Dummy Mix 12 // Boy 8 Bit
Dave Morris morphed into Boy 8 Bit in 2005 and has released EPs on Touche’s Bodyclap and Diplo’s Mad Decent. His new Baltic Pine EP comes out on London label This Is Music featuring four melodic electronic ghetto bass tracks for the summer. His style is varied as are his influences which comprise drum’n‘bass, hip hop, electro and cheap Italian horror movies. Making him even harder to pin down Morris has just uploaded four videos of 80s power ballads onto his myspace.
What did you hope to achieve with the Dummy mix?
This mix is different from my other mixtapes in the past. I’ve been doing a lot of touring this summer, and I have pool of records I really enjoyed playing. I wanted to put down a mix that reflected this. Basically I picked some tunes out of this pool and decided to make a no frills mix with them. Not as complex as my other mixes, but probably a more truthful reflection of what I play when I DJ out.
Why is one of your new tracks called Baltic Pine?
It’s named after a company in my home town who used to make conservatories. Until they went bust.
There are accordion and trumpets on your new EP. Can you play them? What instruments can you play?
Ha, no those are programmed multi-sampled sounds. I can’t play the accordian or trumpet, but I can play the guitar pretty well and my knowledge of keys is enough to get me by.
Is Chapel of Ghouls named after a horror flick? What are your fave horror movies?
It’s actually a name I ripped off a Morbid Angel track. Pretty un-original of me I know, but I thought it was a great title, plus the track had a ‘Chapel’ type vibe to it – or I so I thought! I could talk about horror movies for days, but I’ll keep it short. Argento’s ‘Suspiria’, ‘Halloween’, Lucio Fulci’s ‘House by the Cemetery’, ‘The Descent’, Michelle Soavi’s ‘Stagefright’. Loads…and loads I can’t remember now!
Why do you prefer to release EPs than just one track at a time?
EPs are nice as you can have one big tune, the A-side – if we can still use that terminology – and then you can put on other tracks that might not necessarily be as “big”, but you want people to hear – or you think fit the package as a whole.
Do you favour lap top DJ-ing or CD-Js? Have you ever used vinyl?
I’ve never DJ’d with a laptop. I use CDs for my gigs. I might be tempted to start playing off something like Traktor Scratch with CDs though as it opens up more possibilities. We’ll see.
If a pensioner asked you what it is you do for a living what would you say?
I work with computers.
Boy 8 Bit’s Baltic Pine EP is out today.
