On this week's show we are honoured to Dig Deep with DJ and producer Walter Merlin Jones.
Roots
Born on July 16th, 1968 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Walter's musical background goes as far back as three generations. Both of Walter's grandfathers played as a session musician for famous acts. His Father is an accomplished guitarist and his Mother is a classically trained vocalist.
During the 1970's Walters Father worked for a Public Relations firm where he learnt about editing Ads on reels as well as early production techniques. In 1978 walter bought his first record - Electric Light Orchestra "Out of the Blue". Disco was his favorite music at the time.
During the 1980's Walter visited New York for the first time and in 1982 he was exposed to Break dancing and Hip Hop culture. "I got into everything from New Wave to No Wave (like the group Gong) to Industrial to Euro-pop to New Romantic to Boogie Down Bronx style Hip Hop to Soulful Synth Funk in the early 80's"
Walter absorbed the culture and fashions of that time. "I made edits and mixed them together by recording one measure of a song and hitting the pause button on the Sears cassette recorder on the down beat and then again on the upbeat of a different song. I sold these in High School to the break dancers and Pat Benatar look a likes that dug music like Depeche Mode and Frankie Goes to Hollywood as well as electro Hip Hop like on the label Tommy Boy."
At 16 Walter was sneaking in to the clubs to listen to the new sound emerging in the early 80's club scene. From 1986 to 1988 he had an Avant Garde group called "Rational Id" that was very experimental with lots of references to religious figures like Jesus and Krishna.
In 1987 Walter was a student at Louisiana State University and a radio DJ on KLSU 91.1FM.. That year Walter got into House and Techno after being turned onto the sound from tapes of Chicago's WBMX Hot Mix Five crew. These tapes led onto Walter including Chicago House and Detroit Techno into his playlist on his radio show.
Walter's first legal club venture was at the Stark Club in Dallas Texas in 1986. "My first memory of Stark is the co-owner of the club, Grace Jones, twirling around on the dance floor early one night with absolutely no clothes on."
During the 1990's Walter would move back to Dallas from Baton Rouge where he would meet like minded music lovers who taught him how to spin his collection of 12"s which he had been collecting for almost a decade. "I had been buying dance records since I bought my first 12” (Quadrent Six-"Body Mechanic") in 1982, but didn't get tables until 10 years later in 1992. That year I honed my skills and got booked at various parties in the Dallas area including the famous Mainstreet warehouse parties and Aqua Lounge. I started going to the Hazy Daze parties including the famous Paper Loveparty. I started throwing parties in the Spring/Summer of1994 in a warehouse where me and 3 other people lived. We stopped in 1995 when I moved out."
In 1992 after the breakup of his fiancé Walter Jones started to get serious about music and production. "I bought a Prophet 2000 sampler and a used Roland 505 for very little money. I started to make very bad sampled track house." Over time he purchasef his first synth and in 1995 he acquired an ARP Odyssey and a Roland TR606 drum machine. As his collection of instruments grew Walter expanded his sound and created a nice home studio. "I was, and still am, learning about production techniques. I started getting into computers late in the game (1997) and dove right into computer music after resisting digital music and trying to stick with all analog."
The music
After years of musical direction and help from DJ Klas in Los Angeles, Walter finally started to market his music to various labels. In 2003 Westbound records released All God's Children with a killer Maurice Fulton re-mix which got a great write up in URB Magazine as "URB's Pick of the Month" for April 2003.
The follow up called the Fadeinn Moments EP was a little more personal and very eclectic as far as styles go. It received great feedback from such DJ's as Marcus Wyatt, Doc Martin, Danny Krivit and Francois K.
In 2005 Walter put out Ballad Of Johnny Velocity backed with a remix from Henrik Schwarz.
Fast forward to 2009 which saw the release of I'll Keep On Loving You on DFA plus I am Loved on Permanent Vacation (an ace 3 track alongside 6th Borough Project and Hunee).
2010 saw the release of Hot Contact on Under The Shade. The Utopiano Project followed in 2012 backed with a remix from Germany based Lauer.
Tracks Played:
Moodymann - Ulooklikeicecreaminthesummertome (KDJ)
Mr White - You Rock me (Alleviated)
Larry Heard - Missing You (Allevaited)
Ben Sun - Affirmation (Delusions Of Granduer)
Andy Hart/Francis - D2ME (Melbourne Deepcast)
Nikki-O - Music (White)
Martyn - What Is Room 101 (Dolly Dubs)
Cottam - Neurological Breakdown (Audio Parrallax)
Bicep - Mixxmaster 88 (Wolf)
Motorcity Drum Ensemble - Send A Prayer (MCDE)
Clayton Steele - Passion (No.19)
Damon - Feel It (Disco Bloodbath)
Mini-Mix DJ: Walter Merlin Jones:
Block Party feat. Maria Short - "Behind the Groove" (accalella/club mix) Soul Machine recs.
Presence - "Sense of Danger" (Attaboy rmx) Pagan recs.
Zero 7 - "Home" (Ben Watt rmx) Ultimate Dilemma recs.
Kamasutra - "Burnin'" (Baron's Vibes) Wildflower recs.
Johnny Fiasco megamix - "Fluid" Distant Music rec/"First Time" (sub mix) Viva rec/"Groove
On" (Deep and Groovy mix) Afterhours rec
Jark Prongo - "Helios" Fresh Fruit recs.
Solar - "Got it Good" DJ Promo
Pepper Mache - "Happiness" (Happy Dub) Azuli recs
Mystic Rythem (how it is spelled on the record) - "ShaDop" Peacefrog recs.
Fantom - "Faithful" on Sourcelab records.
Abicah Soul - "Abicah Soul" Wha? Roots recs.
Space Jam - "Stop" Guidance recs.
Jean Jacques Perry and Air - "Cosmic Bird" Sourcelab recs.
discogs.com/artist/Walter+Jones
residentadvisor.net/dj/walterjones
resistedresonance.com/info_jones.html
Live Show: Thursday 21st March 2013 (8-10pm)
Repeated: Sunday 24th March 2013 (6-8pm)
Preston FM
103.2fm
