Interview: LA's Own Peanut Butter Wolf

Leave it to one of LA's premier DJ's to perform eight times in our fair city within a matter of months. We recently got a hold of PB Wolf and asked a few questions involving everything from LA's best source for vinyls to DJ ice cream habits. Check out PB Wolf's show this Wednesday, September 15th at the Roxy on Sunset.

Where are LA's most under rated record shops?

I'd say Amoeba is underrated for vinyl believe it or not. I normally don't go there for older vinyl cuz I assume I won't find anything cuz too many people know about it, but I went there with my homey Dam-Funk yesterday and bought a bunch of records for $3-$5 each. Yesterday was one of the best digging trips in LA in a while. Dam and I were both pleasantly surprised. I'd also say to check out Heavyweights off of Melrose. It's an art space, but they got some cool vinyl. Of course, don't forget about the Pasadena record fair the first Sunday of every month.

What did you dress up as for Halloween as a kid?

I was a pumpkin at an early age like everyone else. Did the Casper thing one year. Was a bum one year with the coffee grinds on my face to look like I was unshaven. Come to think of it, I keep that look going now. The Don Johnston/George Michael 3 day beard thing.

Whats your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Chocolate chip hands down. Second fav is chocolote chip cookie dough. Those are the only two I'll eat. When I was in 5th grade, I bought an ice cream cone at the swap meet with my friend and threw out the ice cream and ate the cone solo. I didn't think anything of it when I did it, but my friend thought I was a nut job.

Where can we find some of your old school stuff, like the stuff you did with Invisibl Skratch Piklz?

I don't even know. Ebay. I don't see my older records in stores that often. At least it means people are hanging on to them I guess.

What's your favorite video game, both old school and new school?

Donkey Kong or Track and Field. I got a bootleg upright video game console in the Stones Throw office that has every old school video game in it.

How do you go about finding new talent to sign to your record label?

It just happens. I know a lot of people. I know more talented artists than I have time to commit to actually. I guess there are worse problems to have though.

Do a lot of people try and get you to look at their weak-sauce Myspace pages? How could a young up-an-comer really get your attention?

Yeah. It's funny how things change. When Stones Throw started, everyone was physically mailing demo cassettes. We'd listen to them and if we didn't like them, we'd tape over them. Then people started sending CDs and at least we could keep the CD cases from the ones we didn't like. Now, I don't ever get any physical demos sent. It's all myspace messages.

Where do you see the LA hip hop scene going? Where are the best places to check out hip hop/indie DJ shows?
I don't go to many live shows these days. Go to more weeklies. That's why I did the 7 day LA tour. Do-Over is probably still my favorite thing to go to for all different kinds of music. Of course I love Funkmosphere for the 80's soul/funk. That's LAs best kept secret.

What has been your favorite city to perform and why?
I've had good shows and bad shows in almost every major city in the world. It really depends on the promoter and what kind of crowd they bring in (or if they bring in a crowd at all.) I like doing Move in Chicago. I'm looking forward to going back there in a few days. Club Air in Tokyo is a
personal favorite as well. And can't forget APT in NY. I've had a lot of good memories there. My last gig at Cargo in London was also a winner.

Image courtesy of D.L. via flickr