Featured Base DJ – Peter Mac

This week’s featured DJ has been laying the foundations of this whole scene since before Base even existed. Peter Mac started out in the reggae, rap, ska, thrash, jazz, pop pick n mix that was Hallelujah Picassos back in the late 80s. Since those days he’s been keeping busy as a DJ / Producer / Writer / Blogger / Musician / Graphic Designer and doing a whole lot of writing. If any Base DJ was going to win a prize for multi-tasking, it would have to be Peter Mac.

His blog Dubdotdash and the Dub Asylum blog are a must read for anyone interested in music and pop culture. Dubdotdash especially is constantly updated with new stuff and Base DJs frequently glean amazing new discoveries right there.

We caught up with Peter recently to see what he’s been up to and what he had to say was pretty exciting. As usual, he’s got some interesting music projects on the go but what we’re really anticipating is the book he’s writing. Peter said he’s always wanted to write a book and now, thanks to modern publishing technology and the internet, he’s able to go DIY using Amazon’s Createspace and make his own book. What a legend. Here’s all the details from the man himself:

“The book is about Deepgrooves, a hugely influential dance label active in Auckland in the 1990s, back when there were local radio stations with cheery slogans like ‘No rap, no crap’. At that time, some people in the media genuinely believed rap was a fad and it would die out. Thank god for labels like Deepgrooves, who helped introduce us to the likes of Three The Hard Way, Urban Disturbance (featuring a young Zane Lowe) and Ermehn, to name a few.

Deepgrooves was a recorded document of what the live scene was like in central Auckland at the time, lots of DJs and MCs from reggae and hiphop sharing bills and music – people like DLT, Slave and OJ, Mighty Asterix, Jules Issa, Dubhead, Stinky Jim and more.”

Peter wrote a handful of posts on his blog at the start of last year about Deepgrooves, and posted the music up on Youtube. When he finished those posts, he had written about 26 of them, and realised he had tricked himself into starting a book.

Get schooled and check out those posts (complete with some amazing photos)on Dubdotdash.

Well you’re at it, keep yourself in the musical loop by following Peter Mac on twitter and have a look at his photos on Inna City Blues

And don’t forget to tune in to his show Ring The Alarm every Saturday morning at 10am right here on Base!

Photo credit : Webstock (Nice T shirt Peter!)