It's already been a year since Krafty Kuts has graced our shores with his presence and he's been missing us! Rightfully so too, after having his DMA Best International crown stripped off him by fellow breakbeater Adam Freeland, Krafty wants to make sure that in 2004 he gets awarded the title again. 2003 has seen him working with the likes of A.Skillz, his 22 year old prodigy, and together they released Tricka Technology on Fingerlickin' Records in August 2003 - an album which has gained critical acclaim across the board with it's clever mix of uptempo dancey beats with an old skool hip hop vibe. This year has also seen Krafty concentrating on his breaks sound with anthemic releases such as Take It and The Ill Funk culminating in his latest mix CD These Are The Breaks on DMC records. One late afternoon in Malaysia, Krafty took some time out of his busy schedule to chat with RA about the breaks, his love for Australia and the breaks!

You're in Malaysia right now to play a few gigs, can you comment on the breaks scene in Asia?

I'm here to do a few gigs, I've got a gig at The Zouk Club in Singapore and a gig the day before that in Kuala Lumpur. The scene here is still pretty fresh and new, some places are into it - Taiwan is into it, whereas other places it's still pretty new. I hope to play a part in developing the scene here.

Do you believe that you were put on this earth to be a DJ especially after coming in 2nd at a DJ competition having no previous experience?

Yeah I think I was put on this earth to entertain, to make music and make other people happy.

Do you have a fascination with the Royals or is it just a coincidence that your boys are named Billy and Harry?

It's just a coincidence, I actually liked the names Billy and Harry and it's actually Billy not William like Prince William.

Apart from your kids, who or what is the future of breakbeat?

Hahaha! That's a good question and I don't know if I can really say what the future of breakbeat is, however what I can say is that it is getting bigger and better and hopefully in 5 years time it will be as big as drum'n'bass. Breaks hasn't really broken into the American scene and the Americans have had breaks for such a long time. Breaks used to be massive in Canada and I think it all died down with the Government shutting down a lot of parties. The Government should work with promoters to push dance music rather than suppress it.

You've been in the game since 96 as far as I can remember during the rise of the big beat sound and throughout the years we've seen you morph through phases of hip hop, house, breaks, nu-skool, electro and even 2-step. How do you manage to stay ahead of the game?

As a DJ I get sent a lot of music and I'm able to discover what's fresh and new - I basically combine all the elements of breaks and put them all together.

Can you comment on the state of breaks right now, do you think big beat is making a return ever since the release of Tricka Technology?

Tricka Technology isn't a big beat album. What A.Skillz and I did on the album was take elements of hip hop and make them danceable. We stayed far away from big beat as possible - it's a nasty word. Big Beat is 135 bpms of cheesy samples, like taking "Rescue Me" and placing some big drums underneath it - not very creative and it's very commercial, I don't think big beat will ever make a return, at least I hope not...

... it was a 60's revival sound!

Yeah, you're quite right!

How far do you plan to take the Krafty and A.Skillz show?

We have plans to do a live show next year. Adam A.Skillz is a drummer so he'll be doing that, and his brother is a guitarist so we can get him to do that. We'll also get TC Izlam and Kurtis Blow as our MC's as well.

What is it like working with TC Izlam? How did you manage to hook up with him in the first place?

He produced a couple of albums on Sour Records - one of the first labels to break drum'n'bass into the mainstream. I met TC through a mate who used to work at my shop - Dave Stone. Nowadays, Dave is responsible for running the Movement nights with Bryan Gee and Marky.

How did you manage to hook up with Kurtis Blow for your 2003 rendition of The Breaks?

One of the guys we collaborated with on the album, Dr. Luke (who we worked with to produce Come Alive and Party In Central Park) had a contact for Kurtis Blow's manager. While we were in New York, we managed to get a hold of him and Kurtis came into the studio and we redid The Breaks. I'm very happy with it, the version we did is a very danceable one.

Ill must be one of your favourite words as you've used it in several tunes, including one Ill Type Sound. Did you ever expect to hear a crowd of 16,000 chant the lyrics during the finale at Field Day?

Oh you were there were ya?...

... indeed I was!

I couldn't believe it! Justin (Rushmore) from Soul Of Man was standing right next to me and I said to him that I wanted to try this. We let the lyrics play "We got the groove, we got the sound..." and I just cut the volume and I could hear the crowd all going "... we got the vibe to make you get down!" I just thought, Oh my God... what an amazing feeling!

What was the reason behind starting up Against The Grain when you've got a record deal with Fingerlickin'?

I'm actually not signed to Fingerlickin' even though I'm usually tagged as a Fingerlickin artist. I started Against The Grain a couple of years before I was with Fingerlickin to put my own music out - it's a good catalyst for me to release my own music. Next year is going to be great with the Freestylers new Raw As Fuck album coming out with plenty of remixes courtesy of Roni Size, Poxy Music (which will be the third Australian release on our label!) and I've done a remix of Punks!

Can you comment on the proliferation of bootlegs that have been released en masse this year? Have you got a favourite one?

I think it's been incredible, and healthy for the scene - DJ's and crowds would be excited to hear what bootlegs DJ's have in their crates. In the end it encourages people to make tunes which are better than the bootleg and it develops new sounds and ideas. As for my favourite one, I do like the Superstylin' bootleg and also there's one of Junior Jack's Thrill Me which is absolutely wicked. It's one of those tunes which you don't know the name of but when you hear it in the clubs you can always associate with it and the remix is going to blow people away!

What tools do you use the in the studio?

For the hip hop and A.Skillz stuff I use Protools and it's Cubase FX (which is the latest version) and Logic for the breaks.

What can we expect to hear from your 4 deck mash up when you tour down here?

It's going to be two 1 hour sets. The first hour is A.Skillz and I dropping loads of instrumentals and cut up hip hop stuff that no one else has. We'll be 2 guys going crazy behind the decks... but not too crazy! We'll slowly speed up the tempo until we get to some funky breaks. For the second hour... BANG! We'll be like vampires going for their prey on the breaks stuff. You won't know what to expect, but we'll be going hard at it!

Any last words to say to your fans before you come out?

I'm extremely excited! It's been a whole year since I've been to Australia and I want to come out and do my thing! At the same time I want to come with a different edge, yet still keep people happy and get them dancing as I said before like vampires going for their prey! The unpredictable Krafty Kuts - awaits his prey!

Unsuspecting blood donors can witness the Krafty Kuts & A.Skillz 4-deck Fingerlickin' Funk mashup in Sydney at Fuzzy's Summer Breaks alongside The Scratch Perverts, Skool Of Thought, 10 Sui, Kid Kenobi, Q45, Jonathan Wall and EK at Bondi Pavillion on Boxing Day. Bring garlic!