Interview with A Guy Called Gerald - Part 2

PRESENT

When you played Tribal Gathering in Manchester in the summer, were you aware of just how much love was in the room for you that night? Cos everyone who went -- whether they made it through to your show or not -- all noticed just how excited people were about you, and how much affection there was for you?
I loved it myself. Hopefully I'll do something like that again soon.

Why didn't you play Voodoo Ray though fella!!
I did but not the way you're used to hearing it.  Next time, I will but it gets a bit boring after years and years of it.  I'm not like the Rolling Stones who actually get paid for their music so they don't mind playing it over and over again. The only pleasure I get is doing new versions.

What are your views on the current drum n bass scene?
It's not hard enough. Too nice.  It needs some balls - what happened to the b-line?

You're pretty special as a producer -- you know a lot about making a record work, what kind of hooks to use and where, how to get the rhythms syncopated, how to make a vocal work -- so you could make house-influenced Hospital-style stuff, you could knock out 2-step rollers, you could do Reprazent-style jazzy beats -- how do you figure out where to go and do you like all these styles?
I do like their styles but somehow I feel I've been there before and need to do something that is not any of them which is easier than you think.  You got to follow your art.  It's good to be inspired by music but no two people should sound the same.

Some people think that dance music is never more alive or interesting than when it is doing bootlegs -- ever been tempted to do any? If you could do a boot of any track, what would it be?
There's so much music out there and I've got so many ideas of my own that it's hard to find time to steal other people's music directly. I mean you could call my entire back catalogue bootlegs if you could look into the fragments of the sounds. I have a lust for taking bits and pieces from other people's sounds and chopping it up and making it into my own thing.

Did anything ever come of your meeting with Goldie? Interesting fella and a great graffiti artist but I always got the feeling he relied on Rob a lot, how wrong am I?
Goldie is a true artist. I like his graffiti. We did a track called Energy together years ago which is on Black Secret Technology and what I realised was he thinks in 3D - sounds and pictures are objects to him. He could shape the sounds he wanted with his hands and then transform them with his mouth and then we would work the sounds out.  Magic.

There's still a really good scene happening Sheffield, you should swing by a bit MC heavy - what are your thoughts on MC's? I mean I went to see Adam F and the MC must have said 'Adam F' 47 times in a row...
Well at least you know who he is! These days I have people coming up to me asking people asking who I am or are you Gerald? I'm thinking of getting a PR person with a microphone!  A good MC keeps with the pace of the DJ and can usually sense the build of the mix. An excellent MC is priceless and will keep the night bubbling.  The old school MCs that I know of are all from the sound system days like Moose and Navigator, Five-O, I could go on... do any of you remember Top Buzz?

Dizzee Rascal, not exactly DnB or UK Garage, but just what was needed in my view, what do you reckon?
He sounds OK but I'm more of a music type person. Making beats and stuff with Playstation is cool but I need a bit of beef in my soup. I just can't stand them annoying space invader sounds unless I'm actually playing a game. Sorry, I'm old school.

Dance music is driven by drugs and technology -- I'm not going to ask you about drugs, but it makes sense to ask you what's your favourite bit of kit?
A little 12" G4 and a good pair of headphones slide nicely into the bag - take em anywhere.

Cubase on PC, Logic on Mac, hardware sequencer & recorder -- or something else?
Cubase & Reason on Mac, Tascam MX24 hard disk recorder is ok but nothing beats a good old analogue Atari MX80 multi-track.  There's probably not a lot of them about these days.  It weighs a ton and you can't take it to the beach and make beats....

Are you producing every single day? DO you try and schedule your day / your week so you're not stuck in front of the monitor all day, every day?
No I don't try and schedule my day/week. I love it.  I've got radiation burns all over my face. I'm finding it harder and harder to interact with humans but finding it easier and easier to synch all my computers together. They don't seem to crash as much nowadays. I have one computer in the hospital at the moment and I'm very worried about him.

Do you try and keep up with the latest studio stuff?
I used to but it's seems like they've all run out of ideas now. It's just a different gadget doing the same thing.

Have you tried out Final Scratch/Ableton/Reason?
I've tried Ableton and Reason.  Not tried Final Scratch yet.  But Reason seems to be the way to go if you've ever worked in a terrestrial studio.

Back in the day, a good studio set up would cost the price of a small house, now you can get everything you need for £500 and run it on a cheap laptop - good thing or bad?
Good thing because hopefully people will start to appreciate what goes into building good quality tracks after they've made a few of their own.

We've had loads of debating on LD with regards to DJ's using laptops, reminds me of the early 70's campaigns by the Musician Union to keep music live - real head in the sand stuff, what's your view of it all?
Yeh, that music union never helped me out. Took me a while to figure out what they were all about with their keep music live bullshit.  I like my music like sushi, cut up precisely, dead and raw.

Some promoters of a London residency stated after their first party that they didn't want any Laptop DJ's as they "look like they are reading their emails"? I think they are missing the point and have never seen someone like Surgeon blow a place up standing behind just his Apple. What do you think people actually want to watch?
I think they should stop watching and start dancing. It's supposed to be dance music for crissakes.  I think computers are an integral part of dance music and depending on the dj/programmer on the night you can create a real personal interactive environment.  The entertainer should be able to interact freely with the audience.  In the ideal situation you wouldn't even know if it's vinyl, CD or PC, just good grooves.  It's all superstar Paul Oakenfold type DJ shit that turned it into a spectacle.  We need to take it underground.  Get rid of these bouffant Judge Jules motherfuckers.  Oh shit he hasn't got any hair has he?  Forget about the Djs, it's all about the music and let's get into it.

Would you ever secretly check your emails whilst playing on laptop?
Rule No. 1 for me is never use my music computers for internet.

Do you still make loads of dub plates to try your stuff out?
Used to do dub plates back in the early 90's. Got pissed off with missing planes after trying to run with a box of slate.  So I've decided to use Cds for testing stuff.

FUTURE

Are you producing new music at the moment and what are you planning to do next and is my rass clart safe?
No it isn't safe.  I'm producing new music.  There's an LP with 808 State coming out on Rephlex called Prebuild first of all. It's a load of demos I did in 86/87 and I thought they were gone but Graham Massey from 808 State found them behind the cupboard when he was moving. He's compiled them into a CD and should be out mid-year.

Also, you'll see some new tunes out on my own record label, Sugoi Recordings.  My back catalogue will also be re-issued on Sugoi.  28 Gun Bad Boy and Black Secret Technology haven't been available for years and need to be.  You'll also see a compilation of tracks from 92-95 that were only ever released on vinyl.  My aim with all this is to hopefully stop people asking what I've been doing since Voodoo Ray.

It seems, and do correct me if I'm wrong, that you've recently taken to DJ'ing - how long have you been playing out on the decks and why the change?
I was Djing first of all in 85 and kind of stopped for a little bit when I discovered drum machines and keyboards and stuff.  Back in them days it was all about the cutting and scratching.  And then I think round about 94 I started spinning again, realised it was a cool way to relax when you've been in the studio all day and of course test my stuff.  

What can we expect from a set when we come and see you?
You can expect to be thrown off kilter at any moment during the night or maybe during the night you find you're dancing to a totally different type of music without realising it.  I'll be doing a studio jam at Maria end of March so if you in Berlin come check it out.  There'll be info on www.agcg.co.uk.

Just who is that fit bird who is always with you when you are playing? Is she still your girl? If not, can we get her number?
She's my spiritual guidance advisor.

Do you think the music and club scenes are better now or when you first started out?
I have no definition of when I first started out.  Places and people always have their own surprises but I do have fond memories of going to all-dayers in 82/83 and also the breakdancing/electro scene in 84 was really cool.  These days I appreciate any club with a decent sound system where the music leaves you feeling better at the end of the night than when you walked in.

The media is certainly no different in our view, all those with the marketing chit chat seem to get on regardless of their skills and having nothing to say, but we've got a feeling that this is starting to change, what do you think?
Yeh, with the internet people have more choice and can find their own interest.  They don't have to be generally guided towards anything.  Littledetroit.net is one example of that.

When you going make some Techno again fella?
Depends on your definition of techno. 

You're just about to re-release all your back catalogue, any idea when we'll see them back in the shops?
The wheels are turning...  Very, very soon.  Check on the website over the next month.

Which current artists are inspiring you these days?
I like some stuff by Murcof, Autechre and also Jazzanova, Truby Trio, Chari Chari, 2000 Black stuff and the subtle nanoplasmic entrainments of Mother Earth.

Current top five
1. The Subtle Nanoplasmic Entrainments of Mother Earth
2. I find it really hard
3. to categorise
4. music in competitive
5. degrees and limited by time

Five all time techno/DnB classics
1. Helicopter Tune - Deep Blue
2. Clear - Cybertron
3. Terrorist - Renegade
4. KO's Juicebar - Mayday
5. Bounce Your Body To The Box - Kevin Saunderson

All time five top tunes
1. The Duel Of The Jester and the Tyrant - Return To Forever on the Romantic Warrior LP
2. You Take My Breath Away - Internal Affairs
3. Universal Love - 4 Hero
4. Sophistifunk - Return To Forever on the Known History LP
5. Shadow - Rob Playford

And finally, MC Tunes, how do you plead fella?
Why? What's he done?