Tracking Back: Dr Syntax
In this series we ask questions digging into an artists past discovering what built their sound. We track back, right back. Time to learn what formed Benny Huge, AKA Dr Syntax.
1. What is your earliest memory of music as a child? We’re talking nursery rhyme early.
'Don't Mess With My Toot Toot', as sung by Denise LaSalle. That was my tune when I was four. Apparently I used to get hyper when mum put that on. Wow, I haven't thought of that song for a long time! Thank you for jogging my memory.
2. What music were your parents/guardians into? What was played around the house growing up?
My mum played lots of pop music from the sixties and seventies. The Kinks, The Stones, Elvis, Elton John, Joan Baez, that sort of thing.
My dad was more into classical music. Modern British composers from the early 20th century. Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten etc. 'Last Night Of The Proms' kind of stuff. The record I remember him playing the most though was just the sound of a stream train pulling into the station and leaving. Both sides of the record, a different train on each side, starting with the ambient sounds of a quiet platform, escalating into a total cacophony as the train pulled in, then fading out as it pulled away. He used to play that loud. That was pretty eccentric. Good though.
3. Did you have any tapes or records bought for you?
I remember having Queen's greatest hits album early on because my cousins were big fans. Then I got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soundtrack, because it was 1990 and I was obsessed with Turtles, of course! Then I got 'Fear Of A Black Planet' by Public Enemy and the other two didn't get a look in.
4. What is the first music video you can remember?
'Reet Petite' by Jackie Wilson. My God it's unsettling. That looks very freaky now.
5. What was the first record/tape/CD you bought for yourself? It can be a single or album.
Hmmm... the first one I actually bought by myself... that's a good question and I'm not sure. Wow, it might have been 'Boom! Shake The Room' by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. With 'Summertime' on the other side.
6. What music were you into in the early days at school? Were your friends into the same thing?
When I was nine my mate's older brother was into Hip Hop so we were listening to NWA, Public Enemy, and before Westwood was on Radio One, Pete Tong had the rap show. Tapes of that were like gold dust.
7. As a teenager did this change?
As a teenager, I was just obsessively into Hip Hop – all the usual names, Wu Tang, Biggie etc. - but as I got a bit older a bit of rock seeped in. Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, then things like Frank Zappa and Kool & The Gang. Whatever was passed down from older kids. It's funny to think of a time when music wasn't instantly accessible! Oh, I nearly forgot - I got massively into Jungle and Drum and Bass when I was about 15/16 to the point Hip Hop even took a bit of a back seat. Those old tape packs did the rounds.
8. Did you play an instrument at school and can you still play it?
I played a bit of piano but I was wack and didn't have the patience. I was too small minded, I wanted to rap – I didn't see the bigger of making music at the time. But I didn't really take to it, I was always more into the lyrical side of things.
9. Give us a fond memory of one track at high school/college. Any house parties, road trips, holidays...
I remember people used to get the bus driver to put tapes on the way home from school (it was the countryside so it was a school service, not just the public bus). One day I gave her Onyx 'Bacdafucup' and it was on the outro bit where they're just shouting obscenities. Everyone on the bus looked at me like a weirdo. I'm going a bit red now thinking about that.
10. What was your first experience of rap music? How did it make you feel?
I remember De La Soul 'Eye Know' being on the radio. I didn't really get it. It wasn't until I heard PE/NWA that I really got into it, I didn't really get what it was.
11. What’s the earliest rap music video you remember?
Hmmm... probably 'Bad' by LL Cool J. Actually my friend had a VHS of all his videos at the time. 'Big Ol' Butt'. That was incredible.
12. After discovering rap, which artists did you listen to the most?
Ice T, NWA, PE, then the next wave – Wu Tang etc. Weirdly I never really got into the Juice Crew or Rakim or Kane until much later.
13. What made you pick up a pen and start writing bars, or what gave you the confidence to start to compose music yourself?
Funnily enough, I can remember I first wrote a rap in a music lesson at primary school. We literally had a rap music lesson where everyone had to write a rap. However, I was still bumping Queen's greatest hits, it didn't really cut it! I suppose in about 1994 I was obsessed and just started writing all the time.
14. Would you say your sound today carries influences from your childhood?
Definitely, everything I've mentioned has played a part I would say. I love making music with Pete Cannon because he's the same age and has all the same influences and similar musical memories (his goes a lot deeper though). Our album 'Let's Talk' was a lot to do with childhood and adolescence so we channelled a lot of those early influences.
15. Do you have any idols in music? Have you met any?
The one that stands out is Del The Funky Homosapien. I'm a long-time fan of that west coast underground indie Hip Hop movement, Heiroglyphics etc. And when I got the chance to work with him it was surreal. We just hung out one evening in his hotel in Manchester and he was a really cool bloke. I got to see what his work rate is like. He had a whole studio in a suitcase and just records on the road all the time. We made the song 'Do What We Wanna Do', then he wrote another verse and started recording on it but his equipment short-circuited the room, so we never got that second tune! Shout out to Del though, he was a lovely guy.
16. Finally let’s end on an embarrassing question. What is your guilty pleasure today in modern music?
Probably some really clean-cut pop music like Carly Rae Jepsen. That or some trashy rap music like Cardi B. Fun, stupid stuff. It sounds like eating burgers when you're pissed. Does that count?
Check out other artists in our Tracking Back series:
