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Evil Ed Interview

interview 0059 added 17.03.01 words Smiffy

Supra called him a star in his recent interview and he's generally picking up hype from all available quarters at the moment..Smiffy caught up with Evil Ed, unquestionably one of the UKs leading producers, to find out the real shit...

First off tell the heads out there your name, age n’ all that sorta... where you're based at right now type business…. its intro time basically……
My real name? I can't give you that, but I've been known as Evil Ed since I was about 13 in 1986...does that answer the age question??? I'm based at the Buskers Corner, which is my lab and also a haunt for dope MC's, DJ's, producers and various other waifs and strays!
Where do you reckon the users from ukhh might have heard of you before?
Well, I'd better clear something up first (a FAQ)...there was a guy called evil ed who was down with THE SYNDICATE (Crazy Noddy et al.) back in about 1987...he was Evil Eddie Richards, but he was more of a house head and dropped the evil to become just Eddie Richards...I think he's still going...I'm suprised he's not a bigger name, maybe he is in whatever circles he moves...Anyway, there were probably a few Evil Eds around back in the day, I'm the only Hip Hop one I know of in the UK now. Users of UKHH will probably know me best for my work with JEHST and the YNR label, but some will remember me from the crew HIDDEN IDENTITY from back in 93/94, we were in HHC and got played on Kiss/Choice etc...
What was your inspiration to start messin with hiphop?
Well, before Hip Hop I wasn't really into music apart from theme music to like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, all those sci-fi films...I was a space boy...Then I heard stuff like Newcleus, Hashim, Bambaata, Jonzun Crew etc. which was all spacey stuff and I fell in love with it and from the start I was analysing the sounds, I knew nothing about music at all or how it was put together...then I started doing pause button mixes and doing simple 'wicka-wicka-wicka' scratches copying DST on 'ROCKIT' on belt drive turntables with no slip mats (ruined some vinyl!)...I know a lot of heads will relate to this! It just progressed from there...
Yeh -we knew that from our MI6 records of every proponent within UK hiphop - we know you are a longtime veteran DJ n’ Producer….what gives you the greatest buzz n’ do they gel together well? What has turned out to pay the bills better?
Don't talk to me about bills!....I owe Yorkshire Electricity Ł400!!! I'm yet to make any money from producing and the money I get from Djing usually buys me a taxi home, a take away and a few new tunes the next day...sometimes I even make enough to take the missus out for a slap up meal at the weekend!!! Hopefully as more and more people get to know my name and what I'm about then more DJ work will come and some paid production duties would be nice too...I've only done stuff on small indie labels so far and everyones just breaking even (if that)...As for DJing I LOVE IT!!! I love dropping those gems and seeing people shocking out to them, it's a real buzz. I like to play tunes you might not normally hear and lots of new stuff...keeping the vibe fresh!...I'm just getting used to hearing DJ's play my tunes and seeing people dancing to them, girls shaking their stuff to them...that's a real buzz.
Are you dealing with hiphop fulltime or do you have another day job?
I'd love to do music fulltime, but unfortunately at this stage Hip Hop is not paying the bills, so, yes I work full time and overtime and weekends and nights...someone give me record deal!!!!!!!
Whats your current weekly schedule like? What jams do you regularly visit and showcase at so heads reading this inta can go catch you?
I don't really have a schedule I'm just one of those dudes you see popping up here and there with a bag of tunes, whether it's with MC's or on my own. I was doing a regular thing called DUSTED in Huddersfield with my man Eddie Skratch, I'll still be going back up North to do that every so often, all I can say is look out for flyers as I'll be doing a lot more this year...we should be adding a gig guide to the YNR website, so look out for that in the near future...In the meantime I'm free to do weddings, school discos, barmitzvas, funerals and office parties!
Whats your career discography? Whats the record or track which gives you the most pride - what do you feel is the best overall composition you’ve constructed?
My discography is kind of too long to list now, but I'll get a copy to you and you can maybe put it at the bottom of this interview?...What track gives me the most pride...hmmmmm...the TASK FORCE track off my EP got played on Westwood and I'm always hearing that in clubs, so I'm proud of that, but my favourite has to be FIGHT CLUB (original version) by JUNIOR DISPROL...I love everything about the beat, the drums, the vocals, Eddie's cuts. The 'FIREPOWER' tune with Gunshot etc. would have been a contender, but we rushed the mix and the sick guitar loop is lost, you have to hear that loop properly, it's ILL!!!! JUNQ-WAFFLE which is also on the FIGHT-CLUB 7" is also a favourite of mine, The MC's (Disprol, Jehst, Alkaline and Skelaton) all drop the baddest rhymes and the busted loop I used is something I haven't heard before on anyone elses production...some Zion Train business...I need to do some more reggae style 'isht like that!!!
I personally heard of you from the Jehst EP (out on YNR) - and from a my view (like basically the only northern hiphop I knew much about was like Krispy n’ Dave Ruf) it seems like theres a lot of high quality hiphop coming out of Northern areas right now - has this always been the case n’ just now its getting recognised nationwide beyond the local?
Well prior to my move down South I'd been up North on and off for about ten years (Manchester, Leeds etc.) and in Huddersfield for four, so I'm an adopted Northerner, same with Jehst who wasn't originally from up there...yeah, I mean KRISPY are still holding it down, the new mini-LP is very tasty indeed. Don't forget that back in the day you had RUTHLESS RAP ASSASSINS whose KILLER album was a bloody classic (I was living down south when it came out and loved it), you had MC BUZZ B, who I never really checked for, but people rate him as a northen rap legend...You had BTI and BRAINTAX out of Leeds, you had DOYEN D from Sheffield whose still going strong (better than ever)...I think there's definitely some good crews up north, the newest and freshest being Manchesters MICRODISIACS, and MC's like ASAVIOUR, USMAAN and TOMMY EVANS. I think DAVE THE RUF is shit and should put the mic down!!!
Is there a large hiphop scene up North? Do you think your work will benefit from a higher profile now you’ve moved down south - cos a lot of heads think hiphop is a bit london-centric? Also - How did you first link with the YNR peoples?
Yeah, there's a healthy Hip Hop scene up there, the J-Live jam in Manchester proved that, full of B-Boys booing Fat City and heckling the DJ for playing shite house music before J-Live and Unspoken Heard came on (how can you warm a Hip Hop crowd up with shit like that?)...obviously you get your fair share of students and trendies at the jams who'd dance to Shaggy and Steps if you put it on, but there are some heads up there, Rhyming their arses off, making beats, DJing (big up CELESTIAL and EDDIE SKRATCH in Huddersfield and 3rd DEGREE and D.I.D.J.I.T. in Manchester, PETER PARKER and the NO FAKIN' DJ's in Liverpool)
Will my work benefit from a higher profile down South...hmmmm...London's that bit nearer, but to tell the truth I was doing O.K. up North, I can travel with my 8-track or people can record at my yard...As for going to jams in London and kissing arses, I'm not into that at all, I've got people I want to work with and those people also want to work with me (ome big names, others just people I rate from the underground scene, from freestyle tapes, jams etc.) I'm looking at building up my profile on an international level through magazines and radio (THE TOURNAMENT has been played by DJ VADIM on French national radio and it's also been played in Australia, Switzerland, Canada and Montenegro!!!), also doing more jams nationally and hopefully internationally in the future...I think I could be based either North or South and still follow the same gameplan with the same amount of success...
How did I link with YNR?...a chance meeting with JEHST...it was fate really, Huddersfield is one of those mystical places where strange things happen. I'd seen Jehst on stage (with Dave the Ruf funnily enough!!!) back in 1995 and thought 'who is this kid...he's sick!!! and he knew who I was from HIDDEN IDENTITY and I was in a record shop playing the EP I did with MAKIF and NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Jehst really liked it and we got talking. The rest was history...

With your latest “The Tournament EP” - Hows it been received? Have you got any airplay from it? I heard it sold out its first run - true?
Yeah, we shifted 500 in the first month which is excellent, we've had to re-press it. The response from the press has been OK (got in a some charts in Echoes, Muzik and the DJ mag Beats Chart along with people like The Orb and Freq Nasty!)...but, the real support has been on a street level, people buying it and all the e-mails I've had from people saying they like it and people I meet in shops, clubs etc. They either really like the Jehst track or the Task Force track, but I reckon that once Usman get's more exposure they'' be going back to "Dangerous Situation"! People like SKITZ and MARK B have bought copies which is dope because they're people I look up to as producers, Westwood played 2 tracks in one night, The Task Force one and then the instrumental to "Dangerous Situation"...Disorda's been blasting it, so has 279...I mentioned VADIM and the other stations already...so yeah, my baby is doing well!!!
How are the plans shaping up for Round Two - you gonna do something along the same lines as Round One? What other projects are you all involved in creatively at the moment?
Round 2 is will come about naturally when I have the right tunes for it, I don't want to rush it, I'm not someone who'll just wack out any old shit, it's got to be top tunes all the way, and round 2 has to be a step up from this one in terms of production, mix-down etc. It's all about progressing. Round One is the best sounding thing we've released yet on YNR in terms of sound quality, so we have to keep the quality on the rise. Round 2 will be a similar line up, a few different MC's, some familiar faces, some battle shit and some mellow shit...it's all about the balance...The physical battle of the knock out punchlines and the mental battle...the deep shit that shows that the mind is a powerful weapon too...does that make sense? Other projects...my next thing is OPHELIA from the new TOMMY EVANS EP which I co-produced with Jehst (a 50/50 hybrid!), the JUNIOR DISPROL 7" I mentioned earlier, after that it's a 7" by Microdisiacs with "TOO LATE" produced by me and SUPRA's done the beat for the flip-side.
Can you give us some more details about this hiphop mix CD I recently heard about (Feb 2001)?
Yeah, the EVIL ED/EDDIE SKRATCH mix CD...it's 100% UK tunes cut the f@*k up by me and Eddie (who incidentally isn't me under another name, but an entity unto himself!) with a nice freestyle/prewritten session from MICRODISIACS and skits from ASPECTS and SIR BEANZ, some jingles etc. It's just quality all the way, it's a good marketing tool for me and Eddie as DJ's and for good UK Hip Hip...generally just a good listen from start to finish...we're just working on the sleeves, but it'll be available to buy soon, I'll keep heads posted via UKHH.
Why do you think this current EP was successful? How did you manage to link with all the featured Mc’s? Was it a difficult thing to sort out?
I think it's 50/50 partly my beats and partly the top notch MC's. I think if it was the same MC's on shit beats or my beats with second rate MC's it wouln't have done so well. Obviously anything with Task Force on it will fly out and Jehst and Tommy are big now too and people know the label now and know they trust us YNR lads to deliver!...I like to think that some people bought it because they knew of EVIL ED as a producer from my work in the past...I think that stuff I drop in the future will be received like that...'oh, that's evil ed, he's got some nice beats'...just like I'll check for stuff produced by Madlib or JD or whatever (not saying I am anywhere near as good as these beat masters, but you know what I mean!!!)
Who’se the best MC you’ve ever worked with? What was it about his/her styles that you felt - lyrics?, delivery?, presence?
You're putting me on the spot there mate! phew...I don't want to hurt anyone by not mentioning them, but here go's...JEHST, TASK FORCE, JUNIOR DISPROL, GUNSHOT, SILVER BULLET (back in 1986!)...but the baddest was MISTIMA my old MC from HIDDEN IDENTITY...he said things that no-one would ever say a true lyrical king...he'd be reading an article in the paper one minute or watching t.v. and the next minute it'd be on a track! He'd start singing shit on tracks, putting words to well known songs and shouting all sorts of crazy things and doing impressions (eg. absolutelypopididlygretmate...off Harry Enfield)...I'd just be there operating the 4-track and shaking my head in disbelief...then running round to see my friend Mark with the new tracks and he'd sit there in amazement...thinking, what is he going to say next...we'd have to keep rewinding the tape...he was outrageous and had a good voice too...a proper MC...and there may be a reunion track coming soon.....!
If you had a proper wedge of cash and the chance to record with any MC since forever - who would you choose and why?
It's a hard choice! It'd have to be a posse track...Slick Rick would be dope and he's British...Saafir, Kardinal Offishal, London Posse (reuinited), Freddie Foxxx, Jill Scott (maybe get her on the chorus!?), Diamond D, Redman, Demon Boyz, Gemini (from Hardnoise/Bushkilla), Edan and Third Sight for the underground heads...how much would that cost?
What advice would you give to producers trying to get a foot in the door?
Kick the door down...it's the only way! Seriously, just do it...make beats and record tracks, put them out there on vinyl (a 7" is fairly cheap) and if they're good tracks you'll get your props...it'll take a while. If you can't afford to do it like that or don't have any good MC's to work with then send out beat tapes...that's how I got the hook up with Gunshot and Taskforce…I sent a beat tape out and it got into their hands and they were freestyling to it in the car and called me up and said, we want to use this beat. You can go on the internet and get addresses of labels etc. but if you can get beat tapes direct to MC's then that's probably best as they might hear one they like and want to use it or just like your whole production style. I eventually want to release tracks by other producers on YNR or start my own label and bring through the next generation...there's a lot of talent out there, but if your beats are shit we'll tell you...you may have to go back to the drawing board or call it a day.
Do you believe remixes are generally good or evil? I know a lot of producers that don’t like their work to be remixed as they feel it diminishes the power of the original tracks feel and vibe - do you agree? If you had a chance to allow any musician to rework one of your tracks - who would you choose and why?
It's already happened! Junior Disprol rang me one day and said 'we've remixed FIGHT CLUB'. At first I felt like 'why!' I think I wanted my version to be the only version, but when I heard the new version I went nuts, it's dope. It's an ownership thing like jealous girlfriends...it's insecurity, like 'I don't want their version to do better than mine"...I don't give a shit if people prefer mine or the remix, I know the remix will sound different to mine, but if I'm happy with my original then I know others will be into it, even if the remix is the one getting all the glory...I'd like to remix stuff...I like buying tunes with remixes, sometimes the remix is better, other times it's worse...I want to do some remixes of non hip hop tracks that'd be wicked.
What sort of music do you like to check for outside of hiphop?
In the past I've said I only check for Hip Hop...that's a lie really! I love all the old original breaks, Kool and the Gang, JB's, Bob James etc. and the more 80's ones like Hall and Oats, Tom Tom Club, Gary Numan, and I've discovered some wierd shit on my digging missions, there's a blues band called MARK-ALMOND who I sampled on the 'Alien' track, a bit depressing, but wicked musicians...I listen to dub, lovers rock, old sound system tapes like STONE LOVE, I listen to jazz, contemporary R&B like Jill Scott, Amel Larioux, Hill St. Soul and Erykha, A bit of chill out stuff, Boards of Canada, New Sector Movements...The Beatles, Joe Cocker, Mountain, all sorts of music apart from modern country and western, metal, opera and tacky pop music. My favourite song right now is "Do You Love What You Feel" by Rufus and Chaka Khan...it was only Ł1!!!!
What is your favourite track for playing out when you DJ? Do you rate yourself as a mix or scratch DJ? Whats the hardest scratch you’ve spent ages breaking your fingers to the bone trying to learn?
I'm not really a scratch DJ, I mean I can do basic scratches and my rhythm's good, but I leave all the fancy stuff to Eddie Skridatch! I have this one tune I play out that always makes people come up and ask "what's this"...It's "World War 1" by Mykil Myers, the b-side of the Iriscience tune...I've been doing damage with that. The Erick Sermon remix of Platform by Dilated is also killing people right now as is "The Blast" by Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli. I play a lot of British stuff too...
Have you ever DJ’ed n’ been given a load of shit from the crowd? Basically tell us an embarrassing DJ tale!
All the time!!! In 94 I did a jam and someone asked me for gunshot, I says "I've just played it"!!!! They wouldn't let up...the other night this silly cow was asking for Mos Def all night so I played Travellin' Man which everyone else went nuts over and she still came back and said "when are you going to play Mos Def"!!! There's nothing worse than when your playing solid Hip Hop the Slum village, Redman, J Live etc. and some tosser comes up and says "this isn't hip hop"...I don't play all that silly white boy shit (by that I mean the SOLELESS shit that is coming out of the US independent scene right now), I play the SOLID tunes the stuff you can groove to, the stuff to make people dance and whine their body to!
From the other side of matters - do you consider yourself a vinyl accumulating head - basically someone who digs that extra deep for the gems? Where across the world have you gone wax hunting n’ what do you consider your greatest find ever?
I live in record shops!!! Yes, I'm always after dope new Hip Hop, classics I missed out on and some weird shit to sample...loops that the next-man wouldn't dream of using. My greatest find ever?...Cosmic Blast by Captain Rock for 50p!!! No...the first ever Biz Markie EP with make The Music and Biz Dance on (in picture sleeve) for Ł3!!! I had a good find the other day the original Joe Cocker LP with "Woman to Woman" (The Ultra's break) on it for Ł2...You don't want to know how long I've been after that and how many Joe Cocker LP's I've had to look through!...The original Foster Sylvers LP with "Misdemeanor" on for Ł1 was also a very nice find...the list goes on!!!!!!
And from that do you prefer to chop or loop breaks when making tracks?
Either...I just go with the sound, if I can use it whole I have no quarms about doing that, I'm a lazy git, if it's more complex or just sounds I want then I'll chop it the f@*k up!
What equipment do you use to produce your beats? How do you creatively build up your beats - in that like is it straight logical from the ground up or with jumps of inspiration as you uncover little snatches of useful raw material?
I use an Akai S950 sampler (desperately needs upgrading!) and an old Atari, I do vocals on a Roland VS840 digital 8-track (which is really a 6-track?!) and mix on a Makie CR1604 VLZ desk with various outboard compression and efx. I don't really have a format for making beats, sometimes I build the drums and add shit on top other times I find a nice loop and build round that, I usually do the basic track then spend a while adding other sounds or working more on the beat, just to get it all gelling nicely, then MC's add vocals and I arrange it round them with the extra snares, beat drops etc. simple really!
What magazines or websites do you regularly read?
Phew!...Echoes, B&S, HHC, Muzik, DJ, IDJ, Jockey Slut, Wax, Stealth, Big Smoke, Touch, Knowledge, Fatboss (is that finished now?), I look at things like Loaded, FHM, Marie Claire, Take a Break and Hello! etc. when I'm in waiting rooms! Websites I check UKHH and Sandbox Automatic on the regular, used to check and write for UKHHC but it's dead now! (Danny, when are you going to resurrect it!!!)
Have you been pleased with the reviews you’ve seen of the track releases you’ve put out so far? Who’se feedback do you actually rate on your beats?
I like all feedback, whether it's good or bad, the bad reviews actually help you progress and make the next shit tighter, stop you from becoming too complacent. I never go by reviews in mags myself, I listen to the track, if I like it I buy it otherwise it stays on the shelf whether Andrew Emery or Will Ashon have given it 5 stars or not!
What artists are you feeling at the moment. Like what track/s are getting the heavy rotation treatment from your box right now? Any particular new releases you’ve heard about n’ you're looking forward to?
New stuff from JEHST...his new EP is fucking amazing!!!, The Lewis Parker album, Aspects LP, Sir Beanz LP, New stuff from Task Force, The FLEA PIT EP which is Disprol and Secondson, that'll be dope, I'm requiring another intake of Doyen D at the moment so his new stuff with Cocka, The Braintax LP will be fat, Universal Soldiers, Dupa Styles...US, the Hobo Junction LP, my friend got it at the weekend...I need to get that shit! There's supposed to be a new Edan thing on Biscuit Head...The new Unspoken heard shit sounded good live, I'll be buying Aceyalone's album without hearing it...it'll be dope!...I'm trying to hunt down the new &' by Charisma and Peanut Butter Wolf, but can't get it anywhere which probably means it's fucking amazing!!! The Beatnuts new LP...I'm a Hip Hop junkie!!!
What are your thoughts on the UK hip hop scene in general? How do you rate the state of Hip Hop today in a worldwide sense? Do you sell much of your vinyl overseas?
The Uk Hip Hop scene is healthy at the moment in terms of people buying the records and non Hip Hop DJ's like Mary Ann Hobbs and Gilles Peterson supporting it, but it's in danger of being just another fad before it really even blows up...people need to go to the jams...why did only 13 people turn up for the KRISPY jam in Brighton??? You get Jungle and garage raves where there's thousands of punters, you still don't get that for UK Hip Hop apart from maybe in London...I did go to see Skitz atc in Sheffield a couple of months back and the DJ played a whole set of UK Hip Hop and the dancefloor was packed...so that was promising...I think things are at their best ever, but it's still not good enough! I want to be travelling the world, DJing and doing live stuff...Our national Rap show also needs to play more UK stuff and the majors need to stop backing duff groups and support those who are respected at street level...
To catch some more info and to more importantly grab yourself some copies of these tunes mentioned then bust over to both the YNR website and the Landscape Recordings domain n’ sort some mailorder business out…..you read the words so support the sounds.