Calum Walker Interview: "Written In The Stars"

One of the key people to help put Glasgow firmly on the house map in the last few years, Calum Walker has been playing, making and putting out some of the best respected deep sounds this side of the Atlantic.
Heavily influenced by jazz and jazz fusion from an early age, he went on to form Fresh and Low around 1993. Originally began with 4 people, the collective metamorphosed under a few different guises, such as Fresh Cool Juice and Fresh Juice. The quality of music stayed the same, borne from a love of the Chicago and New York house, all the while keeping its own genuine cool deep feel.
A number of successful releases followed on Chicago label, Guidance Recordings, one of the biggest successes being ‘Wind On Water EP’, hailed by many today as classic as you can get.
Other releases on labels like Tronicsole, Westside, Pan, i! Recordings, Fcomm, Chillifunk and the mesmerizing Teddy G on Glasgow Underground among others, has ensured a musical legacy adored by dj’s, producers and crowds alike worldwide.
1999 saw the beginning of a new deeply karmic relationship with yet another Chicago label, Large Records and Solar House was formed. The collaboration has now seen 6 12’’ releases and is of course the label that gave us ‘Got 2BU’.
Early 2003 sees the release on cd of ‘Magic of the City’ that Large are touting as a ‘sophisticated release that combines the elements of Nu-Jazz, House, Trip Hop, Disco and Soul to create a smooth and sensual musical backdrop for urban living.’ The cd features the delectable ‘Got 2BU’ and ‘Universal’ and vocalist Angie Reid’s dreamy soul soothing voice can delight us once again on tracks such as ‘Rescue Me’ and the title track’ Magic of The City’. The Latin-house infused ‘Universal’ is currently licensed to MTV and features on The Real World!
Due to hit the streets on Feb 24th, ‘Magic of The City’ is sure to melt those winter blues away and set the mood toward some summer luvin!

DHN: It has been 10 years since you started Fresh and Low along with 3 others back in 93, how does it make you feel when you think of those days now?

CW-It doesn’t feel like 10 years - and I’m not going to start going on about the good old days and how it's just not the same now blah blah! I will say that it felt more exciting back then cos things seemed new and the energy was incredible -but things change and House has been around now for a long time so it could never stay the same anyway...the scene has been through hard times over the last 12 months or so but I still believe that the original spirit is still going strong on the underground - it's maybe a good thing that corporate music has moved on to leech off other things - its repackaging rock to kids now - which I always knew it would do sooner or later - the music industry is so reactionary and rock and pop are much easier to market than roots dance... but there is such a worldwide scene now in deep house -and new labels still coming up all the time - so it's still going strong and a DIY ethic is still the vibe.

DHN: When you began back in 93, did you have any particular goals, and do you think you have achieved them?

CW-I don’t think I had any particular goals at that time other than to put out music...I did have a dream about having an expanding production stable - you know with lots of musicians and producers and state of the art studio- kind of like a Philly or West End idea -which'd pull a lot of talented people together....its not happened yet but who knows? Some of the tracks I've done have ended up on TV links which is weird - I would like to do some more off the wall stuff but I'm wary of moving into noodly doodly areas -if I was doing music to make wads of cash then I’d be working for a games corporation! So money's not the motivating factor for me..just as well!

DHN: after Fresh and Low, you started the Solar House imprint on Large Music, how did that come about?

CW-Well, Jeff Craven at Large had been a fan of the Guidance stuff - so when things changed with the line-up and studio a friend gave him a copy of some new material and that was that really. I had loved what Large had been putting out - you know, the Roy Davis and Kerri's raw grooves 12s, so it was a meeting of kindred spirits...we have a good relationship -I still think that Large is one of the top imprints around, Solar House aside..

DHN: What is your favourite track that you produced your self?

CW-God that's a difficult one - you can never be objective about your own music no matter how long it is...I’m proud of the universal tracks...and the blue Westside stuff - I think I'm most proud of a track called Magic of the City which is on the new CD - this isn’t a cheap plug! I think Angie's voice is just stunning on it.... er.. got2BU had an amazing effect on the floor when it was dropped..

DHN: How would you describe your music and who would you cite as your influences?

CW-Freaky jazzy soul funk deep house - as time goes by more of my early influences are creeping in - when I was a teenager I was buying allsorts of shit - but the music that's still with me is my funk, dub and jazz... I was also into weird electronic music back then and still have these unbelievable obscure and unlistenable records in the collection!.. to name some of the early stuff -
ACR, Scientist, Can, Headhunters, Curtis Mayfield, Zapp, Liquid liquid, Jah Wobble, Sun Ra - and many more. Oh and Kraftwerk and early electro and hiphop - I used to have all the Streetsound compilations and a lot of Sleeping Bag 12's -that kind of vibe. I wish I still had a lot of the records I used to but ive sold a lot over the years. When I got the house bug it was labels like Prescription, KMS, Cajual, Madhouse Strictly Rhythm etc.

DHN: What tune never leaves your box when you are playing out?

CW-There's always something by Blaze in my box. And a Raw Silk 12" which I never seem to get to blend in!

DHN: Which labels/producers are really doing it for you at the moment?

CW-Antonio Ocasa, Dennis Ferrer, Nicola Conte, Lance De Sardi, Kaskade, Aruba, Fish Go Deep, Dalminjo, Jay-J Hernandez - there's so many great producers around today -labels, again there's so many.... er.. Chez, Papa, Nitegrooves, Large, Undo, Shelter, Peng - sure I've forgotten lots!

DHN: Why did the Westside label finish?

CW-To make a label work you have to devote a lot of time and energy (as well as cash) - we just didn’t have the time to keep it going after the second release - Julian Dembinski (former member) was the instigating force behind Westside but he kind of lost interest in music when he became a dad and I was too busy to take it over at that time - so again that was that really.

DHN: Can you tell us about your new album and anything else you've got planned for 2003 that we can look forward to?

CW-Well, I’ve got quite a cache of tracks waiting to go to labels at the moment - not just house but some funk and soul stuff too - I don’t know if it might be the 2nd album or different projects yet - the Solar House cd is released in Europe and the US on Feb 24 - and there's a 12" of the title track ("magic of the city") coming out in spring with remixes. The next 12" will probably be on Dublin's Blusoul label, a Fresh & Low project (Bodypopping ep) in March. There's a collaboration I did with 2 new Greek producers (Thanno & Alextrax) which I think will be out on Bluem of SF in summer... I started a live project under the Solar House name - its on short hold at the moment until I can find some more sympathetic musicians to expand the line up - but I have a recording of some live jams we did in the studio recently and it sounds promising - so I would really like to move to a bigger studio so that I can have 7 piece horn sections in a booth! (!!?), while I work away on the rhodes!

DHN: A question from a big fan, What was the Love Capsule debacle about? I heard it mentioned on a couple of sites? As if there was a problem or something with it or Guidance.

CW-I’m not really sure what you mean about debacle - Guidance licensed love capsule to a UK label called Airtight some time after the original release - and that's all I know! I have not had any contact with guidance for a number of years now though I've heard that they’re still repressing and licensing fresh and low tracks. You can draw your own conclusions from that!

DHN: The Take Your Time remixes came out so quietly on La Masquerade. Why did you decide to go with that label? Were they new mixes or ones that had been on DAT for ages? If so can you release more obscure mixes of early stuff please?

CW-The guy who runs Le masquerade was Steve Bicknell of lost music who is kind of legendary in the underground techno scene and we got in touch through a mutual friend- this was his house imprint ... techno works in a different way to house - sometimes the more obscure it is the better for the heads! So the promotion and distribution wasn’t really appropriate. The mixes on that 12" were done later than the original one.
Actually a lot of the early tracks have reverted back to fresh and Low now (including some guidance ones) - a couple of friends have been saying I should compile them into a CD...if I get a lot of positive feedback about it then I will do it.

DHN: Did you enjoy your recent gig in Dublin and where will you be playing next?

CW-The gig in SPI was great fun - sure it was small but the vibe was great - I actually heard that the Bodytonic boys have chucked it as a venue and going to go somewhere bigger - I think they want me back...there's some dates being planned for Europe to tie in with the album - and maybe some stuff in the US in the summer as well. I'll have them up on the website.

DHN: Where and what was the best gig you ever played?

CW- Probably one of the times at Sweat in Cork. The most amazing crowd - and all of them were so into the music and vibe. The feeling when I walked out of the backstage room over that walkway to the dj booth was something I'll never forget - my hands were shaking so much I could hardly cue up the first record but when it took off it was like electricity flowing through everyone - incredible. It's such a shame that it folded but I understand why Greg and Shane called it a day...also, a few of the nights in Glasgow when I had my own room in Traxx's thing, they were small but perfectly formed!

DHN: Is there anywhere in particular that you would especially like to play?

CW-A guest spot at the Paradise Garage in its heyday with all the tunes I have now! ha ha

Thanks to Calum for taking the time to be interviewed by DHN. One of my personal favourites in the land of deep house, ‘Magic Of The City’ is bound to be a testament to over 10 years dedication in quality dance music and the ever changing sound we like to call house.

| www.solarhousemusic.com | www.largemusic.com |

Aine G