Emm: What labels do you handle?
SH: I have my own, which is Coco Machete Records, and I have another one, Fair Park Recordings. I handle a bunch of other labels as well. I handle Gallery Music, which is based out of Chicago. I handle five labels in Dallas, Icon, Fair Park, Grab, Select, and Sound Proof. I also have a label that’s based in Johannesburg, South Africa, called Pezulu Records based in Johannesburg.
Emm: Is it mostly house music on your labels or do you carry all different sorts of music?
SH: It’s pretty much all relatively deep and African-based house music.
Emm: You are the head of Coco Machete Records?
SH: Yes, it’s my label, and I have a partner. My partner used to be the art director at my old label, Central Park Recordings. He and I left there a little over a year ago to start Coco Machete. I deal with all the music and the artists, the vibe of the label, the whole identity of the label, everything like that. And he does all the computer stuff and all the artwork, and any web-based type thing.
Emm: How would you describe the vibe of Coco Machete?
SH: We’ve been calling it "urban tropical", like that’s the catch word that we’re trying to get around. I’m inspired by urban music and like tropical music. We’re trying to say that the label’s all about everything. We want to have house music records. We want to have punk rock records, we want to have jazz records, we want to have everything. For right now, it’s more dance music based and it will always be very dance music based, but we want to have all kinds of music.
Emm: Are all of your releases vinyl at this point?
SH: At this point it’s all vinyl. We’re working on a CD that will be called Coco Machete Presents: Thatch. We’re looking towards a December release for that. It will be a compilation of everything that’s come so far, but we’re going to try and do it with a little bit of a different twist. We’re going to have some unreleased bits on there, some little interludes, and shout-outs from the artists, so it’s a little bit more of an interactive-type CD.
Emm: What is your web address?
SH: It's www.cocomachete.com. And there you can check out everything, bios on all the artists, you can listen to everything, there’re mixes online, everything. We have a shop opening up soon online where you can buy MP3’s or records, whichever format you choose.
Emm: You mentioned you also had another label called Fair Park, which is based in Dallas?
SH: Yes, Fair Park is based in Dallas, and I work with my partner, Mike Constantio. He has another label as well called Sound Proof. Fair Park started in about 1997. We broke J .T. Donaldson out and he was one of our first artists. My partner handles scouting for the music and scouting for the tracks, and getting the remixes done and everything like that I think we’re up to like fifteen-sixteen records now. It seems to be going really well, which is great. We’re also re-releasing some of the older tracks that people haven't been able to find for the past five or six years.
