Potential. It’s a much overused word. In fact, it can really irritate when used to describe two-bit hacks that think it won’t happen overnight but it will happen. Despite this baggage, potential is the word that will be frequently/monotonously used when Blueprint’s tracks are being hammered by all the big boys and girls and he is taking his live show to dusty corners of the globe.

Blueprint began tinkering with his tech toys in 1996, latching onto the sound of Underworld, Hybrid and Andy Page. Purchasing a Yamaha Synth CS1X, he immediately started moulding a sound straight outta Berwick. This saw him develop quite a fetish for sound equipment that has led to a unhealthy amount of gizmos and gadgets. Initially dabbling in trancey atmospheres, evil rhythm sections and squelchy beats, Rogers has honed his craft immeasurably.

ElectroBreaks is a nice (and current) pidgeonhole to slot him into, but that really doesn’t even touch on what his music is about. Driving b-lines lurch between sliced high-hats and hip-savvy kickdrums, copulating with bleeps, strings and bling blings. Quirky and mysterious vocals are also the order of the day, with a few secret Melbourne cats providing the vox that rox. Showing plenty of light and shade, Glenn excels in down-tempo groovebreaks, while just as easily letting his inspiration sip on a red bull and jack the BPMs to 135-140… you’ll be ordering a new pair of sneakers/runners in no time. Send him the bill.

“I’ve moved more on the breaks tip. There’s not a lot of funky breaks live acts so I am looking to push that sound a bit more. Acts like Meat Katie and Adam Freeland have gone away from that so I want to do more of the funk.” Proving himself a dab hand at the more laidback tunes, Blueprint’s reworking of the Donni Darko closer ‘Mad World’ by Gary Jules and Michael Andrew has pricked several pairs of ears, as it is the closer on the kid’s new EP. It is a sweeping, melancholy piece that echoes REM meeting Kruder and Dorfmeister.

Title track ‘Why has it got to be so?’ is full-paced jacking funk and lumba beats, chopping highly pitched vocal snatches and transforming them into a hook that lifts the rhythm section. ‘Strangely Beautiful’ is made for those 5am-on-someone-else’s-balcony-with-a-view times, beginning with a flurried intro that becomes a slow-grinding monster.

But back to how it began a long long time ago in a galaxy not far away. Nescafe Big Break chose him as the winner of the Dance Music Category in 2000, giving him $10,000 to play with… no prizes for guessing that every last penny went straight back into assembling his studio. He even got to compact it a little and take his beats to the people on the road. More on that later.


Rogers has now been sending out a plethora of CDs to anyone interested and their landlords for nearly eight years, making sure his cuts would fall into the wrong and right hands. His remix of an Aphex Twin track popped up on SBS’s dance bible Alchemy, while around the same time his Beader tune rocked Every Picture 16. A bootleg of Lamb’s Gorecki turned a few heads, while his live mix of C & C Music Factory’s ‘Gonna Make You Sweat’ made everybody dance now. Word spread and sonicanimation searched out his talents and let him give a few of their tracks a second tweak.

The kid was building momentum – it was time to take his live show seriously. Rogers secured and rocked gigs at the Evelyn, Club UK, 9Th Ward and regional areas that needed a bit of ‘proper’ musical education. In more recent times, Glenn has become a regular on the Got Funk? party line-up, destroying the floor at Basement 407. Monthly hip hop breaksfest Hyprophonic hosted Blueprint in May 2003 at the Laundry, with a crowd that edged towards the dancefloor, dipped their toes in and threw away their towels.

“I try and keep it original as possible. I use synths and the field recordings like the first track ‘Why has it got to be so?’ that samples Dogtown and Z-Boys, the Sean Penn narrated skate film. I hire lots of old bad movies and scour through those for hours for samples,” relates Rogers. “I have some great celebrity samplists coming in my studio,” he sniggers, referring to the so-underground-you-ain’t-even-heard-of-them Kerrie Loveless and Budokhan Boi. Local cats. “I’ll be playing with a live vocalist this Saturday.”

Playing at the last Hydrophonik party with Fizard, Blueprint’s set spurred discussion and on the InTheMix Forums, as did his previous gig for DJ Ides ‘Got Funk’ party at Basement 407. This Saturday at Dream will supersede these gigs; the Aramadale immigrant has been knuckled down in the studio writing new tracks for his 75 minute set. Checkitoutyall.

Many a gig hath been booked for late 2003 as Blueprint takes his babies (ie. music) to the masses. His live show will feature fresh and funky visuals and enough new tunes to keep the trainspotters trainspotting. He has emerged from his studio with a swag of sonic delights. I strongly suggest you get your dosage of the ‘Print potential.

Check him out this weekend at the Surefire party at Dream Nightclub in Queensberry St, before he jettisons overseas to spread the word in New York, Los Angeles, London and Spain.

For more info on ‘Why has it got to be so?’ go to www.bprint.tk