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Music. To some it's background fodder while you're at work or something to sing along to in the car or the shower, a passive accompaniment to the everyday goings on of one's life.
For a small percentage of people in society, music is everything. An obsession. A raison d'etre. Lifeblood. What your soul would sound like. Finding and owning that one record is a matter of life or death. This is the story of one of the people in that small percentage.
Grumptronix (aka DJ Grumpy) was and still is a music obsessed kid from Florida. Music has always been an important part of his life. His father a serious record collector. He was raised on the sounds of everything from the Beatles, Bob Seger, King Tubby, Fleetwood Mac, Kraftwerk, and of course disco. "The record player was always on at my house. One of my least favorite memories is getting my ass whipped for accidentally scratching my dads copy of Trans-Europe Express. I was five. I had no idea."
The year is 1984. The seemingly odd combination [at the time] of his favorite things: Prince, New Wave, and Miami Vice [his mother still calls him Sonny] suddenly makes sense the first time he hears New Order's 'Blue Monday'. That was the glue that finally brought everything together. A defining moment. "They were everything I liked wrapped up in one band." Soon he was consumed by the sounds of new Order and Joy Division. His fanatical devotion to them began a chain reaction of discovery, beginning with Manchester and the Hacienda, leading into acid house, Warp Records and Bleep Techno, towards Transmat and Detroit.
"I was and still am insanely devoted to New Order - I even wrote my High School Senior Honors English Thesis on Joy Division/New order and their contribution to English youth culture. Happy Mondays, 808 State, Factory Records, Stone Roses, Primal Scream; if it was at the Hacienda or from Manchester, it was cool. I had to have every record in the charts of Hacienda DJs such as Laurent Garnier. This led me to more obsessions, guilt by association: Andy Weatherall remixed this, DJ Pierre remixed that, Transmat records were played at the Hacienda, which led me to the bleeps of early Warp releases and Detroit techno. I used to buy Trax and Transmat records at the mall!!!"
The first time he dj'ed for a crowd was in the form of a tape he made for his high school basketball team to warm up to before games. Until then, the only rewards came from making tapes for the girls at school. This desire naturally led to the turntables, getting his first DJ gig in 1988 at a local teen dance club. "I would bring records for the resident dj at the club to play. He didn't know what I was bringing him, so he would let me play them at the end of the night. It evolved from playing stuff at the end of the night to relief shifts when he needed a break or starting the night. A year or so later, the owner opened up a second club. The resident went to the new club and I stayed, playing anything - a combination of Wax Trax / industrial, NuGroove, acid house, Miami bass, and of course, New Order."
At that same time, Grumpy hooked up with a couple of other kids inspired by the late 80's industrial dance sound and had formed a band called GOG with Grumpy as the DJ/rhythm provider and also included Bunny from Rabbit in the Moon. South Florida shockrocker Marilyn Manson, then unsigned, even opened for GOG once. "We were the Spinal Tap of industrial music! It was great. Although we were opening for the likes of Nitzer Ebb, Front Line Assembly, and Meat Beat Manifesto, we were always getting the shaft. That's how I got the name Grumpy - I was always complaining about something!"
From there, Grumpy entered what became a nucleus of like-minded forward-thinkers that have made their mark on the Florida underground and beyond. "I went to high school with (DJ) Three, he was a couple of years older than I was. He was dj'ing at a seedy bar playing Revolting Cocks and Mantronix records. "I was out of work and he connected me with the guy who started the rival teen night at another, cooler club that within three weeks put me out of a job. I went in looking for work and had a chance meeting of the minds with him (Steve McClure, aka Rabbit In The Moon's DJ Monk). It thought it was cool that he had pretty much the exact same records I did and we hit it off. That was 15 years ago."
Seventeen years on from that 'meeting of the minds' and you can trace the early history and development of the Florida and Southeast US underground by the trail of party flyers with Grumpy's name on them. From the seminal parties in Orlando at The Edge featuring the first ever US performances from the Suburban Base and Moving Shadow crews and two guys named Tom and Ed, pre-Chemical Brothers, still known then as The Dust Brothers. The first ever rave parties in Tampa and Atlanta, The Shamen's US Progeny tour shows, and the groundbreaking Rave New World tour dates in Florida with Moby, The Prodigy, and Cybersonik. There wasn't a major event in the Southeast that didn't have Grumpy as part of their lineup.
Grumpy finally found an outlet for all his ever increasing 'techno encyclopedia' super-trainspotter knowledge when he became associate editor of the extremely popular fanzine TRiP. Mixmaster Morris and several others would give trip exclusive interviews and info. He also wrote for Sean Deason's Matrix newsletter, which was a short-lived but beloved Detroit-focused media outlet. There was also a rumor that the reason a certain popular U.S. dance magazine reportedly stopped using Grumpy's reviews because he would only review records that were from Detroit or Andrew Weatherall related.
While Grumptronix's dedication to being at the forefront of quality music and his ability to play so many different styles has now made him a real crowd favorite, it was initially a curse. Being relegated to side rooms playing chill out, Detroit techno and the first incarnation of Bukem-esque drum 'n' bass. That's not to say that there weren't memorable experiences throughout the years at Orlando's Firestone, legendary parties at The Edge in Ft. Lauderdale's outdoor courtyard, and seminal Florida fanzine TRiP Magazine's annual Party at Miami's Winter Music Conference. The highlight was the rumor that he was the ambient dj who opened for Pink Floyd on their Animals Tour stop in Tampa.
Following a month long stay in the UK to play the world famous Megadog and Megatripolis parties and work in Mr. C's Watershed studio, and a pilgrimage to Detroit for the 10th Anniversary of Metroplex label (including a secret 'sit down' with Underground Resistance main man "Mad" Mike Banks), the man known as Grumptronix kicked off the last half of the 90's determined to continue pushing forward his vision by starting his own label.
The label was named Erotic City Communications partly because of the obvious reference to the Prince song of the same name and also because Tampa has more strip clubs per capita than anywhere in the world. Grumptronix teamed up with former GOG cohort Omar Torres (now a programmer for industrial-music gods Skinny Puppy) to work on his first proper studio efforts under the name Grumptronix. The fruits of those initial sessions continue to surface. Detroit techno-bass bad boy Will Web and tech-step whiz Arcon 2 were enlisted to remix the first two releases "Pocket Rocket" and "Level 5" while the semi-famous Designers Republic signed on to do the label's artwork.
Just like his own DJ style, Grumptronix's A&R policy is versatile: techno, house, drum and bass, electro. Anything as long it is on the cutting edge, funky, dark and mysteriously sexy. Dirty south indeed.
Finally breaking the curse and playing the versatility card to the hilt, Grumptronix found partygoers, promoters and music industry heads alike embracing his eclectic sensibilities. He was tapped by US dance music powerhouse Astralwerks to mix Werks Like A 12" a collection of highlights from the label's vinyl-only 12" back catalog. He also assisted in compiling that labels successful Detroit: Beyond The Third Wave. He also received major props from the Metalheadz crew for his drum'n'bass sets alongside the likes Goldie and J. Majik. A near-legendary set opening for Massive Attack left an excited Horace Andy hunting him down and raving about his eclectic set of Joy Division, Arthur Russell, and Basic Channel/Burial Mix tunes. Any one of these would be considered high points for any music obsessed DJ, we think. But ever the perfectionist, he is still not satisfied.
Grumptronix's strength lies in both his versatility and inventive spirit. His versatility is evidenced by the wide range of artists he has performed with and his inventive nature can be found in any one of his dj'ing sets or production work. 2002 has seen Grumptronix perform during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and has him poised at the beginning of some great things –a more stable infrastructure for Erotic City through a partnership between DJ Monk's Hallucination label due to the crippling demise of UK distribution powerhouse Prime with whom Erotic City had a P&D deal. Several more Grumptronix records, as well as tons of new Erotic City releases are also on the way. His more recent remix forays (Rabbit In The Moon's "Flooorida" and Q-Burns Abstract Message's "This Time" featuring Naked Music chanteuse and Madonna favorite, Lisa Shaw) have caused a serious buzz with many major DJ's.
Above all else Grumptronix is a fan of music. The very "art" of dj'ing is the elevation of a person's musical fan-hood and versatility to the level of performance and this is the most distinctive quality Grumptronix possesses. With an innate sense of tech-funky retro rhythms that never look back and spooky erotic bass lines he creates an unforgettable and immediate psychedelic sound that is as engaging and vibrant as it is memorable. Eclectic taste and an expansive knowledge of music and musical history provides the backdrop and foundation for one of the most versatile and creative DJ's in America.
(words: sean cusick & peter anthony)
