Wood ‘n’ Soo are kind of a west coast institution. The duo has been dropping that good funky shit, with their 4 turntable attack, for years in and around the Vancouver area and beyond. If you need a consistently reliable funk-delivery system, Wood ‘n Soo are the guys you turn to in these parts. This was going to be a doubler with both homeys, but Soo has disappeared from my scope! I really hope he’s okay because I’m pumped to see them in just a few short weeks. (Gates open 29 days from the day of this posting! Also, as of today the festival is SOLD OUT!) So today, we’re going to bring a shorter but no less sweet entry of the 5 Questions with the other half of the duo, DJ Wood, who’s real name is Sherwood, which is unassailably badass.
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Since it’s time to be getting ready for Shambhala…Do you have a favourite Shambhala memory?
DJ Wood: 2005 I remember there was a flash rainstorm on Friday afternoon, just after we got there. It poured rain for like a half hour. It left so much water in the field that we saw people skimboarding in the grass on the field. There’s a lot of memories outside of just general merriment and good music. That’s the one that sticks out.
If you’re around the Farm make sure to catch the funky duo opening Fractal Forest at 4pm on Saturday.
Whooping some funky ass in Fractal Forest.
I was going to post Wood ‘n’ Soo’s amazing Shambhala: Coming Home mix, but it’s apparently disappeared from soundcloud. (It’s now on mixcloud and you can download it. You should. I just can’t embed it from Mixcloud here, apparently.) So, here’s their slow-burning rework of the classic Fugees track “Ready or Not” (From the Ghetto Funk ICONS series) for your listening pleasure.
(All images from the Wood 'n' Soo Facebook page. If you took the picture, hit me up and I'll make sure you get proper credit!)
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1. Do you remember the first album you purchased with your own money?
Wood: Probably would have been Run DMC Raising Hell. I’d probably have to say “Peter Piper” is my favourite track on there. It’s probably everybody’s favourite on there. Classic tune.
2. Can you think of a movie that had an effect on the way you saw the world?
Wood: Hmmm, good question…lots of movies…I don’t even know where to begin on that one. I’m a big film fan, so there’s a lot. I remember seeing Apocalypse Now at a pretty young age. It was disturbing to me but it expanded my world view when it comes to war and stuff around it. I was probably 12 or 13.
3. If you, for some reason, had to choose between keeping your vision or your hearing, which would you keep?
Wood: That’s another tough one. The music lover in me wants to say hearing but in all reality I guess I’d have to say I’d keep my vision. I feel like blindness would be a much bigger general handicap than deafness. Maybe I’m wrong…
4. If the world was ending but you got to escape to safety and save one piece of culture for future generations, what would you save? (I.e., a book, an album, a statue.)
Wood: How specific do I have to be? There are so many things to choose from…A really huge question…I guess an encyclopedia would be logical choice. As far as one book or piece of art or something, it might not really carry any kind of message by itself. I’m going to go with encyclopedia, at least that’s going to give us a snapshot of society where anything else taken out of context might be completely meaningless.
5. Do you think technology contains within itself the ability to unite and free humanity, to some kind of techno-utopia?
Wood: Within itself? I would say no to that, not in and of itself. The willingness on the part of humanity would have to be there. A lot of us just aren’t there yet, maybe. Technology can certainly help. It can open up lines of communication that would facilitate that but people have to want to get there first.
6. The guest question from the homeys in SkiiTour…What’s your method for dealing with/getting late check-outs from hotels?
Wood: My experience is that they’re usually pretty cool about it if you just ask. Barring that, I just push my luck as far as I possibly can. <laughs> If they don’t want me to check out late, I’ll just check out late anyways!