That’s right DnB fans, Saturday night the 27th of June Sole Food is on again, bringing you phat soulful beats to provide yummy food for your feet. This time around the irrepressible Big Bud (UK) will be providing the foreign spices. We catch up with Big Bud to get the skinny on the phat.
Big Bud is big in the scene, having produced hundreds of tracks, including five albums. He used to run Soundtrax Super8Sound records with DJ Element but that has now changed to Soundtrax. “I am still running SOUNDTRAX but have no involvement with Super8 any more. Basically Element decided he’d had enough about three years ago and left for India to become a Yoga teacher.
“The idea behind the label has always been to sign and release what I consider to be the best music I can find, from established artists and also to bring through some fresh talent from the next generation of producers. Music wise, there’s no real policy to the label, it really is just anything that I hear that I’m feeling.”
BB has a generally unerring ear for the right sounds but is willing to give tracks a second chance. “Usually I know instantly when I hear a track if it’s a Soundtrax tune or not. There’s been a few in the past that I let slip by, they didn’t buzz me straight away and then I heard them in a club and realised I was wrong. And the fact that there’s so many labels around today and also so many producers, if you don’t move quick someone else will snap it up in a heartbeat.”
Listening to the DnB sounds of Big Bud one finds many influences, especially those with roots in black culture. “Basically, when I go into the studio, I draw from the music I grew up on which is soul, jazz, reggae and funk. I’ve been a music lover and vinyl collector since the mid 70s so that’s where I go to take samples and to be honest I still listen to music from that era at home more than I do modern music. I try to keep up on what’s going on in all genres but it’s impossible to check everything. But I also feel that the music from that period is timeless.”
If you know Sole Food you know that the hugest dance floor smashes are not the order of the day. Big Bud fits right in to this downbeat mélange. “I guess every DJ wants to rock the dance floor and it’s kind of the easiest way to do it if you rinse out the big tunes but I do believe that you can have the same effect with tunes that are a bit deeper and more musical. I’ve never been known for that kinda stuff anyway so luckily most peeps that come to hear me spin aren’t expecting me to drop anything like that.”
Sole Food featuring Big Bud is on Saturday, June 27th at Civic Underground, corner of Pitt and Goulburn streets in the city, 10pm to 4am. Tickets $15 + bf presale, more on the door.
