Interview – Tayo
Having worked within the breakbeat scene for such a lengthy time, Tayos name is almost synonymous with the style. His eclectic and often dub and reggae infused beats have captivated people looking for variety, and as an innovative DJ and producer, he has earned the respect of his peers and fans. With numerous releases under his belt, including having been involved in the highly acclaimed Y4k series as well as his own smash mixup, These are the Breaks, Tayo continues to move both within and without the breakbeat world by maintaining his own individualistic outlook.
“I’m grateful,” Tayo remarks, genuinely pleased to have attracted such a large fan base as he has. “I hope it’s because I try to do something a little bit different, but I guess everyone hopes that – you always hope that you are going to do something unique and I’ve been quite lucky that people have responded to that.”
Tayos journey through the breakbeat world has a solid background in the music of his youth, and with such a creative streak he has been able to blend his various musical passions into a distinctive style. “The natural half time of reggae works well [with breaks] – and also, I love bass – so the two go well together. That’s just one part of what I try to do.”
The roots of Tayos passion for dub and reggae run deep, and as such these two styles always play a significant part in his production. “When I make my music, that’s what I’m into, that’s what I grew up with, so obviously by getting into breaks you try to work out how to put all your influences into the music that you are trying to make. I think it works well together, but it’s an acquired taste,” Tayo remarks with a small amount of humour. “When I did my These are the Breaks album, the whole thing was very reggae. I knew when I was doing it that I was going to alienate a few people, because not everyone likes reggae – if you don’t like that then you’re not going to like that album. That’s kind of what I’m into, and that’s what I was feeling – so that why I did it.”
“I’ve done quite a few 12” last year which are only just coming out now, and there’s four tracks on my fabric album that I did,” he explains, citing his recent projects. His ideas for his next foray into the label world after having moved on from the MOB imprint also come to light. “I have a residency at fabric for called Cool and Deadly. the backbone of it is kind of dub and bass and I was going to carry that over into a label, which was going to be a little less dance floor orientated in a breakbeat sense, more of a modern reggae things. It’s something I’ve looked at, but is really had running a label at the moment, it was really hard running one when I was running one, its a lot harder now and a little less attractive to me – but we will see. It’s possible, but not definite.”
With the various shifts amongst the genre, including the recent upsurge of electro infused breakbeat mixes, Tayo is both optimistic and critical of the style. “It’s big enough now to be able to diversify – it’s at the point where you just cant like everything,” he says. “I think that’s there’s a lot of different styles – when we all started playing, we just played everything from dnb records at the wrong speed and this and that, then it got a bit more defined. I think things are a lot more generic with breaks now, it needs to develop a bit more.”
“One of the reasons we all started doing all of this in the first place was to try and be different with the big beat sound and incorporate a bit of house and a bit of breaks, and I think sometimes that it’s become a formula of its own again,” he ruminates, pinpointing the real worry behind many peoples somewhat guarded hopes for the future of the genre, and yet hand in hand with this seemingly moribund outlook also comes an optimistic germ of an idea in order to stave off any possible stagnation.
“We just need to shake that out really, and realise that there’s a lot of different music that can be made,” he remarks. “It’s really only ever been defined by the tempo.” Ironically, it is this propensity for progression that has made Tayo a standout feature amongst his peers, which has the cascade effect of garnering him an appreciative fan base – all of whom are sure lap up his performances during his upcoming tour of Australia.
Tags: Breakbeat, cool and deadly, MOB, reggae, tayo, these are the breaks, y4k