The thing that strikes me first about Martin Reeves, better known to many as Krafty Kuts, is a genuinely unassuming approach to what he does. He’s been cutting up beats of a rather irregular nature for over a decade now, but still seems as enthused and down to earth about DJing and producing as he probably would have been 10 years ago. The man makes his way to Australia to play a series of shows in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney in December.

With roots in old school hip hop, funk, soul and electro it’s no surprise that playing syncopated beats eventually became Krafty’s passion. Drawing inspiration from ‘greats’ like James Brown, Martin immersed himself in ‘old school’ DJ culture at an early age – winning his first DJ comp at the tender age of 12. By the late eighties he was a DJ in demand, playing at a range of clubs all over Britain’s south.

Krafty soon found himself behind the counter of his own record store in Brighton, and to his surprise, the sounds of early breakbeat-based rave tracks slowly won him over: “You’d go into some of the underground clubs like Stern’s in those days and the bass was like nothing you’d heard before – it literally reverberated through your chest. Old hardcore DJs like Carl Cox and Lenny Dee were regularly playing and the sound in these rooms was quite phenomenal – so intense. I wasn’t really too keen on it to begin with, but I was selling so much of that stuff in the store that I couldn’t help but get into it eventually.”

And the rest, as they say…

In addition to his DJing, Martin has spent the last five years producing his own tunes. Much of this production work to date has centered round the remix, due to Martin being contractually unable to make his own music for a year or so. “I was unhappy with my old record label, but unable to get out of my contract with them for a year and a half. During that period they wouldn’t let me produce any new music, so remixer it was..I think I’ve done more remixes than just about anybody in that period!”

Fast forward to November 2001. We’re on the phone chatting about Ill Type Sound – one of Martin’s tracks, recently licensed for a Coke commercial in the UK. He’s as excited as a 10 year old schoolboy talking about his favourite footy team.

Yep, Coke’s a big brand, but the primary reason for Krafty’s enthusiasm has a little bit to do with a game that they call ‘football’ – for some strange reason – and we call soccer. The track features in a ‘presented by Coke’ segment which plays between ads on the UK Premier League. “Hey we’re all bonkers for football over here. To see my single on a commercial which features some of my all time idols, like Robbie Fowler, is about as close to achieving my ambitions as I’ve come so far. It was picked over about 500 tracks, which was just amazing.”

His discography is filled with a very desirable array of clientele – anything from the incomparable Eric B & Rakim (I Know Your Soul) to The Detroit Grand Pubahs. The latter track – Sandwiches- is Krafty’s fave piece of rework: “Yeah I was really lucky to be offered that one, and to actually do a good remix was so exciting. Everybody seems to love it and I think it made people realise that ‘Hey, this guy does do something a little different to us.’ I like to use the track’s predominant feel but take it down a slightly different route to anyone else, put in the ‘Krafty’ sound.”

Martin now runs his own label, Against The Grain, and is busy working on his first solo outing. “Yep, I’m currently working on three albums actually. One for Against the Grain which may be called ‘Street Freaks’, I’m not 100 percent sure about that bit yet. It’s about ľ of the way there. Another’s a more hip hop oriented album on Fingerlickin’ Funk, which features a lot of female vocals, session musicians and funk. I’ve been into 70s soul and funk since day one, so I am pretty excited about it.”

Remix-wise: ” Well there’s the Praga Khan remix (Injected With a Posion) which has been really well received this year. I’ve gotten loads of support from a lot of top DJs and it’s made the Radio One charts, even gotten some airplay from a few garage DJs – quite an achievement let me tell you! I’ve also worked on a track for Laidback on Bolshoi that I was really happy about.”

Martin also put a mix together for the December issue of Mixmag: “Yeah that was a brilliant experience. I worked on it for about 2 weeks solid and included loads of new material on it. They’ve actually been kind enough to tour me all over the UK to promote it. All the big clubs – Ministry, Fabric – I’ve had a ball!” he grins.

The man’s making his way down South this summer and plans treat us to some of his funk and soul infused breakbeats over the December party season. Is he excited? “Oh yeah, I love Australia. The Fuzzy gig I played in Sydney in July is my favourite to date. Add to that your weather, and the fact that you all seem to appreciate and welcome overseas DJs so much and I feel privileged to be spending some time down there. It’s fuckin’ freezing over here – I can’t wait to come visit!”

Catch Krafty Kuts at Summerdayz Melbourne and Field Day Sydney on January 1st, 2002 respectively.