Issue #015 (November 2006) Kid Koala Email this article to a friend Interview by Tim Colman Kid Koala's artistic endeavours have always involved some endearingly nutty ideas. His recorded work is often accompanied by self-penned comics detailing the tragic love lives of robots, he's been known to stop shows midway through to host a game of bingo, he's reworked a live rendition of Moon River for his mum and he's developing a turntable-puppet theatre show. Also known as Eric San, the Montreal turntablist, producer and illustrator obviously doesn't take his art particularly seriously. Which would explain his latest idea. "I'm not sure I'm going to do this in Australia, but on the North American leg I'm pitching a new show for the Canadian Food Network," says San. "I'm actually doing this thing where the two worlds of DJ culture and cooking and culinary culture are actually coming together. They're both similar, it's all about timing and fresh ingredients and flavour by the end of it. Basically it's a couple of routines where I have to bake something or prepare something to be baked while I'm mixing. There'll be a little toaster oven or mixing bowl, something like that and we're going to see how it goes. It'll be like the DMCs meets the Iron Chef." It's a pity you won't be cutting vinyl and ingredients locally, it could start a new DJ/chef movement, I respond. "It's the Canadian Food Network so they want to see how a North American audience would react,” replies San. “We have to test it at the shows. Maybe Australians would like it. Is that a good gauge? If something's hot in Australia is it going to be hot in Canada? Probably. For instance, Fosters lager." Well no one actually drinks that in Australia, I reply. "Yeah I heard, which is funny. Oddly enough, I'm actually named after a drink, Koala Springs, that was supposedly from Australia but no one there has ever heard of it. People are like ‘what are you talking about?’ There was a little picture of the country and everything. I didn't really read the fine print, maybe it didn't say ‘from Australia.’ It had the shape of the continent though." While he may have been inspired early on by Australian fauna, it was the UK that first picked up on Kid Koala's enigmatic and innovative turntable style. In 1995 San became the first North American artist signed to the iconic Ninja Tune label after Coldcut's Jon More heard his cassette only mix, Scratchcratchratchatch. After touring extensively and remixing for the label, he dropped the highly anticipated Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in 2000. Musically it set the eccentric tone for ensuing San releases; warped jazz and blues melodies sit beside drunken horns over wobbly hip hop breaks with obscure vocal snippets. He further fleshed out his quirky jazz arrangements in 2003 with his second album, Some of My Best Friends are DJs. Covering Basin Street Blues, the jazz classic made famous by Louis Armstrong, the album was created via a time consuming, painstakingly assembled sample process. Not wishing to banish himself to the studio again, his latest release, this year's Your Mom's Favorite DJ, is a much simpler affair. "The actual recording process was relatively short and painless, it took about three weeks," says San. "Which is great, because if you think about my last album (Some of my Best Friends are DJs), Basin Street Blues alone took six weeks. The album before that, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, took four years, mind you I had to do five tours in between. This is definitely one of the pedal to the metal full gas let's just do this kind of thing. It was a very kind of inspired studio session; it all came together quickly." Not specifically looking for a quicker creative process, it was thrust upon him thanks to a glut of previous 'silly' recordings and a new reel to reel machine. "All my silly records that were orphans and couldn't find a home, were getting to that critical mass kind of thing," says San. "They were screaming 'We need to go somewhere, make me!' because things were busting at the seams. The second thing that happened was I bought this 24-track reel to reel machine and I wanted to try it out. The album was the first thing actually recorded on it. The thing with the reel to reel is, once I'd spooled up the tape I realised you only had 15 minutes worth of tape. To some people that might be annoying, but to me it was kind of familiar because that's how I used to work on my old four track." Is this why the album is only two 15 or so minute long seemingly stream of conscious tracks? "Exactly, that's exactly it. I didn't make a bunch of separate tracks and try to sequence it into an album afterwards. I literally started rolling on a reel to reel tape and the first thing you hear is the first thing I recorded. It just kind of fell into place like that." Harking back to his seminal Scratchcratchratchatch release, Your Mom's Favorite DJ deftly moves between Dixieland, jazzy breaks, witty oneliners and even metal guitars. It's clear San found the recording process liberating, a lot like a romantic Spring fling. "It's kind of like one of those really turbulent Spring romances," says San. "It's a good analogy. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome was one of those things where I had to keep leaving town and coming back. Just like a relationship, I had to get reacquainted, but you've kind of changed because you've been on a trip, then you have to get back in the headzone but you're different and all of sudden you have to make something coherent. It's kind of a headache. This way it was like we have all this stuff, 30 minutes of tape, let's go." Romance, specifically the tragic kind, has been a recurring theme in San's work, especially in the comics. He's lamented in a previous interview that the impetus to master the turntables at age 14 was to get invited to parties and meet girls. The tragedy being that it never actually turned that way. New Year's Eve gigs are still a lighthearted bone of contention. "Everyone thinks it's so romantic, you get to fly somewhere and DJ. But you're there and it's the stroke of midnight, everyone is hugging, kissing and tinkling champagne glasses and you're just behind your turntables like you always are. It's kind of tragic, but in a funny way, I always look at it in a funny way." The problem he's found is it's a lot more difficult to express these sentiments on turntables then say with a guitar. "I was actually talking to Win [Butler] from The Arcade Fire, who's a phenomenal songwriter," says San. "We were talking about this DJ, a friend we both knew, who hadn't left his house, he'd just broken up with his girlfriend, he hadn't left his in two years actually because he was working on these drums. No one's heard it, he won't play it to anyone. It got to this point when we were discussing it. I was like, 'You know sometimes I wish I could sing and play the guitar, because when girls break up with you, you can just write this poem, get all your feelings out, get the chords to fit and belt it out'. If you're a scratch DJ, you've got to lock yourself in a room, listen to 8,000 spoken word records and then try and get that off your chest. It's a really masochistic way of expressing yourself." Even in a positive frame of mind, San has found that just capturing a particular sound or style is not an easy task. "Back on the last album I wanted to do a ska track," he says. "That was something that took like several weeks to find all the notes and then bend them into the harmonies I was hearing. Then I realised, 'You know what, you can just get a reggae band and do that in one afternoon'. So let me just put it this way, it's the most tedious way of working ever. The only more tedious craft would be animated film. Sometimes I'll go and see some guy who just plays a wine glass for his show and then I'm just green with envy." So why put yourself through this torturous style of production? "We're hoping the ends justifies the means but who knows? At the end of the day if that's the craft you chose, that's the craft you chose. I could easily have chosen a guitar at 13, but I opted for the mixers for some reason." Are you regretting not picking up the guitar? Heavy guitar moments are scattered throughout Your Mom's Favorite DJ. "This is true, but all of those have been cut up on vinyl," says San. "I tried playing guitar, but that's difficult. I find it easier to juggle four turntables. There's something about turning your fingers to lock those chords. Guitar players tell me they've tried scratching and can't figure it out. But again, some people have tendencies to certain skills." Anyone who has witnessed San perform with three or four decks would not dispute his turntable skills. His twisted rendition of Moon River is a particular crowd favourite and a track he regularly dedicates to "all the mothers out there". Was the title of his new release an attempt to reach an untapped market or just Kid Koala's warped humour? "It was very trendy to say you're your favourite DJ's favourite DJ - a nice sort of hip hop braggadocio thing to do," says San. "I realised that title was already taken by other DJs. So I was like, what other titles haven't they gone for? You know what, no one's gone for your mum's favourite DJ title. No one's done the survey yet." In its infancy, San is currently conducting just such a survey, although he may need to widen his sample frame. The results though are promising. "So far I think there's about six to eight and they're all Canadian mums, actually one's in Scotland. They have officially gone on the record and said I am indeed their favourite DJ." Is your mother one of those? "I'm actually not my mum's favourite DJ, that would be my brother."