Chris Chetland & Timmy Schumacer Lay it Down

"Putting together any album will make you cry at some stage, it can be a full on process, but it was heaps of fun meeting people and Timmy Schumacher's obsessive porn fixation kept the process entertaining, if somewhat seedy and something you couldn't comfortably tell your gran about when she asked what you had been up to during the day."

New Zealand's breakbeat ringleaders Timmy Schumacher and Chris Chetland aka Baitercell have just returned from a floor shattering tour of Oz. The tour was to promote New Zealand's first major breaks long player 'Return of the Booomshwack',
TranZfusion corresponded with Chris across the Tasman to discover that breaks are just like a typical Aussie/Kiwi BBQ.

Whilst the better part of the world have been soaking up break beats throbbing bass kicks and gnarly dub steps for some time, NZ's KOG Transmissions have primarily centred on drum n bass, hip-hop and dub (Concord Dawn, Shapeshifter, P-Money), until now that is and according to Chris, some things are worth the wait.

"Moving towards breaks was a move back to our roots really. One of the primary ideas when we thought about setting up a label was to release breaks, but then we got caught up in releasing other peoples music and there was lots of it. It also just seemed to be the right stage to do it [sometimes good things just take time], so we did. The plan is to have a big focus on breaks from now on; it has also been a good way to really build the relationship with the Australian scene."

The albums title, which is hugely satisfying to say "Booomshwack", has in fact many different references.

"It refers to the boom of the kick and the snare hit apparently, it's also a play on another title that will be a special in the know bonus for train spotters as well as being one of Timmy's porn references."

Featuring an impressive cross section of talent from both sides of the ditch (Minuit, Substax, Freq Nasty, Friendly, Kid Kenobi, Bass Kleph, Nu Breed, Ransom, Phil K, Smart'n'Pocket, Ek, Baitercell vs Timmy Schumacher, Geminine feat Mc Rizla), getting your place on this compilation nearly required a little more than talent.

"It wasn't like you'd think where we took money, promises and sexual favours in return for ensuring a place on the CD. No, we just sat down talked about money, promises and sexual favours until we realised that it wasn't going to work so well in the long term so we had to let the tracks do the talking. They also had to fit into the story that we put on the inside of the CD as well."

Whilst there are significant differences between the NZ and Australian breakbeat sound,

"The NZ stuff is more hip-hop and drum n bass influenced, whereas the Australian sound is techier. I guess they both reflect the environment they grew up in."

Chris explains what is it that we bring to the sound that those in other lands don't.

"Nicer weather for one. Breaks is more about having fun and cutting loose more than most other styles I am aware of. It could be considered the 'barbie on the beach' of dance music. Perhaps one of those ones where your uncle brought his new girlfriend Sharon along [the one with the low cut top, no bra, constant ciggie and dirty look in her eyes], who had too much to drink, decided to marinate everything in beer and sort of pissed your mum off for being too rowdy and pashing up in front of the kids]. I just reckon when it comes down to it we know how to behave badly but still carry off some sense of [we think] basic charm."

That charm must be rubbing off on someone out there for Chris tells me that there is plenty to watch out for in the coming months.

"We plan to do a lot more collaboration between Aussie and NZ producers, we both have different styles and the cross pollination would be even better than the sum of parts. Timmy and I have a few 12" coming out on an overseas labels, first one being 'What's Down Low' on Passenger, and 'Test Press' [with DJ Mutiny] on Funkatech Tags