Articles - Interviews

Welcome back to Hong Kong! What memories do you have about you previous gigs in the city, and are you looking forward to coming back?

Thank you, I am very much looking forward to it, I have had so many good times in Hong Kong, I was lucky enough to play at Queens the first time I ever came to HK, that was pretty special as that was my the moment I fell in love with the city and the culture.

From there on I came as much as I could, my first headline show was at the Viceroy, that was a great party, but its not always been plain sailing; a few years back I had a darker moment when I was hit by a bottle at a show, that made me re-assess things, shook me up a bit, but in all fairness it would take a lot more than a few kids disrupting a rave to ruin all those great moments I have had, so I came back last year and played a really cool party at Club PP (with Frankie Lam) and it just reminded me not to leave it so long again!

You are regarded as one the pioneers of the breakbeat scene; how would you describe your sound?

I have always had a leftfield approach to Breaks, and I would say I’m better know for incorporating techno, house & Electro into breakbeat - before it was cool to do so ;-)
I think we swung it so far that the word 'Breakbeat' was no longer applicable so that why people referred to it as Tech-Funk , which suited and still suits me down to the ground, I play a hybrid of sounds, always have always will, everyone has there own ideas as to what it is but I’m happy with Tech-funk!

What challenges does being a Label head present that are different from simply DJing / producing?
To be fair I try to apply the same approach, which is simply just go with what feels right and trust your taste, its easy to get caught up in the politics of making and playing music, but you have to please yourself first. If I was solely making, releasing and playing music for other people I might as well get a 9-5 job, it’s the creative element that I love, having a bit of freedom to explore music.

Who is your favourite DJ/producer of the moment, and which up and coming DJ/producer should we look out for in 2010?
I really like The Loops of Fury from Brisbane, those guys are making some fantastic music, also a Swedish guy called Peo de Pitte is making forward thinking breakbeat, I have no doubt both of these acts are going to blow up in 2010.

What have you been up to this year, and what has been the most frequently used track in your record box?

I have done a fair few collaborations this year. I released a couple of joint singles with Elite Force called 'Dark & Deep' & 'Believe' & then a spin off called 'Non Believer'
We also collaborated on a couple of 3 track EP's under the guise Dustbowl kind of alternative Techno. Myself & Dylan Rhymes also hooked up and did 'Roll Player & Long Acre', I released a solo 4 tracker called the Tension EP, I only did a few Remixes this year for Lee Coombs, Rektchordz, and one for D- Nox & Beckers for Sprout (which is one of my favourite labels), but the back end of the year I spent working on a sample CD for Loopmasters.

http://www.loopmasters.com/product/details/418/Meat_Katie_-_Tech_Funk_Producer

What are your plans for 2010?

I have another project with Dylan Rhymes that we are going to release a single a month, which is a bit ambious and the music is something completely off the wall, but we are having a great time writing so I am going to see how that goes.

I have a remixed EP out in Jan, with Remixes by Tom Hades, Vent, Tony Senghore, Presslaboys, Mateo Murphy, I have a couple of solo things in the pipeline too.

Is there anyone that you would like to work with or catch live next year?

I would love to work with more traditional Baltic or Russian acts like 'Leningrad', ‘Haydamaky’ or even someone like Baltic beatbox, I’m just up for trying some different things and I am really enjoying the crossover of Techno Baltic beats

As for live acts, I would like to see Gogol Bordello, Moderate, I would also like to see The Rakes & I still haven't see Kasabian, so a few people that spring to mind.

If anyone is interested, you can go to:

http://soundcloud.com/meat-katie

To hear what I have been producing recently, there are also a few Dj mixes and a couple of free tracks that are available to download, check it out.

Questions by John Stephen