House music all night long with DJ Skoof

 

Let’s start with the Bio:

Born and raised in New York, Skoof’s Low-Fi, Old-school, sound is a reflection of his history as a DJ in the late 90’s. Unofficially hailed as the Father of “B-Music”, Skoof’s trademark sets and productions often incorporate B- Movie, Grindhouse and Horror Cinema-Samples, and have been supported by the likes of Marco Bailey, Liquid Todd, Jonathan Peters, and many more; including, yet not limited to, air-play on BBC Radio 1.

His Productions and Mixes vary in genre and have been released through multiple labels such as: Beat Rude Records, Supermarket Records, Red Robot Records, Amathus Music, and Side B Underground.

After we finish the initial phase of getting-to-know-you, we kick things into high gear and get right into the exclusive interview with George.

NYE: How did you get into Electronic Music?

“While record shopping and digging through crates, a few friends had turntables and were frequently hitting up the shops; all it took was a few visits to stores like Rock N’ Soul, Mainline, and Satellite Records to get the juices flowing. Also, electronic music has been huge in Europe for decades. Whenever I went with my family on vacation, I returned with a bag full of music not available in the US.”

NYE: We all have people who inspire us, so let’s get down to the burning question, who is your inspirational muse?

“Peter Rauhofer and Roger Sanchez -hands down.”

Let’s dive deeper, if you were to perform with either of those artists, which one would it be and why?

George replies with “Roger Sanchez – Four decks, on the fly, and just jamming. George continues to add, we lost Peter this year, and New York lost one of the city’s most iconic DJ’s.”

NYE: Where’s your ideal place to perform?

“Anywhere, really – not perform, but play. I like it when venues have a hidden booth somewhere, like another room or section where you could do your thing – rather than a stage for people to sit and stare. I’d rather see people drinking and kicking a**, having a good night, while I privately jam records and have my own party.”

Okay – sounds great. We continue and ask a somewhat personal question. It’s Friday night and you’re getting ready to go out, what’s playing in the background to get you pumped for the night?

George responds with “Ram Jam – Black Betty or White Zombie – More Human Than Human.”

NYE: What would be your biggest dream if you could produce house music for a living?

“That would be it. …That’s it. If I could sit and record in a room for 8 hour sessions and have that bring in enough to do whatever the rest of the time, I would be very happy. On the flip-side though, my roots originate more on the DJ side, despite producing – like that whole DJ Sneak and Deadmau5 feud. In my mind, the two dudes play totally different instruments and aren’t to be compared. One end of the spectrum has the DJ and the other has Producer – it’s not so black and white. We all lean a little bit more in one direction and can fall anywhere in between. It’s all good.”

 

Let’s get technical! We all have our favorite preferences. That said, which is better turntables or laptop?

George: “A loaded question that shouldn’t matter, however, I say Turntables. That’s what I love. A pair of monitors, some headphones, a good EQ, mixer, tables, records, and your ears -each time something on the fly. Without a specific reason but that is what I like. I haven’t spent too much time playing via software, so there’s a natural preference of the devil I know.”

For those who want to expand on their knowledge on various genres, can you elaborate on a few differences between Techno, House, Trance, etc.?

George’s reply was quite simple. “As a DJ, it’s all a matter of tempo and EQ when riding mixes. House, you can slam the levels and, if on beat, the percs tend to blend beautifully while riding the mix at the right spot. Trance or Progressive, same 32/64 bar rides -whatever, but the melodic elements require more monitoring of your gains and EQs to keep the audio sources in phase and sounding good -stuff like that.”

NYE: Okay, we are digging it – let’s keep going. Your productions tend to have a Dark/Horror-Theme to them. What’s the story with that?

“If you know me well, you know that I’ve always loved Horror-Movies. That’s pretty much it.”

NYE: On your Beat-port Bio, it states that you produce “Low-Fi” music, can you explain a bit further?

“I consider it the stuff we used to find buried in the bottom of the crates. Records that are simple in production and made for DJs to sample, mix, and get creative with. It’s the garage demo-tape vs. the perfectly engineered single, back to that whole spectrum illustration. I’ve always wanted to just be one of those records; the white label, the random tune that some DJ finds and makes it work.”

NYE: Lastly, which of your releases is your favorite and would prefer your audience to check out?

“When Demons Lie, featuring Jenna F – It’s part industrial, semi-chill, and dark. The tune can be heard by visiting the following link on sound-cloud http://soundcloud.com/skoof-official and Beatport http://www.beatport.com/artist/skoof/44385.

As an extra for my fans feel free to view the following video: A Tribe Called Quest – 1nce Again (Skoof Mix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM0o9WsF2Tw and join on Skoof on Something Global Radio: