bass music.

So – to tie in with the release of the rather spiffing ‘DJ Woody vs. The Body Snatchers’ mix (out now on Passenger for the paltry sum of £2 if you buy direct from the label webshop - http://aquasky.dloadshop.com/shop.asp?artistid=239 - yes that’s right – two measly quid, you probably spend more than that on biscuits a day, so go and cop it immediately) we put the following interview together.

First of all – let’s see how he gets down.

-

What was the first ever record that you went into a shop and bought with your own money, which shop was it from and how old were you on this fateful day?

When I was growing up, pretty much the only music around the house was Motown as that's my mum’s thing; pop music and the new romantic stuff of the early 80s really just didn't appeal. The first music that directly spoke to me and got me fired up about music was hip hop i.e. rap and electro, so that was the first stuff I was motivated to buy; the mid 80s for me were mainly about cassette tapes as the record player was in the front room and my ghetto blaster was in my room, plus Walkmans were the thing and you could swap and copy tapes. The first tape I actually bought was the 'King of Rock' album by Run DMC, and I think the first vinyl LP I bought was LL Cool J 'Radio'; this was 1985, I was 8 years old and they were both from Our Price in Burnley.

 Have you always been known as DJ Woody, or did you have any other slightly cringeworthy DJ names beforehand?

I've always been known as Woody as it's my nickname and that's always been my DJ name, but through the years I've had a fair few other dodgy hip hop names. I used to rap with my mate at primary school and we were the Psychic Boys, I had a bit of a 'posse' with my brother and his mate, and I was Easy Lee (this was pre-NWA days mind!). I used to tag with 'TAW' meaning 'The Artful Woody'; until I got my turntables I was always into rapping so I used to call myself MC Woody, imaginative eh! I actually never really liked 'DJ Woody' so I'm using the moniker 'Woody Madera' more these days. 
 

Tell us about your first DJ gig. Where was it / how did it go / did you lift the needle off the wrong record like I did?

First time I got on some decks publicly I think was some open turntables at a hip hop jam in the Boom Tunes and Basement DJ Supplies shops in Manchester in 1993 - but I must have been pretty turd back then. First gig I DJd was Andy Votel’s birthday bash at Peaches nightclub in Stockport around 1995ish; I remember I was pretty nervous because him and his mates were all pretty deep heads and his mate Rick Myers was one of the decent scratch DJs around Manchester at the time, so I felt I needed to impress. It went down pretty well I think, Andy was playing some screamy psych records so I think the hip hop beats went down a treat.

What was it like, growing a hip hop head in Burnley? Do you feel that being from a relatively small town as opposed to a big city influenced your musical direction at all…?

 Getting into hip hop in Burnley was excellent, same as anywhere else I suppose; there was lots of it about when it first came out, I have an older brother so I got into all the stuff that kids his age were doing. Most kids were at least trying to breakdance, graffiti started appearing around the area where I lived and hung around (Burnleywood and lower Brunshaw - for Burnley heads!) and me and my brother got tapes passed on from his mates.
I remember around 1988 most people who had been into it started drifting away getting into other stuff which was quite hard because I was young and still really enthusiastic, but had no-one to share this with.  A couple of years later I hooked up with some like minded heads in a nearby village, they were scratch DJ's who'd also just carried on from the 80's (I don't think rave reached Barnoldswick) so we formed a crew, The Handroids.
I think if anything being from a small town enabled me to make my own mind up on the music I liked rather than following any kind of scene. I think it also helped me creatively and mentally when I was doing DJ battles;  the UK hip hop scene has always been very London-centric and being an 'outsider' made me work harder to achieve my props.  It gave me a real hunger to prove a point, and every routine was like a mission statement.

Moving from the past to the present… I suppose the main difference between then and now (as it were) is that the internet has completely changed the way we seek out new music. Given the choice, would you rather be starting out as a DJ now with Google, mp3s, blogs, myspace, forums, Serato, Beatport / iTunes and so forth, or back then with how things used to be?

 
I definitely feel privileged to be a part of that generation of DJs who dig records, who know the culture of the record shop and how it feels to come across a 12" or LP you've been after for years. I also value the way we learnt the artform; back then the process had a mystery about it, a magic, you had to discover things for yourself and we learnt through listening and experimentation. Don't get me wrong, if I was a kid getting into it today of course I'd head straight for the tutorial videos and DVDs and all the free music and information out there. It's great how we can connect, collaborate, make and distribute our music these days; everything is just much more accessible to everyone, the world’s a much smaller place. As a DJ though, I believe my depth of knowledge and experience is richer for having experienced the roots of this artform.

I note that you are a Serato Scratch user… what prompted you to make the switch?

When I started DJing and touring with DJ Vadim and the Russian Percussion, we used to use specially pressed battle weapons with samples and beats made especially for the show; these were very expensive to get made up and with the amount of shows and travelling we did they would get worn pretty quickly. CDJs were out but we didn’t think these were close enough to the real thing, especially for a known turntablist. I'd tried the first generation Final Scratch and wasn't too impressed, but when Serato came out it seemed someone had finally made a usable solution. We got a sponsorship deal and started using it but just for our scratch routines at first, it felt like 'selling out' but I soon realised all the plus points creatively and practically for the touring DJ and haven't looked back since.

 
Do you still go digging for records, or has the digital age changed all that?

I still buy records, but my vinyl buying habits have reverted back to how they were before I was DJing in clubs all the time - I buy the records I want sitting in my collection, rather than just the ones I reckon are going to rock the next club I play. A lot of great club fodder comes for free these days and I make a lot of my own edits and specials, so I'm playing more of my own work in the clubs.

 Do you feel like finding a cool little blog is a similar feeling to finding a cool little record store?

I'm a newbie when it comes to blogs, but I really can't see the day when downloading an mp3 can give me the same feeling of satisfaction of digging through the crates to find the real article.

 What musical projects are you currently involved in?

I'm currently touring with a 20 piece Big Band Jazz orchestra from Barcelona alongside Mala Rodriguez; the band are dope and she's a superstar in Spain, so it's a really interesting project to be involved with as a turntablist.
When that finishes in September I'm back to some solo touring, so I'm working on some new exciting things for that, including an all new AV show and lots of new edits and tracks. You can check all tour dates at www.myspace.com/woodymadera.

I've just launched a new production project called 'Loophole'; this is me and the drummer from 808 State and Tool Shed, Carl Sharrocks - he's the best drummer in Manchester. I'd describe the music as anything from prog-hop to dubsteptronica; check out www.myspace.com/loopholespace for more info. You can check my podcast http://woodymadera.podomatic.com/ for free mix downloads every month, as well as my show on Samurai.fm - http://www.samurai.fm/djwoody/index.php. Also check my blog http://woodymadera.blogspot.com/ for info on my latest studio work and randomness.

 How did you link up with the Passenger records crew for the Body Snatchers mixtape project?

My old Russian Percussion / One Self tour buddy Blu Rum 13 was working with Aquasky (Passenger label bosses) for the hip hop EP they were doing, and he contacted me to do some scratches for the record. A year down the line, quite randomly I was asked to feature on a track that Aquasky were producing to promote a big turntablist event; it was a real upbeat banger and I guess they must have liked what I did as they contacted me a little later to make the scratching intro and outro to the Breakbeat Bass 4 CD. I had a lot of fun working with this stuff, so I cheekily asked them if they ever put out mixes by other DJs; they were into the idea of working with me again so came up with the concept for of the DJ Woody vs. The Body Snatchers mix. It sounded a dope idea, so I went for it.

 It moves through hip hop into more straight up house / club tracks; is this a sign of where your future as a DJ lies, a la A-Trak?

I'd say it is as much a sign of my past as it is of my future; people mistakenly think hip hop is strictly a downtempo form of music when in fact most of the rap of my formative years was 110bpm+. Original electro was just as much part of the scene as rap, and that was often up to 130bpm. I see myself as a hip hop DJ in the true sense, take Afrika Bambaata as an example; he would play rock, pop, electro, latin, funk, soul, whatever... he played music that he loved and that would rock the hell out of the dancefloor.
As a DJ I also have a very broad taste in music, more so the older I've become; you have different music for different aspects of your life but when I go to a club where people want to dance I'm under absolutely no illusion as to what my job is, and that's to move your ass to absolute optimum effect.
I'd say that this release is the closest representation to date of what I actually do in a club, The Body Snatchers' music was great to use for this as although it covers a lot of bases musically, it's all firmly geared towards the dancefloor.

 What is your favourite section of the mix, and why?

I really enjoyed doing it all, especially some of the scratch sections and I love all the specials that the MCs hooked up for me - but my favourite part is the 120bpm section starting about 40 minutes in, there's a cool scratchy bit in there but I mainly dig it because used the theme of 'the ass' to mix entire section, which contains about 5 or 6 tracks and a capellas. It just made me laugh!

What are your top three favourite records of all time?

That's an impossible question to ask a DJ, but since hip hop's my first love I'll give you 3 rap records that I'd be happy to play on loop for the rest of my days...

In no particular order: 'Raising Hell' LP by RUN DMC, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be doing what I do - RUN DMC had a huge influence on me. 'The Horns Of Jericho' LP by Hijack - best UK rap LP of all time, the undisputed kings of UK rap if you ask me, DJ Supreme was a massive inspiration to me and my original crew. Finally, 'Follow the Leader' by Eric B & Rakim - my favourite album by the best rapper to ever grace the mic.

Who is the most inspiring DJ you have seen play in the past couple of years, and why?

Mike Relm from the US - he used to be a battle DJ, in fact he was one of the Judges when I won the ITF in San Francisco, but he has reinvented himself as a party rocker in the last few years and I was so impressed with his performance when I saw him in Manchester. Not necessarily on a technical level - though that was good - but just the way the DJ set was a full performance; he used DVDJs, but also the way he addressed the crowd on the mic throughout the show. Even the fact that he wears an outfit for the show - it was just a really dope package, and worked really well in connecting himself and the audience.

Loading mentions Retweet