Strange Daze have been doing parties in Manchester since 2003 and have decided to step things up again in 2010 by taking a monthly residency at The Music Box, arguably one of Manchester’s best underground venues. The have invited myself and Septic Insurgent to represent Meganeural Records

Thom Powell Raggacore ProTools Lecture from thom powell on Vimeo.

Official Hoonboy T-Shirts are now up for grabs if you feel the need to wear your musical allegiances on the chest!

Get them from Dizzyjam, for only £12.99!!

Girls sizes, and more importantly, ORANGE shirts & print will be available by christmas apparently!

In a few weeks I will be taking part in the 2009 Laptop Battle held at The Croft, Stokes Croft, Bristol, UK

Come down and show some support/go booo when I come on stage

I’ve started using this site to host my mixes too. It has a community feel to it like youtube, a really nice interface, genre tagging and you can search within track listings for artist, title, label etc

http://www.mixcloud.com/hoonboy – check it out!

Yeh so there hasn’t been a lot going on here of late but thanks for dropping by to check …

I was unable to post recent live sets due to issues with recording controller data from the reaktor machines within my setup. The last such issue was cause by a stray handbag …

I’ve been doing other things for a while too. Got myself Protools Certified Operator Status for both Music & Post Production – got a hat AND a t-shirt to prove it!

Been producing an album for a very interesting band, and doing the dialogue edits & dubbing mix for a pretty dark feature film.

I’m working on a system for syncing video with ableton during performance for a VERY high profile client, so high I’m bound by contract not to disclose any more details, and yes, this means you can expect a live a/v hoonboy set sometime in the future!

In 4 weeks I start the final phase of my degree which means composition & production, and also returning my focus to Hoonboy and all that entails.

Expect an album, gig dates, a fresher live sound and this video thing to drop in the next few months

While I was in Lebanon, I answered a few questions for Alec at Kaotic System (one of the main breakcore promoters in beirut)

1. Hello Thom, tell us something about yourself for a start; where are you from?

I am 28 years old and live in Manchester, UK but I am from a very rural part of the english countryside called the Forest of Dean. My mother still has our house in the country with a few fields and some sheep – (we are a planning a small private festival there in the summer!) I am allergic to milk & cheese and I hate the smell of coffee. I like motorbikes, mangoes and my girlfriend.



2. Why did you name yourself as “Hoonboy” and what is the meaning of your moniker?

Hoonboy was a name given to me by friends at school, i think because it sounded funny when they shouted ‘Hooooooonbooooooy!!!!’ . I don’t think they understood the meaning which I have since discovered. ‘Hoon’ is an Australian term which means reckless and irresponsible. A Hoonboy therefore is someone reckless and irresponsible who refuses to grow up. Although i put a lot of time and thought into this project, this word ‘Hoonboy’ perfectly describes my music and my attitude to my live shows.



3. Where and when was your first DJ appearance?

My first live appearance as Hoonboy was May 2007 in Bristol, UK with the crew from Death$ucker Records, at their famous night called ‘Goatlab’.
My first appearance with turntables was sometime around 2000, I was quite good and popular locally but very soon got bored of playing other peoples music in such a 2 dimensional fashion.



4. Which are your biggest musical influences in genres and artists, and what musical background do you have?

Even as a small child i loved music and I learnt to play the piano at 7 years old. I bought a set of turntables about 10 years ago and a synthesizer even before that. I used to Dj house & trance back in 1999 before the sound of drum n bass caught my attention. My biggest crowd as a DJ back then was about 1000 people which is easy to do with commercial dance music.

5. How do you describe your music to people?

Oh what a question! A big smiley happy rave finds love with the nastiest disturbed grindcore you could imagine. they have kids and the kids are hoonboys. all of them. and hoongirls. and there’s lots – a hoon army

no, seriously? i describe it as electronic music composed live. i describe it as a dj set with an extra twist. i describe it as pure energy compressed into cables and fired through speakers at the crowd. In england i would call it dubgrimejunglestepcore, and then people would laugh at me.

I have had a few haterz sending me messages complaining that what i do is totally random and not at all musical – they seem to think i have no idea what is on each key! I try to describe the technique and explain how everything is laid across the keyboards by grouping sounds into zones e.g. big kicks, snare fills, reaktor amens, effects, scratches and so on… Although I have a set of core samples that i use for the drums & fills, i like to change things regularly to keep things interesting for both me and the crowd – so even though i may not know exactly what is on each of the 75 keys, i do know what type of sound it will be and the intricacy and speed at which i switch between these samples allows the performance to work both rhythmically and musically whilst being almost totally improvised.

6. Which DJs/performer would you book to play in Beirut if you were the organizer for a day?

Miike Teknoist, Henry Shitmat, Aaron ‘Snares, Krumble, Jahba, Wanbushi (whom i heard for the first time in Lebabon), and Kelpe with maybe a hoonboy oldskool jungle dj set thrown in if there’s time .


7. What does “Breakcore” mean to you? Do you think this music is for aggressive people with aggressive manners?

Breakcore doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a word that can be used to either entice or scare people. My mother uses the word breakcore more than I do! 10 years ago it represented a particular ofshoot of jungle, characterised by very distorted breaks, dancehall lyrics and a generally lo-fi sound, but now i feel it represents an attitude, a feeling – just like punk did in the late ’70s. I realised recently that in the 21st century there are no genres, only styles. My ‘breakcore’ show fuses dubstep, hiphop, ragga jungle, and idm – i generally don’t play breakcore tunes because my live technique involves the ‘on-the-fly’ remix. I can’t do a lot to a breakcore tune on stage, but I can make mc hammer sound like breakcore, i can turn dubstep into breakstep and i can make old skool jungle tunes sound much more up to date.

You may be right that the agressive music draws an agressive crowd (or maybe it just inspires well mannered people to let something go for a while) but my experiences on the live circuit over the last few years have been that the more aggressive and heavy the music, the more polite, well mannered and open-minded the artist. perfect examples of this are drumcorps and miike teknoist. i would like to consider myself the same but as i have still to prove myself as a producer i will leave it to some journalist somewhere to make the assertion

8. What was your first reaction when you were approached by Acousmatik System to play in Beirut?

OK, to be totally truthful? At first I thought it was a joke. I quite often receive enquiries that do not end with a show date being confirmed, but after I did some research of my own, and spoke at length with Hadi firstly and then Murph I became very excited. Despite being unknown in Europe, Kaotic & Acousmatik Systems are very professional and as I do not know of many people in this music scene who have been able to play shows in the middle east, I felt honoured to be invited by them.

9. Tell us about your experiences in Lebanon. Anything specific you liked, any surprises or weird things encountered?

I was surprised by the coloured chickens and even more surprised to see children kicking them in the streets. I loved the food, the weather, and the people. I didn’t like the airport especially when i had to go get my bag the next day, but then I don’t like any airports very much wherever they are. I didn’t have one bad experience that would make me not want to come back.

10. Any message to the young Lebanese “Breakcore” scene?

This musical, political and cultural scene is all about the internet, free software and the sharing of information.
Make use of all of your resources, 
take inspiration from the things around you and the things you grew up with, 
don’t try to copy someone else overseas, 
develop a style that you and your friends can relate to,
work together and don’t give up!

Shitmat & Hoonboy will be joining Si & Tom, Angry Hippies and Goatboy for Progression Sessions at Jabez Clegg in Manchester on Saturday 7th March. Doors open at 10 and tax is £5

Like a bolt out of the blue, I will be appearing at Electrowerkz this Friday for some full on ravecore mashup action. This is probably one of the most mental parties in the UK and I feel honoured to be invited along. You can catch me at peak time in the middle room where I will be killing Islington with 90 minutes of live mashup mayhem.

I had planned to take two months off from gigging to get a new set together but things will have to be brought forward. See you all on Friday!

I’ve been meaning to do some more vids for a while, and after moving into a new studio finally got round to getting the dvcam out to capture some practice sessions. i’m having a real problem getting a reasonable audio level into my little panasonic camcorder so these are a bit distorted, but if you want the real hoonboy experience, just hassle your local promoter until they book me

In the meantime, check out the action below . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

This probably wont be relevant to most of you, but for those who are more familiar with Oxford English than Olde English it’s time to get educated.

Bare; much, many
Bad; good
Big tingz is gwarnin; incidents of major concern are occuring
Bling bling; ring ring
Bomb, The; excellent, the best
Booka; expression of happiness (pron. “Book – Ah”)
Bredrin; brother, friend
Brock up; to beat up, to physically damage
Cuss; to disrespect
Diss; 1 to give, 2 to insult, disrespect
Easy; 1 to take it easy, relax 2 hello
Heavy; phat, large, excellent
Hell to the naw; definately not
Hold it down; stop that
Hold tight; to have patience, to hang on
Innit; isn’t it?, n’est-ce pas?
Laters; goodbye
Lur; Love
Mission; activity or journey involving a great amount of effort
Phat; large, cool
Respec; sorted, respect due
Rude; cool
S; get somewhere quick (short for “step”)
Safe; cool, alright
Selectah; DJ
Sounds like a plan; sounds good to me
Spark; to punch, to beat up
Step it; go somewhere fast
Tru dat; that is indeed the case
Watch yo self; keep playing and I’ll whoop your ass
Wha Blo; what’s going on?, what’s happening?
Wha Gwan; what’s going on?, what’s happening?

Before my visit to Cork in March, I was interviewed by the regional newspaper. The interview is pretty accurate, although I am cited as a Drum n Bass DJ (!!).

Memoirs of an invisible man – Don O’Mahony chats to the illusive Drum n Bass DJ Hoonboy – Evening Echo, March 20th 2008
Read the rest of this entry »

Just recorded another live show with Pete Juxtaposeur, this time as agentblu, my ambient chilled other half. i’ve been writing bits of downtempo music since 2002 and this is a rare chance to get some of it aired.

The show will be broadcast on the last thursday of april, at 9pm(BST) via the Sound Unsound Network, and later archived for download on the Skip To The End homepage.

After the Cambridge gig I shall cruise over to Norwich to record a live set to be broadcast on www.livewire1350.com. The show is called ‘Parlour Games for the Disenchanted’ and is hosted by Dean and Sam. Its going out on 1st March at 10.30 pm.

. . . on the site at the minute, breakcore taking a back seat with things being dark and wintery as January often is. I have my head down at school, currently learning about the differences in slope characteristics of Neve, Pultec, Avalon and a few other EQs not to mention the Digidesign exams which are looming.

I have quite a few shows booked over the next few months, as well as an imminent house move with the chance to have a proper studio again so you can expect more live sets on the site and a few hoonboy dubpate exclusives. I have a few tunes that I’m writing on a slow burn, some solo and a collaboration too, although it will be a while before anything is released as my production is improving steadily as I progress through the course and the mastering module is yet to come. I have been reliably informed that this will include some input from the mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios in London.

This Saturday 12th Jan, No Fixed Abode are broadcasting my recent nightmare before christmas live set on London’s famous resonance fm as part of the weekly Decibel Breach show!!

Tune in from 0.55 am

At the end of 2007 I took a trip down to Bristol for a special guest slot on Juxtaposeur’s monthly Skip to the End podcast.

Pete, as he is sometime known, is a regular DJ at both the Goatlab and Eclectic Kettle in Bristol.

download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Skip to the End is recorded in front of a live audience on the last Thursday of every month at 9pm.

Read the rest of this entry »

check the videos page for live action close-ups of high speed hand breakcore trickery.

here are some pics of one of the studios i get to use as an audio engineering student at futureworks

Well, according to the antipodeans, hoon means dangerous, reckless, or antisocial behaviour and their website encourages people to contact the police. I urge you not to do this if you see me, as i pose no personal threat.

” The anti-hoon package also includes a wheel clamping program, where cars are immobilised and dumped in their yard at home. ”

Sonically dangerous, musically reckless and likely to get my wheels clamped for antisocial behaviour. That is a Hoonboy.

i have just made a new binaural beat in the theta range for the purposes of sleeping. it begins around 7hz dropping to 1 or 2hz over 20 minutes. listening on headphones is essential for the process to work, as is getting left and right the correct way round.

for those of you that don’t know, binaural beats are a way of controlling the frequency of your brain and therefore your mental state using phase modulation. there’s plenty more info on wikipedia

this is best put on an ipod as the only track in the playlist. obviously don’t put it on when you’re riding your bike.

download

Its been 3 years in the making, but Gusset’s remix album, Ask Dr. Kim is now available to buy from dswat.net

Read the rest of this entry »