NEWS
EVENTS
"Cereal and Hip-Hop? Don’t Mess With Me!" An Interview With DJ Yoda
RnB/Hip Hop | Wednesday 17th December 2014 | lenjibong
Duncan Beiny, aka DJ Yoda has been on the circuit for nearly two decades and is famed for his hands-on, old school approach to DJ’ing. Whilst his sound is grounded in hip-hop, he’s notorious for his ability to venture out – his surprising sets embrace anything from country western to reggae and his discography features artists that includes 80s pop group Kid Creole and the Coconuts, alongside rappers Biz Markie and Sway.
Refusing to be tied down, Duncan is always up to something new. From his AV sets to his new live band, he’s a man of many facets. No wonder he's won DMC DJ of the year and was voted as one of the ten DJ’s to see before you die in Q magazine. That being said, Duncan is remarkably grounded – music is still the driving force behind his creativity, with a little help from his favourite food: cereal. We caught him backstage at the Nest in Dalston for a chat before his set.
Thanks for joining us! What have you been up to?
A: Ah man, it’s been a bit of a crazy time leading up to Christmas this year. I’ve just finished a new album this week – so I’m feeling good about that. Just the usual stuff you know – shows, just being out there, recording.
You went into the new cereal café – we know you like your cereal… how was that?
You know it’s crazy, one of my obsessions other than music and film is cereal - a new cereal café opening? That’s big news for someone like me! I’m in heaven now. There’s been lots of controversy about it- people arguing about it, channel 4 news went down there and they really tried to do some investigative journalism on them, like “Why are you selling bowls of cereal for £3 in a poor area?” – I just thought that was crazy man, give the guys a break! They’re trying to start a new business – I’d gladly pay £3 for a bowl of imported cereal man that’s my world!
I see! If you had to pick your favourite cereal?
A: Wait hang on... my favourite cereal of all time, or my favourite cereal now? Cos that’s two different answers…
Both?
A: Well alright then. Of all time time? Cinnamon Toast Crunch from the 80s- cos they changed it after that. Favourite right now? Hmm, I’d say the limited edition Halloween Shreddies, that were cinnamon flavoured. I bought up quite a lot of that stuff and I’m still working my way through it. And that’s my favourite. I’m deep in my cereal man- cereal and hip hop? Don’t mess with me!
OK! You get up to a lot of interesting things - what’s the most interesting thing you’re doing now?
Probably this project with the album I’m doing now because it’s the first time with a band. I’ve put together a band called 'Breakfast of Champions' - cereal stuff ties in! I’ve been recording instruments, which is something that I've never really done before. I always worked with samples, but now I’ve got someone playing drums, someone playing double bass - there's 11 people in total. We were filming a video today; finishing up an album as well so my focus has been on that. Something different, a new challenge.
So we gonna be seeing some live shows?
Yea man! We’re bringing the tour out in the New Year - and we’ll be hitting everywhere, that means all the festivals next year. That’s what 2015’s gonna be about - Breakfast of Champions!
Looking forward to that! So you did a track with Roots Manuva a while back - he’s a bit of a crazy genius, what’s it like working with him?
Haha! I couldn’t believe that I had this career that’s spanned over 20 years and I’d never recorded a track with Roots Manuva until like 2 years ago… So it was kind of on that bucket list that I had. And he’s someone that I knew - In fact his very first music video that he made in ’96 or ’97 - I was there at that shoot with him! So I go way back with him, but I’d never recorded a tune with him. When I made that album Chop Suey, I knew I had a track that I could really hear him on. I was like “dude we gotta make this happen!” And it was wicked working with him. We also had Kid Creole and The Coconuts on the same song, so this 80s pop group with Roots Manuva. it came together nicely!
We love the video as well, it’s hilarious and a bit disturbing! How did that come about? Was that the strange inner workings of your brain?
Yea! On that album Chop Suey I worked with different video producers on every song on the album, so I made sure every song had a video. Even if it wasn’t a single I wanted it to have a video, I just wanted a video album. So with that song, it sounded kinda cheeky and a bit sexy so we came up with this idea of like fruits doing weird stuff. So it seemed right at the time!
Did Roots always wanna be a pineapple?
Haha, I think he was happy to be a pineapple, but I don’t think he requested it!
I bet! So you’ve included a lot of visual stuff in your performances in the past with the AV sets. Is this something you wanna keep doing?
Yea man, I judge whether I’m doing a DJ set or an AV set on where I’m playing. So like tonight at the Nest, it’s too small - there’s no space for a screen. If the place is set up for it I’m cool to do video, if the place is set up more like this I’m cool to DJ - I just keep it flexible. I like to do both because it keeps it interesting for me.
OK so Q magazine said you were one of the DJs to see before you die… How does it feel that people can die after seeing you?
Haha - I can’t take comments like "you’re one of the top ten DJs to see before you die" very seriously, partly because I used to work in music journalism, and I’ve written for magazines and I know how it works, there’s politics, and the fact that I’d just get a massive head if I started believing stuff like that!
Sure thing. So we saw you at the Big Top at Bestival this year. We were pretty hammered- were you as hammered as us?
Big Top at Bestival let me think back… Well I can’t remember it soo… I must’ve been! Bestival was crazy this year, I played 3 or 4 times, that’s why I'm struggling to remember. Big Top was late at night and I was on the main stage the day after where I did the video show on the main stage, that was crazy. Plus I did a talk about A Tribe Called Quest at one point - Bestival’s just always crazy that’s what’s great about it.
Biggest festival moment?
Probably the main stage at Bestival - that was the moment, it was crazy! So many people out there. But the summer is just a blur of festivals every year man, it’s crazy I’m loving it like that. Sometimes they're in weird, random places, sometimes they're round the corner from where I live - but I like that, I like getting outside and playing to a crowd.
For sure. So you're a man of your craft - you like to DJ the old school way a lot of the time, scratching and stuff. Do you feel like a lot of the DJs these days lack this sense of performance and passion when playing live?
Yea, you know I look around at a lot of the DJs that are out there - and if I’m honest a lot of it depresses me. Because I grew up treating DJ'ing very seriously as a craft, practicing DJ'ing for hours and hours everyday and learning skills and just trying to get better and better - and I still feel like that! I see DJs now who have just ignored all that stuff and they just press play and wave their hands around or do whatever they do. You know like I don't have a problem with the fact that people like that, if people wanna see that and they enjoy that then that's kinda their choice. The thing that bothers me is when it gets described as DJ'ing, because I see it and I think you're not DJ'ing, like come up with a different name for what you're doing, because DJ'ing for me? You have to practice a lot to do that. So I separate DJs between those that I think are real DJs from those that I don't.
I guess it's moving in quite an uncontrollable direction...
Yeah I know. It's like pop music, whatever you want is out there - like if you wanna watch someone just stand there behind CDJ's and pretend to DJ or if you wanna go and watch someone who's incredibly skillful with vinyl - it's all out there you just make your choice.
We know you like to play a lot of cult classics from previous eras... do you think much music coming out today will stand the test of time in the same way?
Yeah there's definitely new music that will stand the test of time – for me the balance is like three-quarters of my set will be old stuff and a quarter will be new stuff. I think that's a good balance and it works for me because there's so much classic stuff, that I feel bad if I can't play it. There's stuff from the 50s that's amazing, there's stuff from the 80s that's amazing. You know I wanna play all this stuff - but at the same time I do think there's stuff coming out this year, that will be getting played in 20 years time. It's just the best bubbles to the top - that's why I try and play the stuff that I think is the best in the world of reggae, the stuff that I think is the best in the world of drum 'n' bass, the best trap stuff and so on - so I try and see what bubbles up and the stuff that's the best.
Could you sum up your sound in a couple words?
A lot of people ask me that, I'd say I'm a hip-hop guy at heart. I might not play rap music necessarily at all and I play any kind of music, but the way that I play it is hip-hop. So you might catch me doing an entire country and western set but it'll be in the style of a hip hop DJ. Or I might play a whole load of speak-easy music from the 30s but it will be like a hip hop DJ.
Adding that Yoda flavour..
Yeah I guess!
So we know you had a good time at that Star Wars gig you did a while ago in Monaco - have you topped that gig yet?
Yeah man that was a while back! That was the premier of the last of the three most recent Star Wars movie. That was an incredible gig... they had the movie cast there, I met George Lucas, and it had everything there. But I’m blessed man, I get to do crazy gigs all the time, and things are amazing for different reasons, like I can't believe that I got to DJ in Africa, in Brazil, in China and Australia - like you go to all these places and it still astounds me. I feel lucky to do these things - I appreciate it!
So what are you most looking forward to doing next? I know you got the live stuff...
Yea that's the next big challenge. A few things man, I'm going to South Africa next year, but yeah the band stuff is gonna take up a lot of the first part of next year, so that's what I’m looking forward to at this stage.
So do you know where you'll be touring first?
All UK stuff first. We’ve already announced the big London date, it's at the Forum in Kentish Town in March- if you check my website, my twitter - you know all this stuff has got the info for the live shows.
Cool we look forward to that. Alright, so here at Guestlist we like to end things with a bit of fun - you up for a bit of word association?
Yeah!
Cool, let’s go.
Marmite:
Love
Ambition
Boring
Parents
Cool
Alien
Green
Sex
Cool
Conspiracy
Theory… that was really rubbish one!
Coffee
Amazing
Fruity loops
Ahhh- man well they're called fruit loops for a start! So yeah, Nice!
Fun
Music
Awesome. So I'm gonna throw one more at you - if you could be one person for the day who would it be?
Very hard question to end on man! If I could be anyone else for the day who would I be... I'd maybe be my favourite rapper Biz Markie- because he's got a crazy collection of cereal, and lunchboxes and toys and records and I could just play with and eat all that stuff for a day. That sounds pretty dope to me!
Good answer! Alright man that’s all, thanks for joining us!
Thanks, my pleasure!
Benji Long
