Introduce yourself...
I’m William Breakspear - producer, DJ, and co-head of Skanky Panky Records.
How would you describe your particular style of glitch hop?
My sound is really varied. I take influences from Electronica, Nuskool breaks, Funk and DnB. Anything with a breakbeat really! Lots of people say I have a strong oldskool element to my sound and I’m happy about that ‘cos I love early 90s rave music!
You've been teasing us with the release of your debut album for a while. What can we expect from it?
When it arrives, you’ll be treated to a range of styles and vibes, all fitting into the William Breakspear sound. There’s everything from reggae tinged vocal tracks to pure instrumental glitch hop on there. I think it will surprise some, as there is stuff on there like nothing I’ve released before. Check out the clip:
What first turned you onto glitch hop? Any particular artists or tracks?
When I first met SixAM they were rocking Glitch Hop all over the Northwest of England. I couldn’t believe this sound, a fusion of pretty much everything I love about electronic music! One of the tracks they rinsed back then sticks in my head - Sub Swara & Juakali - The Balance. Absolutely merked the dance, but you can listen to it doing the washing up. Not much hits that life nerve for me these days!
We were lucky enough to work with Juakali on the last Memory9 single on Skanky Panky - great dude and fantastic vocalist.
How did Skanky Panky come about?
Myself and Buddha (SixAM) started jamming more and more in the studio and our productions began to get closer to the sound he was playing out. We started searching for outlets for our music to be released and couldn’t find anywhere in the UK that we felt was right for us. So we created Skanky Panky.
The releases seem to have, and to have helped define, quite a distinctive sound. How did you manage to pull together such a quality list of artists from around the world?
We were lucky enough to know a lot of the artists from previous projects. With some of them, (like Freddo & ASM or Mix n Blend) we found tracks of theirs that suited the sound. With others (like Jazz Mags or Eddy Crusher) they were inspired enough by what we’re doing to write something for the label.
With others like J.me.J, we approached them (often through Glitch Hop Forum), and they liked the vibe of the label and the other artists we were working with and jumped on board! It’s not rocket science, just hard work and dedication to the cause!
Where do you like to play the most?
I love playing festivals the most of any crowd. You just find that there are so many people discovering the music you’re playing for the first time and it can be beautiful. I bet even house DJs get that feeling! Can’t wait for the festival season to arrive this year, it’s very exciting times for the UK GH fam!
What's the craziest gig you've ever played?
Probably like 10 years back, in my Nuskool Breaks days when I used to go to the south of Spain a lot. Man the kids there are nuts! Their parties don’t start till 1am so they are always found in the car park after the rave, dancing round their cars. Party animals! Happy blurry memories of those days, but not much left of the specifics if you know what I mean!
What's your favourite track at the moment?
K+lab has just done a couple of remixes for Skanky Panky of some Sedge Warbler tracks. His Paranormal Ox Man remix is something I just can’t stop listening to! The fusion of the crazy vocal by Disco with Caleb’s crazy bass sounds and switches just destroy me and every dance! It’s out 1st of May - check out the whole EP here:
Who's inspiring you at the moment?
So many people across the board inspire me. I’m a big fan of Nice Up! records, Shepdog always seems to be bringing something fresh to the midtempo bass music crowd. I’m a big fan of people who can fuse new production with classic vibes, so I’m really into the 140bpm jungle sound at the moment - Sub Slayers are so hot right now, and Yoof is smashing it for me! In the Glitch Hop scene, Koan Sound, K+Lab, Vent, iBenji all doing wonders for me. I could go on all day haha!
Who are you looking out for in 2012?
The french crew Mc2 are really doing it for me at the moment. They have a really unique sound which is the biggest draw for me. Check out their soundcloud - a few killer free downloads on there! Can’t wait to see what they have in store for 2012!
Where can we see you playing next and over the summer?
I’ve got a few gigs TBC but can’t give details yet! I’m playing at the Skanky Panky Records taveover of the Meteor Stage at Glade Festival this summer. Big up to the Uppercut crew for organising that - it’s like a who’s who of the UK Glitch Hop scene! You can catch me once a month on www.glitch.fm as part of the UK Glitch Hop show. Keep an eye on the William Breakspear artistdata page for up to date info!
http://artistdata.sonicbids.com/william-breakspear
What have you got lined up for your first show on Glitch FM?
The first show will include some fantastic exclusive guest mixes from my partner in crime at Skanky Panky Records - SixAM and another from Terrorbyte - the head honcho of the Beta Birmingham crew. There will be plenty of Skanky Panky exclusive tracks from myself and our other artists, plus some cool features like my reminiscipackage - looking back at influential IDM from the 90s. Well worth a tune in 22:00 GMT Wednesday the 7th of March 2012.
One last thing, I would just like to say; massive thanks to Chris / Morbidly Obese Midget for getting the UKGH blog and Glitch FM show off the ground, and creating some extra solidarity in the UK scene - bare props bro!
www.williambreakspear.co.uk
www.skankypankyrecords.com
bookings - agency@rocstar.com
Catch William Breakspear on Glitch.FM from 10pm-12am GMT Wednesday 7 March 2012.
Listen to the first two shows hosted by the Morbidly Obese Midget and Your Niece at: soundcloud.com/ukglitchhop
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