What's your definition of turntablism?

Infamous: I guess the definition in my eyes is someone who tries to create their own music out of other people's music. Kinda like a sculptor, they take something and make it into something else.

So what have you guys been up to recently? I know you got the magazine Tablist out again.

Infamous: Yeah we got the magazine and the Beatdown as well. This is the third one now, and me personally I'm trying to step away from it all because I'm trying to concentrate on music right now, but J-Smoke and this guy Nick are handling it right now and they really got their shit together. The magazine is doing really well, the Beatdown is also doing great and we are just trying to keep it going. It seems the scene is dying a little bit, its not what it was in the late 90's, so we are just trying to maintain it and bring it back to what it was. Go back to the essence and the real heads are still around and will be so it should be all good.

So what have you been working on?

Infamous: I got this group called Numb, it's me and a singer and it's a rock based group, and I play guitar bass and drums in it. So we are doing that and its kinda been my main project for the last six months and I'm kinda trying to step away from turntablism. As much as you love something you got to let it go sometimes for a while.

Do you find that your training as a musician impacts on your turntablism and vice versa?
Infamous: It makes me wanna go back to it more, it makes me wanna go back to my tables and scratch more but with a whole different view on it. That's where its been at for me recently, turntablism is something so new and so futuristic, I wanted to go back to the past and learn everything I could about music, before I could even think about the future.

What are your thoughts on scratch notation and the way in which its trying to give people a language and push the artform further?

Infamous: I think its great. I saw Radar's and I think if anybody could make it work, Radar's might be the right way to do it because it is standard music notation, and everybody can understand it. A-Track has his as well which is more easy to understand from a DJ's point of view, so I think as of right now A-Track's is probably the best one to do it and if he can accomplish it the proper way then all the better. It could expand even more but if Radar was to pull his off flawlessly then I think the turntable could really be looked at as a real instrument.

And do you use any digital technology in your work, as I know Craze uses Final Scratch quite a lot...

Infamous: I use Final Scratch but more in the studio, I have really taken a break of doing shows cos' I wanted to record more lately, I think Final Scratch is a great tool, but you really have to use it the right way and then it really allows you to play your own stuff, which is what I think it's about, for me anyway. I'd rather go to a show and play my own stuff. If you are just downloading CDs off the net and putting on FS, then I think it's kinda lame. If you use it with an open mind then I think it can become a great tool.

And who would be your top 3 DJs?

Infamous: It would have to be... Of course Q-Bert, MixMasterMike, and then I think as a showman, Swamp. I think those three have really moulded something special. When I see them I'm like "damn!"

So you are not showcasing tonight then?

Infamous: No man, I'm hosting the Beatdown and I'm gonna announce my retirement from DJing for a while tonight, maybe I'll come back to it in a couple of years, but tonight is my retirement. I'm going into the more traditional stuff because I feel that I need to go back and find out what it was that I loved about DJing, and I think that by going into the past and finding what I love about music it will help me. (ed note: a very drunk seemingly forgot to announce his retirement on the night)

That sounds good man, best of luck with it. And where do you think or hope turntablism will be in the next 5 to 10 years?

Infamous: Well I hope it will be bigger then it was in the 90s you know, cos' in the late 90s things were blowing up and scratching was everywhere on TV and shit, and I don't think having scratching in commercials is a bad thing. If people can make a living out of what they enjoy doing, then all the better for you.

And do you agree with the argument that scratching has reached an artistic ceiling of some sort and it needs to have someone bring about another revolution in the way people like Cash Money and Q-Bert have done in the past, in order for it to stop stagnating?

Infamous: There needs to be somebody new, that comes through with some new stuff and really raise the bar again for everyone else. I think every generation has had that, if you look in the early 90's you had Q-Bert and the Piklz did it, and then you had Roc Raida and the X-Ecutioners, then the Beat Junkies came through and after that you had the Allies. I think right now, I wouldn't even say just DJing, I think music overall has got this retro thing happening, you listen to rock and it all sounds like the 70s, and you look at DJing and everybody is sounding like the mid 90s, I think somebody needs to come and wake everybody up, and say this is the future and you either jump on board and realise what is going on or just stagnate. And I hope it happens soon, but as of right now I don't know where it would come from but I would like to see it happen, because it feels like the passion for a lot of people is fading.

And lastly what would be your best competition memory?

Infamous: Ummmm, it would have to be the 99' ITF World team finals win we had. Cos I won it with three of my really good friends, J-Smoke, Develop and Klever. Winning something like that and being able to share the experience with three people you are really close to is way better then winning anything by yourself.

Thanks to Infamous for his time and also for keeping everyone at the Beatdown entertained while the technical glitches were holding up the show, he might have been pissed but he was damn funny. For more on him and the Allies check www.the-allies.com