Guestlist
NEWS
EVENTS

Soul Clap Interview

House | Tuesday 20th September 2011 | Osh

DJ veterans Charlie Levine and Eli Goldstein have recently released a DJ Kicks mix with Wolf + Lamb. They will be in London this month ahead of their set at Phonicas 8th Birthday Party we caught up with the Boston based duo.

Can you give us a brief history of Soul Clap?
-1981/82 Charlie is born, then Eli
-1989 Eli starts playing saxophone
-1993 Charlie becomes George Clinton
-1996 Eli gets grounded for trying to scratch on his dad's turntable
-1997 First raves
-1998 Eli + Charlie meet
-2001 First set together, opening for Joey Beltram in Washington DC, first mixtape and finally Soul Clap is born while drinking 40s on Eli's mom's porch.
-2011 Everybody's Freaky Under Nature's Kingdom

What was the rave scene like in Boston in the early 1990s?
Are you calling us old?! We started raving young, but not that young. There were a lot of really wide pants, polo bubble vests, visors and beaded necklaces. Musically our influences were Frankie Bones (New York) for hard house/ techno, DJ venom (Providence, RI) for booty house, Dieselboy (Philly) for jungle, DJ Dan (SF) for funky breaks and DJ Bruno (Boston) for that real house music.

Tell us how you became part of Wolf + Lamb… How was it collaborating with Gadi and Zev for the DJ Kicks album?
We stumbled into an after party for Mini-Rek Festival at the Marcy Hotel in 2008 and Seth Troxler, Lee Curtiss and Shaun Reeves were dropping all this classic house music at a time when everyone else was still on minimal techno. So we fell in love with the place and then Zev hit on Charlie's girlfriend and they ended up talking and we sent them music and the rest is history. Its been amazing growing together with them and working on projects like the kicks mix with another jew-o.

What exactly is e-fuck?
Isn't an e-fuck when u have sex on e? EFUNK is Everybody's Freaky Under Nature's Kingdom ;)

You guys play everything from techno to sampling Goldie. Can you explain your musical influences?
We're influenced by everything!

On 1st October you are playing at Phonica's 8th Birthday in London at Ewer Street Car Park. Are you looking forward to the party?!
Definitely the biggest rave we've played in London. I mean three massive arches with most of our favourite DJs and homies in one place... are you kidding?! Also we love Phonica so its great to finally play one of their parties :)

Eli, how did the UK influence your music taste?
From when I was around 2-16 I spent my summers in Oxford where my dad was a guest professor, so I grew up listening to UK radio into the wee hours of the night. Then I started buying muic magazines and it was the speed garage cover-Mountixed by the Dreem Teem in summer 96 that really got me started buying records. I loved the music so much I went right down to HMV and bought everything I could find. I actually stayed into garage until 2004 or so, threw a 2-step party in Boston for a couple years and even played the Smoove Night at Ministry of Sound.

We hear you got Soul Clap TV… tell us all??
It's dope. Check it at www.ugroove.tv/soulclap We've got the 90s rave episode up and more coming soooon...

How has Ibiza and Zoo Project been treating you this summer?
Only made it to Ibiza once so far this summer, but we love playing at The Zoo! We're heading back for our DC-10 debut at the closing so that's gunna be craaaazzzzzyyyyy!  

What's your plans for the rest of the year?
Touring until the end of October then taking November and December off to finish our album. We've also got a few more remixes due out and our first edits EP on Wolf + Lamb black in over a year. We're also kicking off a monthly residency and having our big Wolf + Lamb New Years Eve party at the Electric Pickle in Miami.

Did you find yourselves a cool and functional watch. We suggest a Timex because its new cool and it tells the time?!
Thinking Casio...Classic

You say that Detroit is one of the best places to play in the world, but you are always in London aren’t you...
Nah. We love London but its also really important for us to keep spreading the sound in our homeland. The good ol' U S of A :)

What trouble would you get up to if you were invisible for the day?
I'd definitely stop by your mom's house... PSYCH! But really, alot of jay-walking. Really, ALOT.

If you could have a swimming pool filled with anything, what would it be?
Boobs!

Can you give us a Soul Clap exclusive?
Well not quite but you should link to the shady shores medley on our soundcloud page. It’s a free download ;)
http://soundcloud.com/soulclap/shady-shores-medley

Catch Soul Clap play at Phonicas 8th Birthday on 1st October at Great Suffolk Street Warehouse. For tickets go to www.ticketweb.co.uk or in store at any Phonica Records.

LATEST INTERVIEWS