I came across a great new act whilst browsing - Funked Off DJs - and I decided to get in touch for an interview because their music appealed so much.
Have a read:-
KJS : Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Who are the guys behind Funked Off DJs and what are your musical backgrounds?
Matt Haynes (MH) : Matt Haynes, 23, Doncaster. Began dj'ing in local venues through love of music that progressed on to making bootlegs, ala 'Friday Night Posse', before switching to recording a friends live band. Studied Commercial Music Production at Warrington Collegiate between 2 big cities of the dance music scene - liverpool and manchester.First noted efforts were in the hard dance genre with remixes from the likes of big Liverpudlian names such as Wideboyz and Holden, Jamietronic and High Voltage.Found a love of house music, mainly soulful and uplifting through listening to Kris' mixes and that's that...
Kris Chambers (KC) : Kris Chambers. I'm 22, also from Doncaster, although born in Rotherham. It all started from DJing for me too, first in Scunthorpe and Selby, and now thankfully a little closer to home in Doncaster and Rotherham! After spending years playing other people's tracks, we thought it was about time we starting putting out some offerings!
KJS : How did you guys get in to the house/electro scene?
MH : Around 2002-2003 I started slotting in gems like 'Copyright - We Get Up', 'Happy Clappers - Believe' and 'Demon vs Heartbreaker - You are my High' in to scouse sets just to vary the floor. Didn't really consider producing house until I got in to a conversation with Kris and it kind of went from there.
KC : Probably around the same time as Matt, when I started getting into DJing a little more. I remember going over to Magaluf when the House scene was really taking off, I've not really looked back since then! Electro has sort of crept up on everyone over the past couple of years.
KJS : You've got a pretty versatile list of influences - From Freemasons through to The Jam - Who would you say you get the most influence from?
MH : Without a shadow of a doubt my biggest influence right now are the Freemasons, everything they touch turns to pure dancefloor gold. Some of the other influences, like The Jam for instance, are really more the kind of act that sparked a love of music for me at an early age, my parents were 'mods' way back in the day so at our house it varied from northern soul right through to The Jam and Painted Faces.
Matt |
KC : Without doubt the Freemasons, they're fast becoming legends.
KJS : What do you Funked Off DJs listen to when you aren't producing your own music?
MH : Pretty much more of the same! I do like abit of variety though. Bands like the White Stripes, some classic UB40 tracks, or if I'm feeling abit sentimental you can't beat sticking on some essential selections from around 2000... big fish little fish and all that!
KC : Pretty much the same sort of stuff as we produce, I'm a massive House fan. A bit of variety too though. From a DJ perspective, I like to keep up to date with my RnB for when I'm playing out, as well as listening to a bit of Indie - I'm liking Little Man Tate at the moment!
KJS : You've packed a fair bit of work into the short time since Funked Off DJs formed - How long does it take you to produce each track?
MH : Really does vary, sometimes we can spend a whole day working on a single track but most of the time it's just a few hours a week if we're lucky. A couple of recent ones were fired out in around 2 or 3 days but then we'll spend the next month saying 'oh I wish we didn't use so much delay there', or 'maybe the strings should have been louder.' I try not to listen to our stuff too much after we've done it because 99 times out of 100 I tend to get overcritical and wanna start again!
KC : We knocked up the Ashlee Simpson track in around 12 hours! Other remixes have taken a little longer though, as an attempt to make sure everything is up to standard.
KJS : Have you ever had any embarrassing moments whilst performing a set?
KC : A few awkward silences... also once set off the fire alarm but luckily the pub was ready to close; it just got the clubbers out quicker than they usually would be!
MH : I had one person ask me to sign their breasts, but it was a guy. That was kinda weird! Aside from that I'd say the worst thing that's happened is when I've removed the stylus from the track that's in full swing or caught the power switch on the earlier model 1210s.
Kris |
KJS : You've been strongly endorsed by Hallam FM since your formation, has that helped you alot?
MH : Hallam FM, and Dave Henning especially, have been a massive help on getting our name out there. Without a shadow of a doubt we wouldn't be getting asked to do remixes by the people we have been if Dave hadn't helped us get the exposure and take the first steps. Hats off to him - top bloke.
KC : Yeah Dave/Hallam have been a great help to us... was a bit surreal hearing our stuff been played live on the radio at first!
KJS : You've remixed tracks from the likes of Ashlee Simpson? Does everyone whose tracks you remix hear the remixes and if so what sort of feedback do they give you?
MH : Aside from the remixes we've done from other labels I don't think many artists have heard our remixes of their work. I did hear that Timbaland heard our remix of 'Give it' at an afterparty of one of his shows.
KC : Wouldn't think Ashlee Simpson has a clue what we've done to her vocals to be honest, and the label's are sent so many tracks that I don't think she ever well... unless of course she turns up to one of our gigs! Yeah on another note, I would've loved to hear Timbaland's opinion of our remix!
KJS : Who would you most like to...
a) Co-Produce a track with?
MH and KC : Freemasons, Ben Macklin, SoulPower, Joey Negro, Duane Harden, Armand van Helden, Uniting Nations, the list goes on and on...
b) Provide the vocals for one of your tracks?
MH : We're both big fans of Jo Hindley's, who we've recently remixed a track for. It'd be great to write something with her and have her on vocal duties.
KC : Jo's vocals were top notch for "No More", so yeah we'd definately like to work with her again... if we're really fantasising... possibly Mike Di Scala or Barbara Tucker!
Funked Off DJs Headline House2House |
KJS : What are the short term aims for you guys?
MH : Really just to get the sound and name known and take it from there, however fast or slow it may happen we're gonna have a hell of a time doing it.
KC : Just get the Funked Off DJs name out, and hopefully get some more gigs lined up!
KJS : And what about long term?
MH : Rule the world! (Evil laugh) Seriously, I think long term I'd like to do more collaborations, get some original material written and who knows maybe even get some of our stuff in the mainstream charts.
KC : An extension of the short term really... improve our production and DJing...!
KJS : Do you have any upcoming releases, gigs or anything else that you would like to plug?
MH and KC : House2House @ Bar Red, Blackpool - 7th July (
www.myspace.com/lnphouse2house), HotShot featuring Jo Hindley - No More (Including Funked Off DJs Remix) - OUT JULY 2007 at most music outlets and online. And for more updates just check out or myspace...
www.myspace.com/funkedoffdjs
KJS : Thanks very much Funked Off DJs!
As the guys said you can check out their official MySpace at:-
http://www.myspace.com/funkedoffdjs
