Ms. E, SF

www.futurebreaks.fm , SF

Ms.E - Future Breaks Interview December 2003
Interviewed by Somsay.

Profile

Age:
Ms.E= 27 (birthday is March 23) I’m an Aries on the Pisces cusp with Gemini rising and Capricorn moon - if you know what that means!

Height:
Ms.E= 6 feet exactly. That’s why they call me Ms. 6 Foot Breaks! Haha....

Weight:
Ms.E= 135lbs

Average heart beat per minute:
Ms.E= Right now it’s ticking @ 90 bpm. That’s about hip hop tempo, yeah?

Fingernail lengths:
Ms.E= Long enough to scratch that itch. I’m a hand model too so I keep my hands looking like a million. They’re worth it!

Bed time:
Ms.E= Sometime between midnight & 3am.

Colour of hair:
Ms.E= Red, like a good merlot wine.

Favourite Pop Song:
Ms.E= Right now it’s the new Alicia Keys song “You Don’t Know My Name” from her new album. She’s fly. I love that soulful R&B and Ms .Keys knows how to bring it.

Records:
Ms.E= Round with deep grooves in them.

Band:
Ms.E= Duran Duran & Deeelite

TV Show:
Ms.E= Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, Sex in the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpsons.

Monsters:
Ms.E= The bugs that rumble in the bassbins.


The Interview

Hello Ms.E, how is it going with your DJing?
Ms.E= Progressing. I just relocated down to LA from SF and am taking off to Australia for a month to tour around there. I’m really excited to go to a place where the dance music scene is really fresh and bubbling, where I can get inspired to bring new focus on the next moves for my music career. Check out www.nubreaks.com for my Oz tour report when I return.

How did you first get into breakbeats?
Ms.E= I’ve loved dance music since I can remember and always loved to boogie to the early hip hop breaks and dance tracks. Once I started raving in the early 90s I got into house music but once I moved to SF in 95 I really got into jungle, started DJing and grew to specialize in modern breakbeat flavors.

Where is your favourite place to DJ now?
Ms.E= In SF I love DJing everywhere, they’re always up for it. SF in general has a really supportive underground scene as well. I wish every club I played at had that kind of ecstatic, knowledgeable crowd. Beyond SF, I’m ready to discover some new favorites in different parts of the world!

Tell us about Future Breaks FM and how that is going, and how that came about?
Ms.E= I moved to SF to study media and radio in particular at the University of San Francisco. On my initial late-night shows I’d bring on guest DJs and play all sorts of dance music, jungle, hip hop, dub, reggae and jazz. I had a proposal in to do a specialty drum & bass show for about a year before I was offered a slot – and invited DJ Push & Arc Angel Gabe Real to join me as co-producers to launch Future Breaks in 1998. It’s now evolved to cover a wider spectrum of breakbeat music which still includes d&b but also reps nubreaks, 2-step, broken beat, etc. If it breaks - we’re pushing it.

Whats up with the production side of breaks?
Ms.E= My boyfriend & musical partner Jimmy Goohoo (Cody Breaker) and I just co-produced a breaks remix of a rock & roll song called “Doris Day” for our friend Jerra (Check www.jerra.com for the MP3 download). It’s the first song I saw to completion which is dope – I’ve played around a lot in various studios with different producers, but am still working on honing in my skills & sound in that arena.

Tell us about your style of breaks that you are now pushing?
Ms.E= I don’t have a niche of breaks that I represent exclusively. I’m as far away from being a “purist” as you can get. It totally depends what I’m feeling at the moment, and who I’m performing for. At a place like Qool in SF I’ll rock the harder, progressive nubreaks. At a joint like Proper in LA, I’ll play steppy 2-step garage and swingin nujazz. Ideally I’d like to include at least 3-4 styles in a set, including some electro vibes and tech-house jams. I’m not into getting pigeonholed because my tastes are always changing.

How is the Breakbeat scene in the San Francisco?
Ms.E= This year SF has been evolving and changing. SF will forever be the house music town, but breaks has grown to have quite a foothold. The party is on the dancefloor in SF. People aren’t just stylin & profiling. They’re knowledgeable about the music and want the freshest sounds. They say in SF, if you aren’t a DJ than you’re sleeping with one! There’s got to be more DJs per square mile than in most cities in the world. It’s a place where if you’re gonna come up you’ve got to have SKILLS.

Can you tell us about the raver-kids with white-Micheal Jackson gloves?
Ms.E= Haven’t seen ‘em out in about a decade! But I have a pair of the white magic gloves in my closet just in case I want to bring out the mojo on the dancefloor.

Whats up with the fun-fur?
Ms.E= Another rave fashion that’ll come back into style next decade. Actually I just saw an Outkast performance and they were wearing that shit. I think it’s nappy.

What does your DJ studio consist of?
Ms.E= My laptop, stereo, monitors, records, CDs, tapes, headphones & microphones. That’s it. I’ve never owned my own turntables which sounds crazy, I know, but I’ve either had someone living with me that had them or really just play out so often that’s how I do it. I like experimenting and taking risks in the moment. I feel like if I “practice” too much I get sick of my records easier. When I do hang out at a studio I’ll work on scratching and blending some new sounds - that’s all I need.

Do you see a bright future for breakbeat?
Ms.E= Breakbeat is an essential part of the musical spectrum. It’s all over pop, rock, hip hop and dance music. Breakbeat as a niche genre in dance music will only grow with the emergence of live breakbeat bands and with all the new people being exposed to electronic music, they will evolve to listen to more dynamic and experimental music like what the breakbeat family has to offer.

From you experience, is breakbeat really growing in the US?
Ms.E= The dancefloors are more and more packed from what I’ve seen, more and more people are figuring out what breakbeat is, and more DJs are evolving to be producers so I’d say yes.

What was your favourite DJing gig ever and why?
Ms.E= I DJed on the most massive soundsystem just after the burn at Burning Man 99 out in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada. It was the most chaotic moment, so intense – hundreds of people running toward the speakers from across the desert, naked people jumping in front of me on the stage - but I felt like it was this right of passage, and integral part of my DJ “Jedi” training!

What was your worst DJing gig ever and why?
Ms.E= I’ve had tons of shitty ones. Mostly fucked up equipment or shady promoters kill it. Makes the good ones all the more worth it though!

Words of wisdom to aspiring breakbeat DJs?
Ms.E= Play the music that you love, don’t be so concerned with just playing the newest records or the style that is the most hyped of the moment. Feel the music and be authentic to what moves you.

Shouts:
All souls past & present who have supported my musical evolution! Most especially the 5Griffs, Jimmy Goohoo, ElectronicaVeronica, MamaSiobhan, Moontribe, the cosmic familia – Audio Angel, Lady G Funk, Will-Yum, Francisco & Wolf, Future Breaks playaz - DJ Push, Gabe Real, Mikebee, Just:One, SaVaLa, JGreer & Sea Qool Family – Jondi, Spesh, Mark & Jackie; Breakthru crew – A:Dubl, Andres Octavio, The OG Eyephunk posse - Adam Ohana, Anon, Girlie8.TV, Dov, Sister SF – XJS, Seraphim, Samira, Forrest, Pollywog, Groundscore HQ – dM, Felix, Qzen and the OG Hektic crew – Clockwork & Frogger, Bfamily – Anna, Joe, Jack, False-Profit Family – BenChun, Halon & posse, XLR8R magazine crew, Cosmic Debris & Emily The Strange folks, Mandana @ Empty Media, So-Cal breakbeasts – Robtronic, Influx1, Odeed, Kemek, Beatnix Labs, Freddy Be, Michele Bass, B-side, UK heads – G/BLIM, Pippa & family @ TCR, Ian Williams, Paul Arnold @ Fat!, Mark Pember/Meat Katie @ W9Y.

Links:
Beatsync   www.beatsync.com My new music licensing company…

Future Breaks FM   www.futurebreaks.fm SF breakbeat radio transmissions…

Emily The Strange    www.emilystrange.com Home of the posse…

Electric W.O.M.B.    www.electricwomb.org My org for women pros in the biz…

United Divas   www.uniteddivas.com/emilygriffin.html LA-based women artists...

Sister SF    www.sistersf.com Women DJs from around the world…

Groundscore    www.groundscore.net SF breakbeat happenings, great messageboard…

XLR8R    www.xlr8r.com Gotta give it up, the mag with their ear underground…