Bay B Kane Interview , pt 3 (final part)

Apologies for the delay in this part, I've been on tour / vacation in Europe with spotty internet access.. I'm posting this final portion of the interview comes from Madrid, Spain. Thanks a ton to Mel for doing this interview, anyone interested can reach him at .
Enjoy - Pete

Track You're Most Proud Of

The track I'm most proud of is a very difficult choice for me...as I'm proud of everything that ive done musically. But if I had to make a top 3 of my own tracks it would probably be...

1. If you Believe
2. Thunder
3. Jungle Warriors, joint 3rd lace with Hello Darkness.

As for what created the most buzz...it was indeed Thunder.

Trouble with uncleared samples

I've never really run into trouble as such with uncleared samples except for just one time and that was a tiny vocal sample that said "and it sounds good" which appeared on the Hello Darkness Remix "Rood Darkness". The vocal in question belonged to one of the most popular mc's of that time MC GQ, who used to mc at the Paradise Club...but of course it got sorted out and as far as I'm concerned he was trying it on really or to be blunt, takin da piss... And because of that he got AIR-PIE!! lol. Having said that, he still remains as one of my favorite MC's of all time.

Satin Storm

I want to take this opportunity to mention something which I forgot to before, and this should have been in part one of this interview really but somehow slipped my mind at the time so apologies... Anyway what I want to mention is Satin Storm. I'm sure some of you old skool fans will remember that name...well Satin Storm (which was Travis Edwards and his girlfriend) were the owners of the first ever studio that we used back in the Break The Limits days. In fact, we recorded BTL part 1 & 2 entirely at the Satin Storm studios and I want to thank him for all the help he gave us and for trusting us. At that time we were flat broke and had to do a deal with Travis to trust us until we released the BTL part 1 Ep and recouped some money before we could afford to pay him for the studio time. I just want to BIG him up to the MAXIMUM... And yes we did go back as promised and payed him for the studio time plus a little extra for taking that chance to allow us to record in his studio without pay initially.
I also would like to just state that BTL was the inspiration behind the success of Satin Storm and I know that he would agree with that statement without hesitation...we also worked with him again later on during the Nu-Matic period, as both Travis and his girlfriend whose name totally escapes me at this time (sorry) toured with us as our dancers on stage for pa's. Where-ever you are today, I'm sending you guys a massive Thank You and wish you all the best.

Pennywise Remix

Pennywise was Symphony Sounds, that's the label and distribution company, and they distributed my tracks for a short while and that's also how I met Sherry the other half of Rood Project. The reason why it was so different to the original was coz I had nothing to do with the original, and for the remix they wanted it to be totally different.

DJ'ing / Production Collabs

I've never dabbled in DJ'ing but did many PA's all over the UK, including Liverpool University sharing the bill there with The Prodigy. I also played in Warrington, Manchester, Colchester, Anglesey and various other locations around the UK.
I worked with many different producers during my time as a jungle producer, like...

1. Mickey Finn
2. Peshay
3. T Para
4. Cool Hand Flex
5. Chris Energy
6. Darren Jay
7. Hopper(of Hopper & Bones)


8. Sherry(Rood Project)
9. Lee Muspratt(Darkenator)
10. Loxy

...and if I've forgot anyone which is highly likely I apologize. But my favorite Colaborations were...

1. Sherry (Rood Project)
2. Mickey Finn
3. Peshay

Favorite Jungle Tune of All Time

My favorite Drum & Bass / Jungle Track of all time is, without any hesitation..."Here Come The Drumz" by Doc Scott. For me this track defines what Drum & Bass was all about, and Doc Scott has always been one of my favorite producers. Sadly I never got to work with him. I reckon if we had ever collaborated the result would have been legendary... BIG UP the Doc Scott.

Changes in the Scene From Hardcore to Jungle / the Influence of Ragga

I was involved in the scene from 1991 to 1996 and yes I saw a lot of changes throughout that time in the music...as for my feelings about Hardcore/Rave evolving into Jungle/Drum & Bass, it was an inevitable step forwards as we in the UK are and always have been a very racially mixed and blended society. Although the hardcore sound was by no means a predominantly white/caucasian sound, as more and more people of different colours and backgrounds were joining this underground movement, the flavours of the music evolved to accommodate these changes. As for me, being an immigrant myself (originally from Turkey), I grew up around both black and asian culture and was always into reggae and soul/jazz funk. Therefore it was a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned.

Raving Days

Yes, I was indeed a big raver in those days... I got mashed up on a regular basis and used to rave till da sun came up. On many occasions we used to head out to secret meeting points and wait for instructions on where this weekends big illegal warehouse rave would be..lolol..those were great times for real.
But my favorite rave was TELEPATHY, which was every saturday at an old warehouse in Marshgate Lane in Stratford E16... I'll never forget the time I caught a couple having sex inside a bassbin enclosure!!! And the BASS was THUMPING and they were oblivious to anyone or anything except each other and the rhythm.

Disappearance from Jungle

My disappearance from jungle was both sudden and final...
During 1996 things started to change within the jungle scene, both musically and label politics-wise... Sales of jungle tracks were minimal and a lot of small independent labels had already disappeared, and I had already seen the writing on the wall. It had become too risky to release tunes on Ruff Guidance as sales figures were not good enough. On top of that, Whitehouse Records were no longer the "Buzz Central" they once were either, so there was a general slump in the popularity of jungle.
I remember going to see Andy Bailey at Whitehouse and playing him some of my latest tracks, he said "listen m8 i really like these tracks, but the word from upstairs is that we are slowing right down on jungle releases until further notice"... I knew then and there that nothing would ever be the same again, and that the end of an era was just around the corner. In reply to what i had just heard, I thanked Andy for all his help and support and told him that I understood that this was out of his control, that I was probably not gonna be in this game for much longer, and left the building.
I never returned to Whitehouse, and that was the last time i saw or spoke with Andy. But I would like to BIG him up here one last time for everything that he did for me and all the good ideas and the support during my time at Whitehouse, so wherever you are bro BIG RESPECT to you.
Shortly after my final meeting with Whitehouse i decided enough was enough and decided to leave the music scene and move on... But not before i pulled off one last scam!!! Not musically of course but financially.
I went to the bank where my label account had been over the years and gave them a big story about how and why i needed to borrow £15000, and they were only too happy to lend me the money against my studio (which was valued at £50.000) as security...cool!!
I got the money and the next evening cleared my studio and moved to a new house... I think you got the picture by now...lolololol.
So i want 2 take this opportunity to BIGUP the NatWest Bank for their stupidity... lol.
I spent the following year doing pretty much nothing, in fact i felt as though i was in some kind of vacuum...i was lost!!! I eventually snapped out of that trance-like-state and started to mess around with PCs, and never looked back...
I am now an IT professional i have a Bachelors Degree in Information Systems and Computer Science with Honors.

Making Music These Days / Any Unreleased Tracks?

I no longer make music, not professionally or as a hobby. But my daughter who is 9yrs old has a real talent for singing and I'm thinking about going back in the producers chair, maybe for a short period but long enough to produce a good demo for her... I guess time will tell whether I do or not.
I do have a bunch of tunes that never got released on DAT and I would be more than happy to discuss releasing them if an opportunity came about and there was genuine interest.
Unfortunately I no longer have any vinyl of any description, but I have every track i ever produced all on DAT.
When i hear about copies of my releases from back in the day exchanging hands for a lot more money than when they were released, i feel a bit ANTIQUE like!!! lol...Nah seriously though, it kinda makes me feel like i have achieved something and that something has stood the test of time... I feel proud really, coz around 15 years ago I remember paying £100 for an original 7 inch copy of AMEN Brother which is the track that contains the legendary Amen Breakbeat.

Last 3 Albums Bought

The last 3 albums i bought were...

1. Ror Shak - Deep (for those that don't know, Ror Shak is Stakka)
   
2. 2-MOVADO - Anyway
   
3. 3-TI - Paper Trail
   

Nowadays my taste in music hasn't really changed too much...having said that, I do like some of the good GRIME artists like Wiley..JME..Roll Deep..N-Dubz to name a few. But my first love music-wise was..is..and always will be hip hop. That will never change. Plus needless to say Drum & Bass. But there isn't really much d&b coming out these days, but I usually grab anything by Bukem and Good Looking. Also Dillinja who happens to be one of my all time favorites in jungle.

Thoughts on the Current Music Scene

The music scene has gone through many changes since the days when I was producing... some changes I liked and others I loathed. But I guess most people would say the same if asked the same question. On the whole, I'm sad that jungle/D&B hasn't really survived or rather hasn't progressed and evolved enough to keep itself alive, but of course this is partly due to the fact that the sound of jungle was never really meant to be commercial. That ironically means that it was always doomed to become extinct some day... especially as that generation who created it gradually grow older and moved on, and so that whole scene which was once very much united and buzzing is no longer there. But I know that we the junglist have made a much loved and respected place four ourselves in history and that will never change, coz it has been carved into TIME 4 EVER.

The End / Shout-outs

Well my friends, the time has come to wrap this up... NO!! not for Christmas..lol but to bring it to a close... Its been great taking this journey back in time and back through the archives of my mind and memory... I want to say a HUMONGOUS Thank You to PETE. Because without him this wouldnt have even existed, plus i wanna BIG him up again for being a good friend even tho weve never met face to face so to speak, but never the less you're just as much a friend as the guys from around the way in my hood BIGUP! Also i wanna thank all you junglist and junglettes past and present whoever and where-ever you are... BIGUP ALL JUNGLIST MASSIVE!!
And just a few more personal BIGUPS to the following for making a difference within my life...(not including family as they know already theyre BIG!)...
Andy Bailey..Noah Charlery..Mark(Soul Trader).. Matt Edwards..PESHAY..Mickey Finn..LTJ Bukem..Tony Fagan(T-Para)..Chris Energy..SHERRY(Rood Project)..Jah Tubby(JTS)..Terry and Darren (TellTales)..Cool Hand Flex..Dj Randall...and all the people that i came into contact with through jungle... way too many to remember, let alone list here but no less important and no less deserving for a BIGUP!! Love to all music lovers around the globe in every city and every hood...Get rid of the GUNZ and Knives STOP ending lives including your own PEACE..

Bay B Kane Interview, Pt 1

Anyone who thinks they know oldschool but doesn't own at least a few Bay B Kane releases should be ashamed of themselves! From 1990 to 1996, Mel Tanur aka Bay B Kane was one of the most prolific and influential hardcore/jungle producers around. Tracks like "Hello Darkness", "Bagpipes in Effect" and "Quarter To Doom" are some of the best that early 90's hardcore/jungle has to offer.

Around 1996 however, these Bay B Kane releases seemed to stop completely. While some of the other biggest producers of that time have popped back up in recent years with reissues / interviews / reunion DJ sets, I'd never heard any word about Bay B Kane. So, I did a bit of searching around, found him online, and posed him the question which oldschool jungle nerds like me want to know: "what ever happened to bay b kane??"

Thanks to all the B2VOSers who suggested questions for this interview. I tried to fit in as many as possible. In fact, because there were so many, Mel and I decided to split the interview up into a few parts.

Origin of the name "Bay B Kane"

The name Bay B Kane originally came about as a dedication to my son Kane who at the time was a baby...so I named an ep bay b kane and dedicated it to my son. At the time there was no intention of takin that name on as an artist name or anything like that...when the ep was released it quickly became one of the most popular eps of that time and there was huge interest within the underground scene, and somehow certain djs started to identify me as Bay B Kane whenever I came into contact with them. Amongst those djs were Mickey Finn..Darren J..Chris Energy..Grooverider to name a few... and so I also started to warm to the idea of keeping it as my professional/producer name. And thats basically how I got the name Bay-B-Kane.

...Incidently those who own a copy of my album "Guardian of Ruff" can see the real bay b kane (my son) on the back cover, pictured drawing circles in the sand...at the time aged 3yrs.

Influences

My influences to list individually would take too long and would probably be boring to read but lets just say that the biggest influence for me without a shadow of doubt was HIP HOP...from beginning to the present day hip hop still remains as the biggest inspiration within my life from a music point of view.

As for what inspired me to start making what then would have been referred to as Hardcore, it was a combination of few elements...

1. being sick and tired of not getting anywhere within the music industry as a hip hop outfit (which I will go into more detail about later)
   
2. being sick and tired of not having enough money
   
3. a burning desire to create music which ideally would be unique and fresh but in a non conformist and not within the boundaries that existed at the time musically sort of way.
   

Origins of Break The Limits

Break The Limits was the foundation that enabled myself and Matt Edwards to pretty much pioneer and lead a movement from within the underground scene which was getting stronger by the day and I'm very proud to be able to say this... Getting back to the question of how did myself and Matt meet...we met while we were still at school. Matt was a dj (dj Youth) and back then I was an MC!! Yep that's right, I used to be a rapper and very hardcore hip hop...after hearing Matt do his stuff on the decks I knew we had to put our heads together and do something to put UK and even more importantly East London on the map..

The events that followed in the next two years would again take too much time to run through but I'll just say that we put ourselves in as many peoples faces as we possibly could...we played at parties, we played in clubs... you name it we did it, and in the end we got signed up with a small independent label called TUF which stands for The Underground Family.

They were a husband and wife team and were two of the best people I've ever worked with, but the trouble was they had a very limited budget so things always moved very slowly. But through TUF we got valuable experience and we got to work with the likes of Sylvia Tella and Double Trouble and many more... I even did a show with Rodeo Jones at the legendary Brixton Academy as one of the warm up acts for the Public Enemy concert...

Eventually we put out a 12inch single called "Reality". At the time we were called "The Eastside Chapter". But the single didn't do very well and was the end of that chapter 4real, and what came next was born out of sheer frustration and desperation and it was called BREAK THE LIMITS.

Break The Limits

Myself and Matt Edwards we were at the most crucial crossroads we had ever had to cross, and as I've mentioned before, out of sheer frustration and desperation came Break The Limits...
We decided to call it this coz it was exactly what we intended to do, coz for so long we felt that we was being strangled by do's and dont's and rules and regs which collectively we called "the limits". All we wanted to do now was to break them even smash them into non existance...

I am extremely proud to say we did exactly what the name suggested; we broke all the limits, and if whoever put them there happened to get in da way, we smash dem too...same speed!!!

I'm not going into full detail at this time about the Break The Limits catalog or what we achieved as its all there written on the wall of history forever, but I will just say this: Break The Limits was nothing short of an all out REVOLUTION and nothing less!!

Instead I will proceed to answer the question about Nu-Matic(XL-Recordings).
First of all, I have to say that the birth of Nu-Matic became the death of Break The Limits!!
By now the well established and respected Break The Limits was everything to us... we lived and breathed BTL 24 /7. We had just released a white label limited pressing (500 copies only) of a 4 track EP we called "Fragmental" EP. Within 3 days, we received a phone call from XL saying "wow we want dis, we want to sign you guys up" and all dat waffle... After many meetings with A&R's and company officials and eventually with the man himself Tim Palmer, we agreed to sign a contract with XL-Recordings, but under a new name, coz I wouldn't let them have "Break The Limits" for a sum of £50.000.

The EP came out on XL and we toured all over the UK doin PAs and promotions and photo shoots, and I hated all this and all dem record company pricks and I let dem know at every opportunity... You see, the thing is I'm from da hood and proud of it, and I'm the kind of person no amount of money can buy and if you approach me the wrong way I'm more aggressive than a wounded pitbull!!!

The unrest which was growing day by day was easily felt: more and more disagreements and arguments, and I had pretty much had enough. But little did I know that behind my back there were other things going on, and Matt had changed almost into a different person alltogether. Just at the time when I felt as though we weren't even friends anymore, Matt came with a bombshell...

Well, it was in fact the end of "Break The Limits" and the end of an era...so we split everything down the middle. I let Matt take over the XL contract and Nu-Matic and I took over what was once our studio and we parted company...
So I had no involvement with Spring in my Step not the track or the video and wasnt even invited to the shoot..and so that hopefully answers the questions about Nu-Matic and spring in my step and Break The Limits.

Bay B Kane begins

As the BTL chapter came to a definitive close, I knew I had a lot more to offer musically and so I also knew that what I had to do now was going to be a real mission, not to mention a tuff test for me as an individual and as a producer... I got straight down to business and came up with the name for my new label: "Ruff Guidance", and called upon a good friend and top street level designer Steve Davis of SPLAT Design to draw me a logo to go with the name, and BANG! In a matter of a few hours, Ruff Guidance was ready to roll...

A typical hip hop type cartoon character wearing a puffy flight jacket and a typical slightly aggressive slightly egotistical stance best describes the logo...Big respect to Steve for drawing that little guy who appeared on the label from there on till the end.

Luckily for me right from the word GO there was great response to this new beginning but obviously by now there was fierce competition from many other small labels as well as the big ones. But I feel proud to say Ruff Guidance held it down, and as time moved ever forwards carved a modest but well respected place within theunderground scene..."Good Good Sensi" Ep became a big hit on the underground and by now I was working with many different artists such as Peshay..Mickey Finn..Darren Jay..LTJ Bukem..Chris Energy..Hopper..George Kelly(One Tribe)..T Para (Parakat)..to name just a few!!

It was around this time that I bumped into a guy who I had known for a long time as one of the top rave promoters of that era, who used to run The Living Dream which was in the top 3 serial large scale raves of all time. His name is Noah Charlery, in later years he became one of my best friends and still is to this very day... but getting back to the story, when I bumped into him suddenly he said "you heard of the label KIKMAN?" so I was like "yeah, of course" and then he went on to say that it was his label and at the time he was working with T Para and Dance Master and that was the beginning of the KIKMAN chapter right there. Over the coming months and indeed years, I released many tracks on KIKMAN too... oh and yes I always got paid... where I come from, people lose their lives over money matters or discrepancies if you like, so yes I always got paid.

Whitehouse Records

A year or so down the line and things were rollin nicely and the distribution company that always moved my releases announced they were starting a label "Whitehouse Records", and I was one of the first artists they approached along with Bizzy B..Skanna and Remarc... I remember the first ever meeting we all attended at the label HQ, during the meeting Bizzy stood up and turned towards me and said "how do we know were gonna get paid by these fuckers man?", and I replied "relax bizz they've got a huge warehouse full of vinyl and I don't think they would wanna come to work one day and find it all turned to vinyl soup!!" hahaha...the expression on Andy's face (The label manager) was unforgettable but needless to say that marked the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between myself and Whitehouse Records.

Whitehouse Records and Bay-B-Kane partnership was one of the key advancements within my career as a producer without a shadow of doubt... This partnership allowed me to reach an audience that I hadn't been able to before, as Whitehouse as well as being part of a large distribution company (Mo's Music Machine) also had a distribution deal with Polydor International who were and still are a huge global music giant. Of course this meant that my releases on Whitehouse would reach everywhere, not just in the UK but around the world.

I released a double Ep 2x 6track Eps in one giant package, I'm pretty sure this was the first of its kind and it went BALLISTIC!! Whitehouse couldn't press up enuff of it and were delighted with the results, which gave me very big status as far as the label was concerned... Almost overnight I had tracks raining down on me from artists who either wanted to get signed or to license tracks, or to have their tracks remixed by myself... and so I did a lot of remix work over the following months.
During this period I also struck another deal with Whitehouse to do a series of EPs which would consist of tracks from artists who I had collaborated with... this series we decided to call "4 STAR" and these were released on a bi-monthly basis, and on 2x 10 inch vinyl with 2 tracks per disc. This also for me was another highlight within my career coz it gave me an opportunity to work with different artists from my hood and guys who were friends of mine in most cases... many of whom had wicked ideas but not the means to be able to make dem materialize.

During this time I worked with..Loxy..Cool Hand Flex..Chris Energy to name just a few, but also the one and only time I got back in da studio with my ex-BTL buddy Matt Edwards, who sadly had pretty much disappeared from the music scene by then, due to things not working out with XL Recordings. So we did a one off track called CRACKERJACK under the name Double Tee & Mr E. The 4STAR project ran until we reached volume 4 and was one of my personal favorite projects.

"The Guardian of Ruff" album

I'm pretty sure that most fans of jungle / drum&bass will remember I also released an album through Whitehouse Records which was unheard of at the time for an individual artist... It was that same attitude of "break the limits coz we're just that type" which was the driving force behind taking such a bold step, as I always wanted to be the first to do whatever it was and the release of that album "Guardian of Ruff" remains as the proudest moment of my career on a personal level.
Before I move on, I must mention one more very important point in time, which was the time I collaborated with a young American lady named Sherry...together we created "The Rood Project", and after an initial EP we released through Symphony Sounds, we produced what was to become my biggest ever hit to this day: THUNDER. Sherry was one of a kind and I've never met anyone who got under my skin as much as this girl, and she was an inspiration to say the least.

The first time I played "Thunder" to Whitehouse it totally blew them away, and it pretty much blew everyone else away from there on and was a huge hit. I lost count of how many compilations we licensed it to and how many djs were chasing me for dubplates before it was released, but only four djs had that privilege and they were: Peshay..Randall..Mickey Finn and Bukem. And I wanna take this opportunity to thank them right here for all that they did for me and for the music on the whole...Nuff Respect!

Part 2 coming soon

2 Bad Mice playing London in November

Just a quick note, I'm going to be playing a party in November with 2 Bad Mice and Lenny Dee.
Click the flyer for more info:

Powerslide

Here's a white label I know basically nothing about. It's a decent 91 style track, not many people seem to have it on discogs. Pretty technoey, good diva vocals, acidy synths, etc. Not much else to say except check it out!

Powerslide - Noise (Elevated Mix)
[Discogs Info]

Magnox - Ragamanic

Here's a cool white label I got while buying a bunch of EPs in bulk years ago. There was some garbage in the lot, but I also ended up with STU-J "Gadget" and this EP, both of which are wicked 91 hardcore jams.

I have no idea who Magnox were... it looks like they released one EP prior to this one. If anyone can tell me any information on them, I will add it here. "Ragamanic" has some massive portamento synths and decent ragga vocals, and since neither of those elements seem to be going out of style in electronic music anytime soon, I'm sure these tracks will still be of interest to some people. Once the synths kick in on the little ragga vocal breakdown, it starts to remind me a bit of Knifehandchop of all people (?!!)



Magnox - Ragamanic (A Side)

In theory there's supposed to be two tracks on the A side, but they kind of merge together, so I recorded the A-side as one long mp3.

Deja Vu / 786 Recordings

Two of my favorite 90-92 labels which not many people seem to care about are Deja Vu and its affiliate label 786 Recordings. In particular, releases by Naz Khan and David Hope under various names/combinations: Naz Aka Naz, Recall, Mind of Kane, Dread, etc.

One thing which makes these labels so fun is that, for the most part, the earlier records in their catalog can be picked up for peanuts on discogs/ebay. Listening back to the tunes now, it's understandable why they might not be everyone's cup of tea: buzzing and distorted synths, frantic harsh sounds without much in the way of catchy pianos or anything happy. However, given that a lot of popular dance music has moved in that direction (distorted portamento synths being the new "rock guitar"), I'm suprised we haven't seen more of an interest in some of these tunes.

Here's a few of my favorites:



Mind of Kane - Stabbed In The Back

Absolutely great track - frantic beats, nasty bass and synth work. The track starts off heavy enough, but just wait until the super distorted synth drops in at 1 min...




Dread - Quantum Leap (b)

Dread - Quantum Leap (a)


This is a really fun single. On the B side, you get an absolutely smashing classic mentasm-sampling tune, suitable for playing alongside any big 91 style tunes. On the A side, you get a really strange/ crazy sounding track which borders on experimental music. At one point in the tune (1:38), the synth lead breaks down into some ridiculous fast portamento thing that sounds like the synths jumping off the keyboard and running down the street naked and screaming. Not a track I would rush to play out, but certainly an interesting and cool tune.




M.U.M. - The Water Paradox

Another nice single with buzzing synths, heavy breaks, etc. Also, another EP that goes for peanuts. Discogs doesn't have any artist info for MUM (Mass Underground Movement), and my record doesn't say anything since it's a white label... but based on its similarity, I'd bet this was probably the work of either Naz Khan or David Hope.