360 Seconds With General Midi

General Midi aka Paul Crossman is the Bristol-based breaks producer and DJ. He works alongside producer partner Eelz to melt the minds of many by creating speaker-blowing, dub-flavoured breaks. Legendary? Perhaps. Over the past few years, their singles have been released on well-known breaks labels such as TCR (Rennie Pilgrim’s label) & Kilowatt (Hyper’s label), and their debut album “Midi Style” came out in October 2005 (Distinc’tive). And if that doesn’t convince you, their album was nominated as “Best Album” for 2005 at the International Breakspoll Awards.

It’s no secret that as of late, Paul has been one busy bunny, touring around the world to play his monster sets. So, when I asked Paul if he’d give me an interview, he was extremely gracious, but it took several months of emailing back and forth to finally catch up with him. Good timing – he’s due for another visit to man the decks at Slackers Convention on the 17th (see below for details).

Why the name?

I saw it written on a synth and thought that it was a good name.

Are you pleased that you got #2 on a Google search?

Really? That’s cool, I’ve never Googled my own name so that comes as quite a surprise (cough).

What was the first record you ever bought? And the last?

First album I bought was ‘Prince Charming’ by Adam and the Ants and the last album was ‘Hyperdub’ by Burial.

You’ve had an album come out last year – “Midi Style”. What’s it sound like?

Its all breakbeat baby! Lots of different flavours from the more hip hop side, through electro to the more clubby stuff but there’s a seriously dubby undercurrent running through it- you don’t live in Bristol for this long without dub osmosis occurring!

I’ve read somewhere that you have an evil twin, Al Watson, your partner-in-crime in the whole General Midi production factory. When it comes to producing, do you have any set way of working, in terms of who’s better at certain things? I only ask because I know some collaborators do like to work that way.

I’m on the road loads, so Al spends most of his time plugged into the Midi mainframe coaxing the finer details out! It’s definitely a team effort – we both come from musical backgrounds so the roles are interchangeable. We’ve just settled into away of working that we’re both happy with.

Do you let Al come on stage with you when you DJ?

Thing is, last time Al DJed out it took 3 weeks to find all the pieces so I’m actually now DJing on my own for legal reasons…….

I heard that you’re going to be collecting a lot of air miles this year…where are you jetting off to?

It’s been a mad year so far. Since Christmas I’ve been to Australia, Japan, Canada, America, and several places in Europe, not to mention a lot of places in the UK. In the next few months I’m going to China, America, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Canada, and several places in the UK – it never stops.

What do you never leave home without?

I never leave home without my sanity – can’t guarantee that I return with it though!

Favourite drink?

Alcohol

Favourite holiday destination?

Difficult question! Recently I’d say Vancouver; its one of the only places in the world you can go snowboarding in the morning and be on the beach by late afternoon which is fine in my book. Oh yeah and the sushi there is killer (not literally). Although Tokyo is hard to beat for the experience – it’s like amphetamine in holiday form.

Hobbies?

Wish I had the time although cooking rates quite highly.

Communication preference?

Word of mouth

Any brushes with the law?

I once got arrested naked in a hotel room whilst on tour in the States. I’d got really smashed the night before and sleep walked through the hotel and was found crashed out in the wrong room by a maid who freaked out and called the police. First thing I knew about it was coming to and finding a policeman handcuffing me whilst two others stroked their holstered firearms. Fucking scary! All worked out in the end though. I wasn’t charged with anything (they over reacted fo sho) and the limo arrived and whisked me away on the rest of the tour to the next city!

Finally, you’ve recently had your arm twisted and joined Slackers Convention as a resident. Stroke our ego and tell us what you love about Brighton.

It begins with B. I like cities that begin with B (apart from Birmingham). Oh I also like the idea of being able to throw rocks in any direction and hit a band – I hear Brighton is infested with them.

Don’t miss General Midi’s next Brighton date. Slackers Convention, Saturday 17th June @ Concorde 2, 11.30pm-5am. £6.50 advance, £10 on the door. Lineup includes Los Albertos, Medtronix, Dirtpop, Y-Not, Conspiracy, Symmetrik, Someblokewivrecords, and DJ Lucas. Phew.

And if you go to the website (not myspace), you can even download a minibot. Oh yes.

http://www.generalmidi.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/generalmidi

Words: Amy the Film Maker