I blamed it on the way my brain is wired, others at school blamed it on an incredibly slack work ethic. Either way, one thing was certain – I sucked at algebra. Try as I might I just couldn’t make sense of any formula that was placed in front of me. Many years on, I have finally found a combination of letters and numbers that make sense: Q45 = something exciting.
Tom Howell is Q45, one of Sydney’s foremost breaks DJ. London-born and Sydney-raised, Q45 has been spinning tracks long enough to watch the Australian dance scene move from warehouses to clubs to superclubs.
“In Sydney we had to use clubs after the police cracked down on warehouses, or anything that wasn’t a proper (legal) venue, in the early 90’s. Because of that, there was more cross breeding of nights and styles as they were forced together in clubs. What this did was create an eclectic club scene, which I think is a good thing.
As the years have gone along, parties have increasingly more variety (and more rooms) and bigger budgets. So in catering for a lot of styles, the risks are getting higher. The scene has been forced then to be more professional (i.e. getting up for work before 11am) and the parties have been better run, safer, and tend to stick to the promised line-up. I think this is all good, as long as the music and sound system always come first.”
Although Q45 began his career as a drum and bass DJ, it’s mostly been since hie switched to breaks that people have started to really pay heed. It was a transition mostly, but not entirely, brought about by his dissatisfaction with the direction the drum and bass sound was heading in. “Drum & Bass went a bit too dark for me, lost the funk, but now it seems to be returning. Maybe it just lost its sense of humour. Anyway, I have always bought breakbeat, whatever the speed, 80-180 bpm I don’t really care – as long as it sounds good.
Also there was more girls and money in breaks in Sydney.”
No matter the source of his motivation, the change to playing breaks has really paid off. Most importantly, it has been the resulting relationship with the Sydney based “Fuzzy” crew that has really bourn fruit for him. It’s a relationship that has culminated in the recent release of the “Fuzzy Breaks” double mix CD. One half of which is supplied by Q45, with the other provided by UK breaks legend Krafty Kuts.
“I started working with Fuzzy back in 1998 at Sublime in Pitt St, which was the first time in Sydney that a ‘superclub’(i.e. anything with four walls and roof that was purpose built for dance music) had a regular breaks night. It was called “Beatfix”. The CD basically came about because I take over stereos in every office, including Fuzzy’s, and to shut me up they hatched a plan to give me a mix CD to do, which kept me out the office for weeks.
Lucky for them it wasn’t such a bad mix. So they thought they’d get some bloke named Krafty to do one as well (his phone calls to the fuzzy office also slowed for a few weeks). Amazingly neither me nor Krafty chose any of the same tunes, except for ‘don’t call me baby’ by Madison Ave, but we couldn’t agree on who would get it. So Fuzzy said if we weren’t prepared to share then neither of us could have it.”
Even if they weren’t prepared to share Madison Ave they did agreed to share equal billing on the CD cover – amongst other things. “Well it hasn’t just been my name alongside Kraftys, I did a photo shoot alongside him in a pool. Imagine that, sharing the same water as him!”
Apart from showing his skills as a DJ, the “Fuzzy Breaks” CD also gives Q45 a chance to demonstrate his skills as a producer. Included in his mix is “Shabby Chic” a track he has been polishing for a long time and has finally released. “6 years trying to work out the Korg Wavestation didn’t help my productivity. One producer described programming it as like trying to paint the interior of a house through the letter box. WORD! But now I have a few more bits of kit, and I have a few more tunes on the boil. One with Sydney DJ’s Kid Kenobi and Ritual and a few more of my own through Floating Point Music (which I’ll be playing). Shabby ended up as 105 Protools tracks and took a good 200 hours to finish.”
So, has Q45’s increased notoriety lead to fame, fortune and thousands of adoring fans? Not quite, but it has allowed him to secure his position as one of the country’s most innovative breaks DJs. That and it’s made it easier for him to catch up on the soccer. “Relatively to European DJs, I’m no superstar or anything. All I ever wanted was to be rewarded for years of dreaming of playing the music I love to paying customers (not just my mum). All those hours in my teens spent making mix tapes for friends and losing money on parties trying to push breaks 5 years ago. It’s only affected my life in that I can now lead the nocturnal lifestyle that my girlfriend says I’m suited to, and I can afford Foxtel to watch my beloved Tottenham lose every 2nd week.”
I may have skipped too many maths classes during school, but it was always for the ‘greater cause’ of listening to fantastic music. One thing I’m sure of; if I’d had a Q45 CD back then I probably would have skipped more often. So make sure you take the time to check out Q45 as soon as you get the chance. You might not learn complex equations but you won’t be disappointed.
You can catch Q45 this Friday 24th January @ Out of Order (Lounge) alongside Kuya
