Al Hot Mix Holmes and the Chicago Gospel House Underground

by King Staxx | Published April 2007 | Features Archives

I CAN'T THINK OF a single househead that doesn't like a fine belt of Gospel in their Mix. Ron Carroll's "Black Church Feeling" mix of "Love Generation" by Bob Sinclar, released a year ago, was a staff favorite of 5 Magazine, as are the gospel-influenced tracks from the likes of Craig Loftis, Roy Davis, Jr., Shannon Harris and countless others.

But there are a few cats out there that grew up in the same hothouse of beats and grooves as the rest of us, but are working in the opposite direction than some of the producers mentioned above. Rather than bringing spirituality to the dancefloor, these folks are bringing the dancefloor to the church. They're underground and fighting an uphill struggle to establish Gospel House as a viable and thriving subset of the mainstream gospel music industry.

Al "Hot Mix" Holmes - you see the "middle name," so you know he's old school - grew up in the same House Music-obsessed times as many of his peers that we celebrate today. He attended Mendel High School, the stomping ground of a staggering number of early House Music pioneers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and his formative years were spent in the same obsessive mastery of the turntables.

After being saved, Al was frustrated by the lack of an outlet in the church for the skills he'd painstakingly acquired. "At the time, my pastor said you need to be active in the church," he remembers. "I told him I wanted to do music. He replied, 'What instruments do you play?' I had a drum machine, keyboard, a sampler, and a sequencer, so I said 'More than anything, I manipulate music.' He said they weren't on that level yet.

"My pastor then asked if I could operate a mixing board. I said yeah, but it's just a bigger version of what's between my two turntables. It almost felt like a demotion. So I became very frustrated. It seemed that the church had no clue of what I could do, or even the skill level of what I brought to the table. And really didn't care."

It was through a meeting with Tony Mundaca and Ed "Get Down" Crosby that Al's vision came to fruition. "We shared our stories and struggles and became friends. Later Tony said, 'Hey, why don't we just do it ourselves? Just like House and hip-hop was not accepted, we need to do the same thing. Let's just do it.' So that's were it all started for me."

Today, Hot Mix Holmes is the owner of Pathway Records, a 100% Chicago Gospel House Music label, and working overtime to get the word (and the Word) out. 5 Magazine's King Staxx - no stranger to Gospel House himself - sat down with Al to talk about his personal odyssey and a survey of the Gospel House music scene.

AL "HOT MIX" HOLMES: It was during my sophomore year in high school, 1982. I was attending Mendel Catholic High School. Music was such a big influence in that school, especially on the weekends when they would transform our gym and the downstairs cafeteria into a bi-level dance party. You couldn't help but be a DJ or a House artist. A lot of people don't realize how many people have come out of Mendel to make an impact on the music industry - Robert Owens, E-Smoove, Braxton Holmes, Boolumaster and Mark Hubbard on the gospel side. Back then you had DJ crews, so me and three of my close friends got some equipment and started the "Beta Boys." We would do a lot of the neighborhood basement parties.

5 MAGAZINE: What four DJs really INSPIRED or influenced you?

AL: For me it was mainly three: Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Steve "Silk" Hurley, and Frankie Knuckles. I would listen and record them every chance I get, and just study every inch of their mixes.

I liked Farley because he could jack anything, whatever the format. People forget that Farley changed his format three times. He played all the early imports like everybody else. Then when the DJs started making there own tracks, and Chicago started to develop its own sound, Farley leaned very heavy towards that. Then he announced that he was changing his format to Deep House. But through it all, whatever he played, he simply ripped it.

When I heard Steve Silk, he would have this groove or feel in his mixes. And every song he played would have the same feel or groove to it. That just gave his mixes a very tight flow. Because just like a musician, he "stayed in the pocket," as they say. As a producer, he's king to me. I believe he was the one to single-handedly move Chicago House to the commercial audience. He had a style of producing, where he could make a song radio-friendly, without taking away the true essence of House.

Then there's Frankie Knuckles. Before I heard Frankie, I was big on different techniques, such as scratching, doubling, phasing... I had heard all these great things about Frankie's style, but I just never got around to hearing him live. When WBMX started having guest DJs and announced that Frankie was going to spin, I made it my business to check him out. I was blown away - my mouth was on the floor. When the mix was over, I said to myself, That was the tightest mix I ever heard, and he did absolutely no tricks. All he did was blend records, but he made two records sound like they belonged to each other.

Frankie taught me the true power of a mix. We quickly forget that House and hip-hop was not accepted by radio. But it was the DJs who made this music so hot on the streets and in the clubs. Hip-hop sold millions of records without airplay in it's infant stages. DJs did that. And that's the power of a mix.

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