Welcome back to the deep end, kids!
In this installment of You Need Deep, as promised: An exclusive look into the roots of The man they call Ginger Shinobi’s musical legacy. We talk about Moombahdeep (both the compilation series and the subgenre), The apparent “death” of moombahton, and some upcoming projects.
TGBE:
Who are you, and where are you from?
GC:
I am Guy Cross (aka Ginger Shinobi). I am from a small town called Llandudno in North Wales (UK). I really think of London as home but right now I am living in Jakarta, Indonesia.
TGBE:
How did you first become involved with Electronic Music?
GC:
I have always been a fan of electronic music, since I was 11 years old! My first 2 CDs were Boss Drum by the Shamen and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy. In my second year of university I moved in with a guy who was a bedroom DJ, he influenced me a lot. Fortunately his tastes were awesome. I am still in love with progressive house and mainstream techno from the late 1990s, artist/bands like Slacker, Future Sound of London, Underworld, even the Chemical Brothers. He introduced me to DJing whilst I was working behind the bar at Cream in Liverpool. My station was right next to Oakenfold‘s first residency in the annex. Oakie really got experimental in that room, I remember him playing everything from indie rock to speed garage. Even back then I knew it was a big deal for him as THE Goa Trance DJ to be experimenting with other genres in his sets (although I guess I didn’t, then, understand the history of Goa DJs doing that an awful lot).
TGBE:
How did you become affiliated with Broken Drum Records?
GC:
I first spoke to Vince and Louis (Brokendrum records founders) through a web forum we all used. They were producing crazy arabic influenced breakbeats and they sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before. I finally met them when I was a punter at one of their legendary shows in about 2001. After a few years I was their scratch DJ and involved in the production side of things.
TGBE:
You shortly after started releasing music of your own as well, is BDR What got you into producing?
GC:
My first release was a remix in 2002, and Like any gigging DJ I was/am always looking for exclusive beats and producing/remixing is one way a good DJ sounds unique. There is a lot of press about how DJs now need to produce, and that is killing DJing. This is a lie. Since the dawn of house/disco good DJs have always produced their own tunes.
BDR Dancefloor started out as an idea between Vince and I. We have a lot of friends writing dance-floor friendly music, plus our own beats, and we wanted an outlet to release through. Like any creative entity BDRDF has taken a while to find its feet but now I have a release schedule that’s too big for me to manage.
TGBE:
What inspired the first Moombahdeep compilation?
GC:
Simply my love of Moombahton and my love of the deep side of electronic music. I hadn’t visualised that a fusion was possible but once I heard the Deepahton EP by Sabbo (Israel) I saw a glimpse of the future. I wanted more tunes like this to DJ with so started the compilation series.
TGBE:
Since starting it [The Compilation], it feels like ‘Moombahdeep’ as a sub-genre has taken on a life of its own.
GC:
Let me clarify something, I started the compilation series, not the sound. I would put that down to Sabo (NYC) and Jon (johnny-johnny) Kwest. I think my part has been to give a platform to the sound that hadn’t been built back then. Also to give producers a promotional platform, from day one I made sure that everything about the moombahdeep series was professional. The mastering, art and promotion has all been done professionally, and always will be.
TGBE:
What do you think of people saying Moombahton is dead?
GC:
I love it when people say Moombahton is dead. Part of the reason I love Moombahton is the scene. I love having to fight for shows, I love having to fight to get beats heard. I love the fact there are a crew of us that would travel miles just to go to a Moombahton night, because their aren’t so many around (although this is changing). So when people say its dead, they mean we are still underground and right now, and that’s exactly where we should be.
TGBE:
It’s a broad question, but what do you have going on for upcoming projects?
GC:
Wow. Too much for me to have the confidence to even list, stuff is going to slip and things wont happen but right now I am working on my LP/EP, 4 other releases on BDR Dancefloor, I am project managing Moombahdeep V4, I am setting up a DJ tour of SE Asia, working on some local shows, I am working out a unique sound to my DJ sets which right now means I am listening to a tonne of new music.
http://www.facebook.com/shinobiginger
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Stay tuned for our next installment, where we’ll be touching on the soulful side of Moombahton, and trust me…This soul is #deep.
-Mister Luke
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