Greetings Nick. As the head of Record Kicks, can you from the beginning describe what this jobs actually concerns to help me to introduce you to our readers? With what do you deal usually?
First of all it has to be said that in small indie labels such as Record Kicks everybody has to do a bit of everything. There are 3 of us; Luca, Jada and myself. My role is that of A&R, which means choosing which groups to sign (and in some cases we produce them directly), organizing the release plan, working on compilations and represses as well as keeping up with distributors.
What is the story behind your record company? Why did you decide to found such a
thing back in 2003?
At the time I was working at Vitaminic, one of the first experiments in digital distribution on the web. I was label manager which means I took care of the releases. In 2003 I decided to leave and start my own record label. Ever since I was a kid, I was always into independent music and labels so as soon as I had the chance to I took the leap…
Focusing on funk, soul and jazz music, how much was it difficult to establish it in Italy? Is this kind of music popular over there? I mean to most of Czechs Italy is rather connected with cantilenas and on the other hand with tourists-oriented contemporary pop songs with perhaps latin flavour.
Funk and soul has not been popular in Italy. 90 % of Record Kicks business is outside of Italy and the groups we produce are almost all internationals (UK, US, Australia…). I have to say things have gotten better in the last few years. Thanks to the hype surrounding artists such as Amy Winehouse or Sharon Jones at last people are showing interest for these sounds.
To draw myself closer, can you tell me how many active funk, soul and jazz acts are there in Italy right now? Where are the strongest place, beyond Milan of course.
To be honest there aren’t that many Italian groups. My favorite are The Link Quartet, with whom we’ve worked before (Record Kicks published their „Italian Playboys“ album), and Apollo Negri’s solo project (hammond-funk-dancefloor jazz). But there is a good club scene, with some great parties. Apart from the ones we organize, which are Boogaloo Club (now in its 8th consecutive season), Hit The Bongo!, and Milano Funk & Soul All-Nighter, there’s also the Soulful Torino crew in Turin, Soul Kitchen in Rome, I Mangiadischi plus many others.
What about history of these genres? Are there any roots to which you can refer?
The deep funk scene is an English invention. The term comes from a clubnight Keb Darge was doing at Madame Jojos halfway through the 90s, term was spread out in the world thanks for his very succesfull „Legendary Deep Funk“ compilations on BBE. As had occurred years before in the Northern soul scene it was all about DJs and collectors spinning rare and obscure funk 45s mainly produced around the mid 60s by a myriad of american labels. At the time (the end of the 90s) there weren’t that many contemporary bands being inspired by these sounds, apart from The Poets Of Rhythm, perhaps the first deep funk group from the 90s. Following the success of „Legendary Deep Funk“ and the Deep Funk clubnight a number of groups inspired by that retro sound were developing first in the UK and then in the rest of the world, from the States to Japan. Groups such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Osaka Monaurail, New Mastresounds, Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, Baby Charles…. the list is long.
How is business going these days? Is vinyl finally revitalised for sure?
Though we release our music in all possible formats, from vinyl to digital and CD, we of course have a preference for vinyl. We simply do not want to submit to the fact that music can be reduced to a downloadable file you can listen to on your cell phone. We press a lot of 45 rpm vinyl, if we count all our releases we can say that from 2000 on we’ve sold almost 30.000 45s. Not bad! So support vinyl, support your local indie store that sells vinyl, cause music in digital format is sad, whether you play it, dance to it or collect it!
At least in the Czech republic, a lot of people have come to deep funk through hip hop music. What about you, what is your musical background?
My path was totally different. As a kid I started getting into indipendent music by listening to punk and garage, and from there I moved on to ska and reggae. When I discovered the northern soul scene a whole new world opened up, so I started collecting soul, funk, latin and jamaican 45s about halfway through the 90s, and have not stopped since.
Except for acts related to the Record Kics, which groups or musicians in general do you find interesting and worthy to mention?
I’ve always been a fan of Daptone Records and of everything that revolves around them. It was an honor for me to be able to organize the first Italian concert of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings last year at Bloom club.
And speaking of your acts finally, of which albums are you proud mostly?
I’ve very proud of all of them. We are a small label that doesn’t release that many albums, so if something is coming out on RK it means we really do love it. Of all our releases I’m particularly fond of „The New Mastersounds::Remixed“. I’ve always been a fan of the band and the idea of remixing a deep funk instrumental group wasn’t that simple to carry out. The result is surprising and the album is one of the label‘s best-sellers. Other records I really love are the debut album by Baby Charles, the Milano Jazz-Dance Combo project, which had me in the studio for hours and hours to get the production right, and of course all our compilations, from SoulShaker to Let’s Boogaloo and the more recent Mò Record Kicks series, that really showcases the sound of the label in full. In general however I really do have an attachment to all our releases.
I was quite amazed by your demo policy situated on your website. It might seem you get an record offer every day. Is Record Kicks really so popular among musicians?
In fact we do receive many demos, but it’s also because there are increasingly less labels….the good thing is that we now usually only receive demos that are in tune with our general style and productions….no more death metal or Italian pop!
Some consider deep funk scene to be a truly global movement. Would you agree with this, or do you find any significant differences between particular scenes all over the world?
It is a tiny scene mostly composed of groups that play live more than by DJs. The characteristics are mostly the same everywhere and deep funk bands now exist in every corner of the earth.
Funk and soul have been always political by both theory and practices. You yoursels have even studied political science at university, as I can see at your Facebook profile. Is Record Kicks in any sense political?
This is a delicate subject. By my standards everything is political and culture in particular is political. Music is culture, and therefore in a sense has to do with politics. From that point of view I like to think that at Record Kicks we are actually doing politics.
And you? Some political opinion you would like to share with us, looking at contemporary situation in Italy?
It’s better not to get into that. When I go spin records abroad and they ask me about the current situation in Italy it’s very difficult for me to explain the incredible things that happen over here. Under some aspects you could say we are still a developing country.
I think it has been quite enough from me. If there is anything you would like to add, floor is yours. Thank you for your time! Good luck!
Thanks to you I was in Prague to spin records few weeks ago, really loved the city and had great fun so let me say ciao to my mates Goldstar, Mr Ultrafino and Kino, these guys are doing great things, support
