Emmerald: Satta was on the Stereo Deluxe label and Dust My Broom is
on !K7. Why did you switch labels?
Boozoo Bajou: The main reason was that the owner of Stereo Deluxe
died in a motorcycle accident two years ago, and then Ministry of
Sound bought the label. The label manager now doesn't really share
our vision for music and we wanted more personal contact with the
label. It was also the right time for us to switch. If you are on the
same label for more than five years, you may not be as fresh. !K7 was
the only choice we had in Germany for international distribution and
to have the freedom we wanted as producers. If you go to a bigger
label, there's always someone there who has a different way of wanting
to do things and there's less freedom. We're still learning with !K7.
We just signed half a year ago and this is the first record with them.
Emmerald: I'm sure you'll do just fine. !K7 is a great label. Satta
did extremely well. I believe it sold over sixty-five thousand copies
and songs from the album were featured on over forty compilations.
What is it about your music that has such universal appeal?
Boozoo Bajou: I think this is more a question for the listener. We
don't go into the studio thinking that what we are working on with be
popular. We just get in there and work really hard at it. We produce
everything ourselves, mix and re-master, so we just put all of our
work into it. Don't forget though, Satta came about during the golden
age for underground music, four or five years ago. We would be happy
if Dust My Broom sold half as much these days.
Emmerald: On your tour to promote Dust My Broom, will you be
performing live or will it be a DJ set?
Boozoo Bajou: We will DJ and we'll have an MC with us.
Emmerald: What U.S. cities will you hit?
Boozoo Bajou: We don't know yet; it's all in the planning stages.
We don't know the dates or anything. (laughs)
Emmerald: What are some places where you've really been able to find
some great samples?
Boozoo Bajou: Yes, from Jamaica and it just, interview before we
just talked with a guy from Columbia, and because I really was
searching all Columbian music that would be interesting. Because, you
know, you can produce all those things but, you know, even like in the
midwest, all the warehouses have been in the US. So I think you can
find it anywhere, you just have to know where to go.
Emmerald: What's one of your best record finds or best story about a
record find?
Boozoo Bajou: When I was working in London I went to an auction and I
was the only white guy in the auction. There were like a hundred
Jamaicans and Caribbean guys there. At the auction, I bought about
four rare seven inches. People came up to me afterwards and I just
gave them the money and everything, and people come asking if I really
like this music; they were surprised. That was really funny to me.
It was like being part of a different culture.
Emmerald: Have you done any formal collaborations with artists other
than the people with whom you worked on this album?
Boozoo Bajou: We have plans and we want to work with other artists.
Next year hopefully we will work with Ben Weaver a young new singer
from Minnesota. He sounds a bit like a cross between Tom Waits and
Leonard Cohen. He's very young, but is a great songwriter and we'd
like to produce a full-length record with him next year.
Emmerald: Who's on the wish list?
Boozoo Bajou: D'Angelo. Michael Franti, he has a nice voice, very
deep like Barry White. Tony Joe White worked on this album with us.
He wrote Rainy Night in Georgia and he sings the first track on the
album. We're looking for female singers, Cassandra Wilson, Mary J.
Blige, but they may be a little too big. (laughs) We did a remix
for Common for Universal.
Emmerald: Right, Come Close.
Boozoo Bajou: Come Close, yes, that's right!
Emmerald: What else are you guys into besides music?
Boozoo Bajou: Beer! (laughs) There are a lot of breweries in
Nuremberg. We don't have any dry areas. We've got some good wine as
well, but we just like the beer.