Post by Kam Gill on May 18, 2005 16:25:58 GMT
(Kam) Tru Skool, is this the first time your have worked on an album?
(Tru Skool) I have worked with PMC doing some percussion for him starting from ‘Switchin’. I met PMC about three days after ‘Legalised’ came out back in ‘98. I’ve been with him ever since then. I will continue to work with PMC. In terms of producing I have been more underground until this album. I was kind of waiting for the right deal to come through. That came from Easylife Records.
(Specialist) The Bhangra industry is hard to get deals that you are happy with. People try to tie you down to five albums. My advice to people out there is, if you want to make an album don’t release it until you are happy with deal. That’s is important.
(Kam) ’Word Is Born’ was the debut album from Easylife Records. What more can we expect on the label?
(Specialist) It will feature albums from Me, Tru Skool, Bally Rai. That is what we are looking at. We have to see how the budget goes. We are thinking about Kaka Bhainiavaala’s album. We have got a good 3 or 4 projects lined up but it all comes down to budgets.
(Tru Skool) If something comes along that sounds good to us and it will benefit Easylife Records then we will sit down and talk about it.
(Kam) I want to talk about the Singers you have used on the ‘Word Is Born’. You mentioned Kaka there who is a great vocalist. Also in Kulvinder Johal I think you have unearthed a gem. Tell us a bit more about him.
(Tru Skool) Well he is from Derby, as am I. I seen him around for years since I was a kid. I didn’t know the man could sing. Basically PMC’s cousin’s lives in Derby who was working with Kulvinder at the time. He told PMC about him. So P say’s to me “Do you want to go see this guy in Derby?”. I asked him “What guy?” He said “There’s a singer in Derby“. I told P “There are no singers in Derby!”. So we went down, and when I saw it was Kulvinder to be honest I didn’t even go into his yard. I just thought there’s no way he can sing. So I waited in P’s car, the windows were closed. The house windows were closed. But I could hear his voice it was that powerful. He was like a demon. So I went round his house and asked him to help us out!! Ever since then we have been tight. We both have been training hard on the Vaja. You will hear him again on our next album and hopefully in the future he will be doing his own album. But for his album we are yet to decide which market to aim for. The U.K market or the India market, real desi stuff.
(Kam) You have mentioned Panjabi MC a few times. How much of an influence has he been on your careers?
(Specialist) He is a very inspiring guy. His personality and attitude towards work is great. He is a role model. He used to tell me to work hard. So in that sense he has influenced me a lot.
(Tru Skool) I will tell you why we look up to PMC. In the early 90’s, when we were listening to that hardcore hip hop and desi music scenes, we really wanted to do something along those lines. But we were school kids. But PMC was doing exactly what we wanted to do. When ‘Souled Out’ came out, the album was amazing, it had some nice beats on that. ‘Another Sell Out’ had some crazy hip hop s**t on there and ‘100% Proof’ just killed it. So PMC was doing what we wanted, had dreams of doing. He catered for us. The guy is a bad boy. ‘Majic Desi’ was the ultimate. Some people have said that our stuff sounds a bit like PMC’s. We are just making the s**t that we wanted to make back in the day and he was making that s**t too. He was living our dream! So it’s all good. But he has stopped making that s**t which is unfortunate. We would like it if he came back with that hardcore vibe.
(Kam) Lets talk about samples. Any views?
(Specialist) In my opinion the people that don’t use samples find it more difficult to sell albums. That’s just the way it is in Bhangra.. Using samples is not a bad thing however. I was reading an article about Dr. Dre using samples. Some of his tracks used older hip hop samples. He didn’t change the samples at all. Not even adding a new baseline. But he is still a great producer. There’s a correct way to sample.
(Tru Skool) Using a couple of samples here and there is all good as long as it sounds good. There is a right way to do it. If a track uses a sample well it goes down well with the punters. That’s great. Panjabi MC was sampling back in the day, but just listen to his earlier stuff. You can’t fault it. People were loving it.
(Kam) Specialist, you did ‘Higher Intelligence’ back in 1997. What was the reason for such a big gap between projects. Why didn’t you follow it up?
(Specialist) Basically I got skanked by the record label. When it came to pay day he pulled out his little monies. I had an argument with him. After that I went to see other labels but nobody was offering me a deal that I was happy with so I knocked it on the head. By then, my DJ-ing was going very well so I carried on with that. Big mistake. ‘Higher Intelligence 2’ was there. I was ready to make it. But it didn’t plan out. That’s just the way it goes. It’s not a big deal.
(Kam) Is there enough support for new artist’s?
(Tru Skool) The way I see it is there are a lot of new artists out there. Most of them are with labels that can support them. But in our situation we have had to stand on our own feet and start a label from scratch. It’s difficult for us. But this is why we have a lack of quality in the Bhangra industry because the labels pay for their videos, the studio costs are paid for etc. So these people are getting supported. But for people like us who have nothing, it’s very difficult. It’s not hard for these other people. Anybody can make an album if they go to certain labels because they will get experienced people in to make the album for them.
(Kam) Let’s talk about your new album.
(Tru Skool) Let me just tell you the line up of vocalists on it. This is the ultimate line up. Check this out. We have got Dippa from Satrang. We’ve got Lemhber Hussianpuri on there. We’ve got Kaka Bhainiavaala on there. We’ve got Kulvinder Singh Johal on there. We have Labh Junjua on there. We’ve got Karan MC on there. And we have this guy called Gartej Singh brar on there. That guy is a sick vocalist. That is a list of singers that you better fear! Write them down and look at that line up of vocalists!
(Kam) I was under the impression Karan MC was signed with Envy?
(Tru Skool) No he is not signed with them. I knew him before he did anything with them because he used to do a few shows down Derby before that.
(Kam) What about Kulvinder?
(Specialist) He’s locked down. Don’t worry about that.
(Tru Skool) That’s a Derby connection going on there. No one is ever getting their hands on him in their life.
(Kam So he is singed to you? You have a contract?
(Tru Skool) There is no contract. We don’t need one. He trains with me on the Vaja. But going back to Karan MC, I asked him years ago to do some songs for me. He was on the phone to me a couple of weeks ago. We just haven’t had time to get them recorded yet but he will be on our next album for sure. He will be doing one track. He is a phat vocalist.
(Kam) A few months ago I heard rumours of 'Sanehvaal Chounk' going mainstream. What’s that about?
(Specialist) It’s not true. Even if it was we haven’t got the budget to push anything into the mainstream.
(Kam) Another rumour I heard was that you guys couldn’t afford to do a second album. That true?
(Specialist) It was almost true. It has been difficult to say the least. The second album is going to be done on a similar budget. This is not Word Is Born 2 by the way.
Coming in Part 3: (Tru Skool) ….“People like Sukhshinder Shinda are really, really talented. Mukhtar Sahota is a wicked keyboard player but people don’t know that. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. How many more can you name after these guys? You know the Partners In Rhyme guys? Talented, talented lads. Remember ‘House Of All Nations’? Phat Album!”<br>
Plus more on the new album only in Part 3!
Click below for part 1
punjab2000.proboards29.com/index.cgi?board=Bhangra&action=display&thread=1114739610
(Tru Skool) I have worked with PMC doing some percussion for him starting from ‘Switchin’. I met PMC about three days after ‘Legalised’ came out back in ‘98. I’ve been with him ever since then. I will continue to work with PMC. In terms of producing I have been more underground until this album. I was kind of waiting for the right deal to come through. That came from Easylife Records.
(Specialist) The Bhangra industry is hard to get deals that you are happy with. People try to tie you down to five albums. My advice to people out there is, if you want to make an album don’t release it until you are happy with deal. That’s is important.
(Kam) ’Word Is Born’ was the debut album from Easylife Records. What more can we expect on the label?
(Specialist) It will feature albums from Me, Tru Skool, Bally Rai. That is what we are looking at. We have to see how the budget goes. We are thinking about Kaka Bhainiavaala’s album. We have got a good 3 or 4 projects lined up but it all comes down to budgets.
(Tru Skool) If something comes along that sounds good to us and it will benefit Easylife Records then we will sit down and talk about it.
(Kam) I want to talk about the Singers you have used on the ‘Word Is Born’. You mentioned Kaka there who is a great vocalist. Also in Kulvinder Johal I think you have unearthed a gem. Tell us a bit more about him.
(Tru Skool) Well he is from Derby, as am I. I seen him around for years since I was a kid. I didn’t know the man could sing. Basically PMC’s cousin’s lives in Derby who was working with Kulvinder at the time. He told PMC about him. So P say’s to me “Do you want to go see this guy in Derby?”. I asked him “What guy?” He said “There’s a singer in Derby“. I told P “There are no singers in Derby!”. So we went down, and when I saw it was Kulvinder to be honest I didn’t even go into his yard. I just thought there’s no way he can sing. So I waited in P’s car, the windows were closed. The house windows were closed. But I could hear his voice it was that powerful. He was like a demon. So I went round his house and asked him to help us out!! Ever since then we have been tight. We both have been training hard on the Vaja. You will hear him again on our next album and hopefully in the future he will be doing his own album. But for his album we are yet to decide which market to aim for. The U.K market or the India market, real desi stuff.
(Kam) You have mentioned Panjabi MC a few times. How much of an influence has he been on your careers?
(Specialist) He is a very inspiring guy. His personality and attitude towards work is great. He is a role model. He used to tell me to work hard. So in that sense he has influenced me a lot.
(Tru Skool) I will tell you why we look up to PMC. In the early 90’s, when we were listening to that hardcore hip hop and desi music scenes, we really wanted to do something along those lines. But we were school kids. But PMC was doing exactly what we wanted to do. When ‘Souled Out’ came out, the album was amazing, it had some nice beats on that. ‘Another Sell Out’ had some crazy hip hop s**t on there and ‘100% Proof’ just killed it. So PMC was doing what we wanted, had dreams of doing. He catered for us. The guy is a bad boy. ‘Majic Desi’ was the ultimate. Some people have said that our stuff sounds a bit like PMC’s. We are just making the s**t that we wanted to make back in the day and he was making that s**t too. He was living our dream! So it’s all good. But he has stopped making that s**t which is unfortunate. We would like it if he came back with that hardcore vibe.
(Kam) Lets talk about samples. Any views?
(Specialist) In my opinion the people that don’t use samples find it more difficult to sell albums. That’s just the way it is in Bhangra.. Using samples is not a bad thing however. I was reading an article about Dr. Dre using samples. Some of his tracks used older hip hop samples. He didn’t change the samples at all. Not even adding a new baseline. But he is still a great producer. There’s a correct way to sample.
(Tru Skool) Using a couple of samples here and there is all good as long as it sounds good. There is a right way to do it. If a track uses a sample well it goes down well with the punters. That’s great. Panjabi MC was sampling back in the day, but just listen to his earlier stuff. You can’t fault it. People were loving it.
(Kam) Specialist, you did ‘Higher Intelligence’ back in 1997. What was the reason for such a big gap between projects. Why didn’t you follow it up?
(Specialist) Basically I got skanked by the record label. When it came to pay day he pulled out his little monies. I had an argument with him. After that I went to see other labels but nobody was offering me a deal that I was happy with so I knocked it on the head. By then, my DJ-ing was going very well so I carried on with that. Big mistake. ‘Higher Intelligence 2’ was there. I was ready to make it. But it didn’t plan out. That’s just the way it goes. It’s not a big deal.
(Kam) Is there enough support for new artist’s?
(Tru Skool) The way I see it is there are a lot of new artists out there. Most of them are with labels that can support them. But in our situation we have had to stand on our own feet and start a label from scratch. It’s difficult for us. But this is why we have a lack of quality in the Bhangra industry because the labels pay for their videos, the studio costs are paid for etc. So these people are getting supported. But for people like us who have nothing, it’s very difficult. It’s not hard for these other people. Anybody can make an album if they go to certain labels because they will get experienced people in to make the album for them.
(Kam) Let’s talk about your new album.
(Tru Skool) Let me just tell you the line up of vocalists on it. This is the ultimate line up. Check this out. We have got Dippa from Satrang. We’ve got Lemhber Hussianpuri on there. We’ve got Kaka Bhainiavaala on there. We’ve got Kulvinder Singh Johal on there. We have Labh Junjua on there. We’ve got Karan MC on there. And we have this guy called Gartej Singh brar on there. That guy is a sick vocalist. That is a list of singers that you better fear! Write them down and look at that line up of vocalists!
(Kam) I was under the impression Karan MC was signed with Envy?
(Tru Skool) No he is not signed with them. I knew him before he did anything with them because he used to do a few shows down Derby before that.
(Kam) What about Kulvinder?
(Specialist) He’s locked down. Don’t worry about that.
(Tru Skool) That’s a Derby connection going on there. No one is ever getting their hands on him in their life.
(Kam So he is singed to you? You have a contract?
(Tru Skool) There is no contract. We don’t need one. He trains with me on the Vaja. But going back to Karan MC, I asked him years ago to do some songs for me. He was on the phone to me a couple of weeks ago. We just haven’t had time to get them recorded yet but he will be on our next album for sure. He will be doing one track. He is a phat vocalist.
(Kam) A few months ago I heard rumours of 'Sanehvaal Chounk' going mainstream. What’s that about?
(Specialist) It’s not true. Even if it was we haven’t got the budget to push anything into the mainstream.
(Kam) Another rumour I heard was that you guys couldn’t afford to do a second album. That true?
(Specialist) It was almost true. It has been difficult to say the least. The second album is going to be done on a similar budget. This is not Word Is Born 2 by the way.
Coming in Part 3: (Tru Skool) ….“People like Sukhshinder Shinda are really, really talented. Mukhtar Sahota is a wicked keyboard player but people don’t know that. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. How many more can you name after these guys? You know the Partners In Rhyme guys? Talented, talented lads. Remember ‘House Of All Nations’? Phat Album!”<br>
Plus more on the new album only in Part 3!
Click below for part 1
punjab2000.proboards29.com/index.cgi?board=Bhangra&action=display&thread=1114739610
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but that's life.
