Kevin Hedge Interview
KEVIN: No. I didn't even think about it. It wasn't until Sony BMG contacted us to do the remixes. People think everything's a bootleg. I would never have touched those records or those songs. Those acapellas aren't even available.
First they contacted me to do Beyonce's "Listen". We got the "Listen" parts back in September before the movie even came out! Then they gave us the Sunshine Anderson to do. Then they said, "We want to do dance remixes to release a CD in conjunction with releasing a DVD." So they contacted us to do all of them. Josh and I decided to pick the songs that we thought could work, because there were songs on there that were "Heavy Heavy" and could never be a dance record.
5 MAGAZINE: What did you think when you heard "Family"?
KEVIN: "Family" I thought was going to be an excellent House record because traditionally the theme of House Music is world unity. So just that hook alone...
5 MAGAZINE: What about "And I Am Telling You?"
KEVIN: I didn't want to remix that because that was the most obvious. Sony BMG is going to let us license our remixes for release through the new Blaze Imprints, our new record label.
5 MAGAZINE: Can you tell me more about that?
KEVIN: It's separate from West End and primarily a soulful House label. Strictly focused on soul, and records that I personally pick to be released.
5 MAGAZINE: Is vinyl still profitable at all with all the online music downloads? Running a label, how has electronic distribution changed in these past few years?
KEVIN: The thing is the music business, as a whole, doesn't know what the music business is going to do. I'm not talking about the independents but the majors. They're trying to keep their profits high. For us as independents, we can get by because we specialize in a niche market. And usually our market is underserved by the majors, which means that gives us an avenue that the majors can't take advantage of.
5 MAGAZINE: Are any DJs still buying vinyl records though?
KEVIN: Vinyl is still profitable in a sense, however it is getting to the point where it's going to be for collectors, just people who want to collect vinyl. Digital downloads have still not lived up to the expectation of what we though digital retailing would become. So right now we're in a semi-vacuum, where we're between brick and mortar sales and digital sales. And digital sales are not making up for what we're losing in brick and mortar sales. And brick and mortar isn't selling enough, for digital to just be extra. So you're seeing distributors going out of business, record labels going out of business, because there's not enough financial return to support what we do right now. However, I believe if you survive this, in two to three years the music business will be healthy.
Right now, this is the most fantastic time for music in the history of the organized businesses. Now is the time that more music is being enjoyed than ever before. More people listen to music than ever before, because of the accessibility of it. iTunes has made catalogues of music available that weren't available before and has created value from obscure music that it wouldn't make sense to manufacture.
5 MAGAZINE: How do you have time to do anything? You run a record label, you DJ, you produce, you remix you write... Do you get to go out at all?
KEVIN: You know, I was talking about this to a young lady last night! She asked me, "When are you going to go on vacation?" And I said to her, "I am on vacation!" Every morning when I get up, I'm doing exactly want I want to do. When I wake up in the morning, my routine is waking up, give thanks, 15 minutes of just meditation, get dressed, I take my mother to work everyday. I hit the gym, get out of the gym by 10. By that time the office opens and I'm calling these guys to check in, and then I'm on with the day. Me and Josh have investments in physical fitness, we actually own the gym that I go to.
I still live in Newark, New Jersey. I live in the ghetto. I love it. I have a beautiful brownstone that I live in with my mom. I grew up in Newark. I have a studio in Irvington, New Jersey. We've been recording there since 1990.
5 MAGAZINE: You were in Chicago a few months ago. What did you think of it?
KEVIN: Chicago is one of the home states for what we do. Chicago and New York are brothers and sisters.
5 MAGAZINE: But yet you're so different! One major thing I noticed is the dancing. House dancing is so evolved in New York.
KEVIN: It's a tradition! See, at the Paradise Garage, a part of going there was to dance. That was the thing - how good you were as a dancer!
5 MAGAZINE: So there were always circles there, just like in the Shelter?
KEVIN: Always. That's a tradition in New York. I know the roots of House Music they say are in Chicago, but the roots of this dance thing, this soulful dance thing, is in New York.
5 MAGAZINE: Tell us about your magazine LISTEN.
KEVIN: Well Listen is a zine that I always felt the soulful House scene was missing. Media: I think that's our weakest point. We're not good marketing people. I got tired of seeing DJ Magazine, URB Magazine... And if they had to pick someone soulful, they were either going to pick Masters at Work or DJ Spinna. Those aren't the only two guys that do soulful house music! Kerri Chandler has been doing it for 20 years! Why can't he be on the cover?
I think the soulful House scene is the original scene and it's always the side child. So why am I going to wait? Screw it! I'll do it myself! That was before I knew that 5 Magazine was around. If I had known you were around, then I would have probably wanted to support what you were doing more, but I didn't know. But I wanted to do something to service our community. Really, the book is service. There's enough people to read your book, there's enough people to read our book, and continue growing. So we have to work together.
I'm going to say it! You can write this in your book! [laughs] Why is it in Chicago... Well what do we have in New York? We have a certain amount of "working-togetherness". We don't always work together, and not everyday, but I can call Spinna and we could do a project together. Spinna can work with Kenny Dope. I can work with Louie. I can send out eblasts for 718 Sessions, they'll send out email blasts for me! Just because. When I'm in Chicago, I'm talking to a producer, and then he's talking bad about the other producer, then the other producer's talking bad . . .
5 MAGAZINE: But I thought it was like that in New York too!
KEVIN: Not at all. Somehow, outside of one camp, we all manage to get along and really have an affection for each other. We can all be in the same party! Whenever I come there, it's always an interesting scene to me, and I'm like, "Guys! Just get over it! Nobody is making money!"
I really want to do an article on Chicago called "Then and Now". At one time, in '84 or '85, Chicago was at the top of the world musically! What happened? Why didn't it sustain? Why did only two people get rich out of it? What happened?
There's an old camp and the new camp, but I'm in both of them! I know the old guys and the new guys. The old guys don't like the new guys, and then the new guys don't like each other. Or they work together then they get mad at each other... It's bananas!
5 MAGAZINE: Well the old guys only like to hear the same thirty songs every night.
KEVIN: What me and Louie Vega tried to do (with regards to our Roots night) was to show people that that could be done. That two production entities could work together and do it in unity. Do we have fights? Not that I know of. Do we have different views? Of course! But usually one of us acquiesces.
What I've always wanted to do, at the Winter Music Conference, is a party called The Battle of the DJs. New York vs. Chicago.
5 MAGAZINE: Oh no! There might be a riot! Who would be the judges?
KEVIN: You would have to make it for the audience. I'm from New York, and they're going to hate me, but I totally think Chicago would win.
5 MAGAZINE: Why?
KEVIN: The problem with us, well maybe not every New York DJ, is that we're smooth. We're SMOOOOTH. Everything is smooth and luscious!
5 MAGAZINE: Wayne Williams once called it "sushi music".
KEVIN: Right! So I think that that harder Chicago sound would probably work well for the more international crowd than that smooth soulful sound. But for some ironic reason, our sound translates better internationally around the world. We work more than most Chicago DJs. And because we have people doing business, we work with companies that can market our product a little better.
You look at most of the DJs here - like Dennis Ferrer, for instance, linked up with Defected and they marketed him really well. He made some great records but it was also his marketing that took his brand out.
I like to think of it as approaching it more as a business. It's not just "Let's go make a jam and let somebody give us a thousand dollars for the record." It's not just that. It's "How is this record going to translate for my overall brand?"
You all have some really talented people in Chicago, guys that I would really like to work with. I think what we in New York really have an affinity for is the business. Not because we're more talented. I think Chicago may be a little more talented than us.
You can contact Kevin Hedge through his two labels, via West End Records at westendrecords.com and the new Blaze imprints at myspace.com/blazeimprints.
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