Mad Doctor X: Chill Thrill Cult

Jason, or the Mad Doctor X as he is musically known, is sounding a wee bit tired. He’s calling from his London home, and I’ve the feeling it’s getting a little late over there.

“Yeah, it’s about 2am in the morning, and you’re the last geezer I get to talk to tonight. My bed is looking awfully comfortable at the moment. But I’ve always got time to talk about my music..”

So it’s probably a half decent idea to keep this good and quick. You’ve just released a new album, Chillinometry; on Brisbane’s own Hydrofunk Records, run by Resin Dogs Katch and Dave. So what’s been happening since the last CD, Picnic With The Greys?

“I’ve been earning some money in the meantime, doing some DJing for the Freestylers, as well as some remix work here and there, a bit for Australia, a bit for Japan and some for England. Apart from that I’ve just been working solidly on Chillinometry, and it’s great to see it finally out as a CD.”

And it’s great to hear it on CD, with eighteen tracks it’s packing a considerable punch and covers a broad range of sounds and styles. It’s on the hip hop downbeat tip, but has soul and funk oozing out its pores. Chillinometry also sees the Mad Doctor experiment more with vocalists, adding a more accessible side to his tracks.

“It’s good to hear you say that. I do like different styles of music, and I like to try and express myself in my music however I need too. I don’t claim to be an expert on Drum & Bass, but I like a lot of the ideas and sounds they use within that style of music. If I tried to do a drum and bass track, it might come across like it was a bit fake, you know, cause I’m not really completely down with the style. I just have my interpretation of that style, a hip hop flavoured style of drum and bass. And that’s what links all the tracks together, you can tell they’ve got my fingerprints all over them.”

Have you got any intentions to tour on the back of this album?

“I’m not really a touring or performing artist. I’m a producer. I like to sit in my studio for hours and tinker with my knobs. I’ve worked with the Freestylers and I do have a taste for touring now, and I suppose if the demand is ever there then I might have to embark on a tour again. But I’d really like to get just a heap more production work.”

You’ve done a solid slab of work with local boys The Resin Dogs. Are you guys planning to work together again in the future?

“Yeah, they’re great mates of mine. I met them in 1995, in Brisbane one time when Katch was doing one of his six deck solid mash ups. Don’t know if he still does them, but they were very silly. We exchanged numbers and pleasantries, and he gave me some tapes to listen too on the long trip home, which was a Godsend as I’d have died of boredom. So I’ve kind of watched the Resin Dogs grow and develop, and the more they’ve developed, I’ve tried to get involved in any way I can. I came over one time, and played with the band, as they took the time out to learn my songs. So I sat there with my sampler and played along with them, which was great fun, and all the shows went really well. I can’t wait to come back and do it all again…”

For those who aren’t aware of Jason’s history, he has been know to release music on Ninja Tune under the name The London Funk Allstars. It seems that things have gone a bit sour with this musical relationship, as the Mad Doctor explains in his liner notes. In the thanks column we can find : “To all the faketastical chinstrokeystentialist, middle class wanna b, hip hop hijacking, record bag with no records in wearing, tight rawcus t-shirt sporting, crab-scratch loving, instrumental rap album buying suckers at stingy tune UK and Canada. Who’s spineless attempts to hold me back will always fail cos my 6 year old daughter has more realness in her ponytails than you will ever have…” Please explain?

“Well, I took this album to Ninja Tune UK when I was a third of the way through, and they said they were well keen to release it a the new London Funk Allstars album. That’d be great, as my previous London Funk Allstars albums have sold really well all around the world, and I still get great royalties in from them all the time. So I kept working on this album, and didn’t hear too much from anyone at Ninja Tune. So I contacted them, and said what’s going on? And they said, well there has been a change of plans. We’ve talked to whoever in NT Canada, and they don’t think the record is any good. So I said, well what does that mean? And he said, well, maybe we can’t put the album out. But yet you told me two weeks ago that it was all on. So the man who runs NT in the UK has gotten the jitters from some git over in Canada, and canned the album. What a fucking joke…”

“Luckily Katch and Dave still have some faith in my music, and it’s still going to see the light of day. Ninjatunes loss is hopefully Hydrofunks gain.”