Splank Records, Manchester, UK
Splank Records
Names: Jonny Strinati and Chris Hughes
You guys started your breaks label Splank just only 2-3 years ago, back in 2003 and everyone is diggin the funk that your putting out and I know all the Canadian Breaks DJs do have a splank record in their collections, how does that make you feel?
Believe it or not we’ve only been going 2 years. We put our first 12” out in Feb 2004 and its only in the last year things have really started to happen. I think in the last 12 months we’ve put 7 singles out. We’re really pleased with how much we’ve achieved in such a small space of time especially when we get emails from all over the world wishing us well. It can be all a bit overwhelming, but it’s all good.
It seems like the funky breaks always out last the other styles, its just keeps coming back. Whats your take on the funky breaks?
The funky sound is very accessible, you see people with a house or funk background getting involved in the funky sound, it lends itself to a lot of other genres. I believe any sound where people are trying to do new things will create a longer existence.
But we’re not just about one sound, when gigging we’ll mix up the styles, with a label your trying to establish a sound, with DJ gigs you can be much more versatile.
Though, the funky stuff seems to get the girls on the floor – which is always a winner!
Whats going on with your label now? Whats going on with the future of Splank?
Loads of good stuff is going on. The most recent single by us (Groove Allegiance) “Roland’s Revenge/A Good Day For Shirkin” got a great response, people were really digging it, “Rolands Revenge” got picked up by JDS for his Beats ‘n’ Bobs comp. The next six months will see the arrival of a batch of new artists on Splank! Phonat from Italy has got some crazy styles, he’s next, then there’s Moston & Malente, Darftphunk, Strider – we’re gonna be breaking these guys through this year. Some tasty remixes too, Nick Thayer, Circuit Breaker, Superstyle Deluxe … we’re really excited about the music we got forthcoming. Oh, there’s also ‘The Groovalicious Funk Disease’ a Splank! Records comp coming this summer, featuring past, present, future & exclusive material…
I believe that funky breaks can be a less of a drug-influenced type of dance music, it seems to be working well in Vancouver, Toronto, and here in Montreal for bar nights. What do you think?
I think it is. It’s certainly more sociable with people chatting and getting funky on the floor. Its not heads down drug trance style music. … In Manchester, it’s more like where you go rather than what they play determines how druggy things are.
It definitely works in the bars well, it can mix with house music, and most bars in England, the DJ will play house
Are you going to keep Splank funky? Or do you have other plans in the future for Splank?
Every Splank release has to have that element of funk. We are very picky about what we put out. We aim for melody stuff but with a strong emphasis on groove. We also like a lot of electro stuff as well.
For the future it would be good to put albums of our artists out so they can be more creative rather than just sticking to Breaks. Although we will be a Breaks label I’d like to appeal to a lot more people, people who don’t go clubbing but want something on in the background or at home. I think albums would be a way to do that. It was interesting also that the flip to our last single – ‘A Good Day For Shirkin’ was a slowed down b-boy breaks jam thing, and it went down well – expect more from the b-boy!!!
If you were stranded on a deserted island, with a portable turntable that had enough power to listen to one last breakbeat record, what would that record be and why?
Chris – Plump DJ’s – Electric Disco
Jonny – probably something a bit emotional, does Future Sound Of London – Papua New Guinea count as breakbeat???
The best advice you would give someone?
Everything happens for a reason, so rather than crying over spilt milk, look onwards & upwards … and forwards or you’ll spill your milk again.
Is there a current release that you would like to chat about?
It would have to be the Phonat record that’s gonna drop mid-March. He’s done three tracks for this 12”. ‘Just The FX’ is the A, much tougher than previous Splank! Releases, this one fires on all kinds of cylinders, then Phonat’s done some warm breaks tackle and clever electro gear for 2 mixes of a track called ‘Burnin’. Phonat is a guy called Michele form Florence, he’s got such a unique writing style, he makes such clever use of samples, I think once people get used to the way he does things he’ll become very popular … well we’re hoping for this anyway!
Which is your favourite Splank tune that you put out? Btw, all your tracks seem to be hot!
Chris – Simon Paul ‘Oil, Loop & Filter’, this is the record that set us on our way, and still goes down sweet as a nut when we play it out.
Jonny – It would have to be Myagi’s ‘Cure For pain’. That track sat on our hard drive for 2 weeks before we signed it, I don’t think I got it at first, then it just grew and grew on me, the drop is like a track within a track, it’s the yag laying down the clever songwriting.
Any funny stories to tell us about a times during the process of making one of your records with an artist?
The first single we did called ‘Hunkle My Funkle’ has this random hi-hat at the start of the track, Chris must have bounced the track totally forgetting there’s this hat like a couple of seconds before the track begins in his arrangement. So there’s like 1000 vinyl’s with this at the start of the track, no one noticed though, we sneaked it by em.
When you guys are djing, do you use Splank as your name?
We DJ as Groove Allegiance, Chris does his thing on the guitar, whilst I flex the decks.
When did you start to get into breaks and how?
We both kinda got into it at the same time, tho I’d picked up some early Fingerlicklin releases a year or two before , just playing them alongside all the tech-house & techno stuff. It must be about 5 years ago now that we met at College in Manchester, Chris was hitting me up with all his Parliament/Funkadelic stuff, whilst I was bringing in all this breakbeat gear, the more we listened to the more we liked, plus Tangled breaks was getting on guests like Rennie Pilgrem & Drumattic Twins, we’d go down and get involved. There werent’ any breaks nights in my or chris hometowns, so when we got to Manchester and shit was going on down the road it was cool.
How is your local scene in Manchester? Are they diggin Splank?
The local breaks scene has a few bassline nights which go off, then there’s some more straight up breaks nights which cut the mustard – Tangled Breaks, Airtight.
Yeah, it’s starting to pick up, to be honest we get more gigs in London than we do Manchester, but there’s a good crew here. People like Steve Thorpe (Tangled Breaks promoter/resident) and Chris Munky (local DJ/promoter) are real supportive of our stuff, so it gets good pressure in the clubs. We’re still yet to do a Splank! Party in Manchester tho, which seems strange as we’ve had Splank! Parties in Liverpool & Paris ….
Where you guys once a ravers, and do you gentlemen think ravers can like funky breaks?
We’re still ravers! Most gigs we do, once we’ve finshed our set we’ll be at the front giving it some. People can dig what they dig, raver or pant wearer – there’s no uniforms in dance music.
Are the girls in Manchester diggin the bass line breaks…nu skool stuff?
What do you mean by nu-skool stuff? I reckon the girls like to shake ass to the funky shit, girls really dig the soulful funk & old skool hip-hop scene in Manchester, so here’s hoping we can plug into that.
What is the size of the Manchester breaks scene?
Not massive, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, house & tech-house probably have more of a following, but those sounds have had longer to establish themselves. Hopefully we can get something going locally with our sound, I think the Splank! Sound can bridge the gap between funk and tougher breaks, I’m thinking more and more of starting a new night up, it’s just finding the time & the venue.
Is there a lot of drug usage in Breaks parties in Manchester?
Not that I notice, I don’t think it makes much of a difference, there’s probably quite a few E’s being necked at breaks parties, but it’s not necessarily druggy
music, so the vibe I think would be the same with or without the drugs.
How are your ears now? Are they in good condition?
Yeah I think so, I’ve just started to wear earplugs tho, just to keep em safe. Im thinking of investing in some expensive ones, sometimes DJ monitors are stupid loud.
List some of your favorite breakbeat producers (past/present):
Gotta be the Pulmps, they’re where it started for us, Malente (though, not necessarily breaks), Drumattics for the dope funk, Friendly for the baddest basslines in town, Myagi for keeping it real with the big-beat esque approach, Superstyle Deluxe for breaking the rules.
Who is your favorite breakbeat producer right now and why?
Possibly Slyde, the remix they did of Braun Reynolds ‘Rocket’ is one of my favourite tracks at the mo, I play it all the fucking time – tho no one else seems to be on it, which is strange???
Are there any upcoming collaborations you'd like to let us in on?
Erm, not sure if I can say much about it, but it’s us vs Myagi, and it’s not coming out on Splank!
Can you guys play when you are COMPLETELY wasted?
Chris can to an extent, but I can only have like 2 or 3 beers before I play. At the end of the day we’re there to put on a show and there’s nothing worse watching DJ’s/artists clowning around off their faces. We leave that bit up to our audiences ;-)
If you had the chance to choose any 2 producers to put them together to make 1 breakbeat record, who would they be and what type of track would you get them to make for you?
Easy, George Clinton vs the Plumps – complete artist freedom man!!!
Any funny stories to tell while at a dj gig? You must have tons of them over these years!
Heh, DJ’ing in a spiderman mask, dj’ing with your trousers round your ankles for added rock ‘n’ roll effect, taking the needle of the record that’s playing, being kicked off the decks by loads of rudeboys must be a favourite – it was my mates night, and these guys just booted me off and stuck loads of drum ‘n’ bass on, they weren’t even meant to be playing and it all got a bit nasty when we went and snitched to the crackhead club owner – he soon sorted them out!
Do you play strictly breakbeat or do you mix in other genres?
I play a Saturday night residency in Manchester which is indie, rock ‘n’ roll and old skool hip-hop, I also play a lot of funk and b—boy breaks. But if we got a breakbeat gig, we stick to the programme, play breaks and maybe one or two electro or techno records.
Did you ever go to a music school or take classes to learn an instrument and if so do you think it makes your djing any better?
Well we met eachother on a music technology course, tho that was all about production, so DJ’ing never came into it. From there we learnt how to use computer software like Logic to write tunes and how to us mixing decks etc.
Chris plays guitar but has never had any lessons what so ever. He’s a bass player by trade but picked up the guitar.
What studio montors do you swear by for vinyl production?
We don’t master out stuff for vinyl, Heathmans down in London do the cut. Chris swears by his Fisher Price plastic speakers for his mixdowns tho ;)
What is your favourite Sampler?
The EXS-24 software sampler in Logic 7, we use that to pprgramme in all our samples, it works really well with Rex files from recycle too – it just loads your rex file and you can start fucking with it.
What sequencer is the most popular in your opinion?
In our opinion it’s all about Logic 7, though a lot of people would kick my head in and say Cubase. Our old tutor used to say Cubase is for kids, stick that in yer Steinberg pipe and smoke it!
What do your parents think of your music and did they ever come see you at a gig or do they listen to your ibreaks radio show on Wednesday nights?
Neither of our parents have ever been to one of our gigs, though my dad listens to our radio show every Wednesday – he’s the shows number one fan! They don’t really dig it tho, there more like ‘it sounds like one conitinous song that never changes’. Saying that, I couldn’t have expected them to be any more supportive of what I do, there behind me 100%.
Do you have any advice for aspiring DJs?
Do it because that’s what you love, not because you think it’s gonna make you rich or famous. Be original, be unique. And if you really wanna break through as a DJ get in the studio and write some killer tracks.
Tell us some words of wisdom that you live by?
Like I said before everything happens for a reason – We’ve done all kinds of
stupid things like miss a flight to mexico when we had gigs over there, lose CD case with all my tunes in – you have to keep saying this to pick yourself up in those nightmare circumstances. Oh, and also – it costs nothing to be nice, so we always try and be as a nice as pie.
Shout outs?
To all the funky canadian’s who like their breaks – hopefully we’ll come see y’all soon for party antics…
WWW Links?
http://www.splankrecords.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/grooveallegiance
http://www.myspace.com/splankrecords
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Featured: Jonny Strinati & Chris Hughes |
Groove Allegiance |
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Download Splanks Exclusive Mix for www.breakbeat.ca! 126mb of High quality Funky Breaks! G.A. Splank Mix (right-click to save) Download Splank’s lastest iBreaks DJ set arhcives...www.ibreaks.co.uk |
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Funky Breaks Breakbeat Coverage:
Splank Records!
Interview April 2006
Interviewed by Somsay.
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Vinyl(Analogue) Breaks List: Splank Records |
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MP3/WAV(Digital) Breaks List: Splank Records |
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Label: Splank Records (Funky Slamin Breaks! Great for New Breaks Listeners!) Listen and buy their exclusive tracks here on Breakbeat.ca Just $4 CAD for shipping and no taxes for Vinyl. |
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