Voodoo Freqs
There are people in life who seemingly want everything done for them, with the most minimal effort required on their part, there are those who allow politics to put them down, and admit defeat in the face of already tough competition, and there are people who just get the fuck on with it and do it themselves. One such person is Voodoo Freqs net label / community boss Dave Rzepa, often better known under his production guise Mambo Freqs.
In early 2006 VoodooFreqs.co.uk was founded as an electronic music net label and community. The idea behind the label was to sign unsigned tracks and become a stepping stone for bigger things to come. In fact two of its opening artists have since been signed by labels putting out vinyl; with Heretik’s dark driving breaks picked up by Klaus Hill’s label Title Fight, and filthy Thrillabeats classic ’Gigantor’ receiving a much deserved vinyl release on Mechanoise after reaching number one on the Juno Digital weekly chart with Voodoo.
Since its foundation, Voodoo Freqs has set up an online radio section of the site dedicated to eclecticism and lack of music policy. Originally shows only went live on Sundays but now it features shows every day of the week. The station is still small but definitely on the way up with new shows, styles and listeners every
week.
2007 has only seen one release so far in the shape of ‘Was it Worth It?’ from label founder Mambo Freqs in his typical intense electro breaks style. Still to come this year: electro from Rob Corbo, funky ass breaks from Dubsprung and up and coming drum n bass artists Squash and Fortune. Expect the unexpected…
You can download an exclusive mix, showcasing the best of, and up & coming sounds of Voodoo Freqs Here
Myself and Dave had a chat about the label, the community and it’s future plans. Which I think makes for some interesting reading, considering the current history I can only see great things for the label, which ‘coincidently’ you can read here:
Muujun
First of all then, what was your inspiration for starting the label and community in the first place, and who’s behind it all?Dave
Well it’s kind of hard to remember exactly why. It just kind of happened, but basically for a few years my group of mates had always been into making music and trying to get our stuff out there, always with the idea of getting ourselves signed to a label and helping the others on the way up. Personally I’ve always been someone that has never really been assed to go out to other established people and blag my way into getting them to do stuff for me. Instead I kind of just decided to do it all myself, which I think has been good in a lot of ways because I’ve learned a lot of stuff over the last two years. On the other hand I’ve had to put a lot of effort into figuring out stuff that the industry has known for a long time. I suppose the fact that we’re digitally only has put us on slightly more level grounds seeing as it’s a pretty new thing. So anyway the label just kind of happened and we’re now at the point where we have Internet radio and a forum in the mix, and it’s all starting to come together nicely.Muujun
I think you’re right in some respects, instead of trying to get label backing and worrying about the chance of being screwed over, you’ve just gone and done things your own way on your own terms.
I guess you’ve picked up a few artists and DJ’s that other labels might have previously passed up, but have now made some waves in the scene, such as Thrillabeats - Gigantor now doing the rounds on Mechanoise with few people realising that it was originally signed to your label. How does that make you feel?Dave
At first it was kind of annoying but I quickly realised that we’d done all we could for the track and that Nick deserved the extra recognition you get from a vinyl release. In the end it resulted in Nik flying over to the UK and playing a couple of gigs. It was great to finally meet him, and in the end I guess it reflected what the community is all about - helping people to progress themselves.Muujun
Yea I can see it being frustrating in a way, as financially you’re not likely to see much more of a return for the track, but then I guess you’ve provided a stepping stone for Nik as an artist. Is that something you can see happening more often, or would you like to see some more established artists on the roster besides yourself?Dave
It’s definitely something I’d like to see happen more often. Heretik, one of our very first artists, has also had a track signed to Klaus Hill’s Fight Club imprint so I’m fairly confident that we are able to pick up on people that have good things coming to them. The label side of things has been quiet over the last as things are getting to the point where we have some really strong home grown material that just needs a little bit more polish, so we’ve kind of been teetering over the edge of going ahead with releases or not. I can definitely say that this summer we’ll be seeing a fair few different releases all in different styles, as the quality really is getting too good to hold back for much longer.
As for establish artists I’d much rather see our own artists become established than sign somebody that was already up there.Muujun
Yea I think that’s more than a good thing, if you’re having artists sign to bigger labels it shows you’re picking up the right artists in the first place. How about yourself; I know from first hand experience that you’ve been writing what I think should be anthems for quite some time. So you’ve got experience in rising from the ranks to becoming a very valued producer, but with perhaps not enough recognition as you deserve. any plans to taunt your own tracks to any other labels, or are you more than happy releasing on Voodoo Freqs?Dave
As far as other labels are concerned I think the time has to come sooner or later as it can only benefit us in the long run. Unfortunately our marketing department isn’t nearly as large as I’d like it to be seeing as I have neither the time or the money to make it work the way I want at the moment. Hopefully if we can get some stuff out on other labels then we’ll be able to piggy back a bit and pave the way for our future artists. As for my next release on Voodoo I think it’s going to have be an album out on CD, as I haven’t done one for years and I’ve always found them to be a great thing to make yourself push your sound as hard as you possibly can.Muujun
Yea that’s definitely true, get what you can get and stick to your roots.
What about the radio station and the forum, do you have any plans or goals for the two of them, or are you happy with the way things are ticking over?Dave
Well it seems that the general consensus on the forum is that we’re gonna make a big push over the summer with t-shirts and putting on a few nights here and there. A slight redesign is looking likely, mostly just to simplify things a bit and tighten it all up a bit. The radio has definitely had a steady increase in listeners over the course of the year and so I’m pretty pleased with it all for the moment. Hopefully we can keep it up!Muujun
Putting on some night’s sounds interesting, Is it likely to be just current artists and radio DJ’s, keeping the current homegrown feel, or are you going to try and pull in some bigger names, as a stepping stone to a larger crowd?Dave
All depends on the venue and the size of the night. I think bigger names are certainly something we have to keep in mind if we want to use club nights as a way of promoting the site and reaching the most people. Which artists is hard to say as we aren’t really tied to any particular sound other than electronic music as a whole, although I think it’s likely that we’ll be booking acts that can make you dance rather than scratch your chin as we can all do that at home. A big possibility is that we’ll be hooking up with other organisations to split the costs and do something like a room each at first.Muujun
Yea sounds wicked. looks like the only place you can go is up. anything else you want to add about the label, or future plans not mentioned elsewhere?Dave
Erm yeah, I guess what I’d like to say is that we’re always open to new ideas and new people, so if you like the sound of any of our projects get involved!
Check out the exclusive Voodoo Freqs mix, mixed by Mambo Freqs Here
