valentine: there’s no escape from the beat…

 

“Someone please turn that s*** off!” I could barely stand it. It was the summertime in the early ’90s and there was only one beat on the airwaves. Even if you didn’t listen to the radio you’d hear it spilling out of the car next to you or blaring at the party you just walked into. And it wasn’t just at the clubs. The famous and the nameless were playing to this sweaty break beat and there was no escape. “Don’t you even know who’s beat that is?” my friend hollered across from the drivers seat as the convertible next to us blared yet another version. No and No…And I didn’t want to know. “It’s Clyde Stubblefield from James Brown’s band.”

Hmmm… Ok there was something. I was a latecomer to JB so I thought I should do my homework… That evening I innocently tapped the rhythms into my drum machine and picked up my fretless to jam along to see what the big deal was. A couple hours later this song Valentine materialized as if I was possessed. I didn’t even necessarily like the tune, but man was it fun to play… But I hadn’t exorcized all the ghosts: The one and only time ‘statik’ played a show as a full band, we opened with ‘valentine.’ For the first time in my life my music made the crowd dance some voodoo madness. If you can’t beat ’em join ’em?

valentine is the a-side of the statik 2 single.