Dr. Dunks aka Eric Duncan – Cosmic Q&A’s

Posted on 26. May, 2009 by baggy in Interviews

Eric Duncan is one half of the fantastic Rub ‘n’ Tug duo (With Thomas Bullock), has had collaborative releases under monikers Still Going and How & Why? and more recently branched out solo style with some quite stunning pieces of music as Dr. Dunks.

We recently caught up with Eric and couldn’t resist firing a few quick fire questions in his direction.

Being ever the gent, here’s what Eric had to say:

Cosmic Disco: Where did you grow up as a child and what are your earliest musical memories?

Los Angeles. Music was always around since i can remember. 1000’s of records & parties at the house.

Me snatching beers off the tables when i was real little, before 5 years old almost every weekend either my parents or their friends would have a party and i would be around.

This was early 70’s action.

Cosmic Disco: Haha, so the drinking/partying started early on then… So, when was it you first started to play around with music production? Were you in any high school bands as a teenager? What artists/groups were you listening to during your formative years?

OK… Well, as far as music groups/artists in the early 80’s I was into lots of different stuff.

Breaking and popping was just happening in Los Angeles so the music that went with that was around. Things like Soulsonic and other cool electro instrumentals that i don’t remember the names of but also the rock stuff.

I remember goin’ up to the local record store ‘Rainbow Records’ in Silver Lake in 1983 and buying The Clash ‘Combat Rock’ album when it came out. I got it for my 6th grade graduation party at school that week but it got vetoed in favor of Midnight Star ‘No Parking on the Dance Floor’ fair enough…

Then there was a new phase of hip hop emerging… RUN DMC, Dougie Fresh, LL etc. and that was really grabbing me. Also at my new junior high school they would put on dances every Friday during lunch time for 50 cents and they had a DJ and he would play all sorts of cool shit. I remember he always mixed Erotic City (Prince) into White Horse (Laid Back) or the other way around, every single party. This was around 84/85 but at the same time I was getting into skateboarding and graffiti.

This is when I met Paul T who does the Sarcastic Disco with Harvey. Paul had a DJ set up at his parents house and we all used to go over to his place and drink cheap wine & mix and scratch records. Double copies of Cybetron ‘Clear’ and ‘R9′ and things like that.. What was that one??? ‘It’s Time’ Allynafish or something like that on Cutting Records. Also at this time around 85/86 there was a 3rd phase of hip hop coming in which I think the best phase. Groups like BDP & Public Enemy, UltraMagnetic and that shit was unreal and nobody was into that sort of stuff in L.A. There was a radio station then called KDAY but they weren’t playing the good stuff.

Paul’s brother used to take trips to NYC and bring back cassette tapes of Red Alert’s radio show on KISS FM in New York, now that was the real deal! So we were up on everything in L.A. before anybody else. I remember we went to see Public Enemy play their very first show in L.A. and they were the opening act for LL Cool J. It was 1987 at the Hollywood Palladium, I was 16 years old and I was hooked…

Cosmic Disco: So around the late eighties/early nineties you must’ve started hitting the LA club scene with Paul and your crew? What parties were you hitting and what DJ’s were doing the business for you back then? Was the Chicago House scene making an impact in your area around this time?

Well, we were hitting the backyard parties, and the clubs in the late 80’s. There was one club we used to always go to on Tuesday nights in Hollywood. It was first called ‘Water The Bush’ then changed it’s name to ‘United Nations’. It was put on by Ice T and Afrika Islam and I think it was a spin off of the old Radio Tron that they used to do in the mid 80’s (See the movie – Breakin’). Man, UN was the spot! It was a hip hop club but Afrika Islam was playing some amazing music. All the great old school breaks that were made famous by him and Bambatta back in their early days in NYC.

So I was getting a first hand lesson by one of the originals and we were there almost every Tuesday from like ‘88 till ‘90 and they would have special guest performances coming out of nowhere. They would stop the music and Afrika would get on the mic and say ‘tonight we have a special perfomance by our friends…. ‘The Jungle Brothers’ or ‘De La Soul’, It was whoever was in town that week would just pop in and get on the mic. Fucking great club!

Towards the end they added a ‘House’ room but it was always empty then I stopped going sometime in 1990 as it got really popular and also ‘Gangster Rap’ was really catching on, which would be the 4th phase I guess…

Cosmic Disco: The 4th Phase… I guess this is when Hip-Hop went all Yacht Rock, hehe… (Refers to the G-Funk episode of the spoof ‘Yacht Rock’ series) Anyway…Were you throwing your own parties, if so when did they start and was there anything you were trying to achieve with them in the early days? Where were they and can you kinda describe them for us?

At that time I was jus being a kid and havin fun, no party throwing, just partying, not any djing at all, just hangin out. I didn’t pick it up again til ‘94 or so when I ended up in Sydney, Australia for about 6 months where I met Mario Caldato (Beastie Boys) down there. He stayed with me and turned me on to soooo much music, what a cool dude!

Then I came back to L.A. In ‘95 and was really getting into djing. Paul T said there was this DJ from london playing up in San. Fran. and we should go check him out so we grabbed some pills and some LSD and headed north where we went to this dark club with a big ‘Turbo Sound’, sound system. On acid and good California exctasy those speakers looked pretty wild.

Now I had been hitting the afterhours dance music parties in L.A. and they were basicly shit music and just a place to hang out late so I was expecting more of the same, then this UK DJ gets on and plays for like 5+ hours and played all across the board. Totally blew me away and I thought, ‘That’s how your supposed to do it!’

That was very early in 1996 and the DJ was Harvey. Good times…

Cosmic Disco: So is this how you hooked up with Thomas (Bullock) and started to DJ seriously, through Harvey and these parties?

I met Thomas & Harvey at the same time in early 1997 in L.A.

I was already living in NYC but Paul T. threw a party in L.A. (The first time Harvey ever played in L.A.) and he needed someone who had pull in California as nobody knew who Harvey was in the U.S really… (Pre interweb) So he hired Thomas to open up.

Since Thomas had pull from Wicked Crew in SF and Thomas had just moved to NYC as well, we hung in L.A. then connected in NYC and I was already full time DJ at this point. Playing and drinking in bars and clubs in NYC about 4 to 6 nights a week.

Myself & Thomas used to hang out and drink and have generally just have fun, then about ‘98 we took that spirit behind the decks together and as they say, the rest is history…

Cosmic Disco: 4-6 nights a week, that’s full time alright! How would you describe your DJ style? Looking back to your early influences there’s surely gotta’ be some hip-hop techniques in there somewhere?

My DJ style? Shit man, better to ask somebody who’s heard me a few times…

I just like to play tunes that I like, trusting my own tastes, not so much following the map of safe pre approved records. Some things I play might be on that map but thats not where I found them.

I’m also halfway out there with the party people, drinking and shouting just as much as everbody else at the party.

Cosmic Disco: And don’t forget raving on the dancefloor with the punters! (Referring particularly to Rub n Tug’s visit to Manchester playing @ El Diablo’s Social Club a couple of years back…) How much time did/do you spend digging for your records?

Of course… Do you mean digging through my shelves before a gig or digging in general at the shops? Over the years I’ve put in some serious time digging through the record bins, crates, basements etc..

Before gigs it all depends on the party itself. How long i’m playing, where i’m playing etc. etc.

Cosmic Disco: Yeah, digging through the bins… Over the years, from all the countries you’ve visited is there anywhere specific you remember finding record after record of pure gold?

Now if i told you that it would take all the fun out of it.

Cosmic Disco: Haha, fair enough (Worth a go I suppose…). Well, in that case could you tell us a few of your all time favourite records and some current plays on heavy rotation?

That’s tough to say as I have sooooo many all time faves and the newer stuff I can never remember the names, just the colors of the labels. I’m really bad with that kinda stuff but I do play all the C.O.M.B.i. records

Cosmic Disco: Haha… OK then, let’s move on to your own music. How did you get started with the production side of things?

The first tune I ever produced was on the Rong label. Second release on the label I think. Shit I can’t remember what it was called! It was me and DJ Spun under the name ‘How & Why’ featuring Danny Wang on the keys and his boyfriend at the time, Stephen Hall on guitar. We did it at Oliviers (The guy I do ‘Still Going’ with) studio.

Around the same time Thomas and I were beginning to mess around in the studio also. We did a few sample based tunes that never saw the light of day and we did that Chicago – ‘I’m a man’ edit, which also came out on Rong. I think we called ourselves ‘The Disco Theatre of Manhattan’.

Cosmic Disco: Ah, that’ll be ‘Crusing’ (Rong002) which used a Queen Samantha sample and the ‘I’m a Man’ track being ‘Lower Beard Stays The Same’ (RPR99). Great stuff… What have you been working on recently? Is there anything we can expect to see light of day in the near future?

Riiiight, ‘Cruising’. Yeah, I was inspired by the movie.

Well, recently I’ve been doing remixes with both Rub n Tug & Still Going and also just had a CD/DVD come out from my solo tour of Japan with the C.O.M.B.i. records crew.

They had a guy come along and video all the parties and he made a short movie which you can find HERE!

I’ve also have a new mix CD coming out on aNYthing outa NYC that’s gone into production this week it’s a Dr. Dunks project. Rub n Tug have recorded an album which is full length and is being edited right now and finally hope to have it ready to mix by the end of May.

Oh yeah and one more thing – There’s a brand new Still Going 12″ coming very soon on DFA!

Cosmic Disco: There are a number of current labels such as DFA/Whatever We Want really making an impact on the current scene. Can you give us a little insight into your Dr. Dunks project? We know its had a release on WEWW (Re-Imagined In Alphabet City, WEWW012) but do you have a definitive manifesto for this project? Also, WEWW seem to be splitting the record buying public somewhat. There’s no doubt the music is of the highest quality but the retail prices are so high. Can you give us your opinion as to why we should be prepared to shell out more $$$’s for WEWW releases?

I’m not the one to ask about WEWW. I don’t really know tbh as those edits I did for them are like 4+ years old.

Cosmic Disco: What was the direction behind the mix CD (Dr. Dunks aka Eric Duncan – How We Do In NYC)? Can you let us know what tracks you’ve included on the mix?

10 tracks.. all but 2 are un-released

Cosmic Disco: You’ve recently recorded a show with Tim Sweeney for his Beats In Space radio show. How did that go? You included the Dr. Dunks track ‘Keep It Cheap’, can you give us any info on when we can expect it to be released?

‘Keep It Cheap’ is a work in progress. Just something I knocked up the day before. It will see the light of day for sure. When is the question…

Cosmic Disco: Let’s talk a little about Rub n Tug. It’s fair to say you have somewhat of a following around the world now with a reputation for your DJ performances and your first full length album almost ready to unleash on us. As Rub n Tug you were throwing you own parties which became stuff of legend, right? Can you tell us a little about some of the parties you guys have thrown and what for you are the required elements to create the perfect party?

Yeah, we used to put on parties from the ground up, starting in maybe 1999 I guess. I had a sound system (I still do, just don’t know where all of it is anymore!) and we would find lofts or galleries that our friends lived in or ran where we could go as long and as hard as we wanted.

That was in the beginning of Rub n Tug, mostly in our mate Rui’s (R.I.P.) loft. We would do them every month or so beginning at midnight and sometimes go till noon the next day. No joke! So many great New York characters would be there with hours of wild shit happening.

Good fun, I’m smiling now… I think for a good thing to happen it starts with the people. If you have a good open minded crew of friends then your on your way.

Cosmic Disco: So, you’ve had the pleasure of DJ’ing all over the world. What have been some of your favourite foreign bookings and are there any current parties in the states that come close to the original spirit of your Campfire events? Do you have any plans to throw some of your own parties in the future?

I generally enjoy all the gigs minus a few here and there. I would have to say playing in Japan is great as you can do whatever you want there and they really appreciate it. I mean you can play anything at anytime. In my experiences anyway…

I’ve been going out there pretty much every year since 1996 and I always love it but with that being said just about every place I’ve played is great fun and Japan just sticks out a bit more for some reason.

As far as parties in the states go we just did an awesome one in Los Angeles with Paul T. And the Sarcastic Disco Crew. It was probably the best party we’ve played in years. Hot sweaty warehouse in downtown L.A. where we played till 8am or something like that. It was great! They really know how to do it.

I’m sure we’ll get around to doing something in NYC very soon. I might actually do a CD release party in Miami and NYC on consecutive nights for my Dr. Dunks ‘How We Do In NYC’ CD.

Cosmic Disco would like to thank Eric for taking the time to answer our questions and don’t forget to pick up his Dr. Dunks – ‘How We Do In NYC’ mix CD, which is expected for UK release on 1st June and is available on pre-order from Piccadilly Records.

Eric & Thomas will also be DJ’ing at El Diablo’s Social Club on 6th June as part of the Rizla Invisible Players tour at Manchester’s Deaf Institute. For tickets and more info check out the Diablo’s web-blog…