Carl Craig Interview November 2005

Two years back I got a gig interviewing Carl Craig on the back of his Fabric mix CD which had just come out. I was given 15 minutes to record an interview in a professional broadcast studio on Charing Cross Road with Carl to pick his brain on various things. As it has never been published/posted elsewhere enjoy this conversation between two (cough) great minds…

“I wanna tell ya, with me ya don’t get House, Soul, Hip-Hop, Techno, Jazz, Break Beat or Broken Beats… WITH ME, ya get nuthin’ but Tha Funk. Tha Funky-Funk Funk Funk.”

Carl has been a busy man, on an inexorable schedule taking him from Detroit to London before hitting Milan and Turin for shows and then all the way back to London for his set at Fabric to promote his mix CD, Fabric 25. All in the space of 48 hours. So it’s understandable that he’s a little highly strung.

This afternoon he has been holed up in a studio complex in the West End having interviews from all over the shop from local radio to the broadsheets. In between he’s been having photos taken with small Japanese girls, catching up with a few friends from Blighty and tucking into his box of Wagamamas. When discussion brings up his reputation, as one of the few pioneers around today he is forthright in his response.

“Miles Davis. Miles Davis… I am not a God, the only one I look to is Miles Davis. There’s no one else…”

To anyone who has had the pleasure of absorbing themselves in the works of Carl Craig over the years may feel different. Whether it has been witnessing him play out to a widely diverse club crowd over the years or forking out on ebay for his more limited releases you can’t help but be overwhelmed by a lot of his work.

Born in Detroit some thirty-six years ago, Carl Craig grew up on a diet of Motown, Electrifyin’ Mojo mixes, Hip Hop, Disco, George Clinton, Jazz, Kraftwerk and Rock. This went some way to developing his unique sound when he started producing 12”s in the late eighties at the height of Acid House. Obviously being taken under the wing of Detroit legends Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson got him worldwide renown before he was even old enough to get served back home.

Early releases on May’s Transmat and Fragile labels under the pseudonym’s of Psyche and BFC showcased a sound both melancholy and uplifting, rooted in the electro sounds of the eighties and yet looking to the nineties and beyond.

Hundreds of releases as remixes, 12”s, co-productions and full length LP’s followed under various names which confirmed his status to anyone looking beyond the relentless bastardisation of what is still considered House. Let’s put it like this: If the brother doesn’t feel comfortable with the rep as a musical Maradona or Pele then it is safe to say he’s something like a Ronaldinho. Anyone with the most conservative taste in electronic music whether it’s Royksopp or J Majik have indirectly had their CD collection or i-tunes playlist shaped by Carl Craig. Just ask the guys themselves.

However such plaudits thrown at Carl Craig this grey Thursday afternoon are becoming a bit too much.

“I can only do what I do. Musically Detroit has in the past produced a lot of forward thinking people, a lot of the music that breaks through and changes the way things are… Detroit has done a lot from when you look all the way back to Motown, maybe not right now but it’s done a lot.”

Politicking aside, Carl Craig is not here to take questions on Detroit, he’s here to talk about the Fabric 25 CD, something he hopes will become part of you the reader’s staple daily listening.

And what of the CD? Well anyone looking for a night on the lash warm up or a blunted all back to mine selection could do a lot worse. Also if you appreciate a good mix and aren’t too bothered about categories these days then this should take your fancy. Rounding up a selection of tracks from the last year he’s included established producers like Scott Grooves, Kerri Chandler and himself as well as stuff on labels like Sonar Kollektive and nomorewords. He’s recorded this unique mix incorporating Native Instruments Traktor, which I pointed to Carl was in tandem with his regular Fabric shows.

“I have been using those programmes for the last year and it helps me perform when I’m DJing as I don’t have to worry about records getting lost!”

However Carl’s not one to start chucking out the records just yet. “I started using records again and it made it very interesting for me rather than just sitting in front of my computer. It allowed me to strip a record down and (rebuild it to) make it more complicated.”

There’s a fair amount of work that’s gone into this hasn’t there?

“You know this CD is only coming out only in Europe and all I’ve been thinking about is what’s gonna go on there, in what order… Y’know I must have listened to the selections like a hundred million times and it looks like I’ve got it…”Yeah, but this CD there’s a lot of House and Techno, different types and moods, but I’ve heard you in Fabric playing Good Life and Thriller. Did you think of anything eclectic like that?

“Uh… NO!”

Fair cop, all for the better by not indulging in any Shoreditch style bootleg presha…

“We had a long list and there was only fifteen tracks to put on. I would have loved to have had some Underground Resistance on there”

Yes, yes Carl. Wicked. You know the stuff that you’ve been putting out on Planet E like Recloose, Niko Marks, yourself… There’s still this natural analogue sound. You haven’t completely killed the old kit have you?

“ Nah I do still have a lot of my equipment, my Prophet 5 and Prophet 600, Pro 1, Juno 106 and 101. I do use a digital mixer and a computer on my tracks though. A lot of people have been using Reason and Ableton. A lot of great records have come out that way (totally from the computer) but I think because I started in a different time and with a different mentality I can’t convert to Plug-In’s. I’ve seen a lot of people try and they lose their sound”

That’s good to hear. A lot of Drum & Bass producers completely changed their set up in 2000-2001 because they were told analogue was dead and as a result the music just sounds soulless now. What about the equipment you were using in the eighties? What do you still have as an integral piece of kit?

“Any sampler I have. The sampler is most revolutionary piece of gear designed since the modular synthesiser. You know a lot of people collect records, some collect gear, some collect cars. When Todd Terry came out with tracks like Royal House it changed how people listened to House music. Public Enemy changed the face of all urban and electronic music by sampling James Brown. I view that stuff then as them putting together a collage rather than a piece of music. I can listen to It Takes A Nation Of Million’s To Hold Us Back and Fear Of A Black Planet and those records are still great works of art. With samplers you could use a regular Rhodes C-chord and play it on the keyboard and create new ideas, which is easier than just sitting over a keyboard when you don’t know how to play!”

So what about these experiments? I liked the Detroit Experiment and Innerzone Orchestra LP’s where you collaborated with live musicians, who’s out there that you would like to work with that you haven’t yet?

“Well I did some stuff with Basic Channel back around 1997 and neither of us could figure out how to finish the tracks so I guess that’s like the Miles Davis and Hendrix record or the Miles Davis and Prince record that never was for some. Very few people have heard it…”

At this moment Carl’s not one divulge anymore and goes back to the original question.

“A lot of the people I’d really like to work with are dead. I’ve worked with a lot of fantastic artists and will continue to do so.”

That’s like the new album you’re bringing out in 2006. What sort of experiments and collaborations can we expect?

“Well, the new record will be the sound of me out on the street accosting people! It’s a comedy album, a tragic comedy, a dark comedy…”

Talk of comedy switches to Kenny Larkin who’s spent a lot of time in the last few years doing professional stand-up.

So Carl, another record next year, is there anything from the past that people still say they really like but you just want wiped from the face of the earth?

“Not really. I have no regrets, it’s all part of growing as a musician, as an artist, as a man.”

But Carl, all these represses and reworkings like the Landcruising album that have come out, any more stuff like that?

“Well I like to keep a low profile so you’ll know when it’s in the stores!”

Well what about coming to the UK? You’ve had this regular slot at Fabric every few months in London for a while. Now you’ve been coming to the UK for over ten years, notice any changes with the crowds or atmosphere?

“Yeah I’ve played so many places any type of crowd, from ultra commercial to the real underground places. I suppose it just determines the club. I wouldn’t say Fabric is commercial… It’s kinda difficult because Fabric is the only been place I’ve been playing in the UK for the last few years and it’s hard to say because it all depends on the crowd they attract. It seems the people they attract there are really into the music.”

Good point Carl but what about the rest of Europe? It seems places like Belgium and Germany still have that underground vibe whereas it seems in general the UK doesn’t. “ Well I love playing everywhere. If you go to I Love Techno parties in Gent, Belgium those are gonna be more based around how it’s always been (more old skool). Fuse Club stayed the same as well, but it’s not all like that in Europe; they’re still getting excited about the new music. Maybe it’s cuz they haven’t gone through so many phases as much as here. Y’know one day it’ll be Techno, next day Intelligent Techno, next Progressive House next this, next that then it’s Trip Hop. There’s been so many categories created in such a short time that people got disillusioned by it all. Some got very excited but a lot did lose interest. Now in Germany and Belgium they enjoyed it because there weren’t so many labels. If you were at a heavy techno night and played some jazzy house you might get a little back flack but those intricate differences in just a word changing the mentality of how people view the music didn’t mean as much.”

Now labels are not something that sits well with Carl, he doesn’t like to have his music pinned down into one category. However one category Carl Craig held some influence over was the embryonic UK Hardcore Jungle scene in the early nineties. Back in 1992 under the guise of the Innerzone Orchestra he cut a track called “Bug In The Bassbin”. This jazzy, breaky joint would sound familiar to anyone who remembers the old days. Not only that but a lot of producers went on to sample this break. Just ask Lemon D or Photek…

So Carl how do you feel about this? You’ve had a major influence on producers who created a whole new style of music?

“Well those guys envisioned it different from what I did. By being a professional sampler myself I heard music differently whether it be a one beat bar or a two beat bar or just a sound so I made what I made and these guys took it on to the next hypes, uh I mean heights! Those guys were innovative for what they did and it became a global sound for them. However I just made Bug In The Bassbin! I’m not gonna sit here and say give me respect, those guys like Roni, Dego and Goldie made and pioneered that sound.”

Do you still speak to those guys Carl? I know that Dego, Reinforced and 4 Hero have dovetailed with the Detroit scene since the early nineties and you’ve done bits with Dego on various pieces?

“I love to see those guys. I did a festival with Dego in Portugal, played with Roni in Eastern Europe somewhere. Haven’t seen Goldie in a while though…

Talk of the old days is cut short and the interview is over. Studio time is at a premium in Central London. Carl’s got a flight to catch at Heathrow and I have to avoid rush hour chaos on the tube. As Carl and I amble out I notice a loads of rocks by the fireplace signed by previous guests in the studio. One is signed “NAS”, another “Liberty X”. I guess the scribes have no probs when they run out of questions in here.