House music culture has been a massive influence all my life - the sights, the sounds, the smiley faces - the amazing family that all come together under a groove.
I guess it all started in the early to mid eighties, discovering new electronic music - these amazing sounds created by looping beats with drum machines and synthesised basslines (mainly thanks to the mighty Roland TR-808 and TR-909 as I would discover later). Those early house sounds from Chicago and New York, the DJs like Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson and Ron Hardy opened my ears and eyes to a whole new world of house music as we know it now.
Thankfully, the UK house scene wasn’t far behind. I was sadly still too young to get into clubs or illegal raves at that point, but the next best thing was new mixtapes shared between mates which introduced me to my new musical heroes. DJs replaced pop-stars and the likes of Andy Weatherall, Justin Robertson, Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold all became critical listening for me.
As well as the music, I became obsessed with the artwork - record covers, flyers, posters, magazines - a whole new visual world I wanted to be part of. Like a lot of house music obsessed teenagers at the time, I did have dreams of becoming a superstar DJ. But instead swapped the Technics 1210s for an Apple Mac and set me off on what would become a lifelong career as a graphic designer.
There was so many design influences back then to guide me on my way - Tomato (and in particular Underworld’s Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Designer’s Republic, Neville Brody, David Carson (especially Raygun Magazine), plus an overload of other amazing graphics, devoured within the pages of DJ Mag, Mixmag and more. Those groundbreaking designers and artwork continue to inspire my own graphic design style to this day.
So fast-forward to the present, those sights and sounds now influence my latest adventure. Subhustle provides the opportunity to craft graphics and design house music t-shirts influenced by my love of house music - a creative space where ‘design meets beats’ and I can have lots of fun. Each limited edition t-shirt design has been lovingly crafted and screen printed for you to wear. And alongside each design, I’ve collaborated with a DJ to create an accompanying guest mix to enjoy.
I’m really proud of Subhustle so far, and I hope you enjoy the house music t-shirts, sweatshirts, pin badges and DJ mixes as much as I have enjoyed creating them. I’m also so thankful for the amazing feedback and love from the house music family, so if you do buy a printed t shirt, or even just listen to a DJ mix, please do let me know what you think.
Thanks for your love and support, Scott (Subhustle)
