WORDS: NICK GORDON BROWN

“His history is deep, it’s ridiculous,” says Luke Solomon when reflecting on the catalogue of a man he describes as “like a father of the underground”. For Simon Dunmore, “he’s just an OG, he’s just a don from Chicago, he’s an original, he’s a pioneer – and he’s just one of the coolest dudes out there.” Here, Mike talks us through some of the cuts that feature on his new House Masters compilation, from early Chicago classics through to 2020 favourites.

Dance You Mutha

“We started doing all the local parties in the neighbourhood, for kids who couldn’t go out and experience things like the Music Box, they didn’t have any money to go downtown. I started doing tracks to play at the party, and that’s when I got into the producing, just making a whole lot of beat tracks. We built a studio in the basement from nothing, that’s where I got my education. I learned so much from Bam Bam [Chicago house / acid pioneer and Mike's flat mate, Chris 'Bam Bam' Westbrook] on how to put songs together. Bam Bam put a bassline on ‘Dance You Mutha’, and I wanted it to stay raw and underground sounding, he ‘commercialed’ it up – but that made me know the difference between making a beat and producing a song.” 

Magic Feet

“The original track was ‘Videoclash’ and that went under the name of Lil Louis, but Marshall Jefferson was the one that originally did the track, but we didn’t know that ‘cos Louis kept it hidden. So because we heard Louis play it all the time, we thought it was his track. For Marshall it was a little play around track, ‘oh yeh, you can put it out.’ We used to ask Louis if we could get a copy, ‘nah nah nah’ – so we made our own. Bam Bam was the one that put the 303 line on there. I just wanted raw, straight Chicago jackin’ tracks – I just wanted you to jack, I didn’t want you twirlin’!”

So Let It Be House

”I used to be heavy into Run DMC and all those cats coming up – that was my thing. So I was just figuring out, how could I put that in house and make it sound good. And of course I love James Brown, so I kinda infused the funky and the rap thing together – that was like the beginning of hip house. My grandma used to have me in church every week, so I incorporated that – I thought wouldn’t it be cool if you could have a 10 Commandments of House.”

The Pressure Cooker

“That was a spin off from ‘Percolator’. Cajmere had ‘Percolator' and I was like, what’s another kitchen tool you use that makes sound. Everything you hear, that was me – like the steam, that was me doing it with my mouth ‘cos I couldn’t find any sound effects records, back then you didn’t have the digital format where you could click on and say ‘I’m looking for some steam!’ The girl at the beginning of the record was actually the receptionist at DJ International. I just like experimenting with sounds.”

Ten City – Devotion (‘Dunn for Fun’ remix)

Vicky Martin – Not Gonna Do It (Mike Dunn remix)

“How ‘Devotion’ came about was Marshall (Jefferson) was coming over to the house and recording at the studio we had in the basement. He’s in the middle of doing the Ten City album. What we know today as a remix wasn’t a remix back then, basically it was different mutes, you used some reverb, put delay on stuff – it wasn’t actually taking the music out and putting new music in. With the results that came out, I was pretty happy. When Bam Bam moved out of the house, Marshall Jefferson moved into his room. He was working on a single for Vicky Martin which came out on Movin’ Records, out of New Jersey. By this time the remix was starting to form – we still weren’t taking the music out, but we were doing different things like using a sampler, and it was my first go at chopping vocals up. The challenge was to make it sound different to Marshall, and make it my own, but not take away from the song. So I picked out some of Vicky’s vocals and sampled them, so mine was more of a dub. ‘You must have known it was over back then’ was one of my favourite lines, so I kept that going. Movin’ Records loved it and put it on the package, I was extremely happy with that.”

God Made Me Phunky / Welcome 2 Da Klub

“I made ‘Welcome 2 Da Klub’. ‘God Made Me Phunky’ wasn’t even on the record. Maurizio [Clemente, from Italian label Nite Stuff] said, ‘we gonna need one more to make it an EP’. I know everybody was like, ‘that sample is out of tune’, and nah nah nah, but it was purposely out of tune, because if you listen to some of the classic records, some of those are detuned, or pitched a little bit out. That’s what gave it that funky vibe, the strings weren’t all the way in tune, the Rhodes went out of tune a bit – that’s what made it what it is. Sometimes things don’t have to sound right – they’re better felt right. I attribute the success to Tony Humphries, I always say that, Tony broke that record. But then there were places I’d go, and ‘Welcome 2 Da Klub’ was the joint – I remember going to a club in Amsterdam, and when they opened their club, it was the first song they played, and they had me there performing and DJing.”

Phreaky MF

On the reaction from family members: “You got to hear this song lil’ Mike made, aah the filth coming out of that boy’s mouth”…”I raised you better than that”…

“…So I promised never to play that song  –  that’s what people don’t understand when people ask me to play the song, it was really hard, ‘cos I told my grandma I wouldn’t do it anymore. That was another thrown together song, I was getting ready to do The Warehouse that night, and I had about three hours before I had to get to the club to start my set. I was like, ‘I gotta make something that’s gonna be different, that ain’t nobody heard’. Everything was in one take. It was a Warehouse classic, but then the hip hop clubs started getting into it, and then it took off to a whole ‘nother crowd.”

Natural High

“The songs that I just go in and spontaneously do, those are the songs that always work. ‘Natural High’ – that song wasn’t even finished, it was a demo – that’s why you only heard those few vocals on there. It was just the hook, and the little talking piece. Luke [Solomon] heard that – Luke has incredible ears. If you don’t understand Mike Dunn, you’re not gonna get it. If you don’t get Mike Dunn, you’re not gonna push me, you’re not gonna see what I see or hear what I hear. When I spoke to Luke, went to London and had a sit down – Luke got it.”

If I Can’t Get Down

“I don’t know if you ever had a dream, and some monster was chasing you, and you feel like you’re running in quicksand – that’s how it was chasing ‘God Made Me Phunky’. When I said, ‘I’m not gonna do that no more - leave it alone bro!’ is when ‘If I Can’t Get Down’ came about. This is how I knew it was it – because the lyrics just flew out. It’s like something that James Brown would say – that’s why I put that ‘yeah!’ in it, so I could be like Stubblefield at the back! [Clyde Stubblefield, Brown’s original ‘funky drummer’].  So that’s what that was supposed to be like, with James Brown saying, ‘if I can’t get down’. And this was before the pandemic – if you listen to the intro, it’s ‘we’re gonna have to break out the bucket of bleach water, and a can of Lysol for this one baby, it’s real funky here’. And what are we doing now!”

Every track to me that I’ve done has had something to do with where I was at that time in my life. So if you listen to all those tracks, each one of those tracks is going to say something about where I was mentally, or physically, or emotionally. I’m a storyteller, and I try always to be truthful with the stories that I tell.”

Download & stream Mike Dunn - House Masters HERE