Kid Koala Makes Music For Skaters With Slew

Kid Koala, Vancouver/Montreal's most famous turntable whiz, has spun almost every conceivable kind of record.

While he may be your mom's favourite DJ, with The Slew, Kid Koala (real name Eric San) has finally made a turntable record for his skater friends.

"Our skater friends are ecstatic," San says of the collaboration with Seattle DJ Dynomite D. "They once told me they tried skating to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but it sucked. I told them they probably stole the record anyway."

Kid Koala is purposely skimpy on the true details of how the project came about, most notably the movie and band The Slew is supposedly based on.

The story circulating around the blogosphere is that The Slew was an ultra-obscure Seattle rock band from the '70s, and Kid Koala and Dynomite D were commissioned to provide the soundtrack to a film based on the group — a project now in limbo.

Although The Slew was originally associated with a movie about a larger-than-life Seattle personality, Kid Koala himself largely pleads ignorance when it comes to specifics. He says he was only given a very loose synopsis about the film and was told mostly to make music for vague scenes like "car chase" and "prison break."

Either way, Kid Koala's passion project to finally unite rock and turntables impressed more than just his Seattle skater buddies.

The project caught the ear of producer Mario Caldato, Jr. (Mario C.), known for his engineering work on the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and Hello Nasty. After working with Mario C. in Los Angeles, the duo of San and Dynomite D went up to New York to have the album mastered by another well-known '90s engineer: Howie Weinberg, who handled Nirvana's Nevermind.

"[Dynomite D] kept saying we were doing a grungealism record," Kid Koala jokes. "It's Seattle, it's rock, it doesn't care.

"But it's turntables — pure turntables, actually. We took two really stupid words and put them together. Everyone's bringing back the '80s with fashion and music, so we thought, 'Let's bring back the '90s. Let's bring back grunge, but with turntables.'"

When it came time to tour the record — which will likely never see an official release except for copies being sold at the upcoming shows — Kid Koala enlisted the help of longtime DJ cohort P-Love to trade scratches from about 80 records cut specifically for the show. He also managed to acquire some true rock 'n' roll muscle in Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, the former rhythm section of Wolfmother.

It will be Koala and P-Love stepping into the world of rock, as they've been practising scratching with the lights dimmed and plugging their six turntables into amps. Due to Ross' and Heskett's schedules, the likelihood of a Slew tour ever happening again is unlikely.

"It's something Dylan [Dynomite D] and I have always wanted to do: a heavier, more rock-influenced record," says Kid Koala. "Like, what would a Black Sabbath album sound like if it were produced by the Bomb Squad or the Dust Brothers?"

Catch the Slew — one time only! Seriously, this is not a threat! — here:

Sep 23 Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom
Sep 24 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
Sep 25 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Sep 27 Los Angeles, CA @ Key Club
Sep 30 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
Oct 1 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
Oct 2 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret La Tulipe (Pop Montreal)
Oct 3 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
Oct 4 Chicago, IL @ The Abbey Pub

Kid Koala will play these dates:

Sept. 26 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
Oct. 9 Troy, NY @ Revolution Hall
Oct. 16 Silver Spring, MD @ Gallery
Oct. 29 Beijing, China @ Yugong Yishan
Oct. 30 Shanghai, China @ The Shelter