You might have spotted Peanut Butter Wolf, Percee P and Guilty Simpson on the cover of One Week To Live recently (if not, see links below) as Stone Throw Records took Ryde 0n the Isle of Wight by storm. It’s somewhat different to his guided tour of LA (see the CD/DVD set Time Out Presents The Other Side of Los Angeles so we thought we’d find out where he’s found to shop in Europe.

I didn’t get my suitcase back ‘til I returned to LA 20 days later. My first tour with no clothes!

“I found a nice white polo-styled shirt at Tesco in Isle Of Wight for about £5.00 that I wore for the One Week To Live cover shot because British Airways lost my suitcase and that was the only place open on a Sunday. I didn’t get my suitcase back ‘til I returned to LA 20 days later. My first tour with no clothes! That’s what I get for hosting a DVD based on vanity and consumption. I got some decent records this time around, but really, there was no time for shopping, which is a good thing with the Dollar so weak against the Pound and Euro.”

The IOW’s best known musically for the infamous festival of the 70s, “I’d vaguely heard of Isle of Wight and associated it with festivals, so I assumed that’s what I was coming over to do. This tour was promoted as a “festival tour” and the majority of my shows were festivals. The Isle Of Wight gig was at a small club though, which is fine by me, as long as people enjoy themselves.”

The loss of Dilla had a big impact on the hip hop community — nowhere more so than at Stones Throw as he’d moved to LA to work with the label and Madlib

The other dates on the tour included Duisberg, Larwik (Norwegian Skateboard Festival), Olso, Dour (Belgium), Amsterdam and London’s Cargo and he’s certainly travelled around a lot promoting Stones Throw since its formation in 1996. There’s a weathered flyer promoting a Peanut Butter Wolf gig in Southampton outside the train station, “I don’t remember it offhand, but I think I have Alzheimer’s. It runs in my family. By the end of this last tour, J Rocc and I were trying to remember which gig was which so we could report back to the booking agent and I couldn’t remember gigs a few days after they happened. Pretty sad really. I guess the most unusual gig on this last tour was promoted as a skateboard festival, but it was anything but that. It was outdoors in the centre of town and was a free event open to the general public. It was a mix of children and the elderly and Guilty Simpson didn’t want to swear on stage out of respect to the audience, but then these local opening acts were doing songs about getting underage girls drunk and other explicit, inappropriate stuff, so we said “fuck it” and did our regular show, no pun intended.”

So apart from Stones Throw records, what would he suggest we need to look out for? “San Francisco’s Look Records has put out a few decent things lately. I like the Phat Kat album they released. And I like Kidtronix, although I can’t remember the name of the label.”

On the Look Records’ website there is an interview with Phat Kat Radio where he talks about meeting Dilla. The loss of Dilla had a big impact on the hip hop community; nowhere more so than at Stones Throw as he’d moved to LA to work with the label and Madlib. Wolf says of posthumous albums releases, “We have some things planned, but nothing currently scheduled. It’s not only up to us. There’s a lot of behind the scenes politics involved when someone passes away.”

He first came across Guilty Simpson when Dilla and Madlib were recording as JayLib about 5 years ago, so why has it taken so long to get Guilty to record an album? “That’s more a question for him, but he’s been recording all along. I think it’s more that people are anticipating his stuff more now with the great things he did on The Shining, his verse on the Four Tet/Jay Dilla remix ‘As Serious As Your Life’, his song on Dilla’s Ruff Draft, etc.” Not forgetting his appearance on the Dabrye album, he says, “the buzz built around his last few guest spots on other peoples projects is a bigger responsibility than [Guilty] being Dilla’s favourite MC.”

Talking of Four Tet, we first came across Percee P on the Four Tet 12”, ‘A Joy’ a couple of years ago. “We all knew that he had great skills as an MC when we signed him, but now it’s up to us to take that raw talent and help him turn it into an album. Some of my favorite MCs on stage don’t translate well on album. Although Percee has been rapping since the days of the old school, he’s never released an album and I feel he’s grown more as a recording artist in this past year than all his other previous years combined. He’s come a long way and I’m proud of what he’s accomplished to get where he is.” Perecee P’s album Perceverance featuring Daimon D, Prince Po, Chali 2na, Jedi Mind Tricks and Aesop ‘None Shall Pass’ Rock is “out soon”.

J-Rocc and Aloe Blacc were also on the tour. J-Rocc did the mix CD on the Stones Throw 10th Anniversary release, Peanut Butter Wolf Presents Stones Throw Ten Years and since then, “He’s been doing a lot of mix CDs. He just did one with me where we mixed rare hip hop 7” singles. He’s working on his debut album as a recording artist at the moment though that showcases more his production skills than his turntable skills.”

“Aloe is doing a lot of experimenting. Working with different artists, trying different styles. He’s not afraid to try anything. That’s what attracted me to his music.” Like ‘Happy Now?’ off the Chrome Children Vol2 project, a joint release with the irreverent [adult swim]; “They like our music, so they help us get the word out.”

The videos to the Stones Throw catalogue are in a wide variety of styles, see the DVD with Stones Throw 101 and he says, “The video directors we work with get what we’re about and I’ve personally made some good friends out of meeting them. In fact, a few came to my wedding this year.”

So the Wolf is married but the busy schedule of a record boss in LA continues as he prepares for Madlib’s album Beat Konducta in India coming out at the end of the month and a trip to Mochilla’s LA premiere of Brasilintime — Batucada Com Discos (17th-20th July) that features the pride of LA and Brasil, Paul Humphrey, James Gadson, Derf Reklaw, Babu, J.Rocc, Cut Chemist, Madlib, Wilson das Neves, Ivan “Mamão” Conti, João “Comanche” Parahyba, and DJ Nuts (also see Daedelus with Keepintime and the DVD).

He’s so busy, I didn’t get the chance to ask him about his remix of Azymuth’s ‘Morning’ (one of the best tracks on Azimuth album!) or new albums by Oh No, Dr. No’s Oxperiment or Malib’s Beat Konducta In India. Oh well, LA’s a mere stones throw as I’m sure we’ll catch up again soon.