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Liner Notes
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INTERVIEW WITH RED K
RECORDS CEO CLAYTON SAVAGE
by James Auburn
Virginia-based label CEO Clayton Savage has been in the music industry at
all levels: musician, songwriter, producer, and independent record
executive. Once signed to Manhattan Records, his history includes extensive
work with Sugarhill Records, Kool Moe Dee, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Sequence,
and many others.
Clayton spoke with me in a three-hour interview from his Virginia offices. A
mentor at heart, he is as generous with his insight as he is with his time.
CS: I gave a demo to their A&R. Her name was Shonte'. She liked the
Prince-ier sound tunes. I came in as an artist but ended up mainly producing
and writing. I left a ton of music there but I just walked in one day out of
the blue and they listened to what I had. It was timing. I ended up being
the house musician at the Hill and got to work with all their acts for the
most part at that time.
JA: Were you actually a member of the Sugar Hill house band (Wood
Brass & Steel?)
CS: You do know your stuff don't you? (laughs) No not at all. Craig
from the group sang background on “We Don't Work for Free” as did Cheryl the
Pearl, Doug Winbush - AWESOME musician and great dude in every way…played
bass on the [Grandmaster] Melle Mel CD I co-produced and other jams as well.
He plays guitar too and is great at it. He's pretty much the best when it
comes to the bass as far as I'm concerned.
JA: The future Living Color bassist. What years were you with Sugar
Hill?
CS: Hmm, ‘83ish – ‘85 something like that.
JA: OK. What did you think of Hip-Hop when it was starting to pop off
in New York in the early days?
CS: Well really, in all honesty, I had a problem with it. My man Alan
Johnson, the bass player of my band, was really into Rap. He inspired me to
look into it ‘cause he was really good with it and he played bass while he
rapped. But see... as a musician when they took the Chic song “Good Times,”
I was like.. this "ish" is catchy as heck… the effect it had on
everyone..“Rapper's Delight” was incredible but as an art form, I thought it
was straight stealing. Melle Mel changed all that for me. Getting to work
with the Sugar Hill artists and being able to be a musician with them made
all the difference.
We were limited by what Sylvia (Robinson) would let us do or wouldn't put
out that we did record but I just didn't respect the art form at first. It
was difficult to see the role of the "musician" in it. Until I got a DMX
drum machine under my belt. I had been using the Roland stuff until then.
JA: 808s?
CS: 626. I got into the 808's late. It was a rejected machine at
first. Boss (Roland) stuff was hard to sell to A&R as a sound but I knew it
would take over. It was different and not what was expected from R&B. I got
a decade ahead of myself with that stuff. A lot of folks just didn't get it.
JA: But with all that electro going on at the time, it was a hit
sound...
CS: Not from where Sugar Hill was coming from or Black music –
altogether.
JA: OK, you're right.
CS: It wasn't accepted by A&R especially and it threw promotions
persons for a loop [that] it was hot in the clubs… but there was a greater
distance between the
clubs and radio than there is now.
JA: Was there a sense of Sugar Hill being behind the times in Hip-Hop
around the time you were there? Especially after Run-DMC and Def Jam took
over?
Part 1
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