ARTIST INTERVIEW

Skitz

Interview with Skitz, producer 3rd May 2006

Longtime friend Skitz has recently spent a week in our Toyshop studio, with friends and collaborators Rodney P and Corin. Not content with being London's favourite hip hop producer/DJs, Rodney P and Skitz also co-host the BBC's 1Xtra show Original Fever. It's a phenomenal worldwide success story, that has seen them interview the likes of 50 Cent, Redman and Method Man, Ludacriss, Chuck D, Talib Kweli, The Roots and Beanie.

MILC sat down with the UK hip hop 'n' reggae man in the summer of 2006 and found out a little about his current activities and career so far...









MILC: Hello there.

Skitz: What's up?

M: Now then, I've heard talk of Southern Comfort and Hurricane Katrina. Can you fill in the blanks?

S: Yeah, well Southern Comfort took me and Rodney P out to New Orleans, cos they wanted to update their image from the old smoky jazz thing. So they sorted out this collaboration whereby me 'n' Rodney P would go out there and work with some New Orleans rappers. So we went out there - this is pre-Katrina - and we just got in a studio, just vibing really, and threw together a couple of tracks.

M: Had you been to New Orleans before?

S: No, I hadn't man. It's way different from the rest of America. It's heavy. We had a good time. And so this is the return favour: they've come back over and we've some more tracks prepared and we're gonna perform them at this Slice and Southern Comfort Party tomorrow, down at London Bridge. David Holmes is gonna be playing, Rob Da Bank - it's gonna be a mad eclectic mix. It's just a great vibey project, you know what I mean?

M: And is this all being done to raise funds?

S: It isn't actually, no - I don't even know if they're gonna get released to be honest. This is all about awareness. We're making tunes to perform live.

M: Has this project influenced your sound?

S: Yeah. Cos you know what it is, the hybrid sound of me and Rodney P and Corin, the producer, we make British hip hop reggae. Y'know, UK hip hop. So we've taken that and put it with the New Orleans stuff. We've leant a lot about their history too, about the Secondline Marching bands, these Mardi Gras bands. But then they've got this ghettoised version too. So if you go to the ghetto they've got these marching bands who take all these 70s disco classics, and a hook, like [singing] 'Cassanova!', and they'll take that, and have a whole marching band doing it, but they'll be like [singing]'Bitch bend over!' And you'll have like 2000 people singing it behind a marching band! New Orleans is steeped in musical history so we learnt a lot. We went to jazz bars, we went to strip clubs, we went to record shops, we went to the ghetto, we went uptown - we saw a whole heap of it. And now we've been showing them around London.

M: And presumably that reggae base of yours meshes pretty well with the various traditional New Orleans sounds?

S: Yeah, Rodney and Corin and me are all very reggae influenced. And for me the baseline is the foundation. Reggae music, hip hop, drum and bass, it's all the same backbone.

M: And are there some nice slices of New Orleans horns involved?

S: Yeah, cos Corin's a trumpet player, so he's been layering up some horns n stuff. I mean we'd like to get a full marching band in here, but we can't! There's limitations... But we're just having fun.

M: So how did you get started in the business in the first place?

S: Oh, wow. Well you know what, I was really lucky. I used to work in Brighton - in the same studio as Norman Cook - and I had my thing going, my little hustles on, and I used to DJ with Midfield General a lot. And they always used to say, 'Yeah Skitz, you're heavy. But you play too hard...' And then I came to London and got into the whole UK hip hop thing, and I was lucky because the first track I ever put out properly (that I'd admit to putting out) was a track I did with Roots Manuva, so we kind of blew up at the same time. But he obviously went onto much greater things, whereas I'm this little humble guy still stuck in my bedroom!

M: So when did you move to London?

S: Well I was brought up in Devon, then I moved to Bristol before Brighton. I've gotta lot of love for Bristol. That's where my family is, my foundation. And that's where I really fell in love with the music - the reggae and the hip hop. DJ Milo, and Massive Attack and Portishead, of course. But Smiff and Marty (?) were basically a massive influence on me, in terms of their sound. But yeah, I've been in London about 15 years now.

M: And do you think you'll stay here?

S: No. No, I love London, but my heart's in the country. I'm gonna get a little studio on the beach in Barbados! But no, London's too expensive, man, and the quality of life... I'm a hippy kid, man. I was born in a field and I'm gonna die in a field.

M: And what other stuff are you up to at the moment?

S: Well me 'n' Rodney have the radio show we do on OneExtra, the BBC digital station, our little hiphop show. We just cover our vibe of things, our angle. We don't follow fashion or play any kind of formula. We just play what we love. It's the BBC, y'know, so you can't get too aggy, but OneExtra's great, there's a lot of love, everyone's passionate about the music and in it for the love. It's just vibes, you know what I mean. It's nice when you walk in that office.

M: Do you like the kind of things you're doing now, are you happy with current level of success, etc?

S: Yeah, yeah, I am. We've got a lot of good things going on. But it's hard to find the time for it all. It's hard to find the time to build my new album, for example. I've actually only had one production album out. All the rest have been compilations where I've had one or two tracks on. So I'm kind of halfway through the new album, but it's gonna be like a five year gap! Which is a long time...

M: Well we'll have to get you back into Miloco to do it...

S: Yeah, we love Miloco, man. Last time I was here, in fact, we recorded the first ever track to be played on OneExtra. We recorded it in the main studio [The Neve VR Room] with Beverley Knight, me, Jemma Fox, Roots Manuva, Rodney P...and that was a kind of landmark tune, cos it was the first ever one on OneExtra, it opened the whole station. We were supposed to be doin' it with Ms Dynamite, but she didn't turn up, and Beverley Knight happened to be next door [in The Toyshop]. So I just said, 'You know what, I'm just gonna go and ask her.' So we knocked on her door, and she was so cool and just said 'Yeah,' and came in and sung the chorus! So, yeah, we've got love for Miloco, man.

M: And did I see you signing autographs down the street earlier?

S: What? Oh no, they were just New Orleans kids wanting numbers. They've come over and love English girls, so we were helping them out a bit with some contacts. Those guys aren't my kinda fans - mine are more than likely the pasty white types under hoods that you'd cross the road to avoid!

M: So who are the other artists that have influenced you most over the last 12 months?

S: Who am I feeling at the moment? Wow, that's a good question... I'm influenced a lot by the energy of the grime scene. And the technology that the drum and bass people use when they're engineering. When I watch those guys programming beats, they go into so much more depth - us hip hop kids do it so simply - but they layer up their drums, they put four bloody kickdrums together. Where I'm just 'There's a kickdrum, that'll do,' and just put it in, but they spend so much time on their sound. The Full Cycle Roni Size camp has influenced me a lot in terms of watching and learning.

As far as Hip Hop production goes, I always like people who are spearheading and have new sound. So people like Kanye West - that was refreshing; JD, R.I.P. JD, his sound was amazing. People who aren't scared to take risks, to do hybrid things, try out new ideas. Outside of that I listen to folk, rock, latin, reggae - reggae's probably my biggest influence - but yes, I listen to everything. I listen to Jimi Hendrix, I listen to Van Morrison, I listen to...death metal - you know, they've all got their thing.

M: Apart from modern jazz, of course - the sound of drums being thrown down the stairs...

S: Actually, you're right, I agree with you on that. That's too much. And I can't get with the Gabba. Or even Trance really, even when I'm off my head. I just want to listen to a reggae track!

But, yeah, I was chatting to Macio? from De Le Soul the other day and he was saying that he loves England because we don't follow fashion and we've got so many people who are breaking new ground and making new tunes. It's more of a melting pot and we're influenced by a lot more things. We're not so scared.

Skitz was talking to MILC in May 2006

© MILC@Miloco 2006