House music is a music genre which is constantly on the move. Like no other music, the successful sounds change all the time, and esp. the recent history of house music is full of examples, e.g. the introduction of the filtered French house sounds by Daft Punk two years ago or the wildpitched disco sounds of today. I don't want to judge if this is good or bad, but if you love a certain sound you can be in trouble finding it. Nevertheless, there are a couple of artists who stayed true to their music during the past, and 95 North aka Doug Smith and Richard Payton are one of them.

However, like in the case of all creative artists, it is difficult to describe the sound of 95 North. For me personally, it is the soul and jazz which kept me listening to their records. Whatever release you take, you will be captured in soulful house sounds, sometimes jazzed-up, sometimes deep, sometimes garage-ish, but always true to their musical roots. Imagine a big rock in the surf that withstands the turmoil and rough music changes throughout the time ...

Needless to say that I was delighted when I had the chance to ask some questions to them directly, which you can read in the following interview. Before I did it, I found a couple of great Web sites which feature interviews with them as well, so I tried to ask questions which weren't included in these articles. Some of those sites are:

http://www.undergroundhouse.com/features/95north.cfm
http://www.garagenet.ndirect.co.uk/movinfebmar99.html

So here it is, the interview with some of my 'underground house' heroes.

DJ MG
April 1999

The following interview was conducted by DJ MG in March 1999:

When did you guys meet the first time? And what do you consider special in your relationship, which lasts for such a long time now?

Doug: We've known each other since college, but we didn't hook up to start doing music until 1989. A mutual friend by the name of Kevin Suber brought me in as a DJ for a rap group that he and Richard had started. When that failed, Rich and I started exploring other types of music we were interested in creating and started doing house. What keeps us together as a team is just a tremendous love for music!

Richard: We both have pretty much the same tastes in music and pretty much agree on what sounds good. We have similar backgrounds and we gel as two individuals.

This is a long question right at the beginning. You both love hip-hop, and as far as I know you [Doug] also had once a hip-hop radio show in Virginia. Generally speaking, it's not obvious to go from a music style which focusses on esp. rhymes/lyrics to melodic vibes of soul house. When and why got you infected by house music?

Doug: Personally, I caught the bug one night in 1986 at a club in New Jersey called 'Club 88.' I resisted it for a long time because I was too much of a hip-hop head. But when I went I was completely hooked! I think it was the semi-religious atmosphere fostered by the crowd that got me. Whatever it was, my life changed that night forever.

Richard: I caught the bug on a Wednesday night in June of '86 at a club called 'Tracks' in DC Everyone was going wild and the music just got into me.

Do you still listen to hip-hop, and what is your honest opinion about the state of hip-hop right now?

We both only listen to certain artists like Gang Starr, Pete Rock, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Wu-Tang, Lauryn Hill, etc. Most of the other pop-oriented stuff we can't get with. It's not creative enough for us. Our fear is that as more artists do stuff for the cream, hip-hop will slowly eat itself because it's not progressing musically.

You read my mind! What do you love about house music? Is it the combination of dancefloor & soul, the musical freedom, the people who dig this kind of music, or what?

Doug: All of the above!

Richard: And the energy!

What do you like most? DJing and live performances, or the studio work?

Doug: I like DJing because I like the interaction between the crowd and the DJ. It's the only time you get to see the power of the music.

Richard: I like the live aspect of seeing people making noise and enjoying a record that we've done. But I also like those moments in the studio when you build a song from scratch and that magic moment happens when it all comes together and you know you've got something special.

Do you still remember your worst gig, and your best gig?

The worst overall was a gig we did as a rap group with Chubb Rock. We were so bad that the crowd threw ice and cups at us! There are plenty of good gigs I can think of, but one that immediately comes to mind is one we did in 1996 here in Richmond, Virginia. We've never seen people go that crazy over a DJ set. It was great.

You're releasing your music all over the place: I!Records, K2, Large, and the list goes on and on. Do record labels contact you, or do you simply send out the tracks to different labels and then go with the first offer? And do you have any preferences when it comes to record labels?

Doug: We normally send our material out and wait for the best offer. However, this year we're cutting all of that out. You'll only see our productions on our label, Large, and maybe Henry St. and 4th Floor. Large is our favorite label.

Richard: Besides our own!

Yeah, let's talk about 95 North Records. Why did you start it, and isn't it sometimes dragging you away from the music?

Doug: We started the label so that we could focus more on music and less on trying to sell tracks to make money. We're cutting our output and upping the quality of our music.

Richard: If any thing it will drag us into the music because we can make whatever we want and think sounds good and will sell, and we don't have to answer to anyone but ourselves!

Do you have lots of unreleased material sitting around somewhere?

Tons!

What can we expect from 95 North this year? Any big projects, tracks etc. coming up?

Look for our remix of the Blak Beat Niks track "Celebration" on Large, a project with vocalist Heather Rose called "Unbelievable" due out on K2 Recordings with remixes by Frankie Feliciano, and the next record on our label, "Goin' On" by Nicolicious featuring Karla Brown.

Talking about Nicolicious Productions. How did you meet Nicolas Laget, who plays this incredible flute on your latest jewel "Sun Goddess" on Large Records?

He went to our Alma Mater, and he and his partner Moncef Belyamani started coming to the club we play at in DC when they moved to the area after graduation. They gave us some demo tapes and we immediately recognized their incredible talent. We asked Nicolas to do a solo on "Forever Underground" and the rest is history!

How about a complete album from 95 North? Is there anything like this planned for the future?

Doug: We've talked about doing one for release at the end of this year, but we have to see how our schedule works out.

Richard: We'll really take our time on it and make it something special.

As usual, the typical question at the end. What are the tunes you love right now, and do you have something like an all-time favorite list?

Doug: I'm really feeling "Flowerz" by Armand Van Helden, "1999" by Cassius, "Fluid" by Johnny Fiasco, and "Original Jive" by Natural Rhythm. As far as all-time favorites, there are way too many to mention!

Yes, Natural Rhythm is also one of my favorites. Those "Yeah" vocals drive me mad. Anyway, thanks a lot for this interview!

Thank you!