Q. Please tell us about your hometown. What kind of environment did you grow up in?

I grew up in Epping, a suburban area in NSW Australia, just north of Sydney. It was pleasant to grow up in as a child, but quiet in the way most suburbs are, I'd suspect. Very Australian, there was a pub (bar), supermarket and other shops, train station. It wasnt small but just not very exciting, especially once you were into your teenage years. And only when I was a teenager did I realise that its actually a fairly conservative political/religious area. The Great Church Of Cthulhu (aka Hillsong) was founded a few suburbs away...

Q. When did you first become interested in music? What was the first CD or record you bought?

Both my parents listened to a lot of music when I was growing up. My fathers musical tastes run from old blues and soul to doo-wop and 60s pop like the Beach Boys and Phil Spector as well as a lot of 50s + 60s comedy records. My mother loves stuff such as the Beatles, Jaques Brel and Leonard Cohen. I remember getting several cassette compilations of 80s pop which I loved hugely and which definitely influenced my sampling... when I was a teenager a friend introduced me to Metallica and that led me into a love of heavy metal - Slayer/Danzig/Megadeth/Ministry etc. But I do have a childhood memory of my father bringing home the 7" singles of Walk Like An Egyptian by the Bangles, Dont Worry be Happy by Bobby McFerrin and the Ghostbusters theme by Ray Parker jr.

Q. When did you start making music on your own? What equipment did you first use? What genres of music did you make?

I first started trying to make music around 1997/98(?). My family had purchased a pc so a friend managed to install the fasttracker program on it - which didnt work - then Sonic Foundrys ACID program. I began trying to write gabber/drum n bass and some hip hop kind of stuff. Im not sure I was making a genre of music, I was just making a mess.

Q. Did you go to any Rave or Hardcore parties in Australia? What is the best DJ or Live act you've experienced?

The only hardcore parties I really went to were Bloody Fist shows in Newcastle, and Sydney dance parties such as Freaky Loops, organised by Clan Analogue. So basically parties in Sydney, a few scattered shows at pubs with acts, or the dance music tent at rock festivals like the Big Day Out.

Best dj or live act I saw? Mr Bungle/Secret Chiefs were both amazing, as were Hall and Oates. I played a show with Lightning Bolt in Amsterdam and they were absolutely amazing as well... Metallica on the black album tour, Sick Of It All, Dragonforce, Ice Cube, Passenger Of Shit, Alan Partridge, its too hard to choose one...

Q. When did Maladroit start? What kind of activities did you do in the beginning?

ummmm around 98/99 I was introduced to the music of Bloody Fist records, who were doing shows about 1.5 hours north of Sydney, as a schoolmate was friends with Hedonist, who had released a few records on the label. Some of my mates in Epping had formed a group called the Pilfernators, and we all shared a love of hardcore/Bloody Fist. The first party I played at was in a school hall we had rented in the next suburb, and from there john 556a of the Pilfernators began putting on shows in Sydney at various venues, having a mix of people playing, from gabber/hardcore to jungle/breakbeat stuff. I was usually playing off tracks off a friends laptop or playing my cd-rs that Id burn on the day. The parties were largely in pubs/bars or at squats or occasionally clubs that would tolerate us. Having said that Im sure that there was a System:Corrupt party that ended with a bouncer throwing a SL-1200 turntable onto the road. Everyone is a critic!

Q. I think Maladroit has been making Breakcore since the beginning. When did you first learn about Breakcore? Have you been writing music with breakcore in mind from the beginning?

I came across breakcore on the internet when I was looking for Bloody Fist mp3s. I remember finding some dj Fishead mixes and Venetian Snares ragga breakbeat tracks, as well as Doormouse, Kid 606 and Knifehandchop. Id heard DHR and Alec Empire stuff as well, but id never really enjoyed their drums, or their lack of a groove, so the early european and american proto breakcore was really interesting to discover.

I guess I was trying to emulate Bloody Fist and/or the drum n bass/Aphex Twin I was listening to... I remember hearing some jungle on a moonshine records cd and thinking about how Id program the drum patterns myself etc.

The first time I remember having a live experience of breakcore would have been around 2000/1. I was I was living in inner Sydney, and John 556a of the Pilfernators had been called up by Dj Zeitgeist to see if they were able to play at a beach party not far from the city. They were unable to, so he gave her my number and she invited me. That was the first time I met most of the System:Corrupt crew, I think. It was a great experience to play music to people I actually didnt know, and they seemed to really enjoy it. I also got to see people stripping naked and running into the ocean, which my sheltered youth in suburbia had not prepared me for. So maybe not with breakcore in my mind from the beginning, but I do remember feeling as if I had found an interesting group of people with similar musical tastes.

2022.04

MDC Interview#49 " Maladroit "