & soul 45's ?

This must have been in around 1995. Although the Poets of Rhythm released their first 45 two years earlier (1993) these guys were probably the main reason why I started collecting 45s. Not only them, also (bootleg-) compilations like "The Sound of Funk" or "Pure" motivated me to look for the original format.

There seems to be plenty of people interested in funk in Germany, whats the general scene like over there ?

Well, although there are many Funk 45 collectors and DJs here in Germany, the scene is very very small. I think most people believe Germany must be wonderful for doing Funk nights, but the opposite is the case. Actually it is so hard to run a club night with (Deep) Funk/Soul/Boogaloo. IMO people who go out do not care about music, they only want to party which means to get drunk. It does not matter if there is Funk music or Chart shit. Even worse, if you advertise a party with "Funk", nobody shows up. But if you play Funk at any club night the people love it. That's pretty strange, I would really like to know why it is like that. Maybe this is the case in Munich only, I dont know.

What made you start up your own label ?

This was more like an accident. Back in early 2003 I was talking to the Poets about their music. They mentioned that they have some unreleased stuff and gave me a tape. Some time later I met them again and we started talking about releasing two songs on 45, on Tramp. This was in mid 2003. It took another couple of months and in october the first release on Tramp was ins stores.

We all know how much work it can be tracking down artists, so how do you go about choosing which song to reissue ?

There are two things which are important, 1) the original tunes must be rare and 2) they quality of the music must be good! For example, if you re-issue a $100 record people hesitate to buy it, because they try to find the original 45. But, and that surprises me, if a rare but not good 45 gets re-issued everybody buys it, even despite the fact that the song itself is not that good. That's strange.

Any good storys to tell about tracking down and talking to artists ?

Of course there are several stories which would be worth to tell. When I first talked to Mr. Randolph (from Randolph Bros. Plus) he was really surprised that someone from Germany is interested in his music. I talked to him for several hours about this and that. In the end, he was so proud when I told him that the first Movements sold so well and much more important, that we distributed it all over the world. He could not believe that thousands of people all over the world might listening to HIS song he recorded over 30 years ago. There is another funny story about the River Front Band (on Movements 2). I talked to the guitar player much and he told me that the song (Warm Daddy's Choice) was named after the engineer, Junior "Warm Daddy" Evans. I think everyone can imagine what "Warm Daddy" means?! Anyway, let me say, buy Movements 2 or any other quality compilations (Jazzman, Stones Throw) and you get interesting stories, background info and great music for a very reasonable amount of money.

Whats your view on bootlegging ?

Nowadays I think there is no justification for bootlegs. It was different 15 years ago when there was no internet, but these days it is so much easier tracking down people so I think there is no need to do bootlegs.

How do you see the 'New funk' movement progressing ?

In my opinion it is just great what happens right now. Almost every country in europe has its own funk/soul band and in some certain countries the bands had even their first chart appearances. So, although it is (and probably remains) an underground thing I believe that the new Funk movement definately has the potential to attract more attention than at the moment. Beside that I hope that the regular music buyer shows more interest in independent music and do no longer support major labels with their "one (s)hit wonders" bands.

Can in your opinion the artists of yesteryear recapture the sound they had then today ?

Generally yes, but it is often difficult for them to understand that we Deep Funk fans want to achieve the same rough, authentic sounds as heard on their recordings from the late 60s/early 70s. I mean, they often had to record with low-fi equipment and under "bad" circumstances (like Dean Francis who recorded his song "Funky disposition" in his mum's kitchen!) The main reason was probably because they were short of money and they could not afford to book time in a proper studio. But that's what made their 45s so special. But as I said, this is something they can not understand. So the best thing would be to get them a good backing band and then I am sure it would work. Imagine James Brown fires his current band and goes on touring with the Dap-Kings! Gotta be killer!

You've travelled over the world Djing and promoting your thing, what is your favourite city and clubnight at the moment ?

I do not think that there was one best night so far, I had the pleasure DJing at so many good places like Jelly Jazz, the Jazz Cafe, Soul Popcorn (hahaha), the list goes on, that it is really hard to say which one was the best. Honestly I do not think it would be fair to rate gigs, I really liked all where I have ever been so far.

You've been over here and we had the privelige of spending the weekend with you, now we know you like a beer ! so what's your top 3 tipples ?

Beer, Cola, Water

Future plans if you can share them ?!

Maybe starting producing on my own, I would love to do good HipHop but I am still looking for a good MC.

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

Yes. People out there, it is your job to support small labels and bands. They really need your help to survive in this crazy, modern world.

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