Come Saturday (and Sunday) the 9th and 10th July a huge throng will gather in Okehampton to dance 'til they drop before the speaker stacks and flashing lights of Californian SCOTT BLACKWELL. For the legendary producer, mixer and deejay dubbed by one critic the Father Of Sanctified Dance is making his first ever-British appearance at Cross Rhythms '94. He spoke to Karl Allison.

Scott Blackwell

Scott Blackwell is a difficult man to keep up with. Since Cross Rhythms last spoke to him in 1992, he has firmly established himself as Christendom's indisputable and indispensable numero uno mix master, producing high quality dance albums quicker than priests are leaving the Church Of England. Then there's the radio shows, the live performances and the small matter of remixing DC Talk. In July, he visits the Cross Rhythms festival and wants to meet as many of you as possible. But to save him having to divulge the same information 4,000 times, we've already asked him a few questions...

At first, all your releases were on MYX Records. Now that's gone quiet and the N-Soul label has appeared. What's been going on?

"MYX Records is continuing to be the premiere dance label under the Frontline Music Group banner. They've recently released projects by Gospel Gangstas and Echoing Green and I'm working on a solo project for them right now called The Real Thing. There was a misconception within the industry that I owned the label, but actually I was just commissioned as an independent producer. Then, in July of '93, I was asked if I'd be interested in doing a dance label when a new Frontline distribution company was formed. It was something I'd always wanted to do. And that's how N-Soul was born - God opened the door and we just walked through it. Our distribution internationally for N-Soul is with the new Alliance Music Company, and our first British releases are coming out this quarter when the Worldwide Message Tribe, The Raving Loonatics and Nitro Praise will be released."

I understand you've been remixing DC Talk.

"I'm doing a remix project for Forefront Records for DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline and Code Of Ethics. They're going to come out as EPs, each one will be about 30 minutes long and will have my three remixes and probably the original single version also. The DC Talk tracks we're doing are 'Jesus Is Just Alright', That Kinda Girl' and 'I Don't Want It'. The first of these we've done in a techno version and also a kind of acid jazz-salsa-retro-disco version. The other two I've done in seven minute house treatment."

Tell us about some of the bands you've been producing and how you came to work with them.

"We don't do a tremendous amount of scouting for bands. Anyone that's in the Christian music industry and is into this type of music generally finds their way to us somehow. Also, there were several bands that I knew of prior to the conception of N-Soul that I wanted to work with, but I didn't have the power to sign bands on MYX Records. The Worldwide Message Tribe came to us through Steve Nixon (a Brit who was formerly DJ on United Christian Broadcasting at Stoke and is now assisting Scott at N-Soul in California). He sent me a demo tape of them and I just flipped out on it! I called Andy, Zarc and Mark and said, 'Listen, I'd like to put this out over here, but I just don't know how to go about it right now.' That was the same month that I was afforded the opportunity to start the label, so it was totally a Godsend that the project came along at the time it did and the fact that they're as solid in their ministry as they are.

"The Raving Loonatics was a concept we were just throwing around in the office. I'd always wanted to do a techno record with an extensive amount of preaching on it - not just the simple one or two second sound bites that you hear on so many tracks. I wanted to do something that had actual three or four minute sermons on top of it. So we created these comic book characters and originally had conceived a comic book to go along with it, but we found the cost made that something we weren't able to do. It will continue to be an ongoing series. We've got a list of well renowned evangelists and pastors that have agreed to be a part of it."

How do you convince these preachers they should appear on a techno album?

"It's the integrity with which we handle their sermon, and the fact that we're very careful how we edit. We take a very, very serious attitude to retaining the integrity of the sermon because the whole idea of doing the record is to get what we consider powerful sermons on top of a music format that some kids, who would never listen to a pastor, will sit through for six minutes. That's God's word going out and we're promised that it doesn't come back void."

What other albums have you produced recently?

"Nitro Praise is a house/pop treatment to such songs as 'I Will Call Upon The Lord' and 'High Places' - songs that are really popular in a lot of the evangelical churches. We wanted to do a record that had praise songs on it that youth groups could get excited about and that wouldn't be just your typical Hosanna Integrity track, although those players have a vital role in the body. We wanted something that was a little more to the left and a little more youth orientated. And we put instrumentals of every one of those tracks on the CD, so that they can be used to sing along to in youth services.

"We also have an album out by Resolution called 'Politically Incorrect'. We wanted something that looked at our political structure in the suit of Christianity and so we took some serious issues and we took a very hardcore stance for Christ. And yet it was done with a compassionate heart and I believe we said some very profound things. That record is being very well received in the States."

Your own albums contain an amazing variety of dance music styles. Why is this?