Crucial Flow – The Musical Influences of DJ Angus

Part 1 – early Hip Hop, R&B and Electronic music

With filming for Flow - the documentary on Angus Galloway coming up, I've been thinking back on all the times I spent hanging out with Angus, especially back when we first met.  We clicked on many levels, but music was a very strong connection, and we went through an amazing evolution of the music from roots of hip hop and breakdance to R&B/80s funk through the era of classic hip hop albums and then hip hop DJing which extended to DJ Competitions.

Angus's DJ skills and passion led to ongoing paid club work as a DJ, and his level of music expertise in the dance music arena was phenomenal.  But I've been asked, by old friends like Ben Elliott and others, about some of Angus's other musical influences.  Not necessarily the classic hip hop albums that everyone was getting into post 1986, but the earlier influences.  The electro and funk; R&B and early hip hop influences. 

As it happens, I can share these great influential tunes through a number of means.  Firstly I'll tell the story that weaves them together in this post; I have also put together as many of the songs mentioned in this piece as I could find on Spotify and created some public playlists under my profile; I will also be playing a two hour set of these songs on Artsound FM tonight (October 22nd 2013 from 8pm on air 92.7FM Canberra or streaming live on the web http://artsound.fm/listen-online/) and upload this show to Soundcloud…a lot of options if you are interested.   

It is a great pleasure for me to recall all these songs in this way because I am constantly reminded of Angus and goodtimes whenever I hear each of them play.  I'm sure friends of Angus who were tight with him during his halcyon club days could write similar posts sharing similar influential records that changed his life during that period.  I want to focus on the time I first met Angus in 1984 up until I left the country for the UK in 1995.  Part 1 takes us up to around 1987 focusing on our collection of R&B, Funk, and early hip hop and electro.

Angus absorbed music and film, but music was the main event. With music, we were much the same in respect of our passion for experiencing it and participating in it and the many art forms that surround music.

Like many of our age we got into hip hop through the music and breakdancing.  It is hard to remember what blew my mind first the hip hop or the breaking or was it simultaneous?  Anyway, Angus was a skilful break dancer when I first met him.  He was in a breakdancing crew called the Backstreet Breakers.  I swear I saw him perform in a massive breakdancing competition that was held in the middle of Myer Indooroopilly in about 1984.  That's when every b-boy was wearing baggy white or black Corfu jeans straight poppin' and breaking outside McDonalds on Elizabeth Street.  You were guaranteed a crowd on Friday and Saturday Night.  Brisbane City had a bit of a street culture.  Katch would have even more goss about the early graffiti and hip hop crews from Brisbane.

Anyway, about a year after that on the first day of grade 9 at Indooroopilly High, Angus was first seen mingling in the new environment.  He got lucky to find himself at this easy going school, having just finished up at Churchie.  Indooroopilly was hardly a surprising choice though since, like me, he lived within walking distance of it on Swan Road in St Lucia.  I lived in Adsett Street just off Swan Road, but closer to the train station in Taringa. 

We soon found ourselves in the same Theatre class where the ice of the new school was well and truly melted via theatrical improvisation projects.  We immediately caught on that we were both into hip hop and funk.  We loved the songs from the breaking soundtrack - The Barkays Freak Show on the Dancefloor; Hot Streaks Body Work; Chaka Khan Ain't Nobody and Chris 'The Glove' Taylors Reckless featuring Ice T.  We were also up on the breakdance anthems of the day by Rock Steady Crew; Breakers Revenge by Arthur Baker; Africa Bambaata and the Soulsonic Force; as well as electro classics like Twilight 22’s Electric Kingdom;  IRT’s Watch The Closing Doors and Jonzun Crews Pack Jam.

After school we would gravitate to his house because in the early days, before we had turntables and mixers etc, we needed a good stereo to play records and record mix tapes.  Angus's dad had a top quality Harman Kardon Sound a System with quality weighted glass doors and wood grained front panel on the amp.  Before we knew what Technics 1200s were, this system was the best thing we knew of and it spawned so many mix tapes and ultimately the stellar DJ career of Angus Galloway. 

 

At first Angus had two rooms upstairs, one was his bedroom the other a hangout room which eventually turned into his first DJ rig and studio.  Later on he had a stand-alone room built under the house which became the ultimate man cave for a hip hop DJ and his crew. 
 

The thing about Angus was that he was very social and super inviting to guests in his home / studio etc…He had so much time for hip people who loved cool music.  I know some people reading this might know Angus from a certain time period on when he was working at this record store or resident at that club, and might remember Swan Road but only his downstairs studio.

Both upstairs and downstairs rooms were super creative spaces.  We made the most of the rest of the house too.  The kitchen and dining room hosted many a social event.  But back when we first met, the other main room of importance was the main lounge room where The Harman Kardon system was.  It had boss comfortable lounge chairs and a table which was soon enough covered in records, cold glasses of coke and ashtrays full of cigarettes.

At this time, Angus's legendary record collection was just less than one crate full.  He did have a few early gems in there, but mostly all the most amazing music in his collection was waiting to be found just around the corner.

The first stint Angus and I did as DJs was for sport on Wednesday afternoons.  We somehow got a role as DJs to support the roller skaters in the assembly hall.  Indooroopilly High (Indro) had a good sound and lighting rig, and a couple of long haired audio/lighting geeks would run the small control room which was really a DJ/VJ Box suspended three quarters towards the roof at the rear of the hall.  We played our first DJs gigs together there between 1 and 3pm every Wednesday for 6 months. 

 

This post is an attempt to put some context into some of the records that made a big impact on Angus.  So at the time we were well known DJs only in our own minds by way of comedy skits!  But it spoke to our fanaticism for music; record collections and DJing right from the start.  Some records I recall Angus having in his crate at this time were:

Cheyne - Call Me Mr Telephone; Loose Ends - Hanging On A String (Contemplating); Full Force – Alice (I Want You Just For Me); Jimmy Cliff - Hot Shot; BarKays – Sex-O-Matic

 

Angus also had a selection of Street Sound records - not the electro series - the R&B and funk series.  These Street Sound records were perhaps the most important records in the development of Angus the music lover and DJ.  On these records we got our first experience of super tasty R&B vocals from Mtume – Juicy Fruit; Luther Vandross – You’re The Sweetest One; Howard Hewitt (From Shalamar) with Stanley Clarke with Heaven Sent; Groove Jazz with George Howard – Steppin’ Out; Soulful ballads by the Gap Band – Someday; The exquisite funk production and vocals of Oliver Cheethams’ – Get Down Saturday Night among others.

 

Images

The next stage in the evolution of the DJ for both of us all happened in the first six months of our friendship.  When I first met Angus he had started going to Images nightclub regularly and would rave about how cool this place was.  I was keen to check it out so we got a few things in order first.  Leaving nothing to chance he had a guy he knew who made me a superb ID card.  I’m pretty sure I never needed  to use it  though.

Images changed the direction of our lives in so many ways.  As much as I loved the design and location of the club, and the great friends and vibe at that venue from open to close, it was the music that was the greatest influence on Angus and me.  And for that I have to honour the resident DJ Tim, as we only knew him as.  I have immense respect for DJ Tim.  He was an incredibly nice guy with impeccable programming skills.  I dub DJ Tim as the first influential DJ in Angus’s life.   

Images grooved hard all night, and the DJ set on Friday and Saturday nights followed an almost predictable but hugely successful pattern, a pattern which I saw executed well again this year in Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas.  Here's how it goes, any time after 10pm the crowd swelled with mostly young men and woman (the bouncer made sure only fabulous people got inside and if you we're let in by the bouncers it meant you fit in with the vibe, the concept, the groove, the atmosphere, the party) and the alcohol has well and truly kicked in, but not in a messy way yet.  The music gets louder, the Dancefloor gets more crowded, bodies get sweatier and the Dancefloor becomes alive and as one.  During this swell, the music was almost always the same - familiarity and repetition worked, yet with new releases slowly creeping in and staying over time also.  Here you would hear commercial club classics and early Hi Nrg hits which all the nightclubs would be playing around town.  Think the equivalent of Get Lucky in 2013.  Some people just expect to hear these songs and groups of girls some grabbing guys would pile onto the Dancefloor to boogie to their song.  This vibe gets to a crescendo getting louder and faster (In Vegas you also get glittery streamers drop from the ceiling).  This plateaus sometime after midnight when the Dancefloor loosens up a bit.  The vibe stays up though, and anyone still left in the itinerant crowd is generally getting romantic.  Tim could then smooth things out a little bit more with some funk ~ still upbeat! but hella sexy!   In these sets you would always hear songs like One Ways Lets Talk (About Sex) that was a certainty to be played at some point every night, as was Kurtis Blows Basketball; Midnight Stars No Parking on The Dancefloor and Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith.  Also would hear Good Times by Chic and Rappers Delight by The Sugar Hill Gang.  Also would never fail to hear Last Night A DJ Saved My Life and Kiss by Prince.

Finally because Tim knew Angus and I were such big fans of soul r&b and funk, just like him, there would be that magic transition in the music when it was starting to move out of peak groove time and Tim would line up at least an hour and a half of certified funk-soul classics.  Songs like Make That Move by Shalamar; Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) by Luther Vandross; Curious by Midnight Star; Planet Rock by African Bambaata;  Jam On It by nucleus; Nunk (New Wave Funk) by Warp 9; Alice (I Want You Just For Me) by Full Force.  This was shine time in Images.  We were rarely off the Dancefloor, or we were bossing it up and enjoying our part in the moment. 

 

I cannot describe how satisfying and zen that part of the evening was for us, and no doubt DJ Tim.  Others shared our love of the vibe, the venue and the company, but I really don't know of anyone else other than Angus and me (at that time) who was just into that music as much as us.  We lived breathed and absorbed it and collected it.  We would talk about how good it was while it played, and anticipate bits of the song that would ‘fuck you’ (in our slang that meant – touch an emotional chord – i.e. fuck you up emotionally). The music squeezed some funky emotion out of you. 

I think that's why I loved Baz Lurhmans Gatsby so much, putting aside the whole tragic story, I’m talking the sideline story of revelry and amazing parties with loud dance music, booze, and beautiful people all dressed to the nines.  It reminded me of weekends at Images, 24 floors high while the lights of Brisbane winked all around you through the wall to ceiling glass on both sides of the club.  It took up the whole top floor of a skyscraper.  If there were no ladies in the immediate vicinity, but one of our fave songs cane on, we would boogie out onto the floor and dance regardless.  DJ Tim’s funk hour (or two) was the best part of the week. 

Progress with a lady would eventually find you in the Blue Bar which was on the westside of the club, down a few stairs into a sunken lounge which curled around behind the DJ booth to another bar.  The views from here were just as fantastic, it was a stunning bar in anyone's book.  Straight out of Hollywood or Vegas with the bar, couches, city scapes and black light.  To top off a superb night, the club would not close until after the sun first popped up and started to stream onto the dance floor from behind the islands in Moreton Bay.  Tim made this moment happen too with spot on selections and then sometime after 4am it was closed.  Many of the regulars who would always stay till close would then go down the lift 24 floors and congregate at the building forecourt, sometimes for hours.  The club closed about 4.30 and the first trains were not till 7.30, so we kept hanging out, sometimes heading off with others or just call it a (new day) night.  Other than cigarettes, and alcohol, there were no drugs. Yet when we were mingling outside the club at 5am, it was always a feeling of elation.  It was quite frankly a golden era for us, and if you need any more introduction to how Angus learnt to become an amazing DJ, you cannot get any better angle than this Brisbane club.  Here Angus found his after dark groove, his second home away from home, and he never really left.

Both Angus and my record collections grew dramatically during the time we were going to Images.

Along with Funk; Hip Hop and R&B we were also exposed to pop club music and the roots of the later dance music and electronic scene.  Some of the biggest influences on us were Fancy from Germany.  DJ Tim would always play Chinese Eyes and Slice Me Nice from
Fancy’s Get Your Kicks LP.  We also liked the burgeoning Hi NRG scene with songs like Digital Emotions Go Go Yellow Screen; Lime’s Babe We’re Gonna Love Tonight and Fantastiques Mama Told Me.

At this time there were two very important record stores where we sourced our records – Rocking Horse Records and the Record Market.

Rocking Horse records was the most important destination you would go there on Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, whenever the new shipments arrived.  We were always talking about orders and shipments, because that's how you got half your new music - straight out of the shipping box at Rocking Horse, and later Central Station records which Angus became a main feature of behind the counter.  He worked for a central Station for years, first in the Valley at the top of the escalators going into the Valley Train Station, up from Wickham Street then in the Queen Street Mall next to where the old Record Market was.

But way before Central Station there was Rocking Horse.  Up until it moved across the road and closer to City Hall it was an incredibly small hole in the wall.  But it was iconic and incredibly lucrative in its stock.  Thanks to Warwick the enigmatic owner of the shop.  Warwick was as cool as a cucumber, but had a great ear to the streets for what he needed to stock.  He was regularly in touch with America and travelled there at least once a year.

If you were after the latest releases or back-ordered a classic, whatever you were into hip hop; reggae; soul funk or punk, rocking horse had it; was getting it; or could get it.  That's why shipment day always was a big deal.  You knew Boogie Down Productions just released a new 12" or you put an order in for the cash money and marvellous 12" and you prayed that it would  make it into that shipment which arrived direct from the US every Thursday.  Then there were the new release surprises which after a few spot listens goes into the definitely buying pile.

The second hand section was also rich with surprises but no record store was more of a gold mine for me and Angus than The Record Market.  Originally situated up the top of the same flight of stairs that Central Station would later be located in the Queen Street Mall, just a few doors up from Hungry Jacks.  This place to me was where I was most happy.  Because at that time the kind of records I would easily find was akin to casually scuffing the dirt and finding diamonds.  I would pull out so many amazing records in one day and put them aside until I bought them all.  I would save my lunch money then get on a train after school, my heart pounding in nervous anticipation of buying some of the remaining finds I'd put aside.  At one point there was a bag behind the counter of the Record Market (The big white Record Market paper bags with a silhouette of an aborigine playing a didgeridoo as its logo) with my name written in black pen, probably right next to another big bag of records put aside for Angus.  Anyway, in those bags would once have been the following records, all in pristine condition and this is where our record collections really began to pick up the pace:

• Shalamar - Make that Move & Second Time Around 12"s & Big Fun LP
• Mtume - Juicy Fruit & You, Me & He, In a Search Of The Rainbow Seekers
• Midnight Star - Planetary Invasion & No Parking On The Dancefloor;
• Luther Vandross - Never a Too Much & Forever, For Always For Love
• Dazz Band - Keep It Live
• Vanity 6 - Nasty Girl 12"
• The Deele - Body Talk
• Loose Ends 12"s Hanging on a String; Choose Me;
• Kool & The Gang - something Special; As One; In The Heart (We Loved Kool and the Gang – pre-breakbeat stuff – late 70’s/early 80s plush R&B vocals records with JT Taylor – that was our thing then)

I said earlier, before 1200s the main room of importance was the main lounge room where The Harmon Karman system was.  Here we would share our latest record finds and then mix each other's classic and new record finds up on cassettes.  I remember at least taping the following songs in that room on that system.  It Doesn't Really Matter and Computer Love from Zapp IV; Loose Ends tracks off the Zagora and A Little Spice Album;  Rock The house from Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s first album; BB&Q Band - On the Beat; Mtume - (C.O.D.) I'll Deliver; Brass Construction Walking The Line from Street Sounds.

Inspiration also came from the radio - Gilbert hosted BlackBeat on 4ZZZ on Sunday Night for decades.  One night he played It Doesn't Really Matter by Zapp; SlowDown by Loose Ends; and I'm For Real by Howard Hewitt.

Being regulars at a club from happy hour to closing time put us in touch with a lot of people.  It was a social whirlpool.  The regulars all had much love for each other and lifelong friendships were forged as well as Angus’s lifelong faith in clubs and party people.  You would also get periodic visits by American Navy ships and the clubs loved to let them in because they were fresh to death in cheap designer gear they bought from their last stop off in Hong Kong or Singapore and were cashed up and ready to party and spend, well, like drunken sailors.  This was always a big event.  These guys were larger than life to untraveled Brisbane kids, and there were always groups of cool guys in fresh gear who were keen to talk about music and the scene back home.  News straight from the States about goings on in the US from guys whose hometowns were New York; San Diego; Alabama, all over.  Before the internet we heard about block parties, DJ competitions and hip hop culture straight from the visiting US locals.  We picked up on new music, but also new technologies.

While we were eating up this top quality R&B, were also getting deeper and deeper into the Hip hop culture which was rising steadily.  Angus and my friendship with Katch would grow into the full on culture of 4 element hip hop that swept across Brisbane and Australia with the three of us representing the DJ side of Hip Hop culture.

When I get around to writing part 2 of this post, I will delve into the Hip Hop songs that influences Angus; also the important Scratch and battle DJ’s and the go-to records for using when scratching, transforming and beat juggling in competitions; and the important DJ Mixing Competition videos we would devour; and the era of hunting for beats breaks in funk and jazz records of the 70’s as well as the arrival of the Ultimate Beats and Breaks collection; Scratch Anthems that made huge impacts on us; and our early production efforts – both on Vinyl; Film and Mixtapes.

I can also highlight some of the early songs and artists in Electronic and club music that influenced Angus before it took off in the late 80’s and 90’s.

Check out the Offical Flow Documentary Website here: https://www.facebook.com/FlowDJAngusakaDJBribedocumentary
 

If you’re interested in hearing some of the songs mentioned in this post, here’s where you can find them in playlists or recordings:

 

Spotify

Profile: Lee Hardwick > Public Playlist folder called FLOW – DJ Angus.

I have split into three separate playlists

• FLOW – Images Funk Set (with some of the dance and electronic selections added)
• FLOW – Funk & R&B Faves
• FLOW – Essential Hip Hop/DJ Records (See Part 2-pending)

Soundcloud

Profile: Lee Hardwick

Look for Down In The Basement Radio Show – Tuesday 22^nd October 2013.  It will be posted in the coming days following tonights show Link Now Up: https://soundcloud.com/lee-hardwick/down-in-the-basement-radio-4

Also posted Crucial Flow: Part 2

Artsound FM

If you are reading this on the day it is posted, you might be able to catch the radio show streamed live on the web tonight from 8 – 10pm via this link http://artsound.fm/listen-online/