{"id":917,"date":"2009-04-02T00:18:09","date_gmt":"2009-04-02T07:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/?p=917"},"modified":"2009-04-03T06:30:45","modified_gmt":"2009-04-03T13:30:45","slug":"josh-kay-global-phoenicia-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/?p=917","title":{"rendered":"Josh Kay (Global, Phoenicia) Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe main purpose of this site isn’t to rehash info about all the well known oldschool artists out there, but to shine some light on quality lesser known artists \/ scenes. It’s with that in mind that I hit up Josh Kay of the Texas breakbeat hardcore act Global with some interview questions. Yes, I said Texas. It turns out there was a big rave scene there in the early 90’s, and several of the only US-based breakbeat hardcore records circa 92-93 seem to be have been released from there: NASA PROJECT, GLOBAL, all the METROPOLIS remix records, etc. Josh later went on to move to Florida and, along with his friend Romulo, found the groups Soul Oddity (Astralwerks)<\/a> and Phoenecia (Warp, Schematic)<\/a>, plus the label Schematic Records<\/a>.
\nIf anyone reading this was a part of that scene and wants to fill us in with more info, feel free to leave a coment below<\/i><\/p>\n

How did you meet Robert Vaughn and when did you two start doing tunes together?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

We met at Oak Lawn Records, where Rob worked at the time.
\nI was in college in Denton, TX. and I used to frequent the few record stores that sold electronic music.
\nTo this day I have never met as natural a DJ (all the turntablists I’ve met included) as Rob. He had the most diverse record collection and a photographic memory for records. I would borrow a crate at a time from him and sample & listen to them. I learned half of what I know about music from him. We hit it off and started making tracks right away. I had and EPS 16+ and a few other synths, but nothing crazy. The first day Rob came to my house he brought a 303, 808, 101, and a 909.
\nI think we had our first record done in 3 weeks. Rob was the resident DJ at every decent club in Dallas. He ruled the place. At the time I think we was spinning 5 nights a week to probably 1000-2000 people a night. It was full on rave hysteria in Dallas back then. Bands that came to Dallas would typically get the shock of their lives.<\/p>\n

How did you first find uk hardcore\/rave? How did early uk records make it to Texas?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

If you went to a club in the late 80’s\/early 90’s in Dallas, you were likely to hear every style of music made with a drum machine. It was really a mixed bag, and somehow it all blended together effortlessly. The record stores I mentioned were few, but very influential, and much more than stores. Oak law had their own label which specialized in re-issues. Eventually Rob and I started another label with Oak Lawn’s owner, Ray Cooper, called Space Records.
\nThere was also Metropolis Records, besides being a record store, they released the Metropolis Remix Series.
\nThen there was Bills Records (great article here ). Bills was a massive store housed in an old bowling alley. I don’t know where they got their records, but they had like 4 copies of everything, and 2 of them were usually sealed. no matter how rare it was, whether it was Mayday’s Nude Photo with the banned cover, or the KLF 1987 album. Dallas was definitely the place to be for me. All the music you could ever want to hear, DJ’s with amazing taste in music, and great venues where you could play whatever you wanted.<\/p>\n

Who started and ran Excel records? Any idea why the label only put out 2 releases? <\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

His name was Luke, and he had a few partners. They were actually into cooler music than what they released.<\/p>\n

Global did a remix for Psychotropic – were you directly in touch w\/ them, or was this set up through the label (which was based out of Texas?) What UK acts if any were you in touch with back then?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

No, it was all set up by Metropolis. They secured the rights to release and remix the song (I hope) and they asked us to do it. I think we got $200 for it. My second reality check, the first being our first royalty statement from Excel Records (really).
\n<\/a>
Psychotropic – Goodtime \/ Hardtime (Good and Hard Global Remix)<\/a>
\/blog\/audio\/Psychotropic%20-%20Goodtime%20Hardtime%20(Good%20and%20Hard%20Global%20Remix).mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Who was the primary person responsible for the Metropolis Remix series?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

I didn’t know the folks at Metroplis too well, though they were just down the street from Oak Lawn. I think they guy’s name was Marty? Scotty (DJ Redeye) should back me up on all of this, he was actually paying attention back then \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n

Acen – Close Your Eyes (Metropolis Mix By Robert Vaughn)<\/a>
\/blog\/audio\/Acen%20-%20Close%20Your%20Eyes%20(Metropolis%20Mix%20by%20Robert%20Vaughn).mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

<\/a>
Global – Rock Steady<\/a>
\/blog\/audio\/Global%20-%20Rock%20Steady.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

I’ve heard that there was either a nightclub or at least a club night also named
\n Metropolis, were these two connected w\/ the remix records?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

I think you’re referring to Metronome, Grace Jone’s club. It was the first (and remains the coolest night club) I’d ever been to. I was 15, my big sister snuck me in. That experience changed my life forever. I’m not a nightclub person, nor have I ever been. I go to clubs for the music or to play my own. It’s always been that way. I’d much rather go into nature to bug out. These days I absolutely dread most clubs, especially the ones in Miami. They are hellish, horrible smelling places, full of dark energy. But Metronome and a hand full of other places were brilliant experiences for me. The right place at the right time with the right music and the right people can be heaven on earth. <\/p>\n

Any idea what the reason was for all the domestic edits (instead of, say, direct track reissues or megamixes)? Were the remixes \/ edits licensed, or was this a way for them to get around having to license the tracks?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

Not too sure. It was very popular back then, (Razormaid remix service was also huge back then).
\nDJ’s really loved them, I mean if you loved a track and were almost playing it to death and then you found an extended version with all these crazy edits and you busted it out first, well then it was worth the money, and they were pricey.
\nI think they were licensed, but I think it was way cheaper to do it that way, and you could essentially re-sell the song with a cheap remix by some nobodies. If the song is good, you can’t really ruin it doing a remix of the stereo master (we never got parts, stems or samples).<\/p>\n

Some of these records don’t list the individual artist, are there any ones that you helped with which you weren’t credited for? <\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

Yep plenty.
\nThere was a guy named Wayne we knew who had his own remix service (don’t remember the name). He had the first ProTools system (called Sound Tools back then) I’d ever seen. I used a computer then but only a tracker for sequencing (I used Voyetra Sequencer Plus Gold). Anyway, we (Rob and myself as Global, and Scotty and Arnold as N.A.S.A. Project) would do remixes for him, and in exchange he would help us with our song order, minor mastering, and on a few occasions he put together backup live show DATS with all of our songs nicely mixed together, but you know, only for backup :). Hey, Altern-8 got away with it. <\/p>\n

I heard a GLOBAL release was supposed to come out on Moving Shadow at one point,
\nis that true? If so, how come it never saw the light of day? Is that the EP which eventually
\ncame out on Excel, or was it a different release?<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

Interesting. We met the Moving Shadow guys (who recorded as 2 Bad Mice) in New York at the New Music Seminar in ’92. They were well into what we were doing but we never had any dealings with them. Rob and I almost signed with Suburban Bass, they were the hottest shit back then and we were completely floored that they wanted to work with us.Their recording contract was just too exclusive and binding, we felt we wanted a bit more freedom. I suppose we took a bit too long dwelling on the legal issues that they felt dissed and lost interest. The single they wanted to release never came out but it was a classic in Dallas. When we played it out people knew and loved it so well, it practically started riots.
\nLooking back, we definitely should have done it but I never lost too much sleep over it.<\/p>\n

What were the most influential records you ever heard\/bought\/stumbled upon?<\/b><\/font>
\nAphex Twin – Analogue Bubble Bath 3 and Selected Ambient Works 85-92<\/b><\/i>
\nAphex taught so many of us that there was more we could do with music than we ever thought. There is something new under the sun. He is the supreme musical genius of our generation.<\/p>\n

Morton Subotnik – Sidewinder<\/b><\/i>
\nI bought it by accident, it was inside the record jacket of a Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band record (they were amazing in their own right). One of many happy accidents. I never heard music so unapologetically electronic and so formless, so unconcerned with the laws of music. Techno was the exact opposite, everything was so tied to the beat. It taught me alot.<\/p>\n

KLF Chill Out<\/b><\/i>
\nI was going to college in Texas at the time, way out in the country. Chillout was based on a roadtrip though Texas and to most of my friends it was just too close to home, and a bit boring. They all wanted more KLF techno, for me it was revolutionary. It changed my approach to music forever. <\/p>\n

Space – Space<\/b><\/i>
\nI bought a rare pressing of this at Bills. What a gorgeous record. Find it, steal it, pawn your turntable for it. It’s still a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

808 State – Newbuild, Ninety & Utd State 90<\/b><\/i>
\nThey taught me everything good I learned about music at the time. Music was so original back then, as it usually is before an era or a style has a name, but they were flying miles above making real, original, complex, and beautiful music.<\/p>\n

Various – Relics – A Transmat Compilation<\/b><\/i>
\nAn amazing collection of otherworldly Detroit classics. This album is proof that they did it first and did it best. No ego or pretense, just beautiful & forward-thinking music. <\/p>\n

There are so many more but I’ll stop there, this is just a small list of records that kept me mystified by music.
\n15 years later and I’m still trying to figure out how they did it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main purpose of this site isn’t to rehash info about all the well known oldschool artists out there, but to shine some light on quality lesser known artists \/ scenes. It’s with that in mind that I hit up Josh Kay of the Texas breakbeat hardcore act Global with some interview questions. Yes, I… <\/p>\n

Continue reading… Josh Kay (Global, Phoenicia) Interview<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[4,413,80],"class_list":["post-917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-4","tag-interview","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogtotheoldskool.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}