HYPE MEETS 515
3 Room Special: Pod / Lobby Bar / Crawdaddy
Friday Feb 13th 2009
Doors 11pm / Adm: e15
Pod:
RALPH LAWSON
[Back to Basics, 2020 Vision]
Lobby Bar:
DJ FLIP
[ITF World Champion]
DJ MEK
[5 time Irish DMC Champion, Scary Eire]
Crawdaddy:
515 present...
KISSY SELL OUT
[BBC Radio 1]
DEADBOTS
Ralph Lawson - An introduction...
Moving to Leeds in the late eighties, Ralph Lawson must have had second thoughts about the place with it's gothic buildings and beer n brawling attitude alongside it's dormant club culture. The fact that his favourite bands came from the city may just have tipped the balance, and a generation of clubbers can be thankful of that fact.
Ralph holds the honour of playing the first ever record at Back to Basics, and there is a very good chance that he will play the last if that fateful day ever rears up it's ugly head. Resident dj for over 10 glorious years now, the success and vibe of Leeds' best ever club may be just one factor that has prevented Ralph from being mentioned in the same breath as some of the big-money djs of today. That he has not got a single commercial bone in his body is another. Preferring to play one set per night in a club in order to give that club his all, Ralph was never going to get the same national exposure as those other djs. But Ralph is no other dj. Don't ask us, ask Bill Brewster who recently described Lawson as Britain's best kept secret.
As more top US and European djs came to Leeds and witnessed Ralph's smooth-as-a-baby's-bum style, so the requests flooded in from abroad for his deck services. Ralph has played at just about every good club under the sun, and he would probably agree that the highlight of his career was playing to 20,000 people on Bondi Beach on Millenium Eve. He is also surely one of the few foreign djs to have made it in Moscow, a special night that was commemorated by the release of a cd recorded live on the night by Barcelonan label, Minifunk. Not bad for one who has been unnecessarily tarnished with the rather restrictive title of "deep house dj" for some years now.
2020 Vision, Ralph's record label, has been going for over a decade now. With an ever increasing roster of artists from as far afield as Montreal and Helsinki, Avignon to Manchester, what started out for Ralph as a hobby is fast became an international enterprise of some repute.
Now a regular guest at places like Fabric, Bugged Out, Panorama Bar and with his productions and remixes appearing regularly in the playlists of today's top Djs Ralph also find time to work the four man machine that is the 2020 Soundsystem. Consisting of Ralph, Dubble D and Silver City producers Julian and Fernando the Soundsytem quickly established themselves on the live circuit bringing their live show worldwide including festival appearances at Sonar, Glastonbury, Creamfields Argentina, Skolbeats Brazil and Groove Parade.
DJ Flip - An introduction...
Who is DJ Flip?
by Gorgeous Charisma, Eventage Reporterist, Plowland Daily Mail and Seed Catalog.
DJ Flip, the Larry Mullen Jr. of hip-hop, first came in the public¹s eyes, no, make that, first came into the public's eyes no, rather, first came into prominence in the public eye (there, that's better) after scratching his way to the winner's seat at the International Turntable Federation¹s World Championship in 2003/2004. The 'slash' between the years is still a mystery to everyone involved. Was it 2003 or 2004? The answer is lost to the ages. What everyone remembers is that an Irish kid touched his records while they were moving, and for some reason this was worthy of special recognition. So they called him the Scratching Champion or something. It's not like he got a crown. Some say it¹'s a meaningless title, like Miss Universe or Lieutenant Governor. You, gentle reader, might as well be ITF World Champion. It's just that easy!
The bottom line is this: you don't know DJ Flip. You can't know him. And you should be very thankful for that fact. I wish I had never met him, had never been asked to write these notes, had never been added to his infernal MySpace page. The taint of it is like a stink-palm I'll be shaking for the rest of my days, and I'll never be clean again. As for Flip, he was never clean to begin with. He¹ll go right on his merry way, living it up like some pill-addled leprechaun, stinking of shamrocks and shoe-leather. He even named his company LuckyCharm Records.
So there you have it or do you? The author would like to thank Grip Grand, who he actually is.
DJ Mek - An introduction...
5 time Irish DMC Champion, DJ Mek has been DJing for 20 years. A household name, he is cited as being the innovator and pioneer of Hip Hop DJing in Ireland. His group Scary Eire were heralded as the one of the best Hip Hop groups of Europe by HHC, Tommy Boy along with the like of Gunshot and London Posse. His production credits include Ian Brown, Suggs from Madnesss, Sweetie Irie, La Coka Nostra and Rodney P to name but a few.
As DJ and producer of Scary Eire, Mek and Co. were asked to sign for Mo' Wax in the mid 90's but declined the offer and went to Island. DJ Mek has shared the stage with U2, Beastie Boys, House of Pain, Kool Keith, and many more. Regarded by many as one of the most entertaining DJ's to watch and isten, two decades later Mek remains one of Irelands best Hip Hop DJ talents.
Kissy Sell Out - An introduction...
Kissy Sell Out is an electro-pop prodigy. Initially the new DJ kid on the block, he became the remixer du our for everyone from Groove Armada and Chromeo to Gwen Stefani. Now he's about to unleash a debut album that will surprise everybody and take him to a whole new level. Heading up his band, not only does he write, produce and arrange all his own material, he also sings and performs on both guitar and keytar. Oh-and he has his own show on Radio 1...
He's very much the hip Londoner, but also bouncy and enthused where the surrounding multimedia sorts are self-consciously cool. He has an untainted eagerness for life that's contagious and Kissy is also a man of fervent obsessions, of which music is the greatest "No-one's gone in the same direction as me," he says, correctly and without arrogance.
Kissy Sell Out wasn't your average kid. His manic musical eclecticism derives from the twists and turns of his youth. He attended St Martins, the famous Art College, where he accidentally became a nouveau East Londoner without even realising it. He did graphic design for the ultra-cool POP magazine, created his own tee-shirts featuring a typically offbeat collection of his influences (eg. Japanese techno experimentalist Susumo Yokota and folk artist John Martyn). He painted, grew a mullet and turned his attentions to music. New albums by Mylo and Felix Da Housecat hinted at a place where his interest in grunge dynamics could co-exist with his DJ/club sounds. He knew his way round a computer and, in 2006, created the stomping electro-rave anthem 'Her' along with the persona of Kissy Sell Out. Packaged in a self-designed sleeve on his own San City High imprint, he persuaded Rough Trade to take 100 copies and, since it contained just the right combination of raw sweaty energy and snappy electro pizzazz, it soon started a clubland buzz.
Word spread and, before long, Kissy was DJing all over the globe and remixing a mass of artists (Calvin Harris, Human League, All Saints, Mark Ronson, Sugababes, GoodBooks, etc, etc). He became known for having a new attitude to partying; raving behind the decks on a diet of chocolate and his own endless gusto rather than the powders and pills of an older jaded generation. Towards the end of 2007 he decided to devote himself to his own music and has upped his musicality, playing all sorts of instruments and learning about singing techniques and live recording. This festival season has borne witness to Kissy Sell Out as a band that has taken revellers' breath away. Inspired by Spank Rock's show and the performance example of Mark Ronson, it became clear that Kissy could take a ringmaster role, playing guitar and keyboards, hyping the crowd and leading a show that would rock the crowd.
And when Kissy has fun he wants everyone else to have fun too. His DJ spots are notorious for his use of airhorn, his 2 Unlimited mash-ups and his crowd interaction. Now he's taking this to an exhilarating new level with his band, it seems likely a whole lot more people are going to be embracing Kissy's idea of fun.
Get Yo' Link On!
http://www.myspace.com/2020visionrecordings
http://www.myspace.com/wearedeadbeats
http://www.myspace.com/subjectevents
http://www.myspace.com/kissysellout
http://www.myspace.com/deejaymek
http://www.myspace.com/theflipster
http://www.myspace.com/515djs
http://www.2020recordings.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1
http://www.pod.ie
H Y P E at Pod
Harcourt Street Dublin 2
Every F R I D A Y
House Your Body
