The Young Punx...Insane Clown Posse?

Well, its time for another interview here at You Been Crushed.....this time I've brought you The Young Punx.....a UK outfit that takes the term "mashup" and, well, mashes it up.

Ok, I've watched a clip of the The Young Punx Live in Tokyo on your site. First of all congratulations on being total shredders. Could you please introduce the members briefly and their role in the empire?

'Total shredders..' that's a great expression and one we now wear with pride! Well The Young Punx are an innovative collective of diverse musicians led by multi-instrumentalist and producer, Hal Ritson. Other members of the band include co-founder Cameron Saunders, Guthrie Govan (Guitarist of The Year in Guitarist magazine), drummer Simon Bettison, DJ Medcab, singers Laura Kidd (currently touring with Tricky), Yolanda and Tiffiany Gore and Phonat (considered one of the most exciting new producers to emerge in 2008). We also have awesome guest vocals our next album from New York rapper MC Paul Barman, and Memphis rapper Count Bass D.

Seems like the Young Punx and crew have been on the UK music scene a while. Are their any musical skeletons in the closet? At the very least I detect a Drum and Bass DJ and a jazz guitarist....

We've been carving away our own niche for around 4- 5 years now and it feels like the musical direction is starting to swing in our favour. Our mission has always been to totally mash-up styles and fuck around with genre policies and currently you're starting to see a lot more of that with a move away from this ridiculous notion that to be 'real' you have to stick to one style and one style only. With respect to ‘skeletons in the closet’ Hal is behind the scenes on any number of the biggest dance records from the past dew years, including playing keyboards on “Call on me” singing the “Jimmy Sommerville” vocals on Supermode’s “Tell me why” and even playing most of the instruments on the current Sugababes release “No can do”!

Aside from the Young Punx, you have a record label as well. How long have you been doing that and who are your artists? Do you distribute physical copies (cd, vinyl) or is it strictly digital?

Yes we do, MofoHifi Records (2 years old). It deals in fresh and creative club tracks with quality mass appeal. Our focus has always been to try and discover exciting new talents in electronic music and developing them into real contenders for A-list staus; Phonat is probably the most pertinent example of us at work.. we are no where near the peak of Phonat but already the reactions to his music has been amazing... it means we're sticking true to our mission! Other artists include, Goshi Goshi, Sharooz and Deltawave plus of course it's a home for our own music. We used to issue vinyl but the market has bottomed out so mainly it's just digital.

I see you have a Shir Khan remix. We have that in common.... who else on the "scene" do you know/respect/like?

Shir Khan is legendary, his mix of Dirty Damp is awesome. We have a couple of Riva Starr tracks that have been a staple part of our DJ sets all year so we got him to do a mix for our next track, Juice & Gin featuring Yolanda.. we're REALLY pleased with the results. We also share our studio with drum and bass producers “Chase & Status”. They are absolutely incredible, and everyone should check out their new album “More than a lot” on Ram Records. Sinichi Osawa, the sampler of his new album is fucking incredible! And if you want a party I suggest you go out with Micky Slim!

Finally, are their any memorable shows you've played in US cities, (especially NYC!) and do you have plans of touring US cities (esp NYC!)

We played in New York last summer at the Mercury Lounge, which went really well, though of course it was our first ever live gig in the states, so fairly low key. Why weren’t you there?!!!! J We ended being interviewed by foxy drummer from Hole, Samantha Maloney, in Battery Park, and having races along the water front wearing clown masks. Did you know she can body pop quite well?

I could write you a whole book on the reasons the rest of that week (which included gigs in San Fran and LA) was memorable. It involved losing a bowler hat in a stretch limo in San Fran at 4 in the morning, a Mustang Shelby GTH, a stripper called Louise and drifting practice road through the Hollywood Hills. Make up your own story from there I guess.

We plan to come back to the USA at some point in 2009 to coincide with the release of our second album, but we don’t have any dates in the calendar firmly as yet.

We are DJ ing in Vancouver on New Years Eve if that counts though.

Drums of Death - The Indie Interview aka What You Won't See On BBC!

If you've been paying attention to any blogs recently you've probably caught wind of Drums of Death.  We had the pleasure of doing a show with him in Munich for Vice Magazine and I must say it was kinda scary.  I also interviewed him, and although its not as professional as that crazy old BBC interview, its more REAL.  Yeah i said it BBC......more REAL!!!!! Anyhow enjoy this interview and live footage....

Drums of Death Interview from Air Jared on Vimeo.

EXCLUSIVE!! Interview with Nervous Records President Mike Weiss

Ok people, this is maybe the coolest thing yet for You Been Crushed: An exclusive interview with the president of Nervous Records, Michael Weiss. What is Nervous Records you ask? Just the label that put out Armand Van Helden's first release, signed Funk Master Flex, and basically defined NY club music (and had a big hand in hip hop) in the 90's and beyond.

The Interview:

Nervous records seems to be in the right place at the right time with the right artists. You started off doing East Coast house, then dipped in to Hip-Hop, then back into club music when hip hop went pop. Who's the magic A&R man behind this You?

I'm always behind the basic direction we're going in. Back in the 90's hip hop was hot in NYC, and that was the music I was into. There was a lot of talent rolling around. People would just jump on the mic in downtown clubs. It was a great time. I signed Black Moon. And having them on the label attracted like-minded headz who also liked east coast hop. A guy named Dru Friedman came to work at the label as an intern, and he quickly rose to being my A&R assistant. He then brought in Smif-n-Wessun. Having Black Moon and Smif-n-Wessun on the label made Nervous hot on the streets. KRS-One was impressed, and wanted to get affiliated. He brought in a new artist he had signed to his management company, Mad Lion. So it's always been a pretty organic process.

As you said, the real hip hop scene died out in the 90's, and then house/trance was hot in the clubs again. I signed some big club acts like Byron Stingily and Kim English, and having them on the label lead me to meeting a club guy named Kevin Williams, who became my A&R assistant. Kevin helped find big Nervous club hits like Charlotte/Skin, and Jonah/Sssst...Be Quiet.

Right now A&R is fully back in my shoulders.

Nervous is known for its logo. How was it conceived?

Standing in Vinylmania (12" shop on Carmine, now closed) on a Saturday afternoon in 1990. Pal Joey used to work there. He climbed up on one of the racks to get a 12" for someone who was at the counter. He tossed the record up to the counter, but it hit the guy in the head. I thought it was funny, came up with idea of a logo based on that.

I was a big fan of Funkmaster Flex back in the day. How did you discover and sign him?

I first met him when I was promoting a hip hop jam to Chuck Chillout up at WBLS. Chuck was the MC of the WBLS hip hop show. Flex was the DJ. He's truly one of the most proper guys in the biz. We met there, and he could see I was real ampted to get my tracks up and running. He told me he was deejaying at a hot spot named Club 2000 on 148 and Broadway on Sunday nites. I used to trek up there at 2:00 am on Sunday nites to give him wax,and he would test them out. He was the first dj in New York to play Who Got The Props. I had it on test pressing...he made me wait till 3:55, right before closing, before putting it on the decks. But he gave me a thumbs up after that one spin.

Exceeder was and still is a killer track. How do you find new artists and how do the blogs/internet play into that?

Exceeder is probably one of the three favorite Nervous tracks in the past 2 years - the others being Cicada/Things You Say, and Get Far/Shining Star. I go out alot...at least once or twice a week hitting afterhours spots....and know alot of dj's who will tip me when they hear something good. I also check out alot of the European radio stations on line.

You've developed and distributed a lot of music, and its all had one thing in common. The DJ. Whats your take on the current technology of djing in the mp3 era?

Pretty amazing how the internet has made music and sounds and vibe available to everyone. Used to be that you had to go to New York, Chicago and Miami to find hot producers. Now you look everywhere. And before the internet, who could have predicted that Canadian and Dutch dudes would be making some of the hottest tracks? So the internet has definitely leveled the playing field, and made it possible for people all over to hear the newest joints, and get their tracks heard by everyone as well. All this is good for a label like Nervous. Bottom line we need club music to stay fresh. I think the bar has been raised on what a dj/producer needs to come with if he/she is to stay at the top of the game.

Last question: You are currently promoting Nervous Nitelife: House Classics Remixed which is a compilation of a lot of Nervous dance hits remixed. This is curated (is that the right word?) by Marlon D who is closely associated with one of my personal favs Jellybean Benitz. Anything you'd like readers to know about this release?

Yeah Jellybean deserves props for staying in the dance game so long. (and yeah nice vocabulary - curating is a perfect description for the way Marlon put together these older classics!) For this project, I wanted to get a dj who was not directly connected to any of the projects. So that knocked out alot of the major players, cause virtually everyone with a rep from the 90's has had something released on Nervous (Masters At Work, Armand Van Helden, Cevin Fisher, Frankie Feliciano, Paul Van Dyk, Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry etc). Somehow Marlon never had anything released on Nervous, so it made sense for someone with a fresh perspective on the tracks to come with ideas regarding who should do the remixes, and how the comp should be put together.

Thank you SO much for taking time out to answer my questions. I really appreciated being able to bring something so close to the heart of NY dance music into focus for You Been Crushed.....

-Air Jared