Boombox Records

Interview with Mole&Aya

- Can you tell our readers who don’t already know you a little bit about yourselves?

M: We started our label (Boombox records) in 1997, which was around the “birth” of Nu-Skool Breaks. We have had about 30 releases and will be releasing an album which contains all the highlights of the past years for our 10th Anniversary. We are also doing club nights called Planet Patrol which incorporate live music with live art. The artists are brought down to do live pieces and then we do a series of signed limited edition screen prints of their work.

- How would you describe your style of music?

A: If we are talking about Boombox records, then it is definitely Breakbeats. Having said that, more recently, we have been releasing Breakbeats tunes with more of a House mix and House tunes with more of a Breakbeat-style mix.

M: Yeah I agree, we are definitely trying to bridge the gap between the two genres. There are definitely some genres of Breaks that we aren’t really into, like the faster, harder stuff. We have always tried to release and play-out more Tech-influenced tunes at around 130bpm.

Beatport Player

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- Can you tell us what festivals you have played at?

M: We did a tour of Australia’s festivals a few years ago, I have also done Glastonbury a couple of times. The Glade festival is only the second time that we have played together. The first time was at a festival in Hong Kong called Rockit.

- When you are playing live, what equipment / hardware do you use?

M: We keep it very simple, it’s just the beats coming through the vinyl and straight out of the speakers.

- Can you tell us a little bit about the artists on your label?

M: We have the Digital Breaks Foundation, two guys who come from a Drum n Bass and House background and we have three releases with them.
Actually, the thing about Boombox is that we release when we want to release. We don’t have a strict level of releases, it’s more like when we find something good, we will put it out. For example, last year we only put out 5 releases as opposed to other labels who may be pressured into releasing 12. We are really careful to only release stuff that we are personally into. If it’s quality, we’ll put it out, if it isn’t then we aren’t interested.

Some labels will just release anything in order to keep up their “presence” in the game and show people that they are still around. We aren’t about that.

But, it is also difficult to find that quality all the time and the scene has also changed so much since we began the label. We are definitely more Tech-house style.

- Are there any artists at the moment who are really inspiring you?

A: I saw Switch play a live-set somewhere in Camden recently and the way he was jacking House music was inspiring to me. I also like Sinden from Dubsided Records.

- Any plans to play in Japan?

A: We’d like to because the last time went to Japan to play was in ’97, ’98, ’99 and 2000. Since then, we have been really busy with other projects but we definitely want to go back there.

- You have been around for over 10 years, how do you feel the music industry has had to change with the onset of the Internet?

A: The vinyl industry had definitely had a drop in sales and major distributors have also been affected but in general, there are still some people who are buying vinyl and that’s why we are still releasing our tracks on vinyl. In a way, it can be good for labels as there is less costs involved now, as you don’t have to send vinyl everywhere now.

M: It used to be the case that when you went to the Post Office, there would be 20-30 vinyl waiting for you to pick up and now, there is just a package with about 4 records. Now people will send cd’s or we just download their tunes. So yes, it has changed radically over the past ten years.

Also, digital sales for Boombox Records has been good for us with a good portion of our music being bought digitally.

- What are your plans for the future?

A: The label is taking a back seat at the moment while we are really just concentrating on the club event at Cargo (Planet Patrol Sessions). There are going to be limited edition prints of the featured artists released at the event too and that’s really exciting. These kinds of events take weeks of planning trying to co-ordinate all the artists and getting the prints done.

M: In the day to day running of the business, Aya is the number one! I’m the laid back one. She does all the work and I just sit back and relax!

*Boombox Records 10th Anniversary Mix album

「More Boom For Ya Box」on sale

*Planet Patrol artist's limited prints are available on planetpatrol.co.uk

Boombox Records & Planet Patrol :
boomboxrecords.co.uk

planetpatrol.co.uk

myspace.com/moleandaya

myspace.com/planetpatrolsessions

Written by Selph