Exclusive Interview: Josh The Funky 1
Josh The Funky 1 hails from Chicago, the home of House Music. A D.J. for over 14 years, Josh blends a unique style of Funky house, Electro-house, & Chicago House while incorporating ill-scratching and turntable tricks. Josh’s passion for the art of D.J.ing first came about when he discovered hip-hop while still in grade school. A fan of early pioneering groups like Public Enemy, E.P.M.D., Eric B. and Rakim he was enthralled by the art of scratching. One day a friend lent Josh a videotape of a D.J. battle, which unknowingly turned out to be a D.M.C. battle, the most renowned D.J. battle in the world. Mesmerized by what he saw could be done with 2 turntables and a mixer, Josh practiced and honed his skills relentlessly. His passion and persistence proved to be worthwhile, as he has since displayed his skills in some of the most prestigious D.J. battles in the world. 1997 saw Josh become a D.M.C. Midwest Finalist. In 1999 he competed in the Winter Music Conference scratching competition where he was a runner up to 3-time world champion D.J. Craze. In 2000 he took 1st place in the beat-mixing competition at the W.M.C.- D.J. spin-off.
In 2001 Josh took his DJ skills to a wider audience, hitting the airwaves as a weekly resident on 96.3 FM (B96) Chicago’s longest running mixshow to date. Aside from radio and competing, Josh has also helped to coproduce legendary D.J., Bad Boy Bill’s, ‘Bangin the Box Vol. 4′ and ‘Banging in London’ series. With his experience and persistence Josh has since gone on to compile several of his own mix compilations including his most recent venture, ‘Universal Sound’, released on the prestigious System Recordings, home to DJs such as Junior Sanchez, Richard Vission, & Danny Tenaglia.
Along with his D.J.ing accomplishments, Josh has also had his hand in the studio producing/remixing tracks for the some of the most prominent Producer/Artists like Dajae, Harrison Crump, Patrick Alavi, Granite & Phunk and even contributing a remix to Jessie Saunders seminal classic ‘On & On’, widely recognized as the first House record ever. However, ‘The Funky 1′ is not one to be content with only producing and remixing records for other labels. In 2001 Josh launched his own record label, Funktion Recordings, partnering with long time friend Gus Calderone, both have worked tirelessly in bringing it to the forefront of the Dance Music Industry by featuring some of the worlds premiere House producers, including, Kid Crème, Ian Carey, Asle Bjorn,& Sucker DJs. When not running his label or in the Studio, Josh is constantly touring the world bringing his sound and skills together for the masses.
FunkyHouseMusic.com was lucky enough to have Josh knock out a short Q&A for the website recently, and it follows as such:
FHM: Can you give us a brief history of your discovery of music? Your turntablist days? What brought about your switch to house music?
JTF1: My interest in music and DJing started with Hip-Hop. I was always more interested in what the guy behind the MC was doing. Then I started getting really deep into it when I saw one of the DMC videos that a friend lent me. My discovery of House came about a year or two later when the whole hip-house movement was coming out of Chicago. All the early DJ international stuff, like Fast Eddie and Kool
Rock Steady were big at that time.
FHM: How has the progression of your production career changed your touring schedule? Have you seen an increase in interest in the Josh the Funky 1 brand domestically, or both stateside & internationally? Has your recent success caused you to approach house music from a different perspective?
JTF1: Internationally it has definetely increased. Everytime I play somewhere new I get a new perspective on what works for that area. I think being an international DJ you can have your distinct sound that your known for but you have to tailor it to the region. I don’t play the same in Germany as I would in the UK and I don’t play the same in San Francisco as I would in New York.
FHM: Once the digital movement began, was it difficult for you to transition from vinyl to CDs? Also, we have noticed you have brought your scratching skills from the turntable format to the CDJ format – was the learning curve difficult, or do you find the “feel” of the CDJ to truly come close to the feel of scratching vinyl?
JTF1: I was pretty late on transitioning to digital, but now that I’ve embraced it, I love the advantages. For me the learning curve was easy as its not that different. Scratching on the CDJ doesn’t feel the exactly the same as Vinyl, but I can get the same sound out of it.
FHM: Its been a great 2 years for the “Funktion Recordings” camp, dropping release after release on today’s digital and vinyl outlets such as Beatport and Dance Records, is it safe to assume Funktion Recordings will continue to press vinyl, or is their a clear path to phase the 12″ out completely?
JTF1: Whether Funktion continues to press 12″ vinyl will be determined by the market place, not us.
FHM: What city or country do you find that embraces funky house more than any other (via your experiences)? Do you find that funky house music gets disregarded in certain areas of the U.S / globally?
JTF1: The U.K. for sure embraces it..I think they kinda coined the term. Personally, I think House in general was widley diregarded in the U.S. for a while. It really seems to be on the up and up again though and there are new faces coming into the scene with a fresh excitement and attitude about it.
FHM: Speaking of the “funky sound”, do you really have an interest in that anymore or are you fully enveloped into the electro house movement these days?
JTF1: Well, first I think any genre can be funky. whether its house,techno, etc.. I like electro-house but there’s just too much stuff sounding the same and it will probably result in the death of that genre in the near future, which is fine because House music has lasted by always re-inventing itself.
FHM: Coming from Chicago, and having ties with the likes of Bad Boy Bill, Steve Smooth, JJ Flores, CZR, Alex Peace, and others, what is it about your local town squad that helps differentiate yourselves from the masses? Is there a unique perspective on the sound / industry that is shared mutually among your small group, or is it just simple coincidence that you all are located in Chi-town?
JTF1: I think going back to the early pioneers, the DJ bar was set high, and basically if you wanted to stand out, you had to come with it and if you come from Chicago I think you take that with you.
FHM: Thank you for taking the time to complete this interview, and supporting the FunkyHouseMusic.com mission.
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