Interview With Keb Darge Ahead of Botafogo Social Club

This Saturday, January 30, I couldn't be more excited about the return of the Botafogo Social Club here in Rio! Founded in 2010 by Doug Gray, Mike Frugaletti, Jan Roldanus, Dan Markham and myself, the party went on hiatus after life took us all in different directions. Although I'll be the only original member playing, we have a seriously heavy weight line up to blow the roof of Bola Preta in Lapa!

In addition to local support from home town heroes, Alex Paz (Disco Godfathers), Daniel Juca (Bangarang Sound System) and DJ Pachu, we welcome UK producer & DJ, Pogo! As if that weren't enough, topping the bill is the one and only Keb Darge, direct from London.

This will be Keb's first ever trip to Brazil and first ever show in Rio and we could not be more hyped to host him at our little night! He was kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions ahead of his first South American adventure. Enjoy!

Hey, Keb. How you doing, mate? How are things in London?
London is cold and miserable.. but good for getting work. I do miss my paradise island in the Philippines though.

Well, we've got plenty of sun waiting for you down here! A lot your fans here came to know you through your various compilations on BBE and projects with Pete Rock, DJ Shadow and Kenny Dope . Any new projects coming up that we can look forward to hearing?
I just finished doing a sixties garage comp for BBE with my old buddy Cut Chemist. It should be out in a month or two. That will be the start of a wee burst of garage comps. I know DJ Shadow has a bloody good collection of garage 45’s too, so I’m going to chase him to also do one with me when he gets the time.

---

You've been in the game quite some time now. It would be hard to imagine that you're still playing the same records that got you excited 10 or 20 years ago. What sounds are doing it for you these days?
I started life on the northern soul scene over 40 years ago. Back then it was all about new discoveries. Me and my mates would travel hundreds of miles every weekend just to hear certain DJ’s who had a good turnover of tunes. I got a thrill then out of hearing great tunes that I didn’t know, and I am the same today. I probably have it in my head that everybody gets excited by hearing great records they don’t know.. ha ha ha. I know I am wrong there, but I think there are enough people like this to keep me happy as a DJ. 
You are quite correct of course. Towards the end of Deep Funk I found myself really bored because of the shortage of great new discoveries. I didn’t want to do the easy job of playing established tunes over and over. I did in all honesty also get bored with the sound of funk in general too. About 12 years ago I started Lost and Found at Madame Jo Jo’s to play my Rockabilly, Fifties R&B, and a few Northern Soul records at. It was a whooping success, but then that meant that I ploughed through those records too. Luckily on the Rockabilly side of things there are plenty new bands making great new tunes, which excite me. Not so many Fifties R&B style bands though. Only the Dap Tone stable seem to satisfy my sixties Soul ear, and I can’t afford the $10,000 price tag that the one great new Soul discovery to turn up each year demands. 
Just over two years ago I thought to myself there must be some good white northern soul records that that scene had ignored as they had introduced silly rules as to what could be accepted. Back in the seventies there had been a few wild tunes played on that scene like The 7 Dwarfs “Stop Girl”, or Burning Bush “Keeps on Burning”. That sound had disappeared, but I thought there must be hundreds of records like those that hadn’t been touched. I got onto my record dealer mates worldwide, and they all kept saying “Oh yeah Keb, you’ll want Sixties Garage then”. I thought naaah !!!  Sixties Garage is all hippie shit isn’t it ? How wrong I was. A couple of the dealers I had been buying Soul, Funk, and Rockabilly from turned out to be the world’s greatest collectors of Garage. They blew my head off with the first few tunes they recommended. I then found out there was a large’ish collectors scene for this music, but it had not really crossed over to a club scene. The mods had dabbled in it, but then they went all R&B, Soul, and Ska. I then discovered that there are bloody thousands of these records to be had.
Excitement again entered my DJ head, and it seems to be the same on the dancefloors. I’ve played the stuff now in clubs from the Far East to the Middle East, and all over Europe, and it always goes down a storm. The promoter in Beirut summed it up when he said “it is like a breath of fresh air, and the girls love it” ha ha ha.

---

We're definitely looking forward to a 60's garage education! Any special new acquisitions in the record box that you could share with us? Anything that might be making the trip down to Brazil with you? And, if you don't mind us asking, what did that set you back?
Virtually every record I will be taking is a new acquisition. I sold probably over $70,000 worth of rare Rockabilly to get money to buy Garage records last year. I have gone wild on the stuff, and happily have a long way to go before I get bored again. I’m at that age where I will probably die before I get all the Garage I want. If you want a silly example, then I paid $2,333 in an auction for The Savoys “Can it Be”, but what a fuckin tune. There is a bootleg you can get for $10, but it sounds shit in comparison to the original.

Jayzus! That's worth the price of admission, just to be able to hear something that rare in person! Honored you'll be sharing it with us! So, after four decades behind the decks, this will be your first trip to Brazil! How are you feeling about that? Excited? Anything you're especially looking forward to?
I am indeed excited. I have it in my head that Brazil is full of people that love to dance, and are not so big on posing. I am happy in London if 50% of the crowd get what I am doing, as I know a lot here just go to clubs to pose, take selfies, and chase girls or boys. However I imagine Brazil as being like Japan, or the UK in seventies where everybody is there for the music, and the dancing. I am also looking forward to seeing sunshine again.

We do like to dance! Any last message to your fans here that are planning to come out and get down with you this Saturday?
I will not be playing a Funk and Soul set. I’ll let the other DJ’s do that. However if you are into great danceable tunes that you might not know, I will satisfy that need for you.

Got it! We plan on just letting you do your thing! Thanks a mil, Keb, and see you Saturday!

Botafogo Social Club Presents Keb Darge
With Support From DJ's Pogo (UK), Pachu (Rio), Daniel Juca (Bangarang Sound System), Alex Paz (Disco Godfathers), Tee Cardaci (Botafogo Social Club)
Saturday, January 30, 2016
​Door open at 10pm
Bola Preta - Rua da Relação, 3, Lapa - RJ
R$ 30 lista amiga // R$ 40 sem lista

---