Before there was music, percussion was
a way of life. different beats were symbolic of the different
moods... i'm a drummer, everything influences me from jazz
to indian to hip hop to classical. "my music is all about
looking at and living in the future, because the future is
now" says stacey with an enigmatic twinkle in his eye,
living up to his kosmic messenger pseudonym. the future may
be where his music is headed, just like that of his detroit
peers. he also has an illustrious past, born into a family
where his dad was in the motown group The Capitals" possibly
plotted stacey's course in life before he was ever born. he's
keen to liken the waves of electronic musicians from his home
town to the previous generations who'd do-wop on the street
corners until talent-scouted by berry gordy or one of his
minions.
stacey's youthful interest in percussion led him thru travels
around the usa's deep south playing the snare drum in high
school and at tennesse state university. places like alabama,
tenneesse, louisiana the the urban teenager a sharp fast lesson
about the history of black america. it wasn't however until
he went to study communication at TSU that he discovered the
whole detroit techno movement just as it was beginning to
get into first gear. it made me realize where my destiny lay,
he say's now, i'd make eight hour trips home just to hear
derrick (may) and others play at the music institute. i'd
see the guys doing their own thing, wearing t-shirts and blue
jeans but running their own companies and traveling the world.
born in 1969 they had a couple of years on him, but when he
was sixteen they were inspiration."i'm the last of the
old school" he say's because after me came a generation
gap where people now depend on MTV and the internet.
when i was younger you were influenced by your peers, your
mentors, the people you grew up with...stacey didn't just
look on and danced, he immediately involved himself with derrick's
transmat label and surrounding kms studios. one of his remixes
he did for the prodigy was turned down and that's when kosmic
messenger was born. he removed all the prodigy's samples and
released it as soundscape. the no nonsense four to the floor
became a smash for him opening the doors to many other endeavors.
while his other pseudonym "bango" was his calling
card back in 1991.
it was released on derrick's "fragile" imprint
and it sent him to amsterdam with money in his pocket. so
for his first record he got an advance and a plane ticket,
after spending 1 year in amsterdam which was supposed to be
1 month, he builded a solid reputation in europe and became
a household name in detroit's electronic music world. now
my music is inspired by my travels, life on the road, say's
stacey. his latest work has been more intelligent, more avant-garde,
just check his virgin record LP, "todayisthetomorrowyouwerepromisedyesterday"
it's not just about making people dance, say's pullen.. i
was listening to alot of jazz... the true master was, miles
davis. he was the innovator, but i was also listening to herbie
hancock. my first jazz record i bought was a ramsey lewis
records back in the 70's. he's always listen to african music,
thus his productions are imbued with primal percission power,
the place where melody and progressive jazz run headlong into
the robots utilized by detroit's car industry.
Artist's Web Links
Stacey Pullen @ DEMF
Stacey Pullen @ Aria Club
Stacey Pullen @ Awakenings Detroit
Weekend Westergas
Stacey Pullen @ Stereosonic in
Melbourne
| Funky & Hard Techno
Compilations :: Stacey Pullen