It’s 9pm on a pretty uneventful Thursday evening when Rennie Pilgrem calls from the UK. I feel like I’ve just hooked up with Marlon Brando, because as far as a new generation of breakbeat producer and DJ is concerned – he’s the Godfather. And while I may be expecting him to ‘make me an offer I can’t refuse’, the breaks Don launches into this interview making cheeky wise cracks about my questions instead. I like him already.
A player, promoter and creator of syncopated electronic bleeps for well over a decade now, Pilgrem first came to attention on the strength of early hardcore breakbeat based tracks. His initial artistic forays were actually in the graphic design arena, but producing British ‘ouse music seems to be what really started the creative juices flowing.
The year is 1989. Rennie’s working on house tunes when he meets a man called Ellis Dee. Ellis takes Pilgrem to a hackney breakbeat club called The Dungeon and gives Rennie his first real breaks fix. He’s hooked, and a production outfit called Rhythm Section born. Working with Ellis and Nick Scott, Pilgrem releases a debut single ‘Check Out The Bass’ in 1990, performing at outdoor festivals all over the UK. 1991’s ‘Comin On Strong’ sells an extremely healthy 15,000 copies, and Rhythm Section go on to release six singles before calling it quits in 1993.
In the years proceeding, Pilgrem has risen to prominence on the strength of his work under monikers like Thursday Club; truly incredible DJ sets; and as head honcho of arguably the world’s foremost breaks label – TCR. Set up to release his Thursday Club work in 1993, Pilgrem’s imprint has gone on to house some of the breaks world’s most innovative producers, recently celebrating its 50th release with a special anniversary collection.
Voted number one breaks label by DJ Mag, TCR has always been renowned for pushing innovative sounds and production techniques. They’ve also acted as a safe haven for the follically challenged producer apparently: “Yep no one has any hair, it’s one of my main criteria when I sign an artist,” he grins down the line. “Nah, TCR has truly been a labour of love. I work with three people including my wife who help run the show and we’re now at a stage we’re we can produce quality and quantity, which is great. I’m lucky to be working with producers like B.L.I.M. and Koma & Bones who really get into the same sort of stuff as me, even though they’re Northerners.” (Pilgrem explains that’s the equivalent of the supposed Sydney-Melbourne rivalry over here).
The sound Pilgrem and his label are probably most commonly associated with, whether they like it or not, is ‘nu skool’ breaks (however you choose to spell it). Pilgrem’s 1998 compilation of the same name, a tongue in cheek reference to big beat’s lack of direction, has been described as genre defining countless times, coining a description for an influential new sub genre in dance.
Adam Freeland, -another early proponent of the sound – has been quoted as saying that he’s a tad sick of the description – does Pilgrem feel the same way? “It doesn’t really bother me but I think it’s basically an area that doesn’t exist in isolation anymore. ‘Nu Skool’ was really just a reaction to a sound that wasn’t going anywhere (ie big beat). Once we moved past that it’s all really just merged into different styles of breakbeat as far as I’m concerned. Nu skool was in danger of ending up with its head up its arse anyway, concentrating too much on showy production techniques and not enough on getting people on the dancefloor! I’m heading down a pretty tribal path myself at the moment.”
Tribal? “Well my new mix album on TCR is called Tribalizm and it’s reflecting the polyrhythmic percussion element of tribal house I’m really getting into right now. It’s more dancefloor-oriented stuff. I want to get people moving, with sexy funky sounds!” As for the next Pilgrem producer-created release: “I’ve been a bit distracted from working on it by a lot of remix stuff and DJ gigs so I’ll get back to it after I finish this series of DJ slots in Australia.”
Don’t be expecting the follow up to 2000’s ‘Selected Werks’ to contain the ‘nasty’ breaks he’s famous for however: “No I’ve mellowed and matured a bit over the past few years, I want to create something you can listen to at home more than in a club. I mention Layo & Buswacka!’s ‘Low Life’ as being a good example of that sort of thing and he agrees. Yep, their work is a great example of how to blend different genres and tempos really well. That’s the sort of thing I’m trying to do.”
As for his DJ sets downunder: “Think nu skool meets Tammy Wynette, and you’re on the right track,” he says deadpan. “Yeah alright – I’m bringing down a heap of new material that’s coming out on the label soon, and some Waveform, Meat Katie, there’s a bootleg of Kosheen’s ‘Hide U’ I’ll probably throw in and a new remix of my track Black Widow, amongst others. Apparently you guys have a pretty healthy breaks scene down there so I thought it might be good not to play stuff you’ve already heard a million times,” he says with yet another wry smile in his voice.
Catch Rennie at 33 1/3 at the Prince Of Wales in Melbourne on the 25th, and at Yu nightclub Sydney on the 31st of January. His new release ‘Tribalizm’ is distributed through Inertia and due out in late March, early April.
