A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of hosting a truly special event: an exclusive interview with none other than the original members of The Mohawks, the group behind the most sampled British track in history, 1968’s ‘The Champ‘ (we currently list nearly 150 samples of it!). We were honoured to welcome on stage Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards) and Les Hurdle (bass), who besides their work as The Mohawks collaborated as session musicians on countless other recordings. They were joined by legendary session drummer Clem Cattini, who didn’t play on The Mohawks records but collaborated with Alan and Les for years on many other projects. Our prestigious guests were interviewed by another guest no less prestigious – the fantastic Mark Rae (of Rae & Christian fame), one of the UK’s most respected Hip-Hop producers.
To those of you who couldn’t make it to the event in London, we made sure to capture the interview on video, and hereby present the result. 36 minutes of great stories about the music industry from the hardest working people in the business, as well as their views on sampling and today’s music. From talking about Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg, Giorgio Moroder and the Beatles through to Jay-Z, Onyx and Sugarhill Gang, there’s never a dull moment with the lads.
We hope you enjoy watching this as much as we’ve enjoyed hosting it! Oh, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel – there will be more stuff coming soon!
PS we’ve also made this available on Mixcloud for your listening pleasure: http://www.mixcloud.com/whosampled/the-mohawks-interviewed-by-mark-rae-for-whosampledcom/
