>Trouble: Malcolm, you record collection is awesome! But you do not get noticed buying much stuff on the record market. You can normally tell who is buying what from gossip. How do you keep such a low profile?

>Malcolm: Most of my stuff I have had for years. The only stuff I can possibly pick up now is Hip Hop and Reggae. That's the only chance I've got, and well the funk stuff I was fortunate enough to be on it way back, you know. That's where it all came from really. When it was all cheap. But now in the market I have not got a chance. I can't pay £500 for a seven. I'm not you know, well I've lost my job. And I'm trying to make some music of my own, so no, moneys not coming in. It would be nice to be able to get stuff, but it's too expensive. You know that!

>Trouble: It has been suggested that the funk45 market place is like the northern soul market when that first took off. Allot of the records are being over priced. When something turns up every one jumps on it And the price rockets. But the fact is that there might be a hundred copies out there, but people just don't realise! Like the 'Trespasser'.

>Malcolm: Well, stuff like 'Trespasser'. We all knew there was some out there, because of the label. And it's out of New York. It's just one of those records that on a reasonably big label, so it did look like it might turn up. But where And when? A lot of records got mashed up , they melted them down in America in the oil crisis. You just don't know what is left. I think, you know, with the Hip Hop thing, people are desperate for breaks, they have gone through he library stuff now they have realised the full potential of the funk 7s. The sound on them is so great, the breaks are just fucking ideal for hip hop, And also it is quite close to hip hop in a way. Just like the slow stuff you know. You could put some of these records out And it's just a good hip hop track, you know. So they all after it now. Allot of people in the breaks And all those people used to be looking for any breaks, but now they are looking for 7s breaks. So as a consequence they are the people turning stuff up. They are the new pioneers of funk45 . We have done all the northern soul people who picked it up in the seventies. We have been through all the stuff they have got. The stuff in England, I would say 75% of it has been done. It's just the stuff in the States. They are lucky, you know, they just phone up they uncles And say have you got any? When me And Gerald went over to the States about six years ago now, we went to see Pete Rock, And his dad had you know, UFOs And loads of stuff, hard stuff, the rare stuff. His dad was buying it at the time. There is allot of stuff in collections, warehouses, not so much now. But in collections there is still going to be allot of stuff. It will probably be mashed though.

>Trouble: What's the story behind your band, Soul Destroyers?

>Malcolm: Well the band, yeah, well we are playing down here in a little while. We are trying to take funk And the 7s And put them in a modern context. It's so hard to do. Especially when you are restricted to the basic line up of two guitars, bass, keyboard, drums And vocals if we are lucky but with that line up everything that could be done has been. So.....

>Trouble: What's the hardest part to getting it sound like a funk45?

>Malcolm: Well. For starters the groove that those guys did is , you know the feel of the players that were doing it, it's because of the time, the culture, the political thing. There was so much anger because of the times that fired them to to play like that. That aggression that comes out in the playing, And also they are just so skillful musicians. It is so immaculately put together. You have three minutes on a seven. . You have got to put down everything you are saying in just three minutes. It's just compacted. Not like an album when you have a whole album, like jazz bands . Coltrane who is brilliant at expressing himself. But a seven. They compact it, And they may only get t produce one 7 in their life And they have to get so much in to that one record. That's why it's so good. The playings excellent you know. We can't do that. I don't know any English band that has done that. We love the feel. We listen to it. That's what we want.

>Trouble: What about the Speedometers, Have you heard their stuff?

>Malcolm: I think they are great at what they are doing. I don't, don't think it's quite sevens though, you know what I mean? It's the difference between modern seventies funk in a way And sixties funk. People seem to latch onto the seventies stuff allot easier. They are probably allot more used to that groove with modern music. But the sixties stuff is kind of different, the way it flows is , I dunno, it's something else. I don't think they have got that.

>Trouble: Have you heard any of these funk45s that desco are putting out, that are contrived rarities?

>Malcolm: Yeah, I like it. It's good they are doing the music. I like they are doing that. I would not like to do it myself. You know, hats off to them. They are reproducing it, a record that sounds as good as a real funk 7. Yeah, recreating that groove. They can take it some where. For me, if you can get that groove, you can do some brilliant stuff. You can take that, And don't need to go to the bridge or do blues scales And take that somewhere else, you know. They have got the playing luckily. They are good players. They could really take that somewhere buthave restricted themselves to be like the James Brown backing band or something I suppose if they get close they are going to be happy.

>Trouble:Have you heard the Count down to....Soul.

>Malcolm: No I don't think I have.

>Trouble: I heard they have only put out a few copies And destroyed the master tapes to create an instant collectors piece. Like Pokemon cards. It's only what I've heard And seen on funk45.com though.

>Malcolm: Well if they have pulled it off, it must be pretty good. But it's a bit sneaky really, in a way. And well, I dunno....

>Trouble: One final question old chap, what a hair cut! Can you tell us a bit about it.

>Malcolm: The hair cut, it's just the way it grows mate. I can't really do much about it.

>Trouble: Is that why you are called the 'Baron'? Is it the medieval connection?

>Malcolm: Ha, no. It's just Gerald taking the piss really. With the monocle And all that!