Scottie B : Interview

Scottie B

I've been a fan of Scottie for a while and eventually got kick it with him after my ventures to Baltimore and everywhere else. Finally met up with him at Sonar. He has a record label called Unruly Records based out of Baltimore with the focus on Baltimore Club. He is a producer. He is a DJ. Scottie B is Baltimore.



You’ve been a staple in the Baltimore Club scene, how did you get started with making music and djing?

I’ll tell you the truth; I started playing back in 81. That’s a lot older than some people. When I was a kid I used to listen to the radio. Wanted to be the guy that played records for people. Even today it reflects on how I like to play. Playing music just for people, the crowd and just what I like to do. Playing music just makes people happy, I’m not a dancer but I like to be in it, some way to contribute. I started playing records in 81 and that when on the radio in Baltimore they had a radio station called avv. They were solar powered and only on during the day. They were the first station to have live mixes, super mixes of songs and etc. I wanted to do that. A kid from the summer came down from New York and said they had mixing contests. This about the time wheels of steel came out with all the scratches on it. So we were at a friend’s house. They had a full on stereo and a 1950 turntable or something. I was the one that always there that would just sit there and watch the djs. We had DJ Spin, who still out and djs today. Many know him as a house dj but back then he was a hip hop dj. The new Maus who originally made the song girl you know it’s true which was borrowed by Milli Vanilli. Break dancing started and got more into that. Break dancing started to get played out. Started going back to mixing back in 84 to 85. That’s when I started getting heavy about it and started selling newspapers to buy records. I did my first party back in 86, house party. In the hood by McCave Ave, it was crazy in a basement. It was real stuff and that’s where the Baltimore Club came from. The regional music in separate town all started the same way coming from the hood. Chicago House, Disco, Go Go, Ghetto Tech, Baltimore Club all started the same way. Techno even, that’s a Detroit thing.

When did you start playing out in clubs?

The first club I was at was in 87… It was a big spot and what happened was, the DJ that was in there was the DJ I used to buy records from in the record store. He used to take breaks and I used to take 10 minutes then turned into 20 then turned into 30. Then they got rid of him and it was just me in there. The place eventually closed and this was around when it takes two was around. The other big club in town was Godfrey’s and I was still getting started and not city wide yet. Went to Godfrey’s and shut that place down. It was for just one night and then it became the biggest club in town. I was playing for peanuts but it was the biggest night and I was happy. Just that’s what you do when your young. That’s when the name Scottie B got born. I wasn’t Scottie B before that.
That’s when I started making money. Ceasar is my partner in Unruly and he played at Fantasy, which was a club that was all house. It started to mesh after a while. I influenced him and he influenced me. Then the UK imports started coming. It was hip house which was kinda the roots to Baltimore Club. That was our common ground. His night was Friday and my night was Saturday. Started getting customers from both nights. Old old Baltimore club was very house influenced cause of that. The roots started at Fantasy, which is the precursor to the Paradox. The same owner who closed down Fantasy and a year later owned Paradox.
What were you playing back then when this all started to happen?

Everything. I played house, hip hop, uk imports, reggae, pop record here and there. The Baltimore sound at it’s roots is a mash cause that’s what we played, little bit of everything. We could take the loop of that and the beat from this, it was any kind that you can imagine it was a mash of stuff. That’s how we started producing, back in 91.

What was the reaction to people first hearing this?

It was just part of what was going on and not out of the norm. Only thing out of the norm was that the people started to notice that these are Baltimore people doing this. I was selling mixtapes and would always have the tunes first. Cause we were making it. It started to be a connection and after a while the nights started with more people getting involved. Patrick, Posisum, the equalizers were all involved. It started to become a movement. But when people come to Baltimore to see, that was 1991 to 95. When it got to 90% Baltimore people getting play and had just a few house records that made it in. The radio wasn’t playing yet, not in a mix show, maybe a record here and there. Everybody in Baltimore went to clubs. Everybody! Everyone came out to support their neighborhood and everyone knew the words to the tracks and sometimes there were fights cause this person was coming into this person’s neighborhood. Stuff like that. That was such a fun time then. I was 24 years old.

How was the transition of making this a fulltime deal?

I was working the record store during the day, playing the clubs at night, selling mixtapes all day and night. It was fun and competitive. It was good times.

When did ventures take you to playing Bmore club in other cities?

That started to happen when Hollertronix and Diplo started. Cause here it was starting to run its course. It peaked but they still had their favorite little sounds and you could get away with a few here and there. The teens still like the Blaqstarish kinda stuff. Everyone started taking samples from Lil John and making it their style. It’s been around soo long there have been different kinds of Bmore club. It’s just been around that long.

So how do you feel playing to different audiences from Baltimore compared to other cities, when you travel?

Baltimore is a pretty unique place and just knowing how Baltimore is. I’m kinda expected it to be the other spectrum and I was ready for it. I remember seeing Louie Vega play at the Paradox and thinking he’s doing ok but have seen him play a few times in New York. But he’s not doing how he does there. He was playing kinda down the middle, little safe. He was good but I heard him at home and what he did there. I was thinking I know I want to hear that and I’m sure everyone else wants to hear that. I went with K-Swift (r.i.p.) to New York and she played a party up there. She was like what should I play, it’s a different crowd. I was telling her they know who K-Swift is and know about Baltimore club, so do what you would do. I played a month later and kept it raw Baltimore and it was a great night. As Baltimore club expanded and where it went and in a way I kept it my way with lotta my roots in it. Playing little of everything like figet house like Sinden in the other room. When I met him it was at Fabric and we started talking right away and he mentioned that he was a protégé of Switch. He was asking if I knew who Switch was and I replied I never heard of him. It was funny cause a lot of that stuff was influenced by Baltimore. They’re stuff was basically Baltimore influence house. The patterns and the drums and everything was umf umf umf. 130 bpm and the crashes but it was very similar. Then Crookers go a lil bit a way with it then boy 8bit. Then you got a lotta different dudes with Baltimore here and house here. I love it. Cause I started playing house and hip hop then hip house came and branded it. It was for parties and it was great. They kinda did the same thing, bridging house with techno with hip hop. Kinda like a kaleidoscope the more you turn it around it makes a new thing to a new thing. 808 in the beginning and a sample looped in.

What are some musical influences that you have right now and artists that you enjoy currently?

I’m loving Nadastrom, Debonair, Sinden, Crookers, Boy 8bit, Wale and stuff like Lil Wayne and just love the Dirty South. I’m a big Scareface fan.

more info can be found at:
www.myspace.com/bmoredjscottieb
http://www.unrulyonline.com/unrulyrecords/index.php

Introducing Cullen Stalin

Introducing Cullen Stalin

pic by Joshsisk.com
(Cullen on the left beside partner in crime Simon)

After a few ventures to Baltimore last year I ran into Cullen from TAXLO. It's really great to meet another promoter and DJ with good ideals and ambitions. I had a sit down chat with him before a show in Baltimore.

What's the history of Taxlo and yourself?

Taxlo is really started by three people, myself not included. Justin Sirois , Jason Urick and Mikey Mayhem and started it as a fun thing to
do on a Monday night at this upscale club at the Goodlove. They would
just play New Wave records and weird prog rock records and stuff like
that. They just inviting all their friends and they ended up coming.
The bar did really well for a Monday and became a weekly event. About
a month and half into it. Jason Urich, whom was working at a record
store at the time and knew that I DJed in Philly. So he asked if I
would guest DJ and I said sure. Called up all my friends and they
came. It was one of the best nights. I just got a bunch of people to
come and they said well " You need to be a regular DJ here". That was
the beginning of my involvement. Simon came on a couple of months later
in a very similar way. He was a DC native at the time and was invited
to guest DJ from Ian Svenonius (of the Nation of Ulysses and The Make-Up). He had
a good night and became a reoccurring guest. Eventually became a
regular as well. As things moved on, some of the people DJing
regularly moved onto to other things. Professional lives or Artistic
lives. Simon and I became the people really sticking with it and
promoting it. It moved to another venue still on a Monday and it
really blew up when it moved to the Talking Head. Then at that point I
was still traveling and going to Philly a lot. There was a lot of DJs
there. I started getting my friends who were people like Low Budget,
Cosmo Baker, Diplo at the time not even known as Diplo yet, Major
Taylor and lot of others. I would just bring them in as my guests.
Payed them 30 buck and have them DJ and it really snowballed. We were
offered a Friday night spot at Sonar at that time was a new club.
They were looking for something new, something different. We started
doing Fridays and it became it's own entity then as that moved along
we started booking some of the acts that we were already booking became
national acts. We started booking national acts as well. Just kinda
kept going like that.

So how long has Taxlo been going on?

Going on six years now.

What are some of the highlights of Taxlo thus far?

First time Diplo played at the talking head on a Monday, free show and
it was just packed. I think Florida has just come out but people in
Baltimore didn't really know about it, especially my crowd which is a
younger and rock n roll type people. They didn't know about it and we
just hyped it up. "Yo this dude Diplodacus is the best DJ and you need
to check him out, it's going to be awesome!" It was just insane,
someone got their head cracked open that night.
Some how by doing this event I'm became appreciated by people whom I
appreciate and that's really cool. Some of my favorite musicians and
DJs and know who I am and that's pretty cool in itself. We've had a lot
of crazy things. Like house DJ Charles Feelgood and the Deathset
playing the same show, Dan Deacon and Diplo playing the same show. We
had MIA play to 20 people on Monday because no one knew about and she
just came through, she was working on her record. Blaqstarr coming on
hosting the night just for fun. All that stuff. There's been a lot of
highlights. Actually it's really cool on how many acts we've seen come
through here, whom now play really gigantic venues. It's awesome!

How do you feel about the music community, the state of it in Baltimore?

I think there is a very strong creative community. Baltimore always
had a strong creative community, getting recognized nationally right
now. The problem is that there is not a lot of support from the
population at large, people don't realize that they need to go out,
buy a ticket, pay the cover. Actually go out and support it. Say they
supported on the internet and not come out. There's an infrastructure
that is very economically tenuous right now in Baltimore. It really
needs support of the general population cause the creativity is so
strong. People from other cities would die to have a scene that is as
creative as Baltimore and has as many things going on. Many
interesting and innovative things going on but the people in Baltimore
treat it as if it's always going to be there but it's not if people
don't support it.

Do you think Taxlo from that small show long ago grown a presence nationally?

It definitely has. I've been on tour a couple of times tour managing
artists and there is a lot of people that recognize me when I go
around and that's pretty crazy. There's a lot of people that have
heard of Taxlo or even went to college here or DC and left to go to
other cities. They say that it's there favorite parties. So the word
has just spread from our longevity, Some people told us that they model
things from our parties.

Anything in the future coming up for Taxlo?

We've got a lot of things that we are planning for 2009, don't wanna
say too much. I think people should expect the same kinda of
interesting combinations of our artists and surprise guests that we've
had so far. Just that's how we do it.

Have you ever thought about doing things at the festivals?

We've had offers to do things at Pop Montreal but it coincided with
tours which I've been on. So I haven't been able to do it. That's
always the biggest problem. We all have other responsibilities and are
often out of town. So it's kinda hard to coordinate a party at a
festival cause we're working there at different capacities anyway, but
hopefully I would like to do something like SXSW and other national
and international festivals. So we'll see what happens.

Do you ever pick up any DJ gigs while going on tour?

Not yet, don't want to put myself out in that sense yet. I really want
to wait till I have something to offer. I feel that a lot of people
right now shouldn't be touring but are. Considering the state of
the economy right now. Promoters are having a hard time. People don't
want to sleep on a couch and take a greyhound bus and if you don't
want to do that then your fucking over the local promoters because
they aren't making any money off these weeklies or monthlies right
now. So I wanna wait till the economy is better till I have something
more to offer before I really start going out there. I'll still do
stuff in Philly, D.C., New York, etc. or even Canada.

What other ventures do you have besides the entertainment business?

Well I'm a book purchaser at a left wing bookstore called Red Emma's.
I do a lot of book ordering, maintaining relationships with
publishers. Trying to keep up with the political and intellectual
literary world.

Is there anything that you would recommend for people trying to get
into the entertainment business?

My primary focus is that people need to keep artistic integrity.
Basically that's the main thing I try to maintain. I wouldn't book
acts that I don't like. I won't pretend to like something that I don't
like. I try to keep a solid grasp on the things that I'm booking. Make
sure that it reflects things that I would want to see. This something
that every promoter should think about. Are you doing something
because it doesn't exist already and you wanna create it because you
wanna make something that you would want to go to if someone else did
it, that's the basic thing. Make something that you would want to go
to if someone else did it. That for me, is the best philosophy.

What's your favorite film monster?

The thing from the John Carpenter film.

Be on da look out for SXSW this year! Details soon...

More info can be found about Cullen & TAXLO @..

www.myspace.com/cullenstalin
www.myspace.com/taxlo
www.flickr.com/photos/joshsisk/245144634/

Introducing Emily Rabbit

Introducing Emily Rabbit

I have heard of Emily Rabbit a while ago through the pipeline about her parties, how well they went and about the BBC a while ago. After a few ventures to Baltimore I met up with Emily.
I recently had a little quick bunny sit down with Emily about what she does.

Can you tell us a little bit about your self and what you do in the Baltimore area?
My name is Emily Rabbit and I am "funemployed". That is the term I came up with to describe the diverse array of activities that keep me busy.

What are some of those activities?
I am a DJ and I run a weekly on Wednesdays at TheOttobar that I started with Devlin&Darko. And a Monday in Philadelphia I do with Plastic Little & Spank Rock called Jang House. I am also a frequent guest DJ at Tax Lo & some DC/Philly parties.

What kind of music would you expect to hear at the weeklies?
Both weeklies are pretty diverse musically but I play a lot of rare soul, muntant disco and low fi post punk. I have a good collection of weird American indie noise that I collected when I was managing a record label called Morphius.

What is the Baltimore Bass Connection?
It was a collective that included Chris Devlin, Ron Darko, xxxchange, Naeem Juwan, Chipset & myself, also a nice dude name Oliver Jones of Shop Gentei and Sly&Robby fame.
Chipset is responsible for the amazing "50 ways" remix we released.

Sounds pretty heavy of a party. How did this come together?
We were all friends and working in music, fashion and art and then Spank Rock really took off as a touring force so we kind of dissolved

Do you still get together to do some collective shows here and there?
We still use the BBC collective to throw an annual xmas party, Its basically the most badass party of the year. It was packed this year. It was our 5th consecutive event.

photos: http://flickr.com/photos/fhamilton/sets/72157611924189066/

I heard this years was a blast! I read in a cd insert from the Death Set Emily Rabbit. Do you still work with them?
I still tour with them ocasionally and we are thick as theives but they work with their new label, Counter (Ninja Tune) on all the biz. I put out their first 2 EPS on my imprint, RabbitFoot.

Is Rabbitfoot still active? PR company correct?
I am not planning on releasing anymore actual albums but I still use the name to throw events and work with some newer bands

Whats some the best times from 2008? In events for you?
Bands I am working with now: Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Death Set, Smarts and my new passion Po Po from Philly. Whartscape was definitely a blast. Its a 3 day festival put on by Baltimore's Wham City Collective and of course my Xmas party was the best night to date.

What are some future ventures for Emily Rabbit?
I am stoked on Po Po for sure.

What's their sound like?
They are a 3 piece from Philadelphia who are working with Mad Decent and they are basically the future. Also Cerebal Ballsy out of Brooklyn are amazing and Smarts a 3 piece from Baltimore are my secret weapon.

What's your favorite film monster?
Ms. Doubtfire or the Olson twins