Artist description They ask me , "how do you describe your music?", or "what does it sound like?". I'm not sure to be honest. All I can say is that my music can only be a reflection of my experience. So this is my experience, and maybe you'll get it: My name's Spek. I got involved in music at the age of 14. I was born in Montreal, Canada and lived there till I was about 17 when I moved on my own to Toronto. I pretty much started my education into hip hop with a rap group we formed in high school called, "The Blizzardz Of Poetry". We lived and breathed hip hop and nothing else those years. It didn't take too long before we heard about another Canadian group called the Dream Warriors who were making waves with their album, "And Now The Legacy Begins". That album spawned a few unlikely hits in the UK with songs like "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style". We heard they were playing downtown, so we skipped school and headed down to their afternoon autograph session at the local record shop. The Warriors told me, if I show up a little early they'll try to sneak me in to their gig. I couldn't believe it. It was the first gig I was ever going to, and here I was hanging with the band! At soundcheck, DJ Luv, who was their DJ at the time asked me to freestyle for him. I had been talking endlessly about how "dope" my group was and I guess he just wanted to get a feel for what I was about. So I did, and after that it didn't take too long for us to exchange numbers in the hopes of working together. After about 3 years, I split with The Blizzardz. It was about that time that the guys in Dream Warriors asked me to record a few songs with them for their new album. That turned to a few more and before I knew it they asked me to join the band. So there I was, 17 years old, and the newest member of the first band I ever went to see live. I stayed with the Warriors for the duration of two albums between 1994 and 1997 (Subliminal Simulation & The Master Plan), but in the end felt like I needed to do my own thing. Since then, the past few years have been a huge learning experience. Teaching myself to program beats and play the guitar, and get my head around what it was that I was trying to create. I was inspired by things like The Graduate (my favourite movie of all time), and the T.V sitcom "The Wonder Years" and used them as reference points. In a sense I was trying to use my music as a sort of soundtrack to my own episode of Wonder Years. Other inspirations came in the form of Simon and Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Soundgarden, Mazzy Star, Radiohead and De La Soul. It was the combination of all of those influences that lead to the birth of this album. "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" was produced mostly by Brian Rose and myself, with The Millionaires jumping on 5 tracks, and I turned my hand to self producing one as well. It's been a fun album to make, probably because it moved pretty fast, and we had a nice feel in the studio. We used a lot of original demo material for vibe, and got most of it mixed by Ed Raso (Puff Daddy, Jennifer Lopez, Lil' Kim) who flew up from New York. It took us about a month to produce it, and mix it. In that time we even wrote a few new songs! But enough talking about it. The only way your gonna get it is if you go out and listen to it. All the important stuff is hiding right there in the songs. You didn't think I'd give it all away did you? -spek

Albums Don't Sweat The Small Stuff (Echo, 2001)

Location London, England - United Kingdom

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