JUNIOR SANCHEZ: So Tee, you've been a principal inspiration many producers like Armand Van Helden, Steve Mac, Steve Angelo, Strip Steve, Stuart Price, and you continue to inspire and push boundaries. How does it make you feel to know you've inspired a generations of kids to make house music?
TODD TERRY: Cool, you know it keeps me going. If nobody was paying attention I would have been out of this shit!
It seems today's bedroom producers just pick up a laptop and boom, you got a track made in two hours and on blogs in three hours (laughs). I don't think these kids even realize the amount of effort it was to make music in the '80s and '90s. Can you tell us how hard it actually was to make a record?
It was crazzzy. But it was fun too, because you had to really create and have talent to do it ...playing drums and keyboards by hand... Wow.
You opened a door for Hip Hop and club music to merge at the time with Jungle brothers' I'll House You. I mean there was hip house out of Chicago being done. But this major NYC hip hop artist's that Red Alert championed on 98.7 kiss FM and spawned a slew of other Club Joints' from Special Ed Club Scene, MC Lite' House Power, Queen Latifah Come Into My House... How did that come about, the whole Jungle brothers / Todd Collaboration?
Collabs were always my claim to fame. Mixing two minds together is the best thing you could do to get out there.
You did, Coro, Where Are You Tonight, Fascination, Don't You Think It's Time, Giggles Love Letter... I mean so many classic songs. How did you actually get into that scene?
I did rap records first, then I got into freestyle because I liked the beats. It was like fast rap beats with songs on top. I still love that shitttt!
Jungle Brothers'I'll House You (1988)
This question is just so the kids know this story ... Masters At Work was your name at first... and how did that get handed down to Kenny and Louie?
Master At Work was me, Mike Delgado and Franklin Martinez. I did tracks and they were the super duper edit masters. Kenny was the kid from the record shop in Bay Ridge. I met him with Mike and then I met Louie. Louie was hired to mix one of my freestyle joints... Then I started to do House records. Louie and Kenny started doing House shit as well and they wanted to use Masters At Work as their name. Cool, rock on my dudes!
You have a lot of projects happening in house, hip hop, trap, drum and bass and I've heard a lot of your new in house stuff which is always amazing. But can you fill us in about a particular new project you have on the horizon that is bringing back That Old Fever Sound?
I'm doing a freestyle LP, because I think they need songs out there. We were happier then werrrddd.
Fascination Don't You Think It's Time (1987)
Todd Terry also recently performed a A Club Called Rhonda's "Diva From The Deep" Memorial Day party at mmhmmm at The Standard, Hollywood - see the photos here.
Wednesday June 19, Mercury Nights present Brobot Knights featuring Junior Sanchez and special guest Todd Terry. Le Bain. The Standard, High Line.
