88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: D-Ex and Iceman of Deep Krate Radio

Dannie Boyd

St. Louisians D-Ex and Furius “Iceman” Stylz, the award-winning DJs and hip-hop diehards behind Deep Krate Radio, have a combined 50-plus years of experience as DJs.

That isn’t including the other members of their respected collective of veteran DJs and producers in the Wax Murdaraz crew. Individually, D-Ex and Iceman have made their names primarily as battle DJs, showcasing their innovative turntable talents on regional and national stages. Despite their experience and accomplishments, the two remain humble devotees to the art form of DJing, both on-air at 88.1 KDHX, and all over St. Louis.

I had the pleasure of conducting the interview at the Wax Murdaraz HQ where the crew rehearses and runs a DJ school. The basement-turned-bat-cave is decorated as an encyclopedic shrine of action figures, posters, comic books and of course plenty of vinyl. The HQ even has a pinball machine.

Amidst the mass quantity of cultural relics, D-Ex and Iceman shared their thoughts on the “vinyl versus digital” DJ debate, the process of putting together a Deep Krate Radio show and their contentment with where they are professionally.

Kenji Yoshinobu: How did you guys hook up with KDHX?

D-Ex: Before we had Deep Krate Radio the first show I was hosting was a show called “Street Vibes.” That was G. Wizard’s show. He was going through some transitions with hosts on the show. At the time I was hosting a hip-hop video show backed by Double Helix, called “Fat Clips.” G-Wiz wanted me to host “Street Vibes,” but I turned him down. Not that I had a problem with his show — I loved his show! But it came on Friday nights, and for me it was more comfortable to sit back at the crib on a Friday. At the time I had to work early Saturday morning, at like 4 a.m., so I just wanted to kick back and enjoy the show. But push came to shove and I took him up on his offer.

So from ’95 to ’98 I did “Street Vibes.” G-Wiz semi-retired from radio DJing at that time, and DJ Alejan and myself started DJing on Street Vibes around ’97. Then we started “Da Science,” a radio show on 88.1, but then six months later we took it out of the studio and to Blueberry Hill and did that for maybe eight years. Then we came back to the station and continued “Da Science” for a while, then I brought in Iceman and we changed the name to “Deep Krate Radio.” That was 2007 and we’re still at it now.

How long have you guys been DJing?

Iceman: I’ve been DJing since like ’88.

D-Ex: I first started to teach myself to DJ in ’84. From that point on I was pretty much just in the crib getting my skills together recording. First time I DJed publicly was like ’89.

Dannie Boyd

You guys have pretty much seen hip-hop since its beginning. How has DJing changed since then?

Iceman: For the most part, I really don’t like the new DJ because the DJ used to mix. Nowadays the DJ just puts on a record and doesn’t mix it into another record. I used to go to the club and watch a DJ cut and mix and it created a certain vibe. These days DJs have got all the technology and they are just pressing buttons. You don’t even know what they are doing. It is just changing.

D-Ex: Part of the excitement was looking at the DJ and seeing what they were doing. It was cool to see how they would bring in a record and overlap it over another. They’d do little tricks with the crossfader. Just watching them made me want to learn how to do it. It is different now. You definitely have DJs, like Iceman said, that don’t do much. They bring their computer in and they might not even have turntables. They just are pressing buttons, looking like a mad scientist behind the computer, and music is just coming out.

It is probably harder for people to follow someone who might want to become a DJ and get a grasp on what is going on. We were always looking at hand movement, style, all of that. There are still a lot of DJs who use the new technology, but still get busy with the mixing. But Iceman and I use the technology on the radio too. All the digital formats. But we are also using our analog skills.

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Posted by | January 11, 2012 | Interviews, KDHX | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Pat Wolfe of Interstate

Pat Wolfe of Interstate at KDHX

Sara Finke

Pat Wolfe hosts the Interstate every Friday, 10 a.m.-noon Central on 88.1 KDHX. His specialty is Americana music ranging from alt-country, traditional country, bluegrass, folk and rock ‘n’ roll.

I had a chance to sit down with Pat at KDHX a few weeks ago to learn about his passion for music and his long tenure at KDHX as a volunteer DJ.

James Kaegel: This seems like a conversation between two old friends, because I’ve been listening to your show for quite a while. Does that seem odd to run into people that act like they know you because they listen to you on the radio?

Pat Wolfe: People say all the time, “I’ve been listening to you for three years and I’ve never called before, but I just wanna tell you that you do a great job” and it’s like, wow, there’s a lot of people out there. I get a lot of phone calls on the show every week. I want people to call in and request music because I end up learning a lot from the listeners. People have turned me on to a lot of different artists that I wasn’t really aware of or I didn’t pay enough attention to. I knew they were out there, but the listener tells me, “No, you gotta listen to the song on this album,” and then it’s like “Wow, you’re right.” It’s a shared experience. I love it. It’s great.

How much of your show is prepared and how much of it is based on feedback and interaction with the listeners?

If someone requests something and it’s something I have that I didn’t bring that week, I’ll make a note and make sure that’s one of the first things I pull from home to bring in next week. I usually bring enough to do a complete show if nobody calls, but that usually only happens a couple of times a year — if my show happens to fall on a holiday. When I first started, I would plan it out. I would actually plan sets and specific songs I was gonna play. Sometimes I would print out a playlist, but as things evolved I kinda chucked that out the window because it was just too hard to follow a set script. So now I just kinda go through the music at the house and pick things out. It’s just random, and when I get here and start the first CD, it just kinda goes from there. I never really know what I’m going to wind up playing from week to week because a lot of people call in and ask for music. It’s probably half my library and half the station’s library.

Do you have a sizable music collection?

Yeah, I probably still have about 400 vinyl albums. I used to have a lot more, but over the years I’ve sold some and traded some for different music I was trying to pick up. Nowadays I download from sites like iTunes or eMusic. It’s really convenient. I can find a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t be able to find in a normal record store.

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Posted by | December 6, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Kate of Beep Beep Boop Boop

Photo by Sara Finke

Overflowing with cheerful energy, KDHX DJ Kate constructs each episode of Beep Beep Boop Boop (every Wednesday night, 9-11 p.m. Central) with exceptional precision and the goal of sharing something unexpected with listeners. 

A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to sit down with Kate at the KDHX studio and talk with her about St. Louis’ amazing local DJs, her love for and vast knowledge of music and the critics of the electronic music genre.

Jessica Lackey: How did you become interested in music?

Kate: Pretty much from my family. We have a lot of music in our background, and actually where I went to college in the Quad Cities goes back to my great uncle playing in this Dixieland jazz festival — the first ever Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Memorial Festival — as a drummer, and so my family has always been very musical. Our big joke from growing up is my mom blasting whatever her favorite songs were from the radio at night, and we would be going home from dinner and then in the morning, her freaking herself out because she left the car on too loud because she was singing along to Wham! or whatever. 

Is that what she kind of listened to, Wham!?

She liked pop music. My mom and my dad were divorced when I was younger, and they like pretty different styles of music. My dad really liked older stuff. He liked ’60s and ’70s rock a lot more than the ’80s that I was growing up in, and my mom was more latched on to pop. Not necessarily dance or club music like we know it but sort of pop and dance music. 

Some of the stuff I remember hearing around the house with her, we’d go from eight tracks of Barry Manilow and the Bee Gees to a little bit later stuff like Erasure and Pet Shop Boys and Wham!. I will listen to songs when I am getting ready for my show and I’m like, “Oh my God, that sounds just like, you know, early Wham!, like George Michael dance pop stuff.” It definitely creeps back in to the music that I enjoy. 

It sounds like it definitely influenced the music that you are interested in today. 

Yeah, and we all liked different kinds of music. I played the piano from the second grade all the way through college. I was a music major in college and that was my main instrument. I played the flute from seventh grade into college as well. I sang in a few choirs and took voice lessons and stuff, so I really had, and still do have, an affinity for classical music and jazz. And some more regular genres like rock and indie rock and hip hop and stuff like that. 

So it’s far spanning. 

Yeah, people will say, “So you must really just like techno,” and I’m like, “Well, actually techno is a sub genre of electronic music, but I like all this other stuff too,” and it’s funny because I think people will say, “Oh that’s what I have to talk to you about,” and it’s like, “No.” [Laughs]

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Posted by | November 16, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Sunny Boy Mason of Howzit Bayou?

Dannie Boyd

“St. Louis and New Orleans have been linked forever,” says Mark “Sunny Boy” Mason. Every Tuesday afternoon, 4-7 p.m. Central, he proves it, bringing a Mardi Gras of music to the airwaves with his 88.1 KDHX show Howzit Bayou?

Sunny Boy has been a member of the 88.1 KDHX family for over 17 years and counting. He first joined as a volunteer in 1993, and years later he grew into an on-air personality and gained his own time slot. With Howzit Bayou? he features a variety of Louisiana-flavored tunes that include cajun, zydeco, blues, jazz and a whole lot more. When not on the air, he can be heard performing with the roots music band Sins of the Pioneers.

In mid October, when the fall leaves were just starting to ripen, I had a chance to chat with the St. Louis native. We met at MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse on the corner of Grand and Arsenal, not too far from KDHX’s Magnolia Avenue Studios. This gathering was far from formal given all of Mason’s jokes and wisecracks. In this interview he shares his background with KDHX and a brief history lesson on Louisiana’s music and culture.

Dannie Boyd: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Sunny Boy Mason: I grew up in north county, Florissant. I was born up there. My family is from there too. I grew up in a musical household. My dad was a traditional jazz musician, and still is, so there was always that kind of music around. From the time I was born we were always exposed to New Orleans things. Louis Armstrong was like the patriot saint of our household. That kind of thing. It’s something that’s always been around. I’ve always been well connected to that stuff and it carried on into adulthood. I took it into the KDHX world too.

How did you get started in music and DJing?

Like most people there [at KDHX]. I was just a fan of the station years before that. I listened to it and decided to become a volunteer at a pledge drive back in 1993. I did volunteer work, answering phones, working in the mail room. I use to be there almost every day. I was annoying (laughs). I was there all the time, it was a cool thing. I made a lot of good friends. I started learning the ropes, the technical ropes and what not, which were a lot different then than they are now.

I guess about a year later I got a show of my own on Saturday mornings. I did that for about five years. It was like a variety show kind of thing. Tuesdays, the same time slot that I’m doing now, was held down by Al Boudreaux. He did a Louisiana/New Orleans music show for, I’m not sure how many years. Maybe a few years. He retired early and moved back down home and so I kind of inherited his time slot. I became the New Orleans guy, the Louisiana guy. It was an interest of mine anyway.

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Posted by | November 7, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX, Music | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Chris Bay of Gold Soundz

KDHX DJ Chris Bay

Photo by Roy Kasten

Gold Soundz may be a reference to the Pavement song of the same name but Chris Bay’s show on Fridays 7-9 p.m. Central reaches beyond to the indie pop rock songs that make you feel good and keep you coming back for more.

Ranging from the freshest indie rock to everyone’s favorite songs from the last couple decades, Gold Soundz places more emphasis on how a song makes you feel rather than how pristine the production is or the hype swelling around it. This last week Chris and I met at Foam in the Cherokee District to discuss the perfect pop rock song, staying up all night on the air, J Mascis’ shoes and ’90s rock favorites best kept a secret.

Joe Roberts: What was the genesis of your show Gold Soundz?

Chris Bay: I had been volunteering at KDHX for several years. And at some point I got really interested in doing something more than the normal volunteer stuff like answering phones and going to events. There were some audio production classes you can take that Andy Coco teaches. I took a couple of those. [The classes] allow you to decide what you want to do. Like in studio engineering with live bands in the studio or more production based work with PSAs, band spotlights and stuff like that.

I was interested in doing some in studio engineering, but I also mentioned at some point I’d like to put in an application for a radio show, and Andy Coco said, “Let’s just do it now, it’ll be a good way for you to learn all this stuff.” So I did it. And three months later, which is way sooner than to be expected … I mean, there’s been people who’ve been on that list for years, and not because they don’t deserve it, but because if a weeknight spot opens up [KDHX is] not going to put a bluegrass show there because of how scheduling is. So they offered me a spot at 3 a.m. 3 a.m. is tough, but I’ll try it. I don’t know. I’m a morning person! I don’t have any kids! I can be sleep deprived one day a week! And also I got to ease into it. When you don’t expect anyone to be listening, you can get used to things and not worry about screwing up.

So 3 a.m. was a good place to start?

It was awesome. I loved it. [Long pause] I never really want to do the 3 a.m. slot again. [Laughs] But I was totally happy to do it, because I love the show and love playing music for people.

Did the show start out as Gold Soundz? How long has it been on the air?

Yeah. The show itself is a little over a year old. I did the 3 a.m. slot from last July until April. So I’ve been on Fridays since April. So yeah, it’s still a new show.

Has this been your first DJ or radio experience?

Yeah. For sure. I’ve always done music in various ways, but this was my first experience with radio production.

With such a concentration of music lovers at KDHX, do all the DJs at the station know each other?

It depends. There are a lot of DJs that go to a lot of shows. I go to a lot of shows. Maybe on average two or three a week. There are a lot of DJs I know just because we go to the same shows. There are a lot of DJs I know because we have the same interest. And then there’s people you just meet, like Rich Reese, whose show was right after mine when I had the 3 a.m. slot. There was a minimal overlap between our shows, but it was enough to have a conversation about… . But there are a lot of DJs I’ve never met before.

I have to ask about the name Gold Soundz. Is that a reference to the Pavement song of the same name?

It is! Yeah, it’s a direct reference. It’s kind of weird since Pavement’s had this resurgence lately. So this band that was fairly obscure in the ’90s is now much more mainstream and getting a lot of attention. It has a bit of a different context. And I love Pavement. I’m not a fan boy or anything. But I think it’s more about the song “Gold Soundz.” The song is a perfect pop rock song. Everything about it is absolutely perfect. And that type of song and type of ethos that the song carries with it, the chorus of that song frames the kind of music I want to play. “Gold Soundz” is meant to embody beautiful, golden pop songs. No hype surrounding the music. No quirky instrumentation. Nothing overly dramatic. It’s just about the song and the music and feeling good about that song. That’s what the song means to me anyway. And the name also implies that. It’s just a beautiful pair of words that also happen to be a great name for a radio show.

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Posted by | October 14, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Chris Lawyer of Hip City

Sara Finke

For the last three years, Chris Lawyer has been the host of Hip City on 88.1 KDHX, each Wednesday, 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Central. Every show is an opportunity to get schooled on some of the best and lesser-known gems of ’60s, ’70s and current funk and soul music, with the occasional cut of hip-hop thrown in for good measure.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lawyer over some soda pops at Shameless Grounds to discuss the origins of his show, some of his favorite aspects of music and how the media has always dumbed down James Brown.

Kenji Yoshinobu: Have you lived here your whole life?

Chris Lawyer: Yeah. I was born, raised and educated in St. Louis. I went to college at St. Louis University. Moved to Chicago for a while and did some acting, but I came back.

What do you do professionally?

I’m an actor when I can find the work, but here you’ve got to have a day job also. I paint houses when I’m not acting.

How did you get involved with KDHX?

I was working in construction, so I was listening to the radio like eight hours a day. I listened for a long time. Eventually I started working for myself so I had a lot more flexibility schedule-wise, and I decided to help answer phones during one of the membership drives. I did that for several years and then they asked me to be a supervisor. I took the training so I could sub for people on other shows. And three years ago when they made some scheduling changes, they offered me a slot.

What is the origin of your show’s name?

It is actually a song by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, a Motown band. I’d always loved Junior Walker and the name just fit.

How did you get into funk and soul music?

I was raised on classic rock and also the oldies in my mom’s car. In my dad’s car it was classical. I also had an affinity for rhythm and blues and early rock ‘n’ roll. But when “The Blues Brothers” movie came out, I was about 11 or 12 years old and I remember wondering what they were listening to. I saw they had a Sam & Dave eight-track in their car and I thought, “I gotta get that.” I started picking up on stuff they were listening to along with what I had heard on the radio and just kind of kept going from there.

Do you shop for records often?

I don’t know about often. The economics of the times have conspired against me buying lots of things. But buying used records is certainly inexpensive. I actually have a lot of success at the library. KDHX, with all the music coming in there, is a great resource. And it’s nice to have people who look out for you, like our music director, Nick Acquisto. When something comes in that he thinks will fit my show he points me to it. There are a few other DJs who do the same kind of thing. Kate [host of Beep Beep Boop Boop] and Valis [host of Trip Inside This House] have turned me on to a few new things. It’s a nice musical community here at KDHX where we’re sharing with each other and there’s this sort of cross-pollination between genres.

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Posted by | October 4, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX | 1 Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: bobEE Sweet of Uncontrollable Urge

bobEE Sweet at KDHX

Roy Kasten

A native of St. Louis, bobEE Sweet has been broadcasting on 88.1 KDHX for a decade. His current show, Uncontrollable Urge, has been on air since 2006, and its host plans to keep on rocking for many more years. In this interview, we discuss the history of his show, his connection to KDHX and his life in St. Louis.

To hear more from bobbEE, listen to Uncontrollable Urge on 88.1 KDHX on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon Central.

Becky Chanis: Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell me when you first came to KDHX and what brought you to the station?

bobEE Sweet: Well, way back in the late ‘80s when they were first doing some of the planning work for it, I was in high school and this guy I know’s dad was involved with the station. So we went out and dug around with the transmitter a couple time and did some grunt work a few days.

Then I went off to school and came back, and just was a regular listener, a member, and worked the phone drive and membership drive for several years. 2001 was when I started doing — they were calling it the Morning Show at the time, and there was a guy named Roy St. John, who had been doing it five days a week. He had stopped doing [his show] and so the programming committee at the time was like, “Well let’s make it more like the rest of the week and the rest of the days, where every show is different and its not the same person.”

They were trying to do teams, and so me and this woman Mary Kay — we didn’t know each other — we got put together, and we did a show together for four or five years. I think five years, we did it together. It went from being called the Morning Show to When the Levee Breaks, and then shifted times by an hour here or there. We were mostly on from 6 to 8 in the morning. And then I think it was ’06 when I started doing this show, Uncontrollable Urge. That first started from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, and then it got move to where I am now, 10 to noon.

So what made you want to do your own show?

We were always kind of friendly knocking heads over what we wanted to do, or running out of time, or we each wanted more time for more music. And I think that the programming committee also realized that our tastes were different enough that it made sense to have two different shows than to have one.

I listened to your show and it seems to be this very eclectic mix of a lot of different genres and a lot of different time periods. How would you characterize your show?

I don’t know. (Laughs) I knew you were going to ask me something like that. I usually tell people it’s mostly a rock show with elements of some folk and country, and I lean towards punk and some poppy-er stuff and psychedelic stuff.

How’d you come up with the title?

Well, it’s the name of a Devo song. I kind of wanted [the show title] to be a song title. I was originally on after Afternoon Delight and I was on before the Big Bang. [I decided to] carry on the sexual innuendo thing, after an afternoon delight, you get an uncontrollable urge and then you have a big bang. I was coming up with names independent of that idea, but it also just worked.

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Posted by | September 2, 2011 | Interviews, KDHX | Comment 

Concert review: Sleepy Kitty wakes up Thursdays at the Intersection, Thursday, August 18

Sleepy Kitty at Thursdays at the Intersection, August 18, 2011

Nate Burrell

If there was ever a band perfectly suited to set the mood for a night of (slightly off-kilter) Hitchcockian suspense, punctuated with romantic intrigue, it may just be Sleepy Kitty.

The mild weather and bustling city setting also worked to set a properly dynamic mood. Really it is not hard to get drawn into the intoxicating pull of impeccably-crafted cinema showcasing impossibly beautiful people in gorgeous clothes running around the French Riviera. Sleepy Kitty is adept at harnessing and refashioning the retro chic aesthetic cultivated by pop musicians of the ’50s and ’60s. Although Hitchcock’s films aren’t normally thrown in with the pop scene, the auteur paired well with the duo’s catchy yet knowingly twisted pop punk revisions.

Paige Brubeck and Evan Sult played a lively mix of original tunes as well as wide ranging covers of everything from Pavement to the Beatles. Brubeck’s typically amazing voice work was highlighted on the bands hypnotic take on the classic “Summertime.” Deconstructing the Beatle’s peppy “I Saw Her Standing There” yielded a sultry, trippy but still danceable number the band calls “Seventeen.” Sleepy Kitty closed with a couple of lovely tunes from their latest album, “Infinity City.” It seemed that the crowd would have been happy to listen to the whole album; such was the atmosphere of conviviality developed over the course of two sets with Sleepy Kitty.

Grand center offered a relaxed venue to spend a summer night outside soaking in some culture, especially with the Fox and other majestic buildings looking on benevolently. Even if you don’t live anywhere near that area it felt like a small neighborhood gathering — if only for those few hours.

KDHX is a proud presenter of Thursdays at the Intersection. Join us for the finale on August 25, with Miss Jubilee and the Humdingers, followed by a screening of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Posted by | August 19, 2011 | Concerts, KDHX | Comment 

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