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Denise Benson interview page 3

What kind of punk did you listen to back in the day?

I was heavily into Fugazi. Earlier on, Minor Threat was my favourite hardcore band. Also Crass, Circle Jerks, that kind of stuff. The Clash, Ramones, Pistols, Velvet Underground, which was pre-punk but definitely opened my ears up. But through it all, definitely the Clash. I think that's a lot because they're very musical. No matter what I'm into, I appreciate strong song writing, plus The Clash just opened me up to so much, especially in leading me to dub and roots reggae. I feel like I owe them one for that.

Are you into the production side of things? I know you promote shows and DJ, but what about the music itself?

I get asked this all the time. At this point in history, the expectation is if you're DJing, you want to produce. When I was younger - even in grade nine Guidance class, we were asked to close our eyes and imagine ourselves at 30. We had to share our stories of what that was. My vision was leaving my house, getting into some red or burgundy convertible, having a dog, being in leather pants and being on my way to the recording studio. [laughs] Producing has always been of interest to me, but it's not for me right now. I've produced a couple of tracks, one as part of a project called the Disciples of Yahoo, a drum and bass piece with sitar and jazzy elements which came out on the last Metro Breaks compilation. I also put compilations together for a label called Iron Music when I was worked for them promoting Cup of Tea Records. But right now my focus is DJ'ing, and writing. The thing about production is that you either need to be living rent free, or you need a day job that pays the bills enough to let you do that 'cause you're not gonna earn money by producing, at least not right away. I live totally freelance, on my DJ'ing and writing, which doesn't leave me much time. So when I get on the production thing, it's not gonna be because there's pressure for DJ's to produce, but because I've got that burning need. It's funny. I find that to be a really male expectation…A lot of those guys out there who are DJ's who are producing, they're not really producing in my opinion. They walk in the studio, and they've got a record with a sample they want. They give it to the engineer, and collectively with the engineer they come up with the track. To me, that's not producing. When I'm ready to produce I'm gonna be serious about it. I'm gonna know my gear, and I'm gonna be able to incorporate live instrumentation. I don't do shit half-assed. The track that we did do, there was live trumpet, sequenced guitar samples, a lot of interesting things going on. That's more where my head is at. Until I can achieve the things that are in my head, I'm not gonna touch it. For now, I'm focused on promoting other people's careers, via the writing, the radio show, the DJ'ing and so on. I get a lot of satisfaction out of that because I get a lot of response and love for it. I know I'm bringing people music that, for the most part, they won't hear elsewhere, that's pretty underground. But it's not like I'm out there going, "I want to be underground," it's more like where my ears take me is where I take my radio listeners and so on. I think as a radio or club DJ, you can take people on a journey. I get really frustrated by people who only play one style. They sit, they play the same tempo all night. For me, you've gotta tell people a different story or a different chapter of a story, each time you play.

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