Link to Podcast on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lee-hardwick/bass-head-jazz-down-in-the
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
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.
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
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 22nd
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
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/|
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