DJ ThinKing (Black Box / Box Clever) interview (2012)

■hedmuk.: Featuring: Black Box / Box Clever
2003年末に、DJ ThinKingがPinchをFWD>>に連れて行ったことから始まったと言われるブリストルのダブステップのシーン。レーベルReduction、Double Science、そして現在はBlack BoxやBox Cleverなどのレーベルを手がけるDiccon Jefferiesへのインタヴュー。ドラムンベースから始まる音楽的ルーツからレーベル運営、母体となるChemical Recordsなどについても言及。長い英文ですが必読。
Well, where I am now it’s taken quite a long time to get here. I kicked off a label years ago called Reduction which had a handful of releases on it, and that was like a Wedge and Gatekeeper thing, people like that, and we did an early Hyetal record too.
That was kind of self-funded, and anyone will tell you that something that starts out like that, with no real plan, is really difficult to keep momentum with as you’re constantly trying to feed the 'money machine'. It’s a very difficult thing to do without getting some sort of funding and having a very clear plan, clear release schedule and a clear vision – which I didn’t really have at the time; and I learnt lessons, I learnt a lot of lessons from it as to how not to do things (laughs). But then I started work about four and half years ago at Chemical, just as the dubstep buyer basically, and about a year and half into that the top guys at Chemical - the directors who used to run a drum & bass label back in the day and, back when trance was really big, they had a guy there who used to run a trance label out of Chemical as well - they said 'look, you know, we’ve done it before so why doesn’t one of you run a dubstep label: why don’t we start one up?' So yeah, I thought 'look, I’ve got the funding here and I’ve also got a very good understanding of how to sell records' - you know, what does well and what doesn't - so I was in a great position to be able push a label as Chemical is probably still one of the biggest outlets for dubstep vinyl.