Fat Paul Arnold: I Wish I was A Celebrity DJ
Author: Mel Skrufff
Monday, May 23, 2005
As long as the quality of the music is still there it doesn't matter who's playing it; if it crosses over to the mainstream that"s only because it's accessible music and I don't have anything against that at all; the more people like breaks the better," he says.
"If DJs can play and help sell more records that's got to be good. Also there are so many different styles in breaks now that all the different house DJs who are playing it are playing different styles anyway to suit their own styles," he points out.
Arnold's particular flavor is available to hear on his much-hyped label Fat Recordings or at his equally acclaimed parties Chew The Fat. The night grew out of weekly shindigs at Brixton basement venue the Bug Bar, relocating to room 2 of Steve Lawler's night at the End last year, before taking over the whole club this September (on the third Friday of eah month). Paul Arnold's tale, however, starts much earlier, when the then 21 year old set up his first record label Certificate 18.
"I started the label just because I wanted to release new music and, in fact, it was breaks stuff that I started releasing on Certificate 18 even though the music become known as hardcore and then later as a drum& bass style of breakbeat," he recalls.
"The scene was completely new and I wanted to release music that no-one else was putting out, so that's what we did. And that's remained the Fat philosophy ever since; to release stuff that doesn't have any other channels of being released and becoming commercially acceptable. A lot of the music on that label wasn't commercially acceptable music but it was stuff that I loved."
By following his heart he's built himself such a global reputation as one of the scene's leading lights that he now appears poised to crossover, in the same way his beloved music is breaking.
"Bring it on, bring it on," he laughs. "I completely wish I was a celebrity DJ, then I could drive to work instead of taking the bus."
Skrufff (Mel Skrufff): How much is the crowd starting to change that come along to the End Chew The Fat nights-
Paul Arnold: "The club certainly has its loyal following but by being at The End it opens it up to people who haven't heard breaks before who already go to the club. But having said that, there are a hell of a lot of new people coming into breaks; people who would rather go out and hear breaks instead of house music or drum & bass. There's a lot of people who are only into breaks right now and a lot of them have been into it for a long time."
Skrufff: How did Chew the Fat and your second label Fat get started-
Paul Arnold: "I was already running Chew The Fat as a club night alongside Certificate 18 and DJing there too, as a separate thing, though the Fat label started while I was still running Certificate 18. But I didn't really think about doing Fat seriously until I wound Certificate 18 up, due to unforseen circumstances. In fact, it wasn't a natural progression at all, in a way, it was a step back, because Certificate 18 was something I really wanted to carry on. But because Certficate 18 stopped I turned to Fat, which became another channel to identify and develop the style of what was going on at the club."
Skrufff: Do you have a full Fat team these days to work with-
Paul Arnold: "Not really. I have got a team, yeah, there's lots of people around me, though there's no-one directly next to me, but there's certainly part time staff and there are other people who help me out on the nights. There are others involved on a freelance basis, but there's no Fat team as such."
Skrufff: There's also a Fat Club. com porn site< Tags