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  Spank Rock Interview
interview
0508 added 30.04.07 words: Kane technical: QED
“Wot do u call it?”
Baltimore House, ‘fucked up shit’, Club Rap, Hipster Hop (my own
creation). Whatever you call it I think it was James Brown who put it
best, ‘there are only two types of music; good and bad.’ And Spank Rocks
genre-bender sound definitely falls into the former category. UKHH’s
superstar writer Kane, caught up with producer Alex ‘Armani XXXChange’
Epton to find out more..
Undoubtedly one of the most original, creative and downright fun albums
to come out of Hip Hop for a very long time is Spank Rock's ‘Yoyoyo’.
Released little over a year ago on Big Dada, the group consisting of Djs’
Chris Rockwell and Ronnie Darko, MC Naeem Juwan (aka MC Spank Rock) and
producer Alex ‘Armani XXXChange’ Epton, have gone from playing to100
people at parties in their flat and dingy Manhattan basement clubs to
performing in front of 1000s’ at festivals around the world. While
producer Alex has remixed for the likes of Beck and Thom Yorke, as well
as being bestowed with the honor of his own ‘Fabric Live’ mix.
Lets take it back,
before Spank Rock, before the parties, before you even knew how to make
music. Can you remember the first ever album or single you bought?..
 I’m pretty sure it was Van Halens 1984, and the first rap album was
probably Ol’ Dirty Basatrds Return To The 36 Chambers.
So what was you
doing before the album came out?
I was driving a truck in Manhattan. I was a delivery man, I use to
deliver art and sculptures, stuff like that..
Why do you think
it was an English label that picked you up?
It was basically down to Diplo, he was already signed to Big Dada and
Naeem and him are good friends. He passed a demo onto Big Dada and they
were like ‘yeah we want to put the record out’. He (Diplo) also passed
it round to a few other places, Hollertronix and some others.
Were you familiar
with Big Dada beforehand?
Not really, we weren’t even shopping for a deal, we didn’t even know
that he had given it to Big Dada.
So what do you
think of the labels other acts now?
Well, were really good friends with the group TTC and I’m a really big
fan of Wiley-I’ve got a few of his 12 inches.
So what does the
average day involve for a member of Spank Rock at the moment?
We just recently got back off tour, and have been touring all over the
world for the last year or so. Although for the last six months I’ve
been at home in New York, working in the studio.
So are live shows
not really your scene then?
 No, I mean I’m not a rapper or anything like that. I was a drummer, I
played drums for about 15 years for various bands, but I feel kind of
weird on stage otherwise.
You made some nice
beats for ‘Yoyoyoyo’, you must have had a lot of requests for remixes?
Thanks. Yeah, I’ve done a lot of remixes this past year. I’m trying to
sort of stop doing them. I mean I was pretty much doing everything that
came along just for the money y’know. But now I can stop doing that as
some better offers are coming in, so now I can be a bit more selective.
But I’m also trying to do more original production work for Spank Rock
and some other people. I produced the A-side of the Kid Sister record, I
think she’s really coming along as an MC.
What do you think
of Lady Sovereign? Because, from what we hear, she is pretty big in the
States, without being particularly popular over here.
I don’t really know how well her record did over here. Obviously there
was a lot of hype when she signed to Def Jam and Jay Z got her on TRL. I
thought more of her before she came over. I liked Random and Ching Ching,
but no so much her recent stuff.
"...I was pretty much doing
everything that came along just for the money y’know..."
So have you turned
down any big names for remixes?
Earlier on in the year I did a few remixes for some major labels, but it
didn’t really work out. They (the majors) either turned it down because
it was to weird of they wanted something that sounded exactly like the
‘Yo’ record. And I didn’t want to do the same old…And there was the A&R
thing where the band would love it but the A&R would hate it or visa
versa. I did a couple of big ones recently, Beck and Thom Yorke that was
pretty cool.
If you could
produce for any musician, dead or alive, who would you choose?
 Erm…Missy Elliot would be fun. Or maybe the German band CAN.
How does your
creative process work? Do you just hear a sound and work from there?
I get up in the morning and work from about 9-1. Then I’ll do some
homework, where I’ll make up a whole bunch of beats and some chord ideas
and have them just there on my computer to play around with so when an
artist comes round or I get a remix request it’s all just there for me.
I’m big into homework…
What sort of
equipment / software do you use?
Logic, some analogue stuff, I play most instruments as well. I’m pretty
good on the drums.
Your familiar with
Grime-despite the similarities there’s a little tension between that and
the Hip Hop scenes in this country-do you guys face a similar sort of
thing in the States with more conventional Hip Hop?
It’s a totally different scene; pretty much most of the audience we play
for is a hipster audience.
So would you say
you’ve intentionally disassociated yourself from a Hip Hop audience?
No, I mean this isn’t necessarily out of choice; it’s just the way it’s
worked out. I love the dirty South and the Houston stuff, if the
structure was there in the record industry we would probably be able to
work with those guys. But the way it is with the Hip Hop A&Rs and the
American record companies…It’s just really fuckin’ close-minded. It’s
very much a black and white thing, and because there’s a white dude in
Spank Rock-they aint gonna fuck with us quite simply-it’s a shame.
Yeah it is. Moving
on, Was there any particular concept behind the Fabric mix and the songs
selected?
 Well it was supposed to be a creation story, like in the bible. Not that
we're religious or anything (obviously!) but just to have a laugh about
it. It was going start with Love To The World then go through all the
various stages of history with Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight representing
the stone-age / primitive cultures. All the way up through Justices,
Nazis (self explanatory), and finishing with Daft Punk's Technologic. So
that was the idea but we had to scrap it, because we realized that Wes (Diplo)
used a spin-off version of Love To The World as the first track on his
fabric mix so.......we said fuck it.
Ok, so what are
your plans for the future?..
We're going to tour as DJ's, while Naeem writes for the next record.
Then we’ll start recording together. Naeem’s also thinking about
incorporating a live band into the shows-so you could see me on drums.
Personally, I'm working on Amanda Blank's, Pase Rock and Kid Sisters new
records.
‘Fabriclive 33: Spank Rock’ is out now.
-
Kane
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