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SKETCHY PETE

Peter Hilby


Last Updated: 5/23/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: In a Relationship
Age: 100
Sign: Scorpio

City: SAN FRANDISCO/NEW JACK YOURK
State: Alabama
Country: US
Signup Date: 7/13/2004

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Sunday, January 04, 2009 

Current mood:  awake
Category: Music
 I sat down at my house with Eric of WhiteGirlLust (WGL) and Solid Bump Records (SBR) to shoot the shit on what's happening in his world.  The 4th SolidBump release is slated for the new year, this time being the first release comprised solely of SBR artists.  Things on my mind; where did SolidBump get started?  Who is SolidBump?  And, of course, what's going on with White Girl Lust? 
 
First and foremost, what's your sign?? 
Aries. 
 
Back to business, though.  Who exactly makes up Solid Bump Records? 
SBR is comprised of myself, Clay (collectively WhiteGirlLust), Dre Day (Denver), and Dizzy (Vancouver).  We also have work with Emynd (MadDecent/Unruly) on the releases coming up. 
 
How did everybody come together to form SBR? 
Well, Dre lives in Denver (where Clay also resides), and through a purely Myspace coincidence, we hooked up.  He wanted us to DJ his party, and Clay went to check it out for him, but the party totally bombed.  A year later, after we had fallen out of touch, Clay gave him the first release and Dre wanted to do a remix.  We figured, "why not?"  We already had pretty much everything laid out, so we gave it to him not expecting much back.  When he sent it back, though, it was actually one of the best on the EP.  I happened to be in town the week he gave it to us, so Clay and i went over to his place to listen to his work.  He was so reluctant to play us anything ('he's one of those type of dudes'), and eventually, after asking him to let us for about thirty minutes, we got him drunk, and he let us listen.  That's also pretty much how the 3rd release actually came about. 
We're also going to do a viral video series about Dre's 'unique' lifestyle.  Some of the stories that guy comes back at me with are just too funny for me.  He totally has his landlady convinced that he's a struggling college student so he can pay the rent late.  She comes by every month, talking to him about how she understands how hard it is for students to get by and all.  Thing is, he's been doing it for about 5 years now.  Just wait for the viral, it's going to be hilarious. 
 
So, he had about 15 half-finished tracks we really liked.  Two of those ended up becoming his first single "Chat Noir," which is real simple, bare bones stuff.  We had some other projects ready to go with some rappers and he, but with too many cooks in the kitchen, this was something that never came to be.  The projects ended up getting shelved, and right now, we're focusing more on just getting all the artists and our producers together.  We're worrying less about those types of projects since I can't at the moment be in the same place when they're are recording.  Dre does have two EPs coming out by March of next year (2 full EPs with remixes).  
 
Emynd, who works for Diplo's Mad Decent label and occasionally does things for Unruly records (the premiere Baltimore club label).  He hit us up through these DJ chat boards we're on and offered to do a remix of "Chat Noir."  This is going to be featured on Solid Bump 5 (hopefully out in February or March). SB 5 will also include 4 original Dre tracks and probably a remix from Dizzy, as well.  
 
Funny enough, Dizzy came up through those same DJ boards.  He had some tracks he was holding onto, and he sent them to us thinking they would be in line with our label's sound, ("funky, borderline house music, with a little bit of the disco flair.")  I would call his style a little throwback to the "90's French house filter-y disco thing." 
 
How did you get started in production, then? 
 
Well, in a former life, I was a drum 'n bass (DNB) producer with records out on Andy C's label, Frequency (sister label of RAM, but in the UK), which my old music partner and I got signed to in '00 or '01.  We put out that stuff for a long time, but I got really bored with it.  We had one or two songs that were on BBC's Top 5 Drum 'N Bass Tracks, and after that the label just wanted us to remake that same song's sound.  we would submit total dance floor tracks, but they just kept pushing us to recreate that. 
 
Not long after that, Clay moved into my music partner's place, and we started working on things together.  Eventually, I quit DNB to do work with Clay.  That's pretty much how WGL came about, and we started the label a few years later.  We are co-owners of the label, as well as the creative directors.  Together, we decide the label's creative direction, while being the executive producers and making sure the releases are fitting with what the label wants. 
 
FAVORITE ACID TRACK?? 
Hands down, 'Acid Thunder' by Fast Eddie.  It's an amazing acid track, and the vocals are so smooth. 
   
Who would you say are some of your major influences as a label? 
Definitely the Inner City, J Dilla, (the way he uses samples), all that old jacking house tracks. 
I really think acid house is having a resurgence.  Between a lot of the old house guys going back to the house sound and this new psuedo-disco coming out in the past few years, I think it's just going to lead to more of that acid sound.  For example if you look at the way house began and fast forward three to four years, that all just turns into acid houes.  So my hope is that as this comes to fruition, our newer tracks will find a home, and we'll be just barely enough ahead of the curve, and by that time our sound will be new. 
 
What are your views on your success as a label? 
 
Overall? I won't be too generous.  I'd say we're making money, but it's not enough to quit my day job. 
 
So, not good?? 
Well, I'd say good enough.  We're making money on each release, and making it worth our while, but if you really broke it down with the amount of time we collectively put in, we're probably making Starbucks wages.  Regardless, it's been great exposure for WGL and for Dre as well. 
 
The whole strategy of the label has kind of been that the west coast bump thing didn't fit into any single category. It's not electro by the book, and it doesn't fit the baltimore club.  I feel like if we did tailor the label's sound a little more and defined it, we'd probably sell way more.  This may have hampered us a little in our success, and I hope it pays off in the long run. 
 
I did dork out and build this awesome excel sheet for the year's sales month to month.  It's interesting to me to see how those sales fluctuate each month.  Sales would peak one months, and the next, drop off to nothing.  When the second EP came out, then it would peak again, as if someone buying the new release would automatically buy the past release along with it.  If you look at places like Beatport and ITunes, there's so much music out there.  This year we might just take our distributor's advice and release tracks more often, in order to make that success happen often. 
 
Where is the label going in the near future, then?  Anyone on your radar you'd like to work with? 
 
The next few releases are going to focus mostly on instrumentals.  It's tough to have a remix commissioned.  Between the money required, and then finding artists who want to do original music that will fit in with our label.  It's hard, as I've said before, to find artists who really are a good fit for us.  Since we almost fit into so many categories, yet really don't.  More will come as we find people we want to work with.  WGL really falls in between deep funky house music, a little electro and some of baltimore in the way we use drum samples.  Someone I am really wanting to work with, though are Nacho Lovers.  It's a funny name, I know, but they're actually pretty serious musicians, and I think they'd be cool to do something with. 
 
WGL has an EP coming out in April, probably.  Also, a single on an alias that will be less of the funky samples and more of the straight up synth-pop a la New Order ("it's basically straight-up a new order rip off, I won't lie.  I won't deny the likeness between that and 'Bizairre Love Triangle'")
10:41 PM 
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Thursday, April 05, 2007 

Ed banger got its start as a spark off of Daft Punk's Helmet and the light shown materalized into a stable of electro artists to set a fire to dance floors since 2002.

Justice, Sebastian, Uffie, Krazy Baldhead, DJ Mehdi, Mr Ozio, Mr. Flash, Vicarious Bliss, and Feadz. As well as their resident artist as the eyes to the ears of Ed Banger So Me, who designs all of their album covers tour shirts and titty stickers --including a parody cover of Kanye West in the guise of the Justice "We are you Friends" cover. This was inspired by a drunken Kanye whom rushed the stage at the MTV European music awards and proceeded to bitch about production values and star power of the winning video. With such a rich varied elecro-punk-acid-crunk sound of their artists from Justice's near religious banger sound visually represented in a flashing cross as if a divine rave will impart upon you. To Uffie's serene beauty and filthy raps " Yes I'm that hot chick that you can't even touch I like this cold ass bitches I ain't ready to suck" will get any Pacific Heights ladies movin' on the floor.

Ed Banger records was made possible by the success of Daft Punk's late nineties success at the helm of their manager, Pedro Winter (Aka Busy P) ubiqutously known Paris DJ, who put togther a group of artists who have dominated disco floors for the past year and a half. After an all night party at Miami's Studio A and a no sleep flight straight to sf to play the Mezzanine I sit down with Pedro Winter aka Busy P to chat about the politics of party favors and the current state of music commerce on the internets



-So what's new for Ed Banger in '07?


(BusyP)-Well there is the new compilation Ed Rec. Vol 2. will be out in the U.S. in mid April on vice record, which we are really happy about. This is the first compilation of the label so it is important to us. Justice has his first full album coming out in mid July, and then we have a bunch of 12"'s singles from Sebastian and DJ Mehdi.

We are also happy to welcome Mr. Ozio, and will be releasing his new single "Transsexual," which will be out in May...


Do you think P2P networks will see the downfall of pay per play sites?

(BusyP) Mehdi this is a question for you...

(Mehdi) Downfall, you mean the music industry?

(BusyP) I don't agree that it will kill it.

(Medhi) I totally agree with that.

(BusyP)just like those p2p and the blogs and stuff like this are just like another form of media. You know we used to have radios and paper magazines, and now there is a new form of media that us the record industry we have to use this as more of a promotion tool which are those blogs and P2P networks and I'm using it!


-Is it possible for a label like yours to achieve mass appeal via newfound short attention span you tube kids?

(BusyP) -Oh I hope so yes. With justice vs. simian "We are your friends" got a top 20 single in the Uk. The label and I had the idea to spread the music to the masses, you know, it is better to play mezzanine with 1200 person capacity than smaller clubs of like 100 people so it's all ways better to touch more people.


-Justice Vs. Simian ED02 - Why do you think it took 3 years for the public to catch up?

(BusyP)

It is still a mystery I think its good to keep it a mystery…

-Looking toward Justice-

(Justice)

I think it was because it was released in 2003, it was a record from an unknown band on a unknown label. That's why I think it took time for Justice and Ed Banger you know,

nobody knew about it.

BusyP- I think nobody's music is stronger than this you know.


-What do you think a recording artist should earn, honestly?

(BusyP)Like wages?  At Ed Banger they get millions look at how they dress,

-jesturing at Sebastian- Dior head to toe, no, no, Let them sell records first and then we'll talk about money, it's a dangerous thing, talking about this.


-What was the record that made you want to DJ?

(BusyP) Dee LIte, What is love? I think .

(Sebasitian) Me? I think it was more of a rude adolecence and Pedro making me play his parties.

(Medhi) It takes a nation of millions to hold us back by Public enemy.

-What do you think about blog house, fluokids and creative commons licensing?


I like it you know the way of telling stories and spreading the word so its a good thing. I like the energy, you know, they are young kids,

And I am not the only one to read the blogs , it is beginning to have a very large audience I like this the most you know?


-And lastly when is it okay to use confetti show?


(BusyP)Oh, the confetti?

Ed banger parties are the best places to use confetti, you know glowsticks, giant disco ball necklaces (Justice) -You look like a Christmas tree..-

(BusyP)all of this, we will work it for sure man.  This is how we do it!

10:01 PM 
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