Capitol 1212 Interview

We caught up with our Scottish Brethren Dave & Kenny of Capitol 1212 to get the scoop on how life has been since releasing their brilliant album: 

''The Return of Rudy Nacho'' 

Greetings lads, 

IMR: By now most people will be aware of the Album. How has life been since its release?

Capitol 1212: Life has been great, it's been BIG year for us music wise, life wise and fun wise. 

IMR: There is an absolutely massive line up of UK all-star vocalists on there. How did those links come about - longtime friends and colleagues or people you guys admired and wanted to reach out to? 

Capitol 1212: We've been doing this for time now so we've built up lot of links and friendships, when we started to make the album we had a list of all our favourite artists ,some we knew ,some we didn't .  It was almost like this is going to be a shitload of work we might as well go for what we really want or what's the point.  We reached out and were lucky that everyone could see the vision or had faith in us and got involved. We truly are blessed as the artists on the LP are legends and stars , we never take it for granted and are truly privileged to have them work with us. 

IMR: Since being signed by this Irish label, you guys have been over twice in the past few months for Rubadublin Reggae Festival and more recently the Electric Picnic festival. How were those experiences and how do you guys find the Irish crowds (Answer carefully now fellas:) 

Capitol 1212: Both have been amazing we truly feel part of the Irish Moss Records fam and are proud of it,  whenever the label put a new release out by different artists we're like dam we're glad to be part of this movement. So it is great to catch up with everyone when we are over.  Both gigs have been hell of a party and that's what we like , tho I would say Electric Picnic the hospitality was too good ha ha, was all a lil hazy . The reggae scene is great there, in fact music is so important to people in Ireland , it reminds me of Jamaica in that way .

IMR: Is there any particular festival or gig that stands out for you this summer?

Capitol 1212: To be honest the Irish gigs have been stand out ones ,also Boomtown Fair was pretty epic , we've also enjoyed some of the more promo style gigs for the LP , the TV and Radio ones as it has given us opportunity to hang and perform with some of the artists and fam on the LP.

IMR: There is a new single "Lif Up"on the way from yourselves and Tenor Fly: Tell us a little about it:

Capitol 1212: Yeah excited about this one, it's a big jungle track and it was the first track from LP to get a lot radio play and love .We've worked with Tenor Fly in the past ,in fact one of our biggest singles "Don man Sound" was with him. It's always great to work with Fly he's a genius, my first dj gig when I was 16 I remember playing  Tenor Fly records , I'm now 36 and writing and recording music with the man and actually still playing those same records out when I DJ. Timeless music and hopefully our music with him will be as well . The song is a powerful uplifting song but for all the people out there struggling.

IMR: Finally anymore exciting collabs / projects in the pipeline you can tell us about? 

Capitol 1212: We have just finished working on some music for punk ska band Sonic Boom Six's album which is cool, also couple of remixes for people like J Star. Then we are taking little time out for couple months in winter, Kenny is working on solo material and I'm having some family time but we have lot of ideas for when we get back in studio. Looking forward to making new 1212 songs and representing our Irish Moss fam in 2015

The new single from Capitol 1212 ft Tenor Fly "Lif Up" is out now on Irish Moss Records
Juno (exclusive) 15-9-2014 
Itunes (22-9-2014)

The 'What's What' with Bluntskull

While it makes it's way around dance floors & across the airwaves. Irish Moss H.Q caught up with the man behind the heavy hitting 'Blunt Force E.P'

IMR: Hey Man, so for the uninitiated. . . How exactly has a New Yorker started living in Vietnam and releasing tracks on an Irish record label? Can you give us a brief low-down?

Bluntskull: To start with, I have to give thanks to Liondub. I was still in NY when I got a message from him on Soundcloud saying "You should connect with my boy DJ Obese from the Dirty Dubsters. They'd love and respect your music like crazy." So I contacted you guys and the rest is history. I bounce around a lot so Vietnam is just the backdrop for the time being.

IMR: Your sound seems to go one of two possible ways (As far as we know anyway) Party starting mashup's or straight head-nodding ragga hip-hop, ode straight to the early 1990's. What and who has influenced you in your productions?

Bluntskull: A major influence on my sound is the era when dancehall mixed with hip-hop in the early '90s. Producers like Bobby Konders helped build that bridge and I've been in love with that sound ever since. To me, there were never enough of those tracks and the genre was very fringe and short-lived. I'd like to do my part to bring back that early '90s ragga hip-hop sound. Having said that, I still love ragga in all shapes and forms and do dabble in other sub-genres of it like jungle and breakbeat.

IMR: The Blunt Force EP is a heavy duty release. Three serious Deejays spitting on each set of hiphop breaks again very much ode to that classic 90's style. How did the collaborations come about? Are these three veterans people that had been on the Bluntskull radar for a while or did they just come about as these things seem to do in the digital era?

Bluntskull: Burro Banton was always someone I wanted to work with. I've loved his style since the early '90s so naturally I jumped at the chance to do a track with him. I noticed that you guys (Dirty Dubsters) did a track with him so I knew you had the connection to make it happen. 

I knew Tippa Irie was planning to come through Saigon town so I sent him some of my beats hoping he'd like one of them enough to do something over it. I liked what I heard on his demo and got to hang out with him for a minute when he was over here. 

My first single 'Bus' it in 2' featured Blackout JA. I love his gruff voice so I thought I'd enlist him again for the final track on the EP. He blesses any track he's on.

IMR: Speaking of a Digital Era and an online world. . . It's hard to find much about you online. Has this been by design or default? You want to remain quite anonymous or you just can't be arsed logging online everyday?

Bluntskull: Haha! Maybe it's because I'm still pretty new to producing (Been at it for two and a half years now). Also, I'm not a self-promoter. I like the music to speak for itself. I'm not sure what else I can do besides put tunes on my Soundcloud page and mixes on Mixcloud.

IMR: Any plans to do any shows in US / Europe over the next year? Also please let us know if there are anymore EPs, Edits or general Blunt-Goodness to look forward to.

Bluntskull: I would like to make it to Europe in the summer of '15 to do some gigs for sure. I hope I can turn out another E.P by then too. If not, then at least another single or two. Be on the lookout for some forthcoming releases on I.M.R and Dirty Dubster Digital. The best way to hear about Bluntskull would be to keep an eye on Soundcloud. I like to throw out freebie tracks now and again too. 

IMR: Any final words before you go deep underground for a while?

Bluntskull: Thanks as always to the Dirty Dubsters for supporting my stuff. Hope to slowly emerge from my cocoon in the months and years to come!