[Seattle, USA. December 5th, 2009] -- In a world of digital music and digital deejays, it's refreshing to find a vinyl purist right in your own neighborhood. Better still when their music tastes are of the finest caliber; as warm and accessible as they are rare and obscure. Disco music by and large allows such a range, and someone able to communicate its vast cache of sounds, feelings, and sensibilities have stepped under the tree to communicate them in this next podcast. "I hope people don't read the word 'Disco' and turn off. It's such a wide ranging genre that encompasses so many different styles of music. Italo, Cosmic, Soul, Funk, and now there's the whole Nu Disco, or Nouveau Disco, thing going down with re-edits and great artists like Still Going, Aeroplane, Peter Visti..... It's all so expressive," states DJ HMA or "Heavy Mental Army" (Terrence Hecker), one of the main forces behind Seattle's Trouble Dicso gatherings and one of the most profound collections of wax in the city. We caught up for him to relay some of the gems from his record bag and to touch on his experiences with procuring them.

How long have you lived in Seattle, and how would you describe your formative years in music?

I've lived in Seattle for around 17 years. I had always worked in record stores through high school and all the way until I moved to Seattle. I made no money because all my pay went to buying records. After I graduated from high school I went to Europe for the summer and stayed in London for a majority of the time. It was 1989 and "rave" was really starting to hit big. Parties in abandoned warehouses, giant nightclubs and unused movie houses being used to throw amazing raves with each balcony having different performers/DJ's. It was a true summer of love experience for me. Outside the clubs everyone was so cold and "British." Inside it was, "we're all in this together" kind-of vibe.

I came back to Spokane, where I grew up, and introduced my friends to everything I heard. I bought so many records on that trip I was almost not allowed to bring them back into the country. Customs wanted me to pay, like, $200 for all records I was bringing back. I told them I had a $20 dollar bill to my name, and that's it. So they took it.

Unfortunately my next flight was delayed like 12 hours, (in the old Detroit airport, blech.) I had no money to even eat with. I slept in a corner as far away from McDonald's as possible, the smell made me so hungry. I was never so happy to get on a plane, knowing I would finally get some food!

I still have a ton of those old acid house/early rave 12". I'm a pack rat and can't give anything away.

You have been behind the Studio (Havana - RIP) and Trouble Dicso (Rebar) get-togethers. How would you describe these events and your involvement with them? Who comes to play and who comes to hang?

I met TJ Gorton [the other half of Studio] almost by accident. I loved his blog, American Athlete, and he liked mine. One day he wrote about going to NYC for the first time, and I wished him luck finding records. He responded with a jibe at how hard it was to find really quality stuff in Seattle. I was like, "What?!?!? You live here too?!?" We met up and became instant good mates. I DJ'd his wedding, the only one I will ever do, because it is a thankless job (though not for TJ, who let me bring whatever I wanted and danced to every song!)

I had the crazy idea of starting a disco night at the old Pony. It was called Circus and included Kurt B. Reighley (KEXP), as well. It was the only "night" at Pony. Just a weekly disco jam. Mostly it was the bartenders who loved it (isn't that always the way...) But it was good fun.



Certain bars have clientele that do not want change. Week after week, at the beginning, I was asked to play Top 40 stuff. I only bring records, so I would just turn and say, "If you can find something in those boxes you want to hear, I'll play it, if not, shut up and go away. I'm working."



When Pony went down, so did the night, and we thought that would be the end of Disco in Seattle. But Quentin from Havana asked TJ to do a night that had been pretty slow, Wednesdays, and see what we could do with it. Studio was born.

It was a hard time at first. Certain bars have clientele that do not want change. Week after week, at the beginning, I was asked to play Top 40 stuff. I only bring records, so I would just turn and say, "If you can find something in those boxes you want to hear, I'll play it, if not, shut up and go away. I'm working."

It eventually took off, especially in the summer when we had some really beautiful sweaty parties. The best part was what an amazing mixed crowd it was. The gays, the straights.... Every week at close, the door guys and some regulars from The Comet would come across and dance like drunk maniacs. It was pretty incredible in it's hey day. I'm not sure why that ended. We had some pretty funny stuff go on there....

TJ recently moved to SF, and in the intervening months I met Ben Cook, who is part owner of Rong Records. Once again, I'd found another soul mate. We can have hours long discussions, with tons of digressions, about all the various styles of Disco.

Ben and I decided to start a night where we could bring our friends together with lots of outside DJ's that we really respected. It was called 2nd Sundays at Chop Suey. FAIL. Sunday we found out is THE WORST day to try to throw a party. We brought in, Tim Sweeney, Free Blood, and Kim Ann Foxman. Only the crickets in the bar heard their sets. It was abysmal. Everyone we knew liked the idea of what we were trying to do, but Sunday was just the wrong day. So we waited and waited, and finally a Friday opened up at Re-bar. TROUBLE DICSO was born.

TROUBLE DICSO is all about bringing in the best DJ's we know to Seattle and trying to throw a party that is less about "style", both physically and musically, and more about fun and talent. So our DJ line-up so far has been JD TWITCH of Optimo, Altair Nouveau (DFA) and Eric Duncan of Rub-n-Tug and Still Going. We are not married to disco per se. We want the night to be an eclectic, fun and a unique experience for anyone who cares to join us.


In your life, what are some of the most inpiring shows you've ever been to? Overall, what makes a good party?

Wow. That's a tough question. I have seen everybody. I've been going to concerts since I was a kid. Johnny Cash, The Commodores, Iron Maiden. When I was young my dad worked as an usher at the Spokane Coliseum and Opera House so on evenings that my mom was taking her night classes at the local college, my father would take me and my brother and sit us in empty seats at whatever concert was playing. That is probably the origin of all the music in my head. Though my mother told me she used to listen to classical music and put a pair of headphones right on her stomach when she was pregnant. She swears this is what made me a muso-nerd.

My favorite club in the world is Sub Club in Glasgow which hosts Optimo on Sunday nights. The most incredible eclectic DJ-ing you have ever heard. Been there a number of times. Each time has been amazing.

I'll see Beck anytime. The man is a genius. David Byrne for that matter as well. And Bjork and Bowie. All B's. Seen them all a number of times. "B" must be a magical letter.

James Murphy doesn't take himself to seriously and that's pretty fucking refreshing.

Kim Ann Foxman of Hercules is a fucking hoot! Her whole set was early 90's Chicago/Detroit house. She had all the kids vogue-ing away last year!

What are some of the most interesting records you've dug up this year?

God, all these questions are going to make me sound insane. On average I buy about 7 records a week. They can range anywhere from really old folk music to rare groove disco to electro. Not everything goes into sets. I'll try and limit it to Disco:

The Black Cock reissues were re-released this year and they are probably some of the most important music in the nu-disco style. They were the first. Put out by DJ Harvey back in the early 90's. It seems now that nearly the whole old Wicked crew from San Francisco is playing Disco these days. Eric, Thomas, Spun, Carlos..... They all are on the disco tip.

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II: An amazing live disco record. I haven't heard a single DJ local or world-wide play anything off this. They are into epic shit. As I mentioned before the whole thing is recorded with real musicians, no synth drums. Pretty incredible.

Blackbelt Andersen - Kuk Av Stal: Progressive disco. Beautiful stuff on Prins Thomas' Full Pupp label.

Tiedye - Swedish band soon to release their debut on Rong. Balearic Disco. Anthemic and modern. Rong is killing it lately. Woolfy, Coati Mundi, Kaos.... This is the label of our time.


BLOG







  1. James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Prins Thomas Sneaky Re-Edit) [Live at Robert Johnson]
  2. Unknown Artist - Bonnie & Clyde (A Mountain Of One's Rework) [Not on Label]
  3. Chant N Boogie (Pat Les Stache Edit) [Cabana Disco]
  4. The People's Popular Front - Speak Swahili? [The Popular People's Front]
  5. Billy Ocean - Night (Feel Like Getting Down) [Jive]
  6. Beat Broker - Night Shift [Flexx]
  7. Soft Rocks - Untitled [Soft Rocks Recordings]
  8. Peter Visti & Jakob Meyland - Yes Ma'am (All Night Long) [Old Hat Records]
  9. Antena - Camino Del Sol (Joakim Remix) [Permanent Vacation]
10. Bent - Exercise 7 [Godlike And Electric]
11. KDMS - Never Stop Believing (Nicky Siano Remix) [Gomma Dance Tracks]
12. Laidback - It's The Way You Do It (Velvet Spike Mix) [Sire Records Company]
13. Quixote feat. Lisa Li-Lund - Before I Started To Dance (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) [Versatile Records]
14. ORS - Moonboots [ Salsoul Records]
15. Pink Skull - Cirkus Bezerkus [Not on Label]
16. Junior Byron - Woman [Formula Records]
17. Still Going - Spaghetti Circus [DFA]

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