Interviewer/Editor: Alex Rose

Behind the groove are deeply HUMBLED to be working with house music heavyweight royalty, victor simonelli and spent some time GETTING BEHIND THE GROOVE with the great man for an in depth interview, before WE SET ABOUT releasing A two part collectors edition vinyl project dropping spring 2023, featuring some of his finest early work. . .

Interview Below…

Listen (above), or read the full Victor Simonelli interview (below) - View on desktop/laptop for optimal experience!!

BTG: I am deeply humbled and filled with gratitude to be speaking with undisputed house music royalty, Mr. Victor Simonelli today. Welcome along, Victor.

VS: Hi, it's great to be speaking with you.

BTG: We are here, ultimately, to get behind the groove and pay tribute to a real golden era of incredible music, where you played a significant role, especially the focus around the early '90s, and I'm really keen for us to get there. But before we do, let's just maybe get a little brief introduction of who you are from yourself, please.

VS: Yes, well, my name is Victor Simonelli. I'm born in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up most of my life in New York. I'm in New York right now. That's pretty much basics.

BTG: Fantastic. Well, look, before we dive into this period in time I'm so keen to talk to you about, we really, really got to dig a little bit into what led you to that point, even in the early '90s. So perhaps you could step a little bit back in time for us, take us back to some of your early experiences. I know that you grew up in Brooklyn in a household where you had access to your father's vast record collection of world music, jazz, blues, electro, disco, rock, soul. Tell us a little bit about those early days and the kind of role your dad's and the music collection that you had played in your life.

VS: Yes, well, my dad has a very large record collection, and all types of music. Some of my earliest memories are of going through his collection, from Jimi Hendrix to early electronic groups like Silver Apples or Kraftwerk's first two albums to jazz, he was into Modern Jazz Quartet, Herbie Mann, some examples. Or even rock in the '70s was great, stuff like Boston, Peter Frampton. Gospel... He had classical albums, such as Beethoven, Mozart, and disco. Going through his collection, it was mostly albums with covers, credits.

But when I first discovered the first 12-inch in his collection, it really stood out to me because it was so simple. It didn't have a cover. It didn't have much to it except for the record and the simple sleeve. Yeah, and that first 12-inch that I touched in his collection was Dance and Shake Your Tambourine, which was by The Universal Robot Band, and it was a Patrick Adams production.

Anything that he would play for me, he would act it out, as if he was almost performing it. And the emotion in that... He put a lot of emotion into that. And it was almost like a private mini half-imaginary concert for me, because I'm seeing the emotion and all that goes into feeling it.

BTG: Wow, super-immersive, so really trying to give you the overall experience of listening to music, right?

VS: Totally, totally. And after he'd play a tune for me, he'd ask me how it made me feel and what I thought of the lyrics, what it meant to me. What instruments did I hear? What did I like about it? What did I dislike about it? Do I understand some of the slangs or some of the deeper meaning to it? And just got me thinking. It really got me thinking. It was not just listening. It was an experience.

BTG: It's really breaking things down and giving you that full exposure to the world of music.

VS: Yes, it was really going in deep into it.

BTG: And also, through this time, you were encouraged to take up lessons in piano, drums, guitar, bass. Is that right?

VS: Yeah, well, that right there, that covers from the time I was maybe five, or four, five, six, until the time I was sixteen. But it all started, I guess, with piano. I took guitar, I took voice, bass. Also, for a short time, I tried drums.

BTG: Sure, and so this is all Brooklyn time. And as your musical tastes develop and you're getting into different styles of music, you had to move west in the US. Is that right?

VS: That's right, yeah. So my dad worked for the government, and we were moved out west in the US. Out west is, well, where we were, it was much different than New York. So, musically speaking, I felt a real void because, remember, this is long before internet. By that particular time, by the time we'd moved out west, I had already really gotten very interested in disco and clubs and that whole scene. Even though I wasn't old enough to go out yet, the music was really... I was very interested in it. So my friends from my block in Brooklyn, specifically my friend John and Joey's brother, he would send me cassettes of the radio shows in New York and-

BTG: So that was home to Brooklyn for you, mentally.

VS: Yeah, mentally, mentally. And having missing that music in my life, I realized what it was to miss it. So I became that much more interested in clubbing and disco and that whole scene. And at the same time, my dad would get dance halls and throw parties for children. It was like... I guess you'd call it a teen disco night. And that's really where I saw... It's really my first experience seeing a DJ at work, being my dad.

BTG: Yeah, wow, talk about inspiration, right?

VS: Totally, total inspiration. And there's occasions when he'd just leave me there on the decks. And, yeah, it was a good experience for me.

BTG: That's fantastic. So you've got cassettes being posted to you from Brooklyn, and you're traveling back to Brooklyn to record more mix shows. Is that right?

VS: That's right. So, yeah, so when I wasn't going to school during that time, I would come back to New York, because aside from my parents and my sister and myself, all my family was in New York still, my grandparents, cousins. So in that period of my life was from about '80 to '85. And then I finished high school and moved back to New York in 1986. That's when I started the Center for Media Arts.

BTG: Yeah, I see. And just before we get to that point, there's some really interesting stories you were telling about this huge collection of mixtapes and the Master Mix shows from some of the stations. Can you tell us a bit about that?

VS: So mixing back then, especially early '80s, it wasn't just simply on the decks. It involves the editing too. And it was... Yeah, to hear those mixes was mind-blowing to hear, because you'd hear many, many songs in a short amount of time. So, for example, in 15 minutes you might hear bits from, I don't know, a good hundred tunes.

And I couldn't figure out how that was done. I didn't understand how that was being done, but I definitely enjoyed it. Between all the ones that I would record... So in that span of time, when I was coming back to New York for summers and holidays, I was recording the whole time, even when the planes were landing. I don't know if it was legal to. I was doing it. I always would have my box with me. I'd sleep with my box next to my bed, and when the cassette would pop on the A-side, I'd flip it over to keep recording. So I have... Yeah, I have hundreds of cassettes from that time. And they mean so much. I mean, the music means so much.

I mean, early '80s, guys like Aldo Marin, yeah, and the Dynamic Duo was Tommy Musto and Tommy Sozzi, or then there came the Latin Rascals or Jose Animal Diaz, Shep Pettibone, Ted Currier, there was so many doing these kind of mixes. Timmy Regisford and Boyd Jarvis were another duo. And what was special about their mix show was Timmy would play records and Boyd would be playing the keys. I think there were even cases when they had a drum machine going on on the show. At least that's what it sounded like. And Boyd would jam with that.

But these were all stations that actually brought club music, dance music, at the time, to the airwaves. And this is before internet, remember. To us, who were tuning in, I mean, gosh, it was beautiful. You'd go to the beach in Brooklyn, from one end of the beach to the other, everyone would have the same station on their box. So it was like a party on the beach.

BTG: There's one other thing I was really interested to ask you about. What did I read something, somewhere about your mother had a friend with a small club, was closing down and somehow managed to acquire a record collection from there before it closed. Does that sound familiar?

VS: Yes, it does. That's a great point you made. So probably when I was about 16 or so, there was a club that was closing, and he wanted to sell the collection. So my mom offered to buy it. He gave us a good price, and my mom was generous enough to... She actually got me that collection. And I still have-

BTG: How amazing!

VS: Yeah, I still have the collection, and I still haven't fully gone through it. That's how many records there were in it.

BTG: Oh, wow. I'm coming to New York, man. I'm going to need to look through that collection. Sounds incredible!

BTG: By the end of high school time, you became really interested in not only to DJ-ing and buying and listening to music, but in production itself. And you ended up getting a job or some sort of internship at Shakedown, is that right? Shakedown Studios, which is Arthur Baker's legendary institution. What an incredible opportunity. Can you tell us a bit about that time?

VS: Right, right. So when I had come back to New York after graduating high school and going to Center for Media Arts... The Center for Media Arts was on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue, and I had gone there for the audio engineering course. And when I graduated from there, in March 1987, I immediately went to Shakedown to apply for an internship.

As I was going to school, though, at Center for Media Arts, I was acting as a tape operator at a studio in Jersey named Spectrum. But I was a tape operator at that studio. When I went to the interview at Shakedown, he said, "Unfortunately, we don't need anyone right now," after he interviewed me. He said, "But keep in touch. Maybe an opening will... Maybe something will become available soon. Stay in touch. Stay in touch."

I called every week, probably. I called several times every week, from the rest of March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November. Finally, in December, finally in December, probably early December 1987, they answered the phone and they said, "Yes, we have an opening. Come on in."

BTG: That's fantastic.

VS: They finally said, "Yes, we have an opening." In regards to going to Shakedown, in December '87, so I went in immediately when they said, "We have an opening," got on the train, and in my mind I'm thinking, "Wow, I've got it. I can't wait to get in the studio." But when I got there that day, I really didn't even get in the front door because Arthur, who was the owner, he met me at the front door, in so many words said, "Okay, come with me. You're going to help me move house."

BTG: Haha! Welcome to the music industry!

VS: Haha, yes! I think we just went to his apartment, which was right down the block at the time.

BTG: I love this.

VS: We packed up the van and we drove up to Woodstock. I don't know if you know where Woodstock is, but it's Upstate New York.

We moved a bunch of his stuff up to Woodstock, because he was getting rid of the apartment that was down in. So yeah, that was my first day on the job.

BTG: Wow, Arthur Baker, quite a character, right? So really interesting first day on the job for you there then. And Shakedown itself was a breeding ground for cutting-edge... Arthur Baker well-attributed to a lot of electro music of the time, Afrika Bambaataa, also working with New Order. There's lots and lots and lots in there. And I understand that through the time with Shakedown, there was people like Danny Krivit, Benji Candelario, Junior Vasquez, also working or affiliated around that time as well. Tell us a bit about that kind of experience working there at Shakedown then.

VS: Right, yeah, so all of the above worked at Shakedown. It was really the hottest studio at the time, everyone was working there. So it was a great place to intern and a great place to learn from the best during that time. So I mentioned my first day on the job. And this is just an internship, so basically that's another way of saying just work for free. Work for the experience.

I was hoping to get some studio experience right from the start, but it took some time. But second, third, fourth, fifth days on the job, yeah, I had to go on runs, pick up orders for people, make the coffee, clean up. And I aligned machines, tape machines, and had to clean the desk. But I got to assist on sessions with Junior Vasquez.

That first session with Junior was when he was mixing, I think it was, yeah, it's called Bustin' Out. I remember that first session. And then I finally met Tony, Latin Rascals, in person, because it was when they were recording Arabian Nights. And I assisted on that session. Those are two sessions I remember. Well, you mentioned Danny Krivit, Robert-

BTG: Yeah, I actually interviewed Benji Candelario, probably six months or so ago. And he was talking a lot about working with Aldo. And he didn't really talk very much about Shakedown, actually, but it's incredible to hear that you guys were working together there at Shakedown. That's amazing.

VS: Yes, yes, well, Aldo had a studio uptown, and he also, his brother and himself, had a record store uptown. And I know Benji was from up in that area. But Aldo and Benji, they would often come to Shakedown as well. Interning at Shakedown, it went from interning, slowly and slowly but surely, it went into editing. And editing is the magical process of... That's how those mixes that were created, that I was mentioning earlier on in our conversation, was with editing.

So when I discovered editing in the Center for Media Arts, a whole light went on in my head of how much could be done with it. And I eventually worked up to the resident editor at Shakedown, if you will.

Before I was able to land that position, I interned there for a good while. And other people that were editing for him were Benji or Aldo or Gail Sky King or Junior Vasquez.

But on one particular day, Tim gave me a gig to edit for a team called The Garvin Brothers. That was probably my first editing gig at Shakedown. And then the first one that Arthur gave me was for an artist named Will Downing.

BTG: Yeah, I'd read this somewhere in some credits to you that you were editing for Will Downing, Talking Heads, Quincy Jones, David Bowie, lots there, Will Downing was one of the first there right?

VS: Yeah. And all of the ones you just mentioned, those all came from Arthur. So after Will Downing, he gave me the editing job, because I was putting it in his ear that that's what I wanted to do. I couldn't hold my tongue, and I'd say, "I'm happy to be assisting and interning and doing what needs to be done, but I would just love to be able to edit some projects."

And finally, one day, he just said, "Look, no one's available to come in today. I can't get Gail, Junior's not available, and et cetera, et cetera. These aren't available to come in and edit for me today. You want to give it a shot?" I said, "I'd love to give it a shot."

BTG: Wow.

VS: And after I did that, he was so satisfied with it that he started to give me everything and anything he was mixing. He would never ask me, "Are you tired? You want to go home?" I basically, from that point forward, I basically lived at Shakedown. I would stay months and weeks on end, not leaving. I would sleep on... I don't know if you know what Sonics (soundproofing) is?… but-

BTG: The soundproofing you put on the walls?

VS: Yeah, so there was this spare room. When I got tired, maybe I'd go in the spare room, lay on the Sonics, and fall out.

BTG: Haha, careful what you wish for, man… So you end up living at Shakedown?

VS: Basically, yeah. And he'd give me a stack of tapes. And they would involve all different mixdowns that he would do, and he would say, "I need you to create a club mix out of these versions."

So what that involved was listening down to all of them, firstly, and taking notes on what each version consisted of, what elements were in each version and-

BTG: So this is no small task.

VS: It wasn't. It wasn't. And it was school of a sort. You know?

BTG: Yeah, yeah. Amazing.

VS: Rather than just keeping me in the edit room, Arthur would ask me to come up into the A-room where he was mixing, eventually. And he started to bring me into his mix sessions and ask me what pieces I would like for editing. So I was able to start making suggestions. And it's from there I started to get more into the mixing room, hands-on in the mixing room.

And simultaneously, as this was going on, Lenny worked at a studio down the street, prior to Shakedown. He worked at a studio owned by Nile Rodgers, named Skyline.

BTG: Right, this is Lenny Dee, right?

VS: Lenny Dee, yeah, Lenny Dee worked at a studio down the street named Skyline. He had interned at Skyline, and when he got to Shakedown, he had already... Because he worked at 4th Floor and Nu Groove as well as-

BTG: Wow, yes. That's right.

VS: He did something with Tommy Musto around that time titled Fallout, and Bamboo. And yeah, he did some really nice early house production.

BTG: Fallout did... Morning After was one of their-

VS: Yep. That's him.

BTG: ...incredible tracks on 4th Floor.

VS: Yep.

BTG: Lenny Dee and Tommy Musto, right?

VS: Right. Right. When Lenny and I got together at Shakedown, Arthur saw us really vibing, and he put us together. And Arthur had already done a record titled We've Got to Come Together by the Brooklyn Funk Essentials. And then he put us together as a remix team. Well, not necessarily put us together, but encourage us to work more together, and said, "Why don't you guys just go with the name Brooklyn Funk Essentials? You're both from Brooklyn."

And yeah, we liked that idea. We liked that. And we did a track for him titled Change the Track and ... It was like a hip-house kind of thing, where it had a rapper involved. During the time of encouraging us to get together on production, we did a whole album's worth of material, at least seven or eight tracks, well, between six and eight tracks.

Yeah, and Lenny and I started remixing as The Brooklyn Funk Essentials. So when Lenny and I were working at Shakedown, he brought me over then to Nu Groove and 4th Floor. They shared the same office right around the block. He took me there, and then that's where I met Tommy Musto and Frank Mendez and Silvio Tancredi. And I started to do some productions with Lenny there. Peter Daou would work there. Bobby Konders was working there, the Burrell Brothers. I met all them. That was a whole nother of talent that was doing their thing over there.

And I started to do some productions for Nu Groove and 4th Floor, to be released on those labels. By '90, Shakedown had already closed, and Lenny and I had been remixing and producing as a team, as The Brooklyn Funk Essentials, for a good couple of years. And Lenny had sort of gone his own way musically, and I started to find a way of my own as well.

About '91, I did a record titled I Want You to Know by Groove Committee. That was released on Nu Groove. And that really, that was a game-changer for me, because I hadn't got anyone calling me up at that point. I didn't get DJs calling me. But with that record, really, the phone was off the hook with calls. That was a Nu Groove release. That was probably the first record that I had made that people, they went out of their way to contact me to find out more.

When I made I Want You to Know, Todd was one of the first to call me. Todd had Freeze at the time. Now Todd contacted me, and he said, "Vic, we got something there. My advice is, when it's working like that to do it again. Just-"

BTG: Stick with it!

VS: Right, you'd stick with that!

BTG: Todd, famously, known for this, especially through the early days. He turned out so much music, all in a very similar style, similar vein, right?

VS: Definitely, absolutely, and were great at it, great at it. And so I thought that was really great advice. And that's exactly what I did. And after that I had made Dirty Games. Groove Committee, we made...

BTG: Wanna Be With You? Is this around the same time, '92?

VS: Yeah, that's around the same time, Wanna Be With You, that came out on Emotive. Was that Instant Exposure?

BTG: Yep, Instant Exposure.

VS: And then Feels So Right by Solution.

BTG: Yeah, Solution, that was a year or so later, again, but yes, exactly that, yep, Feels So Right.

VS: All around that time. And Arthur and I had done one titled Why Can't We See by Blind Truth. That came out on Minimal. That's one of the-

BTG: I love this, because there's two or three releases already that you're talking about, which I'm not familiar with. And some of the questions I've got for you, to come later on, were around the aliases and AKAs. I'm still coming across tracks that have your name against it and are under aliases I didn't even know about still to this day. So this is amazing. This is gold for me.

VS: I think aliases are a great thing. Going back to that first 12-inch I ever touched, which was Dance and Shake Your Tambourine by The Universal Robot Band, Patrick Adams is a great example of aliases.

BTG: Yeah, absolutely.

VS: And it's just I know how I felt as a DJ and just a lover of music of finding his productions under different aliases.

BTG: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, this is the absolute core of speaking to you, for me, is I would find out time after time after time that I would track down a track I'd heard on a DJ mixtape somewhere through the mid '90s, and again and again, I'd find your name was on it. And it was like the most satisfying game of cat and mouse ever. I'm still playing that game to this day. I'm still playing it haha!

VS: Wow, well, what you just described is the way that I felt when finding the same from other producers under different aliases.

BTG: This is what it's all about, right?

VS: Totally.

BTG: This is the mystery of the scene in the early days. It's just incredible.

VS: It gives a whole... I mean, besides the satisfaction of finding out that someone that you already really are into did it, it renews your love for them.

BTG: I cannot tell you the amount of times where I've come across a track, and I've known the track for a long time, and then I finally find out it's one of yours. And I'm standing with a friend, and I'm like, "Oh, right, yeah. It's another Victor Simonelli track. It's another Victor Simonelli alias." It's Instant Exposure or it's, I don't know, Groove Committee or it's Street Players, or it's Inner Faith or NY's Finest, all these names. It's incredible haha!

VS: So thanks very much. Thank you. No, I appreciate that.

Did it all for love

BTG: So yeah, I mean, we're talking about some really interesting stuff about the aliases there. I've got my hand on a pile of vinyl that, to the unknowing eye, looks like it could be from a bunch of different producers, but it's Victor Simonelli stuff. One of the first tracks I would love to ask you about was Ez-Al, Did It All For Love, Victor & Glenn's Dub.

VS: Well, thank you very much. Yeah, it's actually pronounced E-Z Al.

BTG: E-Z Al, there we go. Okay, thank you for the correction. This track has played an instrumental role in my love of real deep, soulful, incredibly vibed-out house music. And this is 1991. Tell me a little bit about that track.

VS: Thank you. Yes so, basically, well, labels had started contacting me to release music, as I say, with I Want You To Know, that got some attention. And different labels were reaching out to me to license music from me. So MoonRoof was basically Will Socolov, and he was the owner of Sleeping Bag Records. And Sleeping Bag, I guess he had sold off the catalog. He wasn't part of it anymore, and he moved onto other ventures. And MoonRoof was one of his new ventures.

But Glenn and I, we formed a friendship, and we already had the bones for a tune called You Are. Glenn and I, we went out to Glenn's studio, and it was in Queens, and did the record for Ez-Al. And Ez-Al was presented to us. Ez-Al is the singer on it.

BTG: Wow, that vocal, what a vocal!

VS: Right? Thanks. That's great. I mean, Al's a great vocalist, but Glenn's a great vocalist too. And Glenn was a more experienced vocalist at the time, and he was coaching Al in the studio that day. And that part where it says, "Turn the lights out," that's actually Glenn's voice.

BTG: Yeah, love it.

VS: That's Glenn's voice. That dub was the last version we did, and we just wanted to bring it down to simplicity.

BTG: It absolutely speaks to all of the core ingredients for solid, what has gone on to become a deep, soulful, dubby house music, from the simple percussion construct to the hook bass line to the dubby nature of the vocal. It's a secret weapon from years gone by for me.

VS: Yeah, thank you so much.

BTG: Okay, cool. So through '92, '93, tracks like Instant Exposure, Wanna Be With You, Dirty Games, You're My Only Man, the remix you did for Raiana Paige, all of these tracks, they've got these amazing piano riffs or hooks in them. And they've all got the same kind of momentum about them, the same kind of energy. How conscious was that with you developing around that time with your sound?

VS: Well, I was going out clubbing a bunch. And for productions, in my opinion, it's essential to see what works on the dance floor and actually feel that from a firsthand point of view. So from going to parties that I enjoyed going to around that time, such as Shelter, for example, or Zanzibar, or The Loft, and seeing the reaction to tracks at those clubs, it really influenced. And I would want to bring those elements into the productions I was doing.

BTG: So something like You're My Only Man, that's another track that I had to ID for people coming over to the DJ booth on so many occasions. "What is this? What is this?" There's such subtle, amazing dubby hooks, and the piano hooks and bass line. And tracks like Feels So Right and I've Been Changed, they've just got such a brilliant blend of... They're really rich, full songs, but at the same time, they're dubby and stripped back. It's a really, really amazing blend of a production.

VS: Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. The ideas and musical elements put into them... Well, for Feels So Right and I've Been Changed, for example, those are preplanned. So when I went into the studio, I already have the elements in mind that I'd like to include in them. But the arrangements on all of the above, including the Raiana Paige, those arrangements are just done on the fly.

I mean, put it this way, all the elements that you hear... So if you go to a point in any of those records, where you're hearing all or the majority of the elements in at once, happening all at the same time, that's basically what was occurring via the sequencer from one second until the end of the tune, which would be, I don't know, what is it, six, seven minutes? The only reason you're hearing it grow and break down and build and drop is because those are live mutes on the board that are being recorded.

BTG: Muting and unmuting…?

VS: That's all that there is to all of those tunes.

Street Players

BTG: And there's a couple of tracks which I think I just really, really need to talk about too in terms of, I don't know, maybe you'll correct me, but incredible sampling as well, is things like Street Players' Make It Through the Night. This is an old disco cut, right?

VS: I'm so glad you asked about that one. It's not one I get asked about often.

BTG: This is a track that cuts up dance floors every time. It's such a powerful track. Tell me a little bit about that one.

VS: Thank you. Thank you. So, you have the 12-inch in front of you?

BTG: Yeah.

VS: So what are the titles on this? Somalia, there's Make It Through the Night, and what's the other one?

BTG: Yeah, yeah. Hold on. It's quite far down the pile. You got Make It Through the Night, and then you got Gonna Make You Move, and Somalia.

VS: Right, right. Okay, so on Make It Through the Night, yeah, when I took that to Emotive, we... Okay, sample records, they were out there but not so much. I mean, they were out there, but it wasn't really the most common thing. I mean, yes, they were out there, but it wasn't the most common thing. But when I brought that to Emotive... David Chang was the owner, and Josh was the other owner of Emotive. And then Tedd Patterson was the A&R guy.

And these three guys were sitting in the office as I played it. And they're looking at each other thinking, "What the hell did this guy do?" They were looking at each other like I had three heads, thinking, "How in the world could that guy just take samples like this and put them together into making something new?" And also, I could see in their eyes that they were hesitating from saying, "Yeah, we want it," although they were feeling because of the red tape they might have to erase.

Basically, I Love Music, right? I mean, the chords of I Love Music. And that voice is Boyd and Timmy's singer for Visual. But that's his voice on there, and what an awesome singer he is. And all of those tracks on there, they're sampled, but just bits and pieces from here and there put together to make something new.

BTG: I learned about quite a lot of your music from listening to mix tapes from live clubs in London from DJs that were playing here. And I wasn't old enough to get into the club at the time, I look young for my age as it is, so I could definitely not get in. But these guys were playing those tracks, and I was just tearing my hair out to find out what that was, Make It Through the Night.

A DJ hero of mine, called Femi B, used to play it for a party called The Feel Real, which was a pretty big deal in London. It was on multiple mixtapes. And I was like, "What is this track?" It still gets me out of a jam every time if I need it in the DJ set now. It's such a tune, such an amazing track.

VS: Thank you so much. And we could thank the original people who played the instrumentation and sang too, I mean, because the love is in it for sure.

BTG: Amazing.

VS: And that particular EP is just made from a complete DJ head, that's total DJ head into that. And Somalia, it lifts that bass line from a UK artist. Remember David Joseph-

BTG: Oh, wow. Is that a David Joseph sample?

VS: You Can't Hide Your Love. (singing).

BTG: Oh, yes. Oh, wow, of course it is! I never made that connection. It's so subtle, but absolutely. Yeah.

VS: Like I said, sample records weren't the real big, big thing then. They were just getting started, sort of. And some firsts that are included on that record... So as far as I know that's the first record to sample Sade, because if you listen to Somalia, that's Sade on it saying (singing). And then that's Tommy's voice saying, "Somalia." We just pitched it down. What was that other title on there?

BTG: Gonna Make You Move.

VS: Gonna Make You Move. So Gonna Make You Move, that's the first record that I know of that samples Street Player from Chicago. And you know then... What is that, '93, right?

BTG: Yeah, '93.

VS: And then in 1995 ‘The Bomb’ (Bucketheads) came out, which is the one that sample. But just the point I'm trying to make is it's a testimony to really being in there in the clubs and seeing what's working the floor, because I'd go from the clubs to the studio and take these ideas with me. These were things that were really moving the floor. And at the time those were classics, all of the above were classics.

i know a place

BTG: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you did it again with I Know a Place, right?

VS: Yeah, I know. Totally, I know.

BTG: Which is just incredible, right?

VS: Right. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's a salute to, really, to the guys because you can't get better than what they play. You really can't. I wouldn't even try to replay that stuff. And doing it from a DJ point of view and just... I guess all it does is it gives it a bit of a raw edge and a new twist to it.

do you feel me

BTG: Cool, I'll tell you what then. There's another track which we have to talk about, which is 1993, again, NY Finest, Do You Feel Me?

VS: Oh, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that.

BTG: I've played it in the hundreds of times. My copy is absolutely battle scarred. It's in a real state. I actually bought a fresh copy of it from somebody off of Discogs a few months back because mine's in such a bad way. And last September, August, I was at a festival called Lost Village, amazing outdoor festival, where a lady called Jayda G played it to probably 3 or 4,000 people on the dance floor, and it absolutely took the dance floor to pieces. What a tune this far on, amazing. It's an anthem of a track, right, Do You Feel Me.

VS: Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, I ended up mixing that at Fibre 2 in Brooklyn. And-

BTG: Yeah, yeah, but where does the vocal come from on that?

VS: I believe it's pronounced Zhane.

BTG: Right. Okay, the name's not in the credits, though. I can see but, no, I'm not familiar with it.

VS: She's the vocalist. She's out there still. I mean, we've been in touch recently, and we'd like to do some new stuff together.

BTG: But again, you talk about piano riffs, right? These are legendary piano riffs. You got a piano riff kind of house music and then you've got your piano riffs, which are just so solid. And muted sax in it too, right?

VS: It's actually a muted trumpet. But inspiration on that piano comes from Moment of My Life by Inner Life. And it's funny the way it happened because there's no samples in that musically. I mean, that's all played, all played. But it's obviously inspired from Inner Life, Moment of My Life. And that song touched me in the early '80s when it came out. What a beautiful song it is. And total respect to Leroy Burgess, who wrote that, and Jocelyn, who sang on that. And it's just still an all-time for me. I did do Feel Me around... It was 1993, right?

BTG: Yep. This is all 1993. I don't know when you slept, but this is all 1993!

VS: The wild thing is, then it was about five years later, I believe it was around... It might have been sooner, maybe '96 or so. Then Bobby D'Ambrosio did a cover of Moment of My Life, and he took Moment of My Life into the whole house bpm with that piano. You remember, that was Bassline Records' first release.

BTG: Sure, I've got it on Fruittree.

VS: That's right. It was licensed to Fruittree for the UK. That's right. Well to tell you the truth, if you have it on Fruittree, he did something really interesting. If you listen to one side, they actually did a re-record, so it's not the same vocalist. They actually brought in a local girl, an English girl, to do a re-record of it.

BTG: Oh, wow.

VS: If you're listening to the original version, which is also on that 12-inch, you'll hear the original vocal and my original mix. But if you're listening to the other side, you're going to hear a version that actually has a different singer. It's actually a re-record.

BTG: So I'm looking at it now. It's got a one club mix, then it's got my writing on the top of it, R2001 instrumental, and it's got a cappella, R2001 remix, and JN's Dub Mix.

VS: So all of those mixes, except for the original club mix, are a different vocalist, including that... I believe it's a cappella. I believe that a cappella the other vocalist. I believe. I mean-

BTG: Okay, so I don't have this on Bassline, that's for sure, because I bought it as it came out fresh, I think, Black Market Records in Soho, London.

VS: In regards to Bassline, yeah, Do You Feel Me was the first release. Now shortly before Do You Feel Me, I had done Do You Want Me Baby by Cloud 9.

BTG: Yeah, I want to get onto that one separately too.

VS: It was early '92, or it was early '93, that I made my first trip to England. And that involved Do You Want Me Baby because JM Easy had just licensed it to Cultural Vibe Records in the UK, and he wanted to bring myself over to play some parties, and at the same time, promote his release on Cultural Vibe.

BTG: I have it on Suburban Records? As far as I know, it was one of the original pressings of it. I've seen it featured on a Cultural Vibe compilation album though?

VS: That's the one.

BTG: Yeah, yeah. But mine is SU2, is what it says on it, Sub-urban.

VS: That's the one. Yeah, so the single on the SU2 came out first, and then was licensed onward and to other labels. When JM Easy first brought me over, that's when he released that Cultural Vibe album, and that's when I first JM Easy, and that eventually led up to that Fruittree license of Do You Feel Me.

And I mean, there's definitely inspiration in there though. So if you listen to those chords, I'll explain it. There was a song titled Falling In Love by Surface, from the early '80s. It's on Salsoul. It's a really sweet song. It's a slower song, and it's really sweet. And if you listen to the intro of Surface, Falling In Love, you'll hear what I'm talking about. The sweetness of it, I wanted to capture that sweetness if I could and bring that over into an up bpm.

BTG: I was just going to say, and the bass line, the complementary elements, they're so, so simple. This was the thing that we always, myself and my DJ buddies, used to compliment and talk around all the time is, how is it so incredibly simple yet so incredibly effective? It's called structure, bass line, percussion, beats, and a vocal. It's stripped back but incredibly rich.

VS: Well, I hear what you're saying. Thank you so much. And to tell you the truth, what you just explained there, there's so many early '80s boogie tracks or mid-tempo R&B-ish dance tracks, Prelude-ish maybe, or Kashif, sort of like Evelyn Champagne King, or those tracks that have those elements you just explained. And Do You Want Me Baby is, I guess, my own personal take at that particular time, my interpretation of what you just explained.

BTG: Yeah, amazing.

VS: What I liked from what I was listening to in the years prior to that, where there's not a lot of elements there but they're effective elements.

BTG: Exactly. And there's just such a beautiful blend. And this is the thread that runs all through all of your music, for me, is that it's not built out of tons of component parts, but the way everything is built together, it's just such a rich tapestry and just so solid, and such a brilliant example of what house music and stripped back elements are meant to be, infused with music and songwriting.

VS: Yeah, everything you're describing too... I spent a lot of time living with my grandparents too through my childhood years. And just seeing the simplicity of how they did things and how much happiness it brought was really touching to me. It doesn't really take much to move someone, or to move me, anyway, from the inside. I mean, they touch me from the inside with such simple things. Because there was so much love in those simple things, it was so meaningful. And I try my best to apply that to the music I'm doing and all that I'm doing, just make it count.

BTG: And I think even still, at some 27, I don't know what, years on, it still touches people deeply. It's incredible. Again, thank you.

VS: Haha, thank you!

Gardening club / uk

BTG: You've given me so much of your time to get into detail about quite a few of these tracks. About the only other thing I wanted to ask you about, really, was what your understanding was of what was going on over the pond, in the UK at the time, how your music was being received, how it was being played in the clubs, how you were even being invited over to DJ and what it meant to you, the UK's reception of your music, I suppose.

VS: Yeah, well, that was a total game changer for me too, because when I got to the UK, first time, I believe it was early '92, one of the first places I played was the Gardening Club.

BTG: Ha, ha, Gardening Club in Covent Garden, right?

VS: Yeah, that's exactly right, low ceilings. Yeah, it was definitely a hot spot.

BTG: Haha! These are my people. These are my DJs. This is exactly where I was hearing about your music. So please go on…

VS: Wow, so, I mean, when I got there, one of the first things that struck me was the enthusiasm. I had people coming up and expressing themselves in ways that I never had experienced before. I don't think there's another place other than the UK that has as much enthusiasm for music. Really, I really don't. And I mean, if there is, it's not expressed as much as it is in the UK. It was intimidating. I mean, I felt like, "Wow, they know more about me than I do! Haha"

BTG: I totally love this.

VS: I really felt I had to look in the mirror and say, "Maybe do some research on yourself, Vic."

BTG: I love this. Can you recall anything particularly about any of them Gardening Club nights, other people that were there, maybe the promoters that had invited you over? Do you remember who was involved in those?

VS: I mean, Luke Coke and Nicky Trax, they were early people I met in the UK, but they weren't the promoter...

BTG: Nicky Trax! sure, sure.

VS: I want to say Rob Acteson is one person I met early on.

BTG: Yeah, absolutely. Rob Acteson is someone who represented Feel Real and those parties at the Gardening Club, so he would definitely be a name that you recall from those parties and times. I'm actually spending some time with him in the coming months and weeks and we're going to be talking about some of those nights at Feel Real, so that's a really interesting connection right there.

VS: Yeah, please give him my best. I also seem to recall going to KISS FM. I think I have a recording of that, of going to Bobby and Steve's show. Paul Trouble Anderson was up there at that time at KISS.

BTG: And so, getting back to what I was asking you about originally is, yeah, the reception that your music was getting in the UK was bigger than you thought it was, let's say?

VS: Oh, yeah, it was really amazing.

BTG: Victor, this has been absolutely amazing. I've got a list longer of tracks here that go into '94 and '95 and beyond, of course, and all of the times since that you've been producing music and still continuing to contribute.

VS: My pleasure. I mean, if I can, it would be nice to mention I've been uploading much of the back catalog online on Traxsource and Beatport. But, yeah, the labels that I have are Bassline Records had starting in '93, and I've kept it going since. Constantly putting out stuff on Bassline. The most recent release on Bassline is one with Toney Lee and Status IV, which basically it's the 35th anniversary of their original releases, their first releases, which were... Toney's was Reach Up by Toney Lee, and Status IV was You Ain't Really Down. Toney's is from '82, late '82, really, and-

BTG: Wow, okay.

VS: ...Status IV's is from '83, and the title is Don't Stop Keep Rising. And we released it as NY's Finest, Toney Lee and Status IV. That's out on Bassline now. But Bassline's still going. Big Big Trax is another one of my labels that, again, started back then, '93, '94 or so. And, yeah, we just have a most recent release on that called Bring It Forward. And it's by International Connection. The remix is by City Soul Project, and he's UK based as well. Great guy named Ryan, doing great work.

The two upcoming productions, they mean a lot to me because I'm going back to my inspirations, or some of my inspirations. Not that I don't do that already, but I'm actually dealing with the actual artists. And one is Leee John from Imagination. And I'm producing something for him now. And that's a work in progress. And I'm also working on something for D-Train.

BTG: Oh, wow. Okay.

VS: Yeah, that's James D-Train Williams, and these guys are just inspirations to me, and were doing it before I was producing. So to work with them as a producer is just a dream come true. And the same with Toney Lee and Status IV, it's a dream come true.

BTG: That's amazing.

VS: These are guys. Thank you. Thank you. These are guys that inspired me. And I only mention it because it's not getting off the subject, it's keeping it to that era ...but at the same time keeping it current. In regards to the labels online today, that have the back catalog and always releasing new material. Brooklyn Trax is another. Stellar Records is another, and Westside is another, and UNKWN is another, UNKWN, a lot of the stuff that I released on other labels, like Emotive and Eightball and Nu Groove, and all the various labels I was working with back then, then I re-released them and remixed them. And I do a lot of that my own records.

Yeah, and one thing I just have to mention before we go is my son Emanuel Simonelli, he's 22 now, and he's started producing.

BTG: Does he have anything released or anything coming?

VS: Yeah, he's got stuff released. So, I mean, I started his own label too called Goodgroove. He's into the aliases too. Showing him the ropes with the alias. But he's doing great. He's carrying the torch, and I'm proud to see him doing it haha.

BTG: That's three generations that we've talked about in this conversation. I love it. I suppose, for now, all that's left to say is Victor, thank you so much for your time and for taking the time to get behind the groove with us. And please, Victor, do keep on doing what you keep on doing!

VS: Thank you. It's been a pleasure. I'm just so happy to share the info with you. And thank you for asking the questions you did. It really helps me to remember it all.