RETROSPECTIVE: BREAKAGE

Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.

BREAKAGE INTERVIEW (2009)

This week, the British DJ and producer James Boyle, aka Breakage, is playing a series of New Zealand shows in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. For my money, Breakage has long been one of the more interesting and captivating figures in the breakbeat/drum chopping science side of jungle/drum & bass. Along the way, he’s turned his hand to dubstep and dance-pop, even cracking the UK Top 40 charts in 2011 with ‘Fighting Fire’ (feat. Jess Mills). Back in 2099, I was lucky enough to interview him while I was on a work trip in London. During that same work trip, I spent a revelatory night at Plastic People in Shoreditch, with the one like Benga at the controls. Special times. Anyway, here’s my archival interview with the man himself, Breakage.

After hitting the global radar back in 2001 through a mercurial re-imagining of Nasty Habit’s hardcore classic ‘Here Comes The Drums’ (for vintage jungle record label Reinforced), the South-West London jungle/dubstep producer DJ Breakage (government name: James Boyle) quickly became that dude for rhythmic innovation in contemporary jungle/d&b. By the late 20000s, however, he was becoming just as known for the sense of space in his compositions and his use of semi-aquatic low-end bass pressure.

In 2007, James signed to Shy FX’s Digital Soundboy Recordings label. Three years later, they released his sophomore album Foundation (featuring collaborations with Roots Manuva, Newham Generals, Skream, Burial and others). Circa 2010, the Reinforced Records, Bassbin, Breakin, and Planet Mu recording alumni was sitting pretty with regular overseas DJ dates and a severe case of pre-social media virality internet hype.

At around seven pm on a mild Tuesday night in late 2009, I headed to London’s Soho district to interview James for Rip It Up, a now-defunct New Zealand music magazine. Thinking back eighteen years, I remember sitting in the outside seating area of a noodle restaurant and enjoying a pot of herbal tea with James’ manager while we waited for him to arrive. And boy, when he arrived, did he ever arrive. All frizzy hair, exaggerated grins and over-the-top enthusiasm, James instantly announced he was going to lower the tone by ordering beer; game on.

Our first topic was his expansion from kaleidoscopically singular jungle/d&b beat programmer to minimalist hypnotic dubstep/grime auteur turned electronic music jack-of-all-trades. Historically, James placed the switch just after his percussively hyper-exaggerated V.I.P. remix of Equinox’s ‘Acid Rain’. “It was nine minutes of amen [breakbeat] and no breakdown,” he reflected. “Chop it up here. Slow it down here. Filter it there. I liked it, and I liked making it, but it was pushing the boundaries of my taste.” From there on, it was time to diversify his portfolio.

Raised in South West London (Postcode: CR4), James first caught the music bug young, captivated by the architectural jungle sounds of Shy FX and UK Apache at eleven, followed by guitar in his early teens. He eventually left school by bluffing his way into a performing arts course (“I lied, made out like I was this really good guitar player, which I wasn’t”). With his tutor’s assistance, he learnt the basics of electronic music production, studying it by day at school and working on music with one of his cousins by night on a rudimentary program called Fast Tracker II. “I know it sounds corny, but I’ve never had a choice,” he laughed. “Music’s the one thing that I seem to be semi-good at. Basically, if it weren’t for music, I would probably be working in a warehouse or a lot of trouble.”

Finishing up studies at sixteen, James acquired his first computer and got to work. Soon afterwards, he linked his first record deal by accident. “I had a mate who had a record come out on Reinforced [Records],” he explained. “We went to his house with another guy, and he said, ‘I’m only two stops down from Reinforced.’ I had a mini-disc player on me with tunes that I was listening to. He said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to play 4hero some tunes.’ I really didn’t want to play him them, but you’ve got 4Hero standing there. I couldn’t talk; I actually couldn’t say a fucking word. I literally just went around there to have a chat with my mate and walked away with a record deal.” From there, James found himself on a whirlwind journey that saw him spend stints living in Australia and America while taking part in day after day of twelve to eighteen-hour studio sessions.

By 2007, James was an established producer DJ, having released his debut album This Too Shall Pass on Bassbin Records in 2006. After a chance encounter with Shy FX in a London nightclub, he entered full expansion mode. “Shy had just done a mix CD, and he licensed [my tune] ‘So Vain’ for it,” he recalled. “I’d never met him, and I was very excited that Shy FX had licensed my tune! [So I introduced myself]” They entered into regular dialogue, and soon enough, James was invited to join Shy’s new record label – Digital Soundboy.

Between 2007 and 2009, the majority of James’ “twelve to eighteen-hour” studio sessions were focused on the creation of his second album, Foundation, an intimate celebration of low-end bass pressure, complex rhythmic overtures and sparse, brooding minimalistic musical landscapes populated by ferocious ragga and street-slang heavy grime vocal performances. Yielded two stellar vocal-driven singles through ‘Run Em Out’ (with Roots Manuva) and ‘Hard’ (featuring longstanding E7 warlords The Newham Generals) Foundation drove the internet, nightclubs and international counterculture radio crazy in the best way possible, of course.

Several days after I interviewed James, I spent an evening at the longstanding London dubstep club night FWD>>> (held at the now-shuttered Plastic People) watching dubstep scene leader Benga throw it down. Inside the venue, the subs hummed like nothing else, really kicking you in the chest. The experience was fantastic. I remember turning to the left and bumping directly into James, who was skanking away in the corner. We headed over to the bar and downed a couple of vodka shots. Afterwards, I wandered off to catch up with some friends. James quickly dove back into the crowd, head nodding away as the subsonic bass rumble washed over him, completely and utterly at one with the music.

On Friday, the 15th of November, Breakage is headlining Ghost Media and Third Eye Hi-Fi’s Shakedown event at The Grand in Wellington. On the night, he’ll DJ alongside a lineup that includes Paige Julia, Ebb and others. You can purchase tickets here.

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING / WHAT I’VE GOT GOING ON:

About a week ago, I revisited my 2011 interview with the Aotearoa abstract jazz-rap hip-hop/beats/soul group @Peace for Rip It Up Magazine (NZ). If you missed reading it, you can check the story out here.

At 9.30 am on Wednesday the 13th of November, Radio Active 88.6 FM will air the latest edition of their Audio Culture sponsored history series – The Vault. This time, I’m in the hot seat talking about Wellington’s Orchestra of Spheres. You’ll be able to stream it live here.

Last Saturday night, I participated in a three-way panel discussion about music journalism in New Zealand with Kiran Dass from Word Festival and Chris Bourke from Audio Culture. Big thanks to everyone who came to Flying Nun to see us speak as part of Verb’s Litcrawl festival. Always a pleasure, never a chore.

This Saturday, I’ll be DJing between bands from 2 pm to 9 pm at the Brooklyn Twilight Festival in Wellington. You can find out more about the festival over here. Afterwards, I’m headed to Meow for the Future Jaw Clap book launch party. More details here.

FIN.