DRM.AM met with Paul Hardcastle who is releasing a remixed album of his 80’s electronic classic hit 19.
We met Paul Hardcastle in our Soho offices on a grey day in March, to talk about 19 the 30th Anniversary Mixes album. Emanuele Galloni interviewed him, as a long time fan himself he had a lot to ask Paul Hardcastle about.
Paul talked to Emanuele about his long career in music, from experimenting in his parents front room with sampling music and creating the electronic classic “19” on an Emulator 2, to today as chairman of NUA entertainment.
Paul tells how he back in 1984 saw the ABC Vietnam war documentary Vietnam Requiem (1982) directed by Bill Couturie and Jonas McCord and was so taken by the chocking fact that soldiers going to war were as young as 19, at an age where you cannot even buy an alcoholic drink in the States.
It was when he read that soldiers coming back from Afghanistan are more likely to committed suicide then getting killed in the war, that he realised “19” is still as relevant today as 30 years ago.
Paul created “19” by taking the sound track, taped it to a Beta-max tape and onto quarter inch tape and then sampled it. He says he really stretched the technology of the day.
On the new album there is a remix of Marvin Gay’s “What’s going on” and “19” this time with permission from Universal. The release of 19 was not without legal trouble, maybe not so strange as its a forerunner in sampled music. The narrator of the documentary was Peter Thomas, who later made a financial settlement with Hardcastle, as his lawyers meant that the label Chrysalis didn’t have permission to use the voice on a pop record, this only after it had been a no1 in 13 countries. This is still emblematic in the music scene, as seen recently with Pharrell Williams being sued by the Marvin Gay estate.
We will publish the entire interview on our you tube channel.
Paul Hardcastle 19 The 30th anniversary album is released on 19 May.
Original 19 Video:
