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Artist Interviews
Q&A: The Slew
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009
A couple of years ago, master turntablists Kid Koala and Dynomite D were asked to record a soundtrack to a documentary. They had completed a psych rock-influenced score for the film before the entire project was shelved. More recently, the pair met former Wolfmother rhythm section Chris Ross and Myles Heskett and played them some of this music.
Having recently left Wolfmother, and excited about what they were hearing, the pair suggested taking the lost album on the road. So, calling themselves The Slew, with Koala and Dynomite working across six turntables, and Keskett and Ross handling drums and bass, that’s exactly what they did. And now, this week, an album of that never released soundtrack if finally released. Entitled ‘100%’, it is released via Ninja Tune/Puget Sounds. We spoke to Kid Koala to find out more.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started playing classical piano when I was a child. I was introduced to the turntables and the whole scratch craft when I was twelve.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
We wanted to make a completely hand-cut turntable grunge album. Something that Black Sabbath fans and Public Enemy fans would both dig!
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
We have a record cutter in the studio, so we would cut a lot of records to use as tools. We would record a lot of source sounds in a studio, like guitar and Hammond organs etc. For instance, I would play an E chord on the Hammond and record it for about eight minutes. Then we would cut that eight minutes of tone to one whole side of a record on my record cutter. Once it was on wax, I would bend it into all the other chords we needed on the turntable by hand. That’s how we get that twisted turntable feel on everything. We’d also plug the turntables into old overdriven tube amps and mic them. Pretty standard rock production techniques, I think… Except maybe for the cutting to and recutting from vinyl part.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
I’m a big fan of Jim Henson, Jean Pierre Jeunet, The Coen Brothers, and The Mighty Boosh.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Have fun.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
Initially, we just wanted to make the album we wanted to hear… a heavy record that all our skater friends would enjoy. We never thought it would have such a crazy response. As for the future, we always wanted to get into more scoring and producing other bands that wanted The Slew treatment. We’ve already been approached by a few film music supervisors and some notable rock names about working with them. So, it seems this is just the beginning. We’re excited about that.
MORE>> www.theslew.net
