Soul Central & Kathy Brown Interview

Soul Central and Kathy Brown Interview image

words by Toni Tambourine

Who are Soul Central and where are you from?
"Paul Timothy and Andy Ward. Otherwise known as Timmy Vegas, The Mentalists and The Wikkaman - The geographical musical centre of the Universe.....Birmingham."

What have been your past achievements?
"Andy Ward hosted the pre release showcase on Galaxy radio and is a Soul Heaven resident.
Paul Timothy Also comes from a Dee Jay background but has done live work playing electric piano and guitar for Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant. Collectively as Soul Central we run our own 'Clean-cut' records label and have release's on NYC house music labels such as MAW KenLou records, Henry St and Soundmen on wax."

Why did you choose to remix Derrick May’s classic on Transmat?
"It was our favourite record of all time and we needed to start working together and to begin to learn the process of pressing and releasing vinyl.... so we chose The Strings of Life as Tim knew how to play it. It was our first project together and kicked off our career as soul central. It kicked off 4 years ago now."

What does Derrick May think about all this attention to his work?
"Derrick has given his approval or else he could have prevented this project from going forward. He is pleased to have one of his classic tracks brought to a new generation of clubbers."

How did you hook up with Danny Krivit?
"Danny had our original mix from 4 years ago and extended and re-edited it, he played it at a Whistlebump boat party and took the roof off. Simon Haggis asked us "Can we release it to launch our label?". We said "Yes!" - it was Money for old rope!"

Why do you think so many people picked up on the re-edit, right time and place?
"Although 4 years ago we had the support of the likes of Frankie Knuckles behind the track it was nothing like the response the re edit had, I think timing is very important and Danny's infamous name took the track to new heights. The energy of our original tracks carried through to the re-edit and it was definitely the right time and right place."

Are there any other mixes of notoriety?
"The Mark Night mix has to be one of this year’s big club dance floor builders. I heard the 'Funky lowlives' mix at a beach bar the morning after in Ibiza and it was just bliss! There was a real Latin feel that blew me away."

Can you explain the reaction that you get on the dance floor whenever it is played?
"Hands in the air, rushes to the dance-foor....the same reaction we got from the Derrick May's original Strings of life when it was played in fields and condemned buildings 15 years ago. It’s the way that we used to react in 1988 when we heard a track for the first time... "

The original was released in 1985, then it was re-released in 1992. Do you think that the majority of clubbers will have remembered the track?
"The majority of clubbers today are not our age...we're all married with children!
So hopefully if they like our interpretation, they will go out and check the original. This mix is bringing this track to a whole new generation of clubbers who haven’t necessarily been exposed to it before. For them it’s new."

Soul Central and Kathy Brown image How did you hook up Kathy Brown?
"I wrote the song with Jaquie Williams last summer, and it fitted like a glove to SOL, so I took it to Simon Dunmore at Defected who loved it and said "Kathy Brown has to sing this", she liked it too, so here we are."

What is your opinion on the people who say that no vocal can ever do this record justice?
"They are entitled to their opinion. Our version is an interpretation of a classic, it's all replayed with a slightly different feel, a Soul Central vibe. As regards the Song and vocal, I'm proud of the song and when I witnessed Kathy execute the breakdown before my eyes the studio I had tears in them, Kathy Brown moved me, and that was the feeling I used to get from house music years ago."

Are you aware of the debate that is going down around this release?
"The debate is that this record is sacred and should not be Touchéd. We knew before we started it was going to cause controversy, you can't please everybody and the world would be a boring place if we all shared the same views. But ask yourself, how many playlists do you see the original on? How many Dee Jay's have you heard drop the tune in the last 10 years? This great piece of music is for everybody, not just for all us old farts with our precious memories!"

Kathy your vocal is very strong, what do you think that you brought to the record?
"I have brought life to this records and a hell of a lot of soul. I feel like my vocal has re-animated the track and will make the record appeal to all ages, young and old and in-between, they can all relate to it. You might not believe this but this record is new to me too, so I am introducing myself to this classic."

Tell me about some of your vocal inspirations...
"You had to go there! Patty Labelle, Aretha Franklin, The Weather Girls, and Stephanie Mills I could go on forever."

Tell us a little about some of your biggest records...
"'Turn Me Out', which was out about 5 times, which eventually ended up as 'Turn Me Out', 'Turn to Sugar', 'Can’t Play Around'… Most of my records were top 10’s. Also 'Never Again' on Defected and 'Give It Up'. All these tracks are still kind of bubbling."

Where did you unveil the vocal version?
"At the house music awards. The response was amazing because the built up the track before by announcing that this was an exclusive, so the response was pretty good."

How well do you expect this record to do? Do you think it will cross over?
"This will be a fantastic record for the radio, the original Danny Krivit re-edit was great for the specialist dance shows but now I think this version with my vocal will have a good chance of a stab at the daytime radio shows. I’m really excited."

Will we see you on top of the pops?
"Lets hope so, it'd be fun to do and would be good for dance music as a whole in the UK."

Strings of Life 'Stronger on my Own' is released Jan 10th or check our Soul Central & Kathy Brown "Strings Of Life" review