01-16-2007, 12:32 PM
The hottest breakbeat label in the world today, as if you did not know...
These guys have been around for a while pushing nothing but the best in the breakbeat genre. For those that don't know, Fingerlickin records handles some of the top names in breaks to include Lee Coombs, Krafty Kuts, Plump djs,etc.
Label leaders and performing duo Soul Of Man is one of the top breakbeat producers/dj team on the block today. With buttloads of outstanding releases and cd's under their belt, look for nothing but the best to come from this label and their artists in the future.
Many thanks to Justin from Fingerlickin/Soul Of Man for sitting down to answer a couple of questions for us.
1. When did you start djing/producing as soul of man?
We met in ?95 and started making tunes within a minute of catching sight of each other, in fact I had been a disc jockey for about 10 years already - I taught Jem how to play the turntables and he taught me about his drumming skills.
2. Is there anything you or your partner did before that?
We met when I was working for a label that put out compilations ?Havin It In Ibiza? - Jem did the artwork and I was doing promotions, that was the only job I had before we started Finger Lickin? (apart from washing up in a hotel for ?3 an hour when I was 14). I think Jem once did some temp work in an office but he studied graphic design and was in and out of bands for most of his youth.
3. How did you become involved in the music scene?
I guess the first thing that got me started was going to a disco in a village hall, I saw potential for putting on my own disco so hired a hall and off we went. It was some time ago and dance music didn?t even exist! For the next party I decided to do the music myself bought some decks borrowed my dads record collection and saved money on booking ?Barry the mobile DJ?. So the music business began for me back in the eighties, then I discovered proper music, stopped all the weddings, 21sts and office Xmas parties and headed to the big smoke and began experimenting with drugs.
4. What gave you the idea to start Finger Lickin?
Jem and I started off making tunes and decided to put them out ourselves so we created a label that we called ?Spirits of Inspiration?, it was kind of house but not the real deal. We had musical tastes in house and funk respectively and it wasn?t until we heard the Freestylers and the like, that suddenly we realized that we should add a breakbeat to our funk driven sound as opposed to a 4/4. Suddenly we found a new direction ?Love & Hate? was our first release under the Soul of Man guise, (incidentally the name was derived from one of Jem?s mates who is the son of one of the Goodies!), We made a few more tunes including ?Between the Eyes? by Soul of Man, ?Jungle Freak? by Osmosis and ?Nutty Drumstick? by 2 InDaBush. We created Finger Lickin? as a vehicle to put out our music, it was all ours but sneakily under different names. Having learnt from our early experiences of running ?Spirits of Inspiration? we learnt what NOT to do and planned the label with a distinctive graphic design and iconic logo. Luckily Jem is a very talented artist! When we began the label we never imagined it would grow to become such an international success story, and so much work!
5. Were you friends with the artists on your label or did they just like the
direction Finger Lickin was going and wanted to be a part of it?
In a separate chapter of the history of our careers in 1996 I set up a record shop in the basement of a bar in Camden called Bar Vinyl/Vinyl Addiction. It was there that we met Lee ?I?ve got a snare pattern that goes like this? Coombs. He was a van driver working for a distribution company and he gave us a demo, a track called ?Sky Juice?. He liked what he had heard on the label, we loved his sound and thought he was ?cool? so he joined the ranks. Soon afterwards Lee Rous of the Plump DJs gave me a cassette. I was playing at a sweaty night at the 333 club in the fashionable district of Hoxton in London . It was a track called ?Electric Disco? I took it home, had a few comments about how he could change it about it a bit and soon we had the debut release from The Plump DJs ? It was the same thing he liked what we were doing and we thought he was ?fly? - we loved the tune and so we signed it to the label. Through Lee Coombs we met the DrumAttic Twins who were previously Shades of Rhythm, they were my heroes of the rave scene. It wasn?t long before we had Krafty Kuts, A.Skillz and Stereo 8 on board, our rosta was looking ?hot?. Problem is that our productions took a back seat to the other artists careers and soon I found myself running a business ? a bar, a shop, a label, as well as DJ?ing at weekends and trying to produce when I could!
6. What are your and Finger Lickin's thoughts on going digital vs. vinyl? As in
playing out? Does soul of man use vinyl or cd's/ableton/etc?
I am a turntable traditionalist ? I don?t like CDs. I know all the arguments for, but I like to feel and see the vinyl. I do play CDs as well but only because I don?t have them on vinyl. I am sad that so many DJs are complaining about carrying heavy bags, keep it real guys!
[ awesome response, wishing more dj's felt this way about vinyl, myself not even being a dj, just a collector understands the feeling of finding a hard to find track deep in the bins of some out of the way record store.
IMO half of being a good dj was finding tracks no one ever knew about and bringing that track to the publics attention, now it seems everyone is playing the hottest 30 tracks of the week and sets are all sounding the same.
Props to him for keep it real.]
7. When in the studio, what kind of gear do you use?
Smack, Crack and mainly pot!
[Seems like we all have been using the wrong gear if this is in fact the case.....lol]
8. What are your five all time favorite edm tracks?
Don?t understand your question.
[ After a couple emails back and forth on this question, we both agree that is impossible to pick just a few, with the amount of good music that has come out since the first days of edm, of course there are a couple that I hold dear to my heart, there is just to much good music to choose from.]
9. Favorite show you ever done?
For the sheer scale of it ? Field Day, New Years day in Sydney Australia, the first one, about 15,000 happy smiley sunshine blessed party monsters!
10. You just had a baby, congrats on that, besides being a dad, what else do you like to do in your off time?
Time off? When I can I like eating Sunday roasts in good English pubs, snowboarding of course is amazing! But right now my life is all about being a dad, he?s only very small and needs a lot of attention. Soon he?ll be working for me, so I have to be very good to him.
11. We saw you just put out a new mix cd "thang 4", tell us about that.
Its a collection of the very best releases on Finger Lickin? over the past 2 years it represents what the label is about ? if I say so myself it is rather splendid. It?s had some outstanding reviews. If you love Finger Lickin? or are new to our music, this is the perfect Xmas present and comes with some lovely artwork too! SHAMELESS PLUG ?You can get it direct from our site for just ?5.99 http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk?
[A great cd for those of you new to the Fingerlickin Records sound, a must have for fans of the label, like Justin said, pick up a copy right on the site]
12. What other projects can we expect to see from Soul of Man and Finger Lickin in the next year?
We are finally back in the studio working on our album, its been 10 years of talking about it and now we are actually underway, its gonna be less dance floor orientated. We are working with a range of vocalists and live musicians to create something that represents where we are at this part of the journey, so far we have touched on some great vibes, its ready when its ready but next year looks promising. We also have albums coming out from The Plump DJs, Slyde and a compilation mixed by pro snowboarder come DJ Scott Nixon. Lots of grown up music.
[fans everywhere have been waiting for a new album, and it promises to be another classic from this breakbeat duo, have your money handy cause this one will fly off the shelf]
13. Do you do bookings for the artists on your label, if not who does?
Yes we do everyone except the Plump DJs, we also manage and do all the bookings for Krafty Kuts.
14. Any live mixes online that our readers might be able to hear?
We are currently updating our Members area of the finger lickin? site which features loads of recent DJ mixes from our very successful label extravaganza at Mass and a recent set of mine from Fabric. But you have to join the Finger Lickin? club to get these!
15. Anything we have not covered that you would like to let our readers know about?
Keeping it independent and doing something you enjoy is hard work but also very rewarding, I hope that Finger Lickin? will continue to bring lots more excellent music to you for years to come, but check out the website to see what we are all about and keep up to date with our events and releases.
[I'm sure there will be nothing but solid releases from these guys to come, they seem to have a ear for funk driven music, which just happens to be my music of choice.
For anyone that has ever thought you might like funky music, you have to check these guys out when they come to town.]
Again thanks to Justin for sitting down with Doug from visionaryurbantactics.com to answer some of these important questions the fans have been wanting to know.
Web Address
http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk/"
These guys have been around for a while pushing nothing but the best in the breakbeat genre. For those that don't know, Fingerlickin records handles some of the top names in breaks to include Lee Coombs, Krafty Kuts, Plump djs,etc.
Label leaders and performing duo Soul Of Man is one of the top breakbeat producers/dj team on the block today. With buttloads of outstanding releases and cd's under their belt, look for nothing but the best to come from this label and their artists in the future.
Many thanks to Justin from Fingerlickin/Soul Of Man for sitting down to answer a couple of questions for us.
1. When did you start djing/producing as soul of man?
We met in ?95 and started making tunes within a minute of catching sight of each other, in fact I had been a disc jockey for about 10 years already - I taught Jem how to play the turntables and he taught me about his drumming skills.
2. Is there anything you or your partner did before that?
We met when I was working for a label that put out compilations ?Havin It In Ibiza? - Jem did the artwork and I was doing promotions, that was the only job I had before we started Finger Lickin? (apart from washing up in a hotel for ?3 an hour when I was 14). I think Jem once did some temp work in an office but he studied graphic design and was in and out of bands for most of his youth.
3. How did you become involved in the music scene?
I guess the first thing that got me started was going to a disco in a village hall, I saw potential for putting on my own disco so hired a hall and off we went. It was some time ago and dance music didn?t even exist! For the next party I decided to do the music myself bought some decks borrowed my dads record collection and saved money on booking ?Barry the mobile DJ?. So the music business began for me back in the eighties, then I discovered proper music, stopped all the weddings, 21sts and office Xmas parties and headed to the big smoke and began experimenting with drugs.
4. What gave you the idea to start Finger Lickin?
Jem and I started off making tunes and decided to put them out ourselves so we created a label that we called ?Spirits of Inspiration?, it was kind of house but not the real deal. We had musical tastes in house and funk respectively and it wasn?t until we heard the Freestylers and the like, that suddenly we realized that we should add a breakbeat to our funk driven sound as opposed to a 4/4. Suddenly we found a new direction ?Love & Hate? was our first release under the Soul of Man guise, (incidentally the name was derived from one of Jem?s mates who is the son of one of the Goodies!), We made a few more tunes including ?Between the Eyes? by Soul of Man, ?Jungle Freak? by Osmosis and ?Nutty Drumstick? by 2 InDaBush. We created Finger Lickin? as a vehicle to put out our music, it was all ours but sneakily under different names. Having learnt from our early experiences of running ?Spirits of Inspiration? we learnt what NOT to do and planned the label with a distinctive graphic design and iconic logo. Luckily Jem is a very talented artist! When we began the label we never imagined it would grow to become such an international success story, and so much work!
5. Were you friends with the artists on your label or did they just like the
direction Finger Lickin was going and wanted to be a part of it?
In a separate chapter of the history of our careers in 1996 I set up a record shop in the basement of a bar in Camden called Bar Vinyl/Vinyl Addiction. It was there that we met Lee ?I?ve got a snare pattern that goes like this? Coombs. He was a van driver working for a distribution company and he gave us a demo, a track called ?Sky Juice?. He liked what he had heard on the label, we loved his sound and thought he was ?cool? so he joined the ranks. Soon afterwards Lee Rous of the Plump DJs gave me a cassette. I was playing at a sweaty night at the 333 club in the fashionable district of Hoxton in London . It was a track called ?Electric Disco? I took it home, had a few comments about how he could change it about it a bit and soon we had the debut release from The Plump DJs ? It was the same thing he liked what we were doing and we thought he was ?fly? - we loved the tune and so we signed it to the label. Through Lee Coombs we met the DrumAttic Twins who were previously Shades of Rhythm, they were my heroes of the rave scene. It wasn?t long before we had Krafty Kuts, A.Skillz and Stereo 8 on board, our rosta was looking ?hot?. Problem is that our productions took a back seat to the other artists careers and soon I found myself running a business ? a bar, a shop, a label, as well as DJ?ing at weekends and trying to produce when I could!
6. What are your and Finger Lickin's thoughts on going digital vs. vinyl? As in
playing out? Does soul of man use vinyl or cd's/ableton/etc?
I am a turntable traditionalist ? I don?t like CDs. I know all the arguments for, but I like to feel and see the vinyl. I do play CDs as well but only because I don?t have them on vinyl. I am sad that so many DJs are complaining about carrying heavy bags, keep it real guys!
[ awesome response, wishing more dj's felt this way about vinyl, myself not even being a dj, just a collector understands the feeling of finding a hard to find track deep in the bins of some out of the way record store.
IMO half of being a good dj was finding tracks no one ever knew about and bringing that track to the publics attention, now it seems everyone is playing the hottest 30 tracks of the week and sets are all sounding the same.
Props to him for keep it real.]
7. When in the studio, what kind of gear do you use?
Smack, Crack and mainly pot!
[Seems like we all have been using the wrong gear if this is in fact the case.....lol]
8. What are your five all time favorite edm tracks?
Don?t understand your question.
[ After a couple emails back and forth on this question, we both agree that is impossible to pick just a few, with the amount of good music that has come out since the first days of edm, of course there are a couple that I hold dear to my heart, there is just to much good music to choose from.]
9. Favorite show you ever done?
For the sheer scale of it ? Field Day, New Years day in Sydney Australia, the first one, about 15,000 happy smiley sunshine blessed party monsters!
10. You just had a baby, congrats on that, besides being a dad, what else do you like to do in your off time?
Time off? When I can I like eating Sunday roasts in good English pubs, snowboarding of course is amazing! But right now my life is all about being a dad, he?s only very small and needs a lot of attention. Soon he?ll be working for me, so I have to be very good to him.
11. We saw you just put out a new mix cd "thang 4", tell us about that.
Its a collection of the very best releases on Finger Lickin? over the past 2 years it represents what the label is about ? if I say so myself it is rather splendid. It?s had some outstanding reviews. If you love Finger Lickin? or are new to our music, this is the perfect Xmas present and comes with some lovely artwork too! SHAMELESS PLUG ?You can get it direct from our site for just ?5.99 http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk?
[A great cd for those of you new to the Fingerlickin Records sound, a must have for fans of the label, like Justin said, pick up a copy right on the site]
12. What other projects can we expect to see from Soul of Man and Finger Lickin in the next year?
We are finally back in the studio working on our album, its been 10 years of talking about it and now we are actually underway, its gonna be less dance floor orientated. We are working with a range of vocalists and live musicians to create something that represents where we are at this part of the journey, so far we have touched on some great vibes, its ready when its ready but next year looks promising. We also have albums coming out from The Plump DJs, Slyde and a compilation mixed by pro snowboarder come DJ Scott Nixon. Lots of grown up music.
[fans everywhere have been waiting for a new album, and it promises to be another classic from this breakbeat duo, have your money handy cause this one will fly off the shelf]
13. Do you do bookings for the artists on your label, if not who does?
Yes we do everyone except the Plump DJs, we also manage and do all the bookings for Krafty Kuts.
14. Any live mixes online that our readers might be able to hear?
We are currently updating our Members area of the finger lickin? site which features loads of recent DJ mixes from our very successful label extravaganza at Mass and a recent set of mine from Fabric. But you have to join the Finger Lickin? club to get these!
15. Anything we have not covered that you would like to let our readers know about?
Keeping it independent and doing something you enjoy is hard work but also very rewarding, I hope that Finger Lickin? will continue to bring lots more excellent music to you for years to come, but check out the website to see what we are all about and keep up to date with our events and releases.
[I'm sure there will be nothing but solid releases from these guys to come, they seem to have a ear for funk driven music, which just happens to be my music of choice.
For anyone that has ever thought you might like funky music, you have to check these guys out when they come to town.]
Again thanks to Justin for sitting down with Doug from visionaryurbantactics.com to answer some of these important questions the fans have been wanting to know.
Web Address
http://www.fingerlickin.co.uk/"