Richard: I just had music in me. My family is not particulary musical ( no singers or instrumentalists) so it is just something that was born inside of me. I did take violin and piano lessons from the age of 10 to 16 years of age, it was voluntary. My parents didn't have an extensive record collection, and I mostly just taped music off the radio

Doug: Doug has always loved music also. He took trumpet lessons for several years ( somewhat forced to ) and as soon as he could stop, he did. However his father warned him he would regret not continuing and has regretted it. His Father did have an extensive record collection consisteing of a lot Jazz and Rn'b records.

Who was your musical idols as a child/ Teenager?
1. Was it James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Stanley Clarke
2. The Commodores, Earth, Wind and Fire, Fleetwood Mac, etc
The Sound of Philadephia, Stax, Motown, or the Hiphop influence or certain Rock music influences?

Richard: I was into James Brown and assorted funk groups, as well as the
Soulful sounds of Staxx and the Philly sound of GAMBLE and HUFF. He also was into Earth, Wind and Fire and Chic.
As Hiphop came into being, I included that into my musical bow as well.

Doug: Doug was into Funk especially Parliament/Funkadelic. He also was heavily into HipHop, since growing up in New Jersey, he would stay up until 3am in the morning to tune into the very first Hiphop mix shows that began appearing on New York radio stations.

How did you get into the World of Djing?
Was it through taking part in school party
Djing at a relatives party
Or at a local youth club in your area?

Richard: Doug began Djing for parties back in College as a way of picking up extra cash
and has been doing it ever since.
He, along with another patner, began a hiphop radio show on the radio station at Virginia

After this starting point where did you take your next line of advancement in the world of djing Gained employment working at a club djing.Or did you enter the music world through other avenues? How did the your proression as a Dj/producer come about?

Richard:Well, Doug was being recruited by Kevin Suber to join Mark Barnes and Richard Payton in a rap group called Trigon. We all knew each other because we all went to the University of Virginia. Doug joined as the DJ, and later began working with Richard in creating tracks for group. The group disbanded in July. 1991, however Richard and Doug began collaborating on house tracks. This led to creating tracks which were picked up by Strickly Rhythmn Records, USA and thus the break into the world of producing and remixing had been made!

Has the success of within the style of music surprised you?

We have been surprised, but on the other hand we always felt that because of our hard work and perserverance that we would eventually achieve some degree of success. We're just trying to continually take everything to higher level.

Do you like the playing of Deep House ( Jazz fusion/style of House music, but with mellow, melodic overtones) instrumentals Or do you prefer the playing of Vocal style House cuts instead favoured by New Jersey Groups such as Blaze, Smack. David Camacho, etc.....> It seems as if New York, these days prefers to make instrumental tacks,
whilst New Jersey prefers Vocal tracks
Am I right, or am I talking nonsene?

We like all styles of House music as long as its got soul. We like bumping driving tracks as well as as orchestrated full vocal productions.
We just wish there were more Djs who would play the full range intstead of just tracks or just vocals.

What do you think of the scene within Europe?
Is it encouraging, or have we still a lot to learn from the Americans?
This includes djs .....as well as producers

We love the scene in Europe. We think it is phenomenal. Any night of the week you can go to a club and party. There are excellant Dj's and producers in Europe that we admire such as Paul "Trouble" Anderson, Broker T, Phil Asher, Deli G, Mousee T and Boris Dgluosch just to name a few.

What is the scene like in Amercia.
Is House music becomming more acceptable, that within the past was being over washed by the countries fascination with Hiphop, Swing and Rock music

We think that dance music may be on the verge of a mainstream comeback in America. The success of WKTU in New York City ( it was recently ranked number 1 ) is going to make a lot of radio programmers sit up and take notice. Since the business is driven by dollars, they may begin to jump on dance music as a way to raise their ratings

Who do rate within the vein of this music?
Masters of Work, Tony Humpheries, Blaze, 95 North, Frankie Knuckles, Victor Simmonelli, Norman Jay, MK

We love the work of all of these guys. Masters at Work were a major influence on us in not only our sound, but also the inspiration they provided by taking chances with their sound and experimenting. Blaze was a major influence simply because their records were so Soulful. Their music would reach inside and touch the heart

Who do you rate as one for the future? Who should we keep an eye on?
Europe or the USA -Dj or House music diva?

Keep your eyes open everywhere because good music can come from anywhere these days.

When are you considering playing in Europe? ( Or are you going to do so )

We 'll be back over in England during the first week of Septemeber, 1996

What do you think about other countries involvement into the music such as France and Germany?

Its always good to have more people from different countries to emerge on the scene. It helps to add different flavours to the mix
and can keep the music always envolving and moving forward

That's it. Thanks for taking part in this Interview!

Thanks Carl.....

Richard Payton 95 North Productions USA

This is copyrighted. If you would like to use articles or stories present within this report then please do get back to me,
Carl Brown, Ipswich, England and 95 North, Washington D.C, Usa

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