Interview with Phil Klein

Phil Klein

Relevant Sites

Audio Illusion
Bass Junkie
Breakin
Dead Silence Syndicate
Haywire

11th-hour What first got you into the music - when did you first become involved?

Phil Klein Electro? It was 82 really - 82-83. Mainly when the first electro tape came out, Electro 1 - Streetsounds, I started hearing things like Nucleus, and Hip-hop Be-bop (Man Parrish). I was hearing that early on, and it just blew me away really. It was the 808 - the sound of the 808 just got me.

11th-hour So it was more the electro than the hip-hop at the time?

Phil Klein Yeah, definitely. I’m quite hip-hop as well - the older hip-hop I’m well into, I’ve got loads at home, but its mainly the electro scene that I’ve stuck with.

11th-hour When did you start buying records?

Phil Klein I was buying tapes since whenever Electro 1 came out, I had all of them, but the first record I bought was a World Class Wreckin’ Cru album in 1984, with Dr Dre on it - that was the first bit of vinyl I got, from Groove Records. Then I started buying 12’s after that, loads of stuff, lots of new electro, stuff on Egyptian Empire, freestyle stuff from Miami, anything I could get.

I used to go to Groove records, there was a guy called Roger who would keep all the good things aside for me, and when electro died out and it all went more hip-hop (around 1987) I would pick up Dynamix II and X-Men, deciding that that was what I was into. After that, I would tell all my friends to keep stuff back for me, so I used to get one or two copies of this stuff from Miami - it was great, and now I’ve got this collection of old records no-one else seems to have.

11th-hour And when did you start to write your own music?

Phil Klein I started DJ-ing at college in ‘86, playing a bit of hip-hop, house, electro - whatever. My next-door neighbours Dad owned a recording studio, so I used to go round there, and did my first track in ’87, which nothing happened with.

Then in ’88 and ’89 I did a couple of electro tracks and nothing happened with them - I sent them off to G-Street (Richie Rich was on that label at the time, doing some electro mixes, so I thought that would be the one to send them to), but no response.

I eventually bought my own studio in 1990, and about ’91 started making my own tracks at home - then I got signed up by Dynamix II in ’93. That was my first release, on CD - Electrobass compilation, and that was it really - I was meant to do an album for them, but it all went pear-shaped and they folded, so I didn’t get any money, and I didn’t get any more releases.

Then I started doing stuff with Panic Trax, and Audio Illusion. After that I started my own label, just for the fact I had so much stuff backlogged, I thought sod it - I’ll do it myself, I’ll get it out in the open. My sister had the label Parallex as well, so I did a thing there, and that was it really, the ball started rolling. Next thing you know I’ve got people ringing me up.

11th-hour So you started to DJ and do live sets about the same time?

Phil Klein Well I DJ-ed for about 2 years, from ’86 - ’88, and then I sort of gave up on it. In those days, if I was playing electro, no-one really would have it. Its only really been the past couple of years that I’ve got back into it. And the live gigs I’ve only been doing for two years as well, if that long.

11th-hour Where do you play?

Phil Klein Apart from the Haywire sessions at Turnmills, free parties are the only ones over here really, wherever they end up being.

Outside of England, I’ve played Germany a few times - Munich, Berlin; Switzerland, Spain, Slovakia…. Mostly live, some mixing.

11th-hour Which do you prefer, live or DJing?

Phil Klein At one point I would have said playing live, but I’ve got right back into the DJing, I’ve got a buzz for that, which I didn’t think I ever would. If it’s all set up well, on a good system, I love it.

11th-hour What projects do you have up and coming?

Phil Klein There’s a new Final Dream album on Audio Illusion just got cut 2 weeks ago - its been waiting a year, but we’ve just got it done. There’s 14 tracks on there, and that should hopefully be out just before Christmas. Then there’s a Cybernet album that’s been sitting around for about 3 months - Weatherall was interested, but I have to get back to him. Maybe out sometime next year. If I don’t get a label for it I might even kick Battle Trax back in, just for that. The thing is, if I do it through a proper company, like Breakin, I can sell at least twice, maybe three times as many copies as I can by myself.

You get a bit disheartened - I hate doing just the 500 runs like on Battle Trax, you want more people to be listening to you. But a lot of people really don’t sell that much - you’d be surprised at how little some people shift.

11th-hour Do you have a large backlog of work to be released?

Phil Klein I ran out of stuff actually - I got all up to date. Now I just want to get all the old stuff on vinyl onto CD. So my new albums are part re-releases of the old Battle Trax 12’s, plus some new tracks. After that there’s some remixes - Man Parrish’s Hip-hop Be-Bop, Keith Tenniswood’s Radioactive Man, and a remix of one of my tracks on a Breaking compilation coming out next year.

Apart from that, the only thing I’m working on is with a mate of mine, Simon. He has a label called Shades of Fear, doing some rough Miami Bass tracks. I think we’re going to call ourselves Khronos Device.

11th-hour How would you describe your style?

Phil Klein Well it’s all electro! But the styles - the IBM [Industrial Bass Machine] stuff is more sort of hard, machine sort of style. That’s what the Khronos Device going to be like - where IBM left off. Bass Junkie is more retro, same with the Battle Trax, Cybernet Systems, though that’s a little bit harder.

11th-hour Where do you go to buy your records?

Phil Klein When I do, I have to go up to London; Sister Rays, Selectadisc, Atlas and Ambient Soho. I don’t do so much. At one point I used to have to buy any records which came out with a slight electro tinge to them, but I’m not such a vinyl junkie as I was!

11th-hour Electro seems to be on the up again in the UK - what are your thoughts on that?

Phil Klein Yeah, its taking its bloody time about it though! I remember hearing that when I put my first EP out, they were talking about a big resurgence of electro over here - it was getting dropped everywhere, but nothing really came of it. I was trying to start an electro club in London in about ’96, but it all fell through, no-one was really interested.

It seems to have just started again recently - I hear it a lot more now. Its only in the past two years that I’ve noticed it in the UK, but its still not where I’d like it to be - its a lot bigger in Germany. Germans have a really good scene, whenever I go over there, they are always up for hearing new stuff, they’re more accessible. It’s the birthplace of electro as well, really.

11th-hour Do you think that there is any corporate involvement in the current interest - are any electro artists being signed to major labels?

Phil Klein I don’t think so. It would be quite interesting to see - at the moment Ed from Breakin has been talking to Man Parrish, and we’ve got him into doing remixes of Hip-hop Be-bop. So Ed’s doing one, I’m doing one, and Aphex [Twin] as well. So it would be interesting to see what happens, cause obviously Aphex could make it quite a big thing.

I’m hoping that they’ll push it a bit more - the whole thing needs a good kick in the arse really! It’s always been around, it’s always been my personal favourite - funky machine music, there’s nothing like it. Hopefully it will take off a bit.

With Andrew Weatherall playing it as well, it seems to have pushed it a bit in London. It helps if a big DJ comes forward and says ‘yeah, I remember the electro stuff, I was into all that’. It’s nice, but it’s also like, where were you when it mattered, you know. But its great to see it move forward. At the same time, I don’t want it to become a fad - I don’t want it to burn out, for people to say, ‘yeah, that’s past, that’s had it’s day’. I want it to always be strong, to have an influence.

11th-hour What are your thoughts on techno - do you see it as a separate style, or linked directly to electro?

Phil Klein Yeah, its always been like a sort of brother to it, but I think when I listen to techno, I see it as strictly 4/4, not as funky. It’s got the machine element to it, its futuristic, but it’s more laid out for the dancefloor. When I hear an firing electro track, it makes me just want to kick my arms and legs out, to go bust a windmill on the floor! I still like all the breaking thing, I love it.

So that’s the difference I think - electro’s got a little bit more funk to it, a bit more attitude. It’s got a little bit of tongue in cheek about it too - some of the things you end up saying in an electro track! I’m actually getting all the lyrics put up on the website, for all the IBM stuff.

11th-hour What drives you musically - why do you do it?

Phil Klein I love electro! That’s it really, that’s the only answer. I always used to listen to these tunes, and think ‘How the fuck did they come up with that?’. The hairs on the back of my neck used to stand up, I’d think ‘I have to get these tracks, I have to be part of this scene’.

I was fed up of just playing the records and being someone who was playing electro - I wanted to be someone who was making electro, someone who was making it change maybe, steering it in a new direction. Trying to make an impact on it, which I hope it’s done. It’s one of those things - once you’re there and doing it, it’s such a buzz, you’ve just got to keep doing it. I can’t see myself stopping - ever.

11th-hour Final question - what are your hopes for the future of your career?

Phil Klein Getting to play in a lot more places - I’d like to play on the radio a lot more, so people can hear what I’m doing, because obviously my music doesn’t really get played that much. Really try to push in a whole direction, that’s what I’m going for.

All the five or so names I’ve gone under, I’m scrapping the whole lot, and I’m just keeping Bass Junkie as my solo project. That’s going to incorporate the whole style - the old Bass Junkie feel, with bits of IBM in it, bits of Final Dream and bits of Cybernet Systems - but push it a whole new area. That’s what the album is about - wrap everything to date up, then go in a new direction. Hopefully next year it should all make more of a difference - we’ll see

Many thanks, and much respect to Mr. Phil Klein