Once A DJ

Cut Chemist has been on my list since the day I started this podcast, so getting him on for Episode 85 was a real full-circle moment. He's someone whose records genuinely shaped how I dig and how I think about putting samples together, and across this conversation he traces the whole arc — from kicking along to a Bobby Darin concert in the womb, to a McDonald's straw on a snare drum, to Star Wars soundtracks, to the moment hip hop landed for him in 1983.
We get deep into the Hollywood scene that raised him, the Rhino Records parking-lot quarter bins where he and his friends amassed beats nobody had touched, and the Jungle Brothers album that made him realise he could make "a record made out of records."
From Unity Committee into Jurassic 5, sharing the production chair with Nu-Mark, the all-45s leap into Brain Freeze with DJ Shadow, the solo tightrope of The Audience's Listening, and right up to his candlelit listening parties now — this one's a masterclass in following the unfamiliar. It's long, it's nerdy in all the right places, and I couldn't have asked for more from a guest who's influenced me this much.
In this episode we cover:
His earliest musical memories — parents, live drums, Carpenters and a deep sci-fi soundtrack obsession
Discovering hip hop in 1983 via KDAY, breakdancing, graffiti and the elements one at a time
Public Enemy, Bomb Squad and why Main Source is his production template
The Jungle Brothers album that turned him into a sampler
Learning gear the hard way — reel-to-reel, Roland S10, MPC, the Pro Tools learning curve
Forming Jurassic 5 out of Unity Committee, and the east-coast heart in a west-coast city
Pre-internet sample sleuthing and the legendary Rhino Records quarter bins
First DJ gigs at 15, learning to cut, and the up-and-down fader style that became his own
Qbert and the 1996 X-Men vs Scratch Pickles battle
A digging philosophy: is the juice worth the squeeze?
Sharing production with Nu-Mark, building Lesson 6, and breaking in Europe with Mr Format
The Rare Equations mix, the Number Song remix and the all-45s origins of Brain Freeze
Ozomatli, Brazilian and African digging, and constructing a set like a composition
The Audience's Listening at 20, The Garden in Brazil, and the Italy trip that changed everything
The Good Life Cafe education and record shopping with Biz Markie
Stable Sound, the Bandcamp subscription, and his candlelit psychedelic sound baths
On Keb Darge, on Edan, and the Expert of None shows coming next

Once A DJ is brought to you by:
https://www.vinylunderground.co.uk - 10% off your next order using code onceadj
https://www.sureshotshop.com/ - Record adapters (including customs) & accessories
https://myslipmats.com/ - Custom and off the shelf Slipmats, dividers and more.
Once A DJ is a https://remote-ctrl.co.uk production

Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up the Once A DJ Instagram Page
Subscribe to the Once A DJ Patreon
Buy your Once A DJ Sureshot 45 adapter clamps

This week I'm joined by Eddie Otchere — a name that might be new to some, but his work absolutely won't be. Eddie is the photographer behind some of the most iconic images of 90s hip hop, jungle and drum & bass, garage and grime. He was Metalheadz's official photographer, shot Wu-Tang Clan, Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, So Solid Crew, Estelle, Chronixx, and pretty much every rapper you cared about coming up. His work is currently exhibited at the V&A East, and he's spent the last 30 years documenting London's black music and dance culture.
Eddie grew up in Brixton, Stockwell and Vauxhall, falling into record collecting at Groove Records in Soho when he was so small he couldn't see over the counter. He picked up his first camera in the late 80s — a Praktika left behind by a friend's granddad — and went on to build one of the most important visual archives of UK club culture. This is a long, deep, wide-ranging conversation, and one I came away from genuinely feeling like I'd learned something. I hope you do too.
Topics covered:
Growing up in South London and the village mentality of the area
Early days at Groove Records, Red Records, Dub Vendor and the record shops of Soho
Getting online in the mid-90s via Direct Connection in Stockwell — and how hip hop became the global language
Picking up a Praktika camera and falling into photography alongside record collecting
Why being analog matters in a "post-fact" world of remastered records and retconned history
The Canon EOS 10 and learning to shoot in pitch-black clubs
Shooting jungle raves, Metalheadz, and protecting young people from tabloid demonisation
How Red Bull, smoking bans and changing crowd behaviour shifted the look and feel of clubs
The art of the loop — Alchemist, Dilla, No I.D. and chasing perfect samples
Working with Wu-Tang as teenagers and learning to build a body of work
Photographing Aaliyah, Biggie, Jay-Z, Estelle and Chronixx
Around the early days of grime and why he gravitated toward So Solid in South London
Drum & bass being run by women, and the importance of Chemistry and Storm
The General Levy "cancellation", gatekeeping, and protecting a culture
The V&A East exhibition and the tension between DIY scenes and academic curation
Lee Scratch Perry, dub museums, and what music history should look like
Meta glasses, AI as a personal agent, and digital asset management for photographers
His advice for new photographers: intention is everything

Once A DJ is brought to you by:
https://www.vinylunderground.co.uk - 10% off your next order using code onceadj
https://www.sureshotshop.com/ - Record adapters (including customs) & accessories
https://myslipmats.com/ - Custom and off the shelf Slipmats, dividers and more.
Once A DJ is a https://remote-ctrl.co.uk production

Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up the Once A DJ Instagram Page
Subscribe to the Once A DJ Patreon
Buy your Once A DJ Sureshot 45 adapter clamps

This week I'm joined by Carl Loben, Editor-in-Chief of DJ Mag and a man who's spent more than three decades chronicling dance music — from blagging his way into gigs as a freelance writer for Melody Maker in the early 90s, to running DJ Mag for the last decade. I wanted to sit down with Carl because he's seen the whole arc from a vantage point most people haven't: Two Tone gigs at Hammersmith Odeon (where everyone had to leave their DMs at the door), an acid house epiphany at Glastonbury, the drum & bass evangelism that defined his 90s, and a publishing career that's covered the rise of the superstar DJ, the bottle-service era and the digital revolution from the front row.
We get into Carl's own DJing journey — the false start, the freestyle rooms in Hackney, the international gigs that came with the editor's chair — and the labels he's built along the way: Westway with Barry Ashworth from the Dub Pistols, and Jack Said What with Irvine Welsh and Steve Mac (the underground house Steve Mac, not the pop one — there's a great story in there). He's also really frank about the shifting cultural landscape: the whitewashing he and Ben Murphy set out to address with their book Renegade Snares, the wellbeing reckoning that's reshaping what DJ life looks like, and the sea-of-phones problem that's quietly killing the dancefloor.
In this episode we cover:
Growing up between Beatles, Buddy Holly and Two Tone, and his first gig at 13 (Madness, Hammersmith Odeon)
His acid house epiphany at Glastonbury and the unsung heroes the history books missed
The Hackney freestyle rooms, becoming a drum & bass DJ, and almost painting himself into a corner
Blagging his first reviews for Melody Maker and what life was like as a 90s freelance music journo
Why Melody Maker went down the toilet and how he ended up at DJ Mag full time
International gigs in Brazil, Ecuador, Poland and China — and learning why touring DJs burn out
The cult of the superstar DJ and the hangover from rock and roll
Westway Records, Jack Said What, and the realities of running a label after the vinyl crash
Renegade Snares, the whitewashing of drum & bass, and the genre's reckoning with diversity
Why digital was a blessing and a curse, and what happens when 20,000 tracks a day hit Spotify
The wellness shift, the sea of phones, and his advice for new DJs trying to break through

Once A DJ is brought to you by:
https://www.vinylunderground.co.uk - 10% off your next order using code onceadj
https://www.sureshotshop.com/ - Record adapters (including customs) & accessories
https://myslipmats.com/ - Custom and off the shelf Slipmats, dividers and more.
Once A DJ is a https://remote-ctrl.co.uk production

Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up the Once A DJ Instagram Page
Subscribe to the Once A DJ Patreon
Buy your Once A DJ Sureshot 45 adapter clamps

This week we're heading to the West Coast to sit down with Debo (Ivan) — the man behind Funk Freaks, one of the most authentic funk communities operating anywhere in the world right now.
Born and raised on the west side of Costa Mesa in Orange County, California, Debo's story is one of music as lifeline. From breaking a needle on a Sesame Street turntable at five years old, to getting his hands on a beat-up pair of mismatched Technics at age 12 — after his older brother borrowed them from a friend who was heading to prison — to teaching himself to mix at 4am before school every day for six months straight. The obsession was always there.
We talk about what makes Orange County's relationship with 80s boogie and funk so deep-rooted and distinct from LA, the lowrider culture that kept this music alive for generations, and how Funk Freaks went from backyard boogies and house parties to a nine-year residency at the legendary OG Mics in Santa Ana — and eventually to chapters across Europe, South America and beyond.
Debo also opens up about the blood, sweat and tears it took to break the stigma of "cholo music" in bars and clubs, his year living in Barcelona, touring European funk bars with nothing but a tourist visa and a crate of records, and how all of that led to opening the record shop and launching the Funk Freaks label.
A genuinely inspiring conversation about community, culture, creativity and the power of music to change the direction of a life.
In this episode:
Growing up on the west side of Costa Mesa and how the environment shaped him
Learning to DJ on a borrowed mismatched pair of Technics and a busted crossfader
The Stanton DJ-in-a-Box moment and the mother who matched his first paycheck
The Beat Junkies influence and applying hip hop technique to funk records
Backyard boogies, house parties and the stigma of "cholo music" in venues
OG Mics — the Santa Ana residency that became the capital of funk in Southern California
Living in Barcelona, buying Euro funk pressings for cents and building the international network
How the Funk Freaks chapters work (think: graffiti crew ethics applied to record collecting)
Digging road trips from New Orleans to New York to Baltimore and why California is slim pickings now
The Funk Freaks record label — limited pressings, DJ tools, and the story behind the Colors movie recreation
Why there's no such thing as overpaying for a record that means something to you
What the DJ's job actually is — and why Europe gets it right
Links:
Funk Freaks Instagram: @funkfreaks
Remote Control (production): http://www.remote-ctrl.co.uk

The Bronx legend responsible for Dusty Fingers and Schoolyard Breaks, a true scholar, a man with some great stories, Danny Dann Beat Mann, rest in peace.
He was a north start for me from day 1 so it was great to get him on the show.
RIP a true king of digging.