I feel right at home with broken beats, which may explain my recent spate of breaks interviews. Speaking to one of the pioneers of the ‘big-beat’ era was too hard to let slip by. One of Jem and Justin’s premier signings on the Finger Lickin’ label is the uber-funky outfit Slyde, who are currently packing their luggage for a ‘Tour De’ Funk’ of Australia in June. Breaks fans unite.
Consisting of two members, Robin 12Tree and Jason Laidback, Slyde are planning some special things for their forthcoming album release, including working with a female Jamaican vocalist and plans to keep a ‘warm sound’ to their debut. Their background is as yin/yang as your nanna shopping for lingerie online – Robin rocking in a band in his early days and Jason scratching up the vinyl, before their love of funk and breaks brought them together to collaborate at Bolshi Records.
Robin has remixed some serious players such as Looq, Moloko, Jean Jaques Smoothie, and even the legendary diva Shirley Bassey, whilst Jason has done his fair share with De La Soul and Naughty by Nature reworks, as well as two album releases on Bolshi under the name of Laidback.
I spent some time with a very laidback Jason on the telephone early on a London morning as he lay in bed. “I find it very hard to buy records these days. A lot of the tunes are just reworks of older dance tunes. A couple of the groups that are keeping a fresh sound coming out like LCD Sound Systems with their quirky lyrics, Mylo, and the MIA album”.
“Australia is as up-to-date as anywhere else these days. You can’t just turn up with a handful of new vinyl and expect to play a rocking set”. So, you may wonder, what can we expect from the Slyde boys especially considering Jason’s DMC scratch background? “It’s very exciting to play your new stuff. We’ve got heaps of new bootlegs and some of our new singles. Expect it to very much go off on a live tangent later in the set. Keyboards and the like as well as me cutting it up”.
With a couple of new singles in tow and a serious interest in more vocals, this is certainly going to be a duo to watch over the next few years – especially live! Make sure you prepare to get down and dirty at the boy’s sets coming to a state near you.
Slyde tour Australia this July for the first time, you can catch them at the following venues:
Fri 1/7 – Melbourne, Revolver
Sat 2/7 – Perth, Ambar (BUY TICKETS)
Sun 3/7 – Cairns, Soho
Wed 6/7 – Jindabyne, Lake Jindabyne Hotel
Fri 8/7 – Brisbane, The Empire
Sat 9/7 – Sydney, The Metro (SOLD OUT)
Fri 15/7 – Sydney, Hijack
Sat 16/7 – Newcastle, Cambridge Hotel
