"Let's go Chumbo" is not only the rallying cry of the Leadheads but the name of the incredible new mixed set from Superchumbo (aka Tom Stephan). The two CD set combines the hottest tribal and electro club tracks with his remixes (Nitzer Ebb, Pet Shop Boys) and original productions. After a listen, you will hear why his loyal fans, the Leadheads, follow Tom around the world.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Love this double CD of yours, Let's Go Chumbo, how did you put together the tracks for it?
Superchumbo: Basically, I picked records that have been big in my sets for the past couple of months. That, along with some tracks that were still unreleased, like DJ Pierre's "My Club" and Anton Fielding & Tiny Stix "Fever's Coming." I tried to recreate some moments from live sets, because I think it's really hard to do a compilation that you're just recording it in the studio, because you don't have that kind of feedback from playing in front of a crowd. So I picked records that fit well together in live sets in the past or moments that were really exciting for me live, and stuck those tracks together on this CD and hopefully tried to recreate the big moments.
RS: When you say things that worked well live, you mean like when you take the acapellas from one record and put them on another track, that kind of thing?
Superchumbo: Yes. Off the top of my head, I was once playing out live and I played DJ Gregory's "Work Me" after "Fever's Coming" so that the two tracks kind of built up and came in together. I remember thinking wow that worked really well, I've got to remember that, so I did that again on the CD.
RS: The match up thing where you put acapellas on top of tracks, how do you know what goes where? Do you practice beforehand or just do it on the fly?
Superchumbo: Well no, when I'm DJing, I get really into it and ideas pop in my head like 'oh, wouldn't it be great if I did this and wouldn't it be great if I did that.' I try to draw on that, because I find it's a lot more difficult to recreate that feeling when you're in the studio. I'm frantically flicking through my CD case trying to find some acapella that seemed to work over a track. Sometimes it works amazingly and sometimes it doesn't work so good, and the times that it works, I kind of keep those in my mind for the next time.
RS: Listening to the CDs, it seems like the first one is on the hard tribal side and the second one is more electro and midtempo, a little more downbeat than the first. Was that the goal you were going for?
Superchumbo: That was one of the reasons I wanted to do a double CD, because I think it represents two kinds of sounds that I'm playing at the moment and it wouldn't be as easy to say one is like in the US and one is in Europe, I mean it's not that clear cut. There are some places that I play where tribal stuff is still more popular than electro stuff, so I play tribal. Some people are really only into minimal electro stuff. I'm into both and think they both work really well together, and that's really what I try to do in my set is combine the two. There's definitely two sounds that the CD represents.
RS: I notice you've got your fourth Pet Shop Boys remix on here with "Minimal." You've done "New York City Boy," "Sexy Northerner," and "Paninaro." What's it like going back to do a Pet Shop Boys remix again?
Superchumbo: Well, it's great! They're very good friends of mine and I'm a huge fan of theirs and have been for a very long time. That's basically how the remix came up. I got a chance to hear their new album and just said 'by the way, I love "Minimal" and I think I'd do a great mix.' They said 'yes, go ahead,' and I'm really pleased because the idea that I had in my head really works well in the mix.
