DJ Fucar

The MadBassMan

drew West

DJ Fucar. The man. The myth. The legend. Who’s that again? Strangely enough, in the Detroit underground, Eric Hansen, aka DJ Fucar, is a veteran drummer and vocalist of many Detroit underground punk bands. Just to name a few, you’ve got Phunhogg, Heavy Pink Insulator, A.L.D., and 7000 Dying Rats. Now I’m plagued with a simple question: Why is it that the heaviest mad bass riffs come from the hard-core cats? Anyone remember who Mick Harris played for before he left and started Scorn? If you said Napalm Death, then you’re in the know.

Sleep Music, Eric’s freshman release as DJ Fucar after becoming the resident scratch DJ for digital hardcore duo Durango 95, reminds me of the middle stages of Scorn, actually. “I like the Scorn comparison,” says the laid back Eric over the phone.

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I’ve been a long time fan of Scorn. Especially the heavy bass that isn’t too fast nor too slow. I call it madbass.

The sine wave sound.

Exactly, but I think I was more impressed with the live feel of the drums throughout most of the album.

I recorded them all live. Then sampled and looped ‘em.

That’s refreshing to know – that there are others out there actually playing the instruments instead of programming them. Not that anything is wrong with programming, I was just ecstatic when I first heard dijislov. Are you familiar with…

We recorded at the same studio. Josh (AlleySweeper Records) wanted me to do a remix.

Josh Deibel? He’s a good pal of mine.

Small f’in world. I grew up with Josh. I don’t get to see him very often since he moved to Chi town.

I caught up with him in Tampa a few months back….

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Eric and I began one of the longest conversations I’ve had during an interview. We tossed stories back and forth, and started realizing just how small it can get. We both used to spin the gothic/industrial genre, and we realized that we both hated the crowd.

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I got so fed up with the same requests night after night that I started mixing in noise and spoken word with the non-vocal songs.

You too? I used to mix in Diamanda Galas…

Plague Mass, right?

Great album for it. All that screaming!

We started scratching in stuff off Lydia Lunch’s Conspiracy of Women_…_

Another great one. If I heard “Can you play the Cure” one more time I would have killed.

I know the feeling. By the end I just gave up and started playing all requests, and between them blasting out FSOL, Orbital, and any bad cover of goth or industrial I could find.

That’s the ticket.

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Hank William rocks, and I’m not talking about Junior.

That’s too weird. Hank keeps popping up either as an influence or a required listening artist with more and more of the people I come across.

Good! Hopefully people are starting to realize there is some great music out there.

Undeniably. I just thought I was eclectic.

Good music is good music.

So what else have you been listening to?

Well, Kraftwerk, Art of Noise, and DJ Shadow had some major influences on me for Sleep Music.

I swear. All the good electronic musicians seem to cite the same people, yet the music always sounds completely different…

Cool.

So do you have any plans for a new material?

Actually I gave Sleep Music a listen for the first time in two months the other day. I think it’s OK. A little campy, but what the hell, it’s a freshman. I also booked studio time on Tuesday, so hopefully in a month or so I’ll have two or three tracks on DAT that I can send down your way, if you’re interested.

You better believe it!

My freshman didn’t become a coaster, did it?

No way! It goes with me everywhere. I’ve been forcing it down the throats of anyone who hasn’t been exposed.

Actually, I’ve got a web page in the works. John (Davies Productions) has one as well so people can order it. And we’ve got a video in the works too.

What’s the address?

Davies Productions is at http://www.concentric.net/~Davies1/ and the DJ Fucar page is http://www.chimponline.com/dj\_fucar/. Mine is still being worked on, so please warn everyone about it. There’s samples from almost all the tracks though.

Cool.

Well, I gotta be going now.

Not a problem. I’ll throw you some email (nopi@prodigy.net) some time.

Cool. I look forward to it.

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Well, it’s been about a month or two, and I’m still throwing e-mail back and forth with this cat. He’s a blast, and if anyone else likes his tunes, drop him a line. Not only is he quite personable, but Sleep Music could quite possibly be one of this year’s best releases. So please check it out. Otherwise Eric’s threatened to tell the world about my strange love of Eighties hair metal. Oops! Didn’t mean to say that. ◼