On the eve of the first CD release from the Future Breaks brand, TS catches up with two of Melbourne's hardest working breaks Djs Ben Shepherd and Jason Kelton (Keltec). 

Ben has long been regarded as a pioneer within the Melbourne scene, not only a Dj but as a promoter.  For 2 years Ben ran the seminal breaks club Out of Order @ the Lounge which hosted some of the worlds biggest broken names including Tayo, 10 Sui, Soul of Man, Atomic Hooligan, DJ Hyper, Danny McMillan, Class of 83, Kid Kenobi, NuBreed, Laidback, Paul Arnold, Friendly, Stereo 8, John Stapleton not to mention giving a leg up to many locals.  Keltec is no slacker to supporting  home grown talent either with the launch of his ALL Australian breaks club "Broken Home" and more recently has made the jump from DJ to producer. 

Future Breaks sees the two DJs combine their efforts in a blistering release.  The comp features a huge amount of killer tunes from Stereo 8, Elroy, Aquasky, Agent 86, Price Cuts, Jean Jaques Smoothie, BT, Dan Mangan, Nubreed, Db Chills vs Soundlab, Scrambler vs Earthworm and many more. Its a massive effort by two of Melbourne's most popular DJs. But like most success, it doesn't happen over night.  We asked both Ben & Keltec about their humble beginnings way back when breaks was barely on the radar.

K: " well when I started out, I was more into commercial dance and vocal house (which 11 years ago wasn't really as mainstream as it is today), and in dealing with the furore of industry politics at the time, I moved away from club DJing (leaving Sugar Shack, Chevron and Heaven to name a few) and into mobile gigs.At the same time, I got into the 'Sunny' sounds of Phil K, Ozzie LA and Gab Oliver but didn't find my own direction with music as progressive was disenchanting my desire to play that kinda music.  The Nuskool style of Breaks came along  in around 1997 and my first ever breaks track that I loved was Andy Page's remix of Miro - Paradise.  From there, I just started hunting breaks records down and the rest is history as they say."

B: "listening to hip hop and the break was always the hook for me ... so it was natural to pursue the breaks style"

With plenty of scope to choose from you both aimed your tracklistings squarely at the bourgeoning local scene.

B: " the Australian scene is very important  as it's the scene that surrounds me. I didn't include the tunes because they were Australian, I put them in because they're records I personally like."  

Jase, you have 11 Australian made tunes on your disc, including cuts from Nubreed, Db Chills, Lucas Chan, Scrambler, Jono Fernandez, Dan Mangan to name a few.... why Australian -  Or why not Australian "-

K: "I have a strong belief in this country, its talent and its artists, so why not represent them in much the same way Adam Freeland and Rennie Pilgrim (and many others) did for the UK when they exposed nuskool breaks to the world!-  Australia is my essential life blood and the more I learnt of this scene, the more I wanted to be a part of it.  Not just as a DJ but also develop it at the same time.  I was constantly seeing on TV, Australian POP artists (as well as local DJ's) having to go overseas to improve their profiles before cultural cringe Australia would accept them as their own.  I also read and heard a lot about the broader dance music community exclaiming that Melbourne is the dance capital for ASIA and the constant reports that Australian artists and DJ's were doing it better.  With that in mind, I decided to set a goal which would embody a message that  if Australian's worked together as a whole and not as a mutually exclusive component, then our presence on a global stage would allow us to convert to being innovators and not just followers.  I think breaks in Australia is as mature as the US and Europe (if not even further, fuelled by the hype of international magazines) right now and its time to take charge and what a better way to do it, than a mixed CD compilation".

So how does the local scene stack up against the international breaks scenes of say London, LA, Florida and alike -

K : "If you had asked me that same question 2 years ago, I would have told you that the DJ's are world class and a few ears are pricked up, cottoning on to Aussie talent. Now its every element of the social dance music community that has the eyes and ears of the world industry.  The Australian scene is right on the cusp of having its own  identity as the global industry starts to nab talent from Australia.  I think now this is an opportune moment for Australian independent record labels to identify this talent first and foremost and export it, rather than having the talent imported!  Failing Infusion, EK and Nubreed, there is very little understanding of this scene by record labels that could potentially capitalise on its local talent that is becoming so well respected by overseas peers and its my guess that it'll be too late once the majors start to realise that potential."

I guess Broken Home is an extension of that -

K: "Broken Home was a concept created by myself (Keltec), Dan Mangan and Brewster B with a view to exposing Australian talent and helping to raise their profiles.  But not only that, its about having a good time and enjoying music.  One of the issues surrounding Australian DJ's and artists is that all the Sydney and Melbourne DJ's get the opportunity to play interstate, whilst all the interstate DJ's strive for the holy grail; the opportunity to play in either Sydney or Melbourne.  The problem here is, just because an interstate DJ doesn't get an opportunity to play in Melbourne or Sydney, doesn't mean they're not worthy of playing elsewhere."

With the difference in sounds between the two major cities there hasn't been much Djs swapping of late, although Ben you're a rare exception.  

B: "Sydney is predominantly more funky and that's really my take on breaks. I love Sydney Djs and I love the clubs up there ... I can relate more to what's more visible up there musically ... but at the same time I love Melbourne and the music and the people"

So if you both had to list your favourite clubs, nationwide what are your picks -

K: "Wow, that's a hard one!  There are quite a few clubs I love playing at and for different reasons.  I think overall Sunny and Private Function / Tilt have been my favourites because especially with PF, I can play whatever I want and I'm not bound to a particular genre.  Broken Home is fantastic because the crowd and vibe are so great that you just cannot leave without smiling harder than Jerry Lewis in a comedy routine.  I also find Room680 a great venue because it poses a cross-over challenge.  Challenge me by shoving be in-between a house DJ and a Trance DJ set and I'll still be able to find a way to get the crowd bouncing!  Sometimes its harder than normal, but I've never had a really bad experience there.  I also used to love Seven when fractured were based there but that's a bygone era which is unfortunate."

B: "Lounge in Melbourne, Sublime in Sydney, Globe in Sydney and Bimbo Deluxe in Melbourne. "

Ok lets talk turkey and get down to a question that has been kicking around the breaks scene for a while. Straight up the sound of breaks has evolved from nuskool noodlings to now encompass a wider sound. almost every tune released these days features a breaks mix. What's your take on this evolution of breaks, do you think its healthy for the scene or has its purity disappeared -

K : Well to some degree I hope its purity disappears, because I personally like just good music and my style even on the breaks tip can deviate from funky to progressive, to 'Beatswing', to chilled and melodic or even rolling if need be.  Purism can force you into a pigeon hole and once that happens, your lifespan as a DJ is limited by the lifespan of that sound.  The more confident I get at being able to play cross genre and the more venues that book me for that, the more likely I'm going to play whatever sounds good at the time.  I personally think however, that the evolution of breaks is just the evolution of other styles but more organic and more dynamic because the beat and the percussion is no longer static by typical way of production, so it adds more zest to the scene.  I think breaks compliments and dictates parts of other scenes now, so hopefully breaks will merge with it a fusing of styles and genre's and make dance music just dance music!

B:  I don't pay much attention to it ... I look out for records that I like regardless of label/artist etc.

A good tune is a good tune right, so what  producers are you keeping your eye on- Anybody in particular who's really on it-

B:  Always the Stanton Warriors - especially at the moment as they're on fire. Atomic Hooligan. Plump DJs. Bass Kleph. Black Grass. A-Skillz makes really tight bootlegs. Hip hop wise Kanye West and Just Blaze are the main ones for me.

K:   I have always been fond of the way Phil and Andy (HiFi Bugs) continue  to innovate.  There is an unknown Melbourne artist who comes from the Psytrance scene who has done a wicked track called "Multiplayer" and I'm keen to hear more of his work.  The Go Karts are doing some fantastic beatswing projects right now, as are Db Chills and Nubreed.  Ryeland Alison from the UK is one foreigner I'm going to keep a very close eye on right now.  With his Turkey Shoot Remix of 'How to get down' being an eclectic mix of Tipper meets electro, meets square pusher, meets breaks, then I wanna wait and see how the follow-on single turns out.  I guess keeping my eye on a number of producers and not one in particular is healthy, but I can't really give you one right now.

and for those deck pests out there, your top 5...

K: 
All together now - Original mix - Petter - Broder Community / 3Beat
Get to know yourself - Melbourne Massive F.A.R.T remix - Nubreed - Vicious
How to get down - Turkey shoot mix - Ryeland Alison - Critical Rhythm / Electrofly
Multiplayer - Original mix - Unknown - CDR
Wots my scene - Original Mix - Keltec meets Fraser - CDR

B:
The Anti - Bowser & Pod
Retarded - Unknown
The Real Acid Punch - Soul of Man
Hot Steppa - Unknown
She Wants to Move - Unknown

Both of you have been known to slip in the odd booty into your sets, so complete this sentence "breaks bootlegs are.... "

B: of a variable level of quality.

K: seemingly becoming the only source of income for international DJ's and patrons understanding of music, rather than a promotional medium for producers to add a little individuality and spice to their own sets!  Bootlegs in my opinion should be an inspiration brought on by that producer and should not be commercially capitalised on without the original authors consent. 

Boys, thanks for your time.

You can catch Keltec and Ben launching Future Breaks at the Metro Nightclub Friday 16th July with Krafty Kuts.  And don't forget to check out Keltec and crew with Broken Home on the 3rd Friday of each month @ Brown Ally and oh yeah buy the Future Breaks CD (released on Central Station).  Keep the scene alive and support your local break beaters.

Written by Mike Nicols