:: BB INTERVIEWS ::

:: PAUL ARNOLD ::

Paul Arnold - A Breathe of Fat Air by Doug Vaccaro One of the UK’s most pioneering figures Paul Arnold has blazed a trail through dance music. Founder & mastermind behind two of the world’s most cutting edge dance labels Certificate 18 & Fat! Records, Paul’s dedication to quality coupled with prophetic insights into the sounds of tomorrow has helped shape dance music as we know it today. As a promoter and DJ, Paul has booked and played alongside some of the scene’s biggest and most diverse names… Derrick May, Bushwacka!, Fabio, Grooverider, James Lavelle, Krafty Kuts, Adam Freeland, Freq Nasty and countless others. He established London’s first breakbeat night, Breaking Point, which has helped establish the breakbeat scene that we know today. And he has been a fundamental part of its development by putting the scenes leading DJs & producers such as the Plump DJs, Tayo & Friendly on the map. Paul is an outstanding DJ with an eye for the crowd that comes from holding down a highly successful weekly residency for over 8 years! He played blistering sets at Bestival and Glade Festivals in 2005 and 2006 is shaping up nicely. With Fat!’s 8th Birthday tour to Australia in December and January and tours in Switzerland & Germany already confirmed for later in the year he will no doubt demonstrate just why he continues to be respected as one of the world’s top breaks DJs. Good evening Paul! How are things in your part of the globe? Very good thanks! We’ve got the World Cup on in the office and the weather's hot so am not complaining. Who’s going to take it home this year? Argentina if they keep playing the way they are at the moment. Spain has a good chance too. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your affiliation with Fat! I guess ‘it all began in Africa.' No, only joking! Erm myself... Well am 34 feeling 40 looking 25, so I've been told. Been mad about music since that high. Worked in about every single record shop there was in Ipswich. Set up Certificate 18 records, released some of the most innovative drum and bass around. Moved to London, carried on playing breakbeats whilst releasing the drum and bass and some pretty special electronica from all parts of the globe. The love of breakbeat led to my night Chew the Fat! and from that I started the Fat! Records label. I run the label, club nights and DJ agency from our office in South London with partners in crime Claire Knowles and Rory Natkiel, otherwise known as Kid Blue. So how did the Fat! Empire come to be? I set up all things Fat! nine years ago, this October, in the crypt of a church in Brixton through the club night Chew the Fat! The label spawned from the club nights and it grew from there. You guys have a long running club night and a fantastic record label that seems to be doing very well. What drives you to continue to push the breakbeat sound? A love and passion for good music. Music is to be enjoyed and if we’re enjoying it, I hope other people are too. The club and label work hand in hand and one inspires the other. Breakbeat is still a very unexplored music as it can have so many different forms. With this in mind, my quest continues. You have a new cd coming up on Fat! What can the fans expect when purchasing the new album? They will buy a snapshot of Fat! What Fat Records has done for the last year and a half. I hope in such a way that it would be like listening to it in a club. Bringing together a collection of new artists complementing each others sounds. Wicked! The cd is excellent by the way. So what’s next in the album department? More compilations. The next being from Precision Cuts, Blim and more to follow. Then hopefully some artist albums early next year. How about singles? Baobinga and I.D. “Machines” Kid Blue “Dirty Sabula” original and Kick flip remix Marko - TBC Friendly – TBC Machines is the business! Baobinga & ID are unstoppable right now! Glad you like it! We expect big things from these guys this and next year. Artist album soon we hope. The last few Fat Releases have been a bit different from the normal funk fueled tracks you guys are known for. Any particular reason on why you have been changing things up? No not really, the artists all have their own influences then I encourage them to follow them instead of being influenced by the sound around them. The word funk-fueled makes me puke anyhow, so if we can move away from that preconception the better. I prefer the rawer sound - something dirtier and grittier. But if an artist is a particular good producer and has some funk then I can only encourage them to bring out the tougher rawer sound of that. Friendly has been particulary good at making those sort of tunes but with much more impact. Yeah, I see what you mean! I’ve also read that Chew the Fat! is hitting the road! Fill us in on where the tours will stop? We’re always on tour with residencies in Berlin, Barcelona, Glasgow and a new night in San Francisco starting in October. We hope to put the Chew the Fat! Night in other clubs giving it a Fat! feel about things. Showcasing the DJs and the music that have been synonymous with the night over the last nine years. A legacy indeed. Thanks for chatting with me Paul! Here’s to another nine years of continued success! Thanks! And good work with the website, we always check it out. Cheers! :: July 2006 :: Chew the Fat! at The End presents Paul Trouble Arnold is out now! If you’re looking for the greatest hits of Fat! look no further. Paul delivers quality choice cuts all expertly mixed for your listening pleasure! More info on Paul can be found at www.myspace.com/PaulTroubleArnold

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