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  Orifice Vulgatron Interview
interview 0381 added
09.03.06 words: K-Per
technical:
QED
Orifice Vulgatron – sounds dirty doesn’t it? Well it kind of is but not in the way you think. It’s lyrically dirty. The name belongs to one of the UK’s finest MCs, part of the Foreign Beggars crew. The same crew who, since their ‘Asylum Speakers’ LP landed in 03/04, have taken the UK scene by storm with their constant live touring, appearances at festivals (including Glastonbury), their own label – Dented Records, and of course music, including the momentous single that was ‘Hold On’ with Skinnyman. At the end of another busy year in 2005 they dropped the first single ahead of their forthcoming second album, featuring none other than Wildchild and have been keeping busy with the label, touring and more.
So in November last year, K-Per took a trip down to Cargo to meet with mister Vulgatron and discuss all things Beggars and Dented. With the likes of Dubbledge,
Skrein, Focused Few and Syntax on the label and a slew of releases dropping all year, things are bound to be Dented in 2006 and you’ll more than likely be hearing a lot more about the label and the artists if you haven’t already. So sit down to find out more about the forthcoming Beggars material, Dented records, the new Dented Spain label and some Vulgatron thoughts on a few other things.
Why don’t you re-introduce yourself to the readers?
OV: My name is Orifice Vulgatron, aka Buck Shinez, aka Procto Galvanol, aka Satan. Yeah that's me, I'm here repping the Foreign Beggars fam, all up in this bitch with Laurent, spitting some fuckery for the ukhh, this is how we do, get down, as it were...
Well seeing as we're hooking up about your forthcoming new single (the 'Let Go' 12" that features Wildchild, in shops for a few months) do you want to let heads know about all the new stuff you guys got coming in the new year?
 OV: Well the 'Let Go' 12 is more like an EP really, we always try to do more then just a 12, give people more music for the buck and all that. Whatever people call EP we call a 12", if we can get 3 tracks and 3 instrumentals on one vinyl that's what we try to do. So anything that comes out from us on single format follows that idea. So we got 'Let Go' first, as that's been ready for a while, with 'A Crying Shame' and 'Million Skill March' on there too, and then we got more stuff. The album is pretty nuts, we got some varied production on there. Dag Nabbit has done most of it again, but we got some beats from this crazy half ironman, bionic, android thing from Northern Ireland, called Mostchops, he's fuckin sick. Got some beats from Vadim, from Oh No, that should be the next 12. We're still deciding on it, might be a 7. We're also making some videos at the moment. The next release before the LP will be February 06, another 3 track 12" with one Oh No beat and 2 Dag beats (This has now been pushed back to April 06). One of the tracks from Dag is coming out on the new Anthony Mingella film too, the same guy who did 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. So that's pretty dope. There's also a Roots Manuva and Coldcut track on there. The track is called 'Backdraft', the movie is based in London, so that's why some of our music ended up on there... there's another filthy, grimey double time track coming too... actually I don't know if I wanna talk about all this stuff just yet... (pauses) Actually fuck it, you know what, it's coming so yeah boy! So that's what's coming. The Oh No tune is very electro, kryptonite, bionic UK kinda...
Didn't you call it hard rock at HHK?
OV: Nah that was Death Metal man! I dunno, the new double time beat is somewhere between Dead Prez, Slayer and Pantera if you ask me. Without the guitars, it's all disgusting synths that Dag has been fuckin around with. Then there's the album. That's gonna be different too like I said. With the last album, I had to take a lot of initiative, get people down, wait around and be patient, and make sure a lot of things happened, organise things. So at this point in my life it’s different - with running the label, doing a lot of stuff, running the production, being a studio gimp, branding everything, working with designers, dealing with the shows... we've done like 80-90 shows this year, and there's also the dnb stuff, hosting the jams with Schlo, doing all the beatbox tournaments, all that does take its toll. And until just recently we were managing ourselves, so there was all contractual stuff to deal with, and the record label is also a lot of work: PR, press releases, doing studio stuff for everyone else, planning all the releases for everyone, I just don't really have time for people wasting my time you know? So at the end of the day I'm open and if it's dope we'll arrange it, people know where to get me, it's just a question of initiative really. There's still a lot of people I wanna work with, like Terrafirma because I'm feeling those guys.
“...The [new] album is pretty nuts, we got some varied production on there...”
There's also new heads coming through, the styles have most definitely changed in the new LP, I don't really know how to say it. To me I would say it's a definite UK sound, a London thing, but it's also very different because it doesn't really sound like any UK hip hop that's out there at the moment, whatever the fuck that means. It's somewhere between our own weird electronic twist and it's kind of got a grime element... I'm definitely inspired by grime, coming from a dnb background, I love drum n bass, and I love spitting over it, over breakbeats. I can't say I love all grime, but if it's on the radio I'd rather listen to that than Britney at this point! If I'm flipping through the radio and an MC comes on, I'm listening to all of them and what they're saying and sometimes they might not be saying much but they'll say it in a funky way which is making me laugh, so it's different. The subject matter for the LP is different too, but it's always random like all of our stuff. On 'Asylum Speakers' you could tell that already. One minute it's jokes, the next it's death, the next it's necrophilia, then playing football. It's us, so whatever comes out, it comes out. We stay open minded, we like to be free and music for us is a release, so we just let it happen and unfold. We've been reading a lot of weird shit, so it's also got some science fiction elements to the new stuff...
That kinda goes with your music though doesn't it?
 OV: Yeah I think Dag's beats have influenced us like that. They've taken all sorts of twists and turns and his production methods have changed. There's a lot of different instrumentation now, we've been listening to a lot more music, being inspired by different rappers.
Going back a minute, how do you find handling all the label work in relation to doing the music, writing lyrics, production etc...? It's not something that all artists get to know about or experience but it’s happening more and more on an independent level.
OV: It's a 50/50 thing. Like now with running the label everything we do kind of has to be calculated. Before we were just making beats and we’d be like 'we're making tunes, we're making tunes', without knowing what was gonna be released, when, how etc… Whereas now we can pre-determine what goes on a 12" and when it goes out. So in the beginning it was a bit weird for me, because we finished the album, put it out and then we were planning the next single, with release dates, what's going on it, where the rhymes are going and all that. Having those perimeters really affected me, because before I dealt with things as they came along, like bang! Random inspiration is what I went on, and if something popped into my head I would start writing, I'd hear a beat and start writing. So now it does feel a bit contrived to have everything so calculated, but of course if you're running a business it has to be done in a certain way, and of course you can't be as random and ridiculous as you were when you started. Now we're doing albums, of course you can put a random selection of tracks together on it but for it to be successful, or at least be like you want it to be, you need to be more focused. So I don't know it's been weird, but good. Being more focused, everything has to work with everything else to happen.
“...The new double time beat is somewhere between Dead Prez, Slayer and Pantera if you ask me...”
'Asylum Speakers' was much more free spirited, when it's ready it's ready, when we've done enough tracks we put it out. We did 50 odd tracks, and sat back and chose what went on it. In the beginning it was a bit hard because we thought about doing specific tracks for the album, but then we had to let go and flow with it, do what the fuck we wanted until it sounded ready. But it's been inspirational on many levels, I've learnt a lot by running the label. The main thing being that literally the amount of work you put into it, is what you get out of it. The amount of records that you go and sell, or try to sell is what will get sold. And that's it. Of course the music has to be good, and there has to be quality control, and standards. But if you're shit is dope, original and new, then there's no limit to how many records you can sell and how many people you can convert to hip hop, or to liking your stuff. You just have to take the initiative and go out there and do it. I see so many rappers, they write their stuff, record it, and they front like they're too good or too cool to talk to people about what they do and they got too much pride or ego to recognise that they're a human being and another human being might not be into their stuff. And so they won't talk to them on an equal footing, wanting to recognise that it's that person's choice to be like that and that you can show them that you're serious and show them that you believe in what you do and they might like it. And in turn if they like it, if you can 'convert' them, they'll go tell their mates and so on.
 Funnily enough that's how our shit has spread, because we had no budget when we released our album. Foreign Beggars has spread through pure word of mouth, ok we had some nice press, and the press has been wicked, people have hooked us up, so I'm not gonna deny that.
Yeah but like you said that generally happens when the music is good, or to the liking of a lot of people.
OV: That's it. You can do a whole load of press, make up some fake record with amazing press and put it out but it'll disappear after 5 seconds because those listening to it will say 'no it's shit'. It doesn't have the staying power. At the end of the day, we're just blessed with a good team, I'm blessed with the people who've stuck around, and we've worked with a lot of people, and I've met a lot of people, etc... But I look around my immediate surroundings, and I see some of the most inspirational people you know? That's what drives me to carry on doing what I'm doing.
Do you want to give us a bit more detail about your dnb background and how you said you came through it in a way? It makes sense when you listen to your output so far, so for those who don't know a lot about it can you clarify it and give us a quick rundown?
OV: I started rapping before I was into dnb. Actually, I was rapping for a year before I heard any dnb MCs properly. I was in Dubai when I started spitting, we had a rap group out there. I'd heard dnb, but never heard the live stuff like One Nation with all the MCs and everything - those old tapes where all the MCs were going nuts. And once my mate had given me a tape and I'd heard it I was like 'what the fuck?!' It flipped me out because I was on my own in India at the time, while my mom was having an operation, and I was smoking crazy hash and suddenly hearing these ridiculous raves with 1000s of people, MCs like Hyper D going nuts, and it inspired me to write. Then for a year before I came here we were just doing straight drum n bass parties in Dubai, then I came here and I was still writing raps and stuff, but I knew that I had some sort of edge, difference to most MCs because I had this drum n bass background. I could spit lyrics on par with most other people, I could spit fast, even faster, I was coming with new styles so I when I moved here I knew I had something to bring to the scene.
“...There's still a lot of people I wanna work with, like Terrafirma because I'm feeling those guys...”
And I decided that's what I wanted to get into, so I started doing it, doing loads of raves, but unless you're Skibadee, at that time, unless you were someone pretending to be some gangster, some big man nobody would really pay attention to you. I was ripping raves, and at the end of day I've ripped mics but there wasn’t really anything else to it. I've MCed for DJs two, three, four times - Hype, Andy C, Mickey Finn, Kenny Ken, I've gone back to back with Skibba, Shabba, I've done a lot. But at the end of the night you're just another MC to them, they don't really give a fuck. And once you're done and you've ripped the rave and go outside they really don't give a fuck, Andy is going home with 2 grand in his pocket, Shabba is going with 600 pounds and 3 girls sucking his cock so why the fuck would they give a shit about the next MC? I'm not on some super hustle flex, matter of fact I'm kind of a peaceful dude, and having moved here and not being from around here I'm not trying to get into people's faces... where as now it's different because boy! (pauses) Nah (laughs).
 But yeah that is what happened basically, and it got to a point where I'd been putting so much energy into it, so much time and people weren't recognising it, that I thought 'I wanna do my own shit'. I was at university anyway, missing lectures and handing homework in late, getting in trouble so I decided to just concentrate on the hip hop shit... I was doing it all at the same time, but I decided to concentrate on one thing. And we started making tracks, looked at how to release it and it all went from there like I said before.
It's interesting to hear you talk about this there's definitely been times where I feel you guys have showed that dnb and hip hop are not that far off, and that you as an MC can most likely stand off against the majority of MCs in that scene – both live and in the studio. There was the ‘Crypt Drawl’ single you put out earlier on this year, and that for me still stands as one of the sickest beats of the year, and one of the nicest flips of a dnb sample to a hip hop beat.
OV: That beat is sick. It’s because Dag was producing dnb when we were in Dubai throwing raves, and then he moved to Norway, around 98, to go to university. I stayed in Dubai for another year before moving here and he spent two years in Norway at university throwing drum n bass parties as well, flying us in for the raves. He was a dnb DJ, and he moved to London with the intention of us starting a dnb label together. Originally that's what we were going to do. We moved the studio, producing dnb beats, throwing parties at university and so on. But then too many cunts were just trying to push us off the table, and we just thought 'fuck it', we can share something and build something or just build our egos up and lose our view. At the end of the day we knew we could still bring shit, we could still throw parties, like the ones in Dubai.
“...It's a definite UK sound, a London thing, but it's also very different because it doesn't really sound like any UK hip hop that's out there at the moment, whatever the fuck that means...”
(Dag calls and interrupts)
Going back a bit again, how did the hook up with Wildchild and Oh No happen?
OV: It was Raj, from Deal Real and Ill Commotion. They threw the Stones Throw tour, and did the party here at Cargo. We came down, checked it out and met them afterwards and then Wildchild was passing through London during Skinnyman’s launch party and he came down to check it out, and Raj told us to bring some beats along for him to check. And basically we did the show, he was feeling it and said he was down with collaborating. We gave him some beats that evening, the show finished at 2am, and the next morning at 9 he showed up at the house and laced 2 tracks in the studio! Done and he just went. And that was it, the day after Skinny’s launch party, and that’s how long it’s taken for us to get this out – this shit is quite old now.
The pressures of being an independent, and doing it all yourself…
 OV: Yeah, and doing it properly too. We could have gone home and written our rhymes around it the next day and put it out straight away but we decided to do it
properly.
Was there a reason why that beat sounded the way it did?
OV: We started hearing more and more shit at the time it was made, which was around when the Jaylib album came out, and suddenly that sound caught us and it was like bang! So Dag just thought ‘fuck it, I’ll try and make a beat like that’. Dag’s nuts, he’ll hear something and just be like ‘I can do that’, he’ll try and in this case it came out good. Thing was we didn’t specifically give him that beat, we gave Wildchild a beat CD with 30 beats on it, and that was the one he picked. Actually thinking of it that beat was made proper long ago man, same as that other one, ‘On a Winter’s Day’ (from the Crypt Drawl EP), that was made before the ‘Asylum Speakers’ LP even came out.
“...If you're running a business it has to be done in a certain way, and of course you can't be as random and ridiculous as you were when you started...”
Really? That’s a dope beat as well, the sample is really well flipped.
OV: Yeah Dag is well ahead of most of us man. His sound is always changing, experimenting, so to put an album together is always interesting. And it’s similar lyrically, we always try to cater to the track, rather the other way round.
I heard that Sparro track you did (Sparro ft Foreign Beggars – Astroscience) as well, that’s another nice one lyrical wise…
 OV: We made that well over a year ago mate, it’s fuckin sick! I’m like ‘why hasn’t it come out yet’!
Yeah it’s a shame. All the jazz samples and influences makes it quite different to a lot of stuff at the moment as well…
OV: Actually that’s his brother’s band. He sampled them and made the beat from that and gave it to us. I love that Sparro track that was like the birth of our new style in a way there.
Well it makes sense with what you’ve done afterwards. So you had a fair amount of guests first time round on the LP, are you going down that same road with the new one or not?
OV: Well we’ve done most of the tracks ourselves and now I’m trying to think ‘maybe we need some features on it’, but we’ve done most of it ourselves already.
“...The amount of records that you go and sell, or try to sell is what will get sold. And that's it...”
Do you feel you need the features maybe to make it more appealing to people or just more rounded?
 OV: Well when Asylum Speakers was being made Metropolis wasn’t yet in the crew, so it was just me on my own and I wanted to make tracks with people. I wanted to go out there, and rap with people and shit rather then sit on my own and do it all solo. It’s always more fun to make tracks with people, and it’s nice for the public too when they hear MCs link up, like Busta and Redman for example. For this one, the subject matter and styles is a bit weird, some we may still get some features on but I don’t want there to be a feature on it just for the sake of it you know? Especially as the hustle from it and the end result might not be worth doing it in the first place, if we’ve already done so much of the album together, on our own flex you know?
Moving on to the live shows, you were saying you done something like 80 odd shows this year, so I was wondering if the live stuff is something you guys have ever actually worked on together, or if it just kind of came together?
OV: We’ve never really rehearsed. The only time we really did was our first show, which was at Kung Fu. James (DJ Nonames) has been doing shows on his own and with his band for years, so he’s a musician, Schlomo is a jazz drummer, and he’s been playing drums for the last 12 years and he’s been on tour with his dad’s jazz band, so he’s also got that musical background. I’ve been playing instruments since I was young, and it was always a dream of mine to be in a band you know? I’ve played guitar and bass, and I did some gigs when I was younger with my brothers, we had a little band.
“...I look around my immediate surroundings, and I see some of the most inspirational people you know? That's what drives me to carry on doing what I'm doing...”
Then from that when I started rapping we were doing shows straight away, everything was happening at once. So this means that all of us pretty much have been doing live music for more then 11, 12 years, so when it came to the Foreign Beggars shows it was all quite simple really. We knew what we wanted to do from the go, did a couple of runs and bang the show was ready. Every time we do a show we might take something out or add something in, but we just need to discuss it really, practice it if we get the chance but it’s pretty much smooth all the time. With Schlo and James being beatboxer and DJ they know all there is to know about beats, and even if shit fucks up we’re all experienced enough and know how to freestyle so it makes it easier.
 Definitely explains a lot about your stage presence as a crew and the quality of your shows. Personally I find that it can be quite rare to find UK acts that can rival Americans in that stage show, entertainment aspect you know? US acts tend to be generally quite good at the whole live showmanship, making things entertaining and interesting for the audience, whereas it seems to me that at times the majority of UK acts, and it’s true for other Europeans too, seem more content with wanting to go on stage and spit, which to be honest can be quite boring unless you’re dead into it or the artist. You guys, along with others, seem to be able to straddle both – give people a dope, entertaining show as well as please heads that wanna see ‘pure rhyming’.
OV: Yeah I know what you mean, especially when you get people spitting on stage and not engaging with the audience, or connecting with them. At the end of the day, there is so much potential and energy in a room when you perform because all these people have somehow gone out of their way to come and see you perform, and have a love for the music or the art. If you can learn to work with that, I’m not saying I’m a horse whisperer or anything, but it’s definitely something we always try to do. I come from a rock n roll, heavy metal background, and so when I go to see a Pantera concert for example, I see the energy the band give, I see the crowds going mental, erupting and that’s what I think is possible. We just want to bring that into our shows, the mosh pit attitude – so I tell all the pretty girls to move to one side unless they want to get involved and we get it on (laughs).
“...Once you've ripped the rave and go outside they really don't give a fuck. Andy is going home with 2 grand in his pocket, Shabba is going with 600 pounds and 3 girls sucking his cock so why the fuck would they give a shit about the next MC?...”
The dnb stuff has also taught me a lot on that front - with vocal control, rhythm and hosting a crowd. Stuff like that.
Actually there was something you said at Hip Hop Kemp which has made me think since – you said ‘we’re gonna bring you some UK hip hop shit… actually no some hip hop shit from the UK’. Which I thought was interesting because there’s many artists that have made similar comments over the last few years, about the fact that hip hop is really universal, regardless of where it comes from. So I was just wondering how you looked at it personally?
 OV: I think the reason it’s called that is because a lot of the people around the world have called it UK hip hop but not because people in the UK called it out of pride or whatever. The rest of the world decided to differentiate hip hop from the UK like that. Not because people in the scene want to be patriotic or whatever. They’ll hear UK people spitting on beats and might think about it as something different to the hip hop that comes out from the US and other places. That’s why I think it’s called UK hip hop but, at the end of the day we’re hip hop. I don’t question myself but I know we’re really different to a lot of hip hop. I hear a lot of hip hop that I love and we don’t sound like it at all so at certain times it’s a funny thing…
Ultimately it goes back to that question of what is hip hop meant to sound like anyway? It can be whatever it wants to be, I think that’s what most people agree on…
OV: True, though it can be easy for people to lose sight of that.
It can make sense to have people refer to French hip hop for example, because of the difference in tongues, even though it’s still the same thing but in the UK you speak the same language as the US, where hip hop came from, so it seems to be harder for many people to accept that hip hop can be the same thing even when the language is no different.
OV: I don’t give a fuck because I know some sick rappers. Even the other day when there was the Raekwon show, it was sick, but then when Jeru came on stage, Klashnekoff was on stage at the same time and I’m sorry but Jeru did not look so good. He’s still dope don’t get me wrong, but there are cats from here who are bringing some serious fire and because it’s so hard for people to make an impact it seems, there’s a lot of MCs who have an incredible amount of energy and passion. And because of that anytime you try to break them down it’s only going to make them stronger. In the next year and a half there’s going to be some sick shit dropping from this country and people are going to have to take notice, that’s what I think anyway.
“...The only time [we've ever really rehearsed] was for our first show, which was at Kung Fu...”
Well are you bringing anybody else through on the label?
OV: There’s Skrein, and Dr Syntax. They’re doing an LP together. We wanted to put Syntax’s album out, but with the stress and lack of funds we couldn’t do it, or do it justice. So Zebra Traffic are putting that out, which is great as it’ll do him proper justice. We’re working with this other label called Casual, which is part of Cargo. Dubbledge is a sick brer and I’ve got full confidence in him. He’s got an album coming out as well. Focused Few, the 8 piece live band, have also got some more stuff planned. But basically the names to watch out for I’d say are Skreintax and Dubbledge.
Actually seeing as you were at Kemp, what other places have you guys hit up which were good?
 OV: Norway, we’ve done tours there a few times. I’ve been to Sweden to record some tracks before. We went to Paris once, and we smashed it, it was unbelievable. We need some international exposure I think, with the next album hopefully we can get some more, as we’re going to go for a full international release. The first time we didn’t have the resources or the confidence to do it, but now the time is right and we’re known in a few places. But yeah where else we been? Czech Republic of course, Spain - we’ve been doing a lot of shit out there. We’ve got a big family out there, and thanks to the Internet a lot of people have downloaded our shit and we’ve built a dope reputation out there. I’m not saying shit, but I think it’s dope. We’re actually starting a branch of the label out in Spain, working with Spanish artists and putting out their stuff. There’s a guy called Puto Largo from the Dogma crew, we’ve given him some UK and US production, we’ve got Medaphoar on his album. We’ve also linked with guys out in Canada, we’re organising a Canadian tour and linking with cats in Toronto. Australia we’ve got some links too, but it’s been a bit problematic with sorting visas, but it’s definitely on the cards. So yeah we’re keeping busy on the international front.
“...When I go to see a Pantera concert for example, I see the energy the band give, I see the crowds going mental, erupting and that’s what I think is possible...”
Was there a specific reason why you wanted to establish this link with Spain and put time and money into developing artists and putting their stuff out?
OV: Well it all really started because we spent a lot of time out there, thanks to Pera our designer, who is half Spanish. He’s from Seville, which is a big hip hop hub in Spain, and I remember going out there on graffiti holidays when I was 14 and hanging out with people over there. And now that shit is blowing over in Spain, all these guys I’d met before are still working in the scene. SFDK, who I met then, their last album has sold 50, 000 copies, La Mala, who I also met then, has been in the charts and proper blew up, and she’s just a girl from the streets who used to do graffiti and bun zoots. Everyone out there has really elevated their game and underground hip hop gets a lot of love out there, it’s the most famous shit out there. So we thought it’s only right that we build together, you know? It makes sense. We respect and love each other’s music, so we just want to fuse it together and bring it across our respective countries.
It’s nice to see people wanting to bring scenes closer again, also maybe because so many people get put off by the language barrier.
 OV: The fact that we’re speaking English seems to play in our favour. People in Europe seem more likely to listen to our shit because it’s in English.
Well quickly before we wrap this up, you mentioned earlier on you were reading loads of books, so what you would recommend to people out there?
OV: Actually I lied… I was reading loads of books, but I haven’t read much in a while because it’s been a mental year. Metropolis says ‘read Cloud Atlas’, I’d say read a book called ‘Moon Palace’ by Paul Auster, anything written by Necro, read… I don’t know just fuckin read! All the classics and shit.
Anything else you wanted to mention, let people know before we close this?
OV: Just beware, beware… Be wary, because there’s some ugly music coming your way and you’re gonna have to learn to love it because you won’t be allowed to listen to anything else. Our power is increasing so… I’m just talking bullshit now, but yeah check it and big up all the people who are doing shit, check out Skreintax, Dubbledge, Focused Few, just Dented Records for ever baby!
That’s it – thanks to Vulgatron for the time and be sure to check the links below for more on Foreign Beggars and all the Dented family.
- Kper
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