Born: 1962
Real Name: Dupont Randolph-Gray
Artist Name: Dupont

Interview with Dupont May 2006

When did you begin to make music and which other artists influenced you?
I started making music about 1980. My cousin  was a very good bass player and we would compose songs with just the bass and me filling in the vocals and beatboxing with my voice. I actually got some industry people interested in my songs just from the tapes we made. Just electric bass and vocal beatboxing cause that is all we had. At that time my big influence was Stanley Clark because I was fascinated with how he used the electric bass. The next big influence on me was when they had a demonstration of the Mini Moog synth at my school. That freaked me out and ever since I became fascinated with making music with synthesizers. I got into Devo and Gary Numan  and then a big hit by the SOS band (Take Your Time-Do it Right) really motivated me and the Producer of that album (Sigidi Abdulla) became a major influence on me. He probably was the pioneer of the LA electro/funk sound and made pulsating electro funk grooves. I wanted to do stuff like that. I met Sigidi when my record company was interested in him producing me. We became a friends and he gave me some important insight into his programing technique with the Prophet 5 synth. Soon after that, a group called "The System" broke out with a ground breaking techno funk sound on their debut record and that got my ideas flowing for what I saw was a new era of electronic dance music. The System (Mic Murphy& David Frank) later produced my debut album on MCA Records.

What sound equipment did you use for your early productions?
My first synthesizer was a Roland SH2. I rented it for $20 a month at a famous music store in LA called Goodman Instruments. I would hang out in that music store all day playing around with the synths. So the SH2 was my first synth that I could afford at the time and learned to program. By the time i got into a major studio to record a record for the first time I was using heavily the Moog Source, Roland SH101, Lynn drum, Roland JX3p synth,TR-606/808, Oberheim OB8 synth and DX drum machine. I remember synching the SH101 to the LinnDrum and recording sequence patterns. That was a my thing back then and I was probably the only one using the SH101 for bass lines and other sounds in Hollywood at the time. It was considered a toy when it first came out but the sound was perfect for what I wanted to hear. Around the time of the "Breakin & Enterin" production my main sound was coming from the Roland JX3P and Moog Source synths.

How and when did you get in contact with the rapscene back in the days?
Well my record label at the time (Total Experience Records) owned one of the hottest nightclubs in Beverly Hills. A club called Max 151. A lot of musicians and celebrities used to come by that club and I got a chance to meet a lot of people in the music scene. I actually got discovered from that club when the DJ started playing my music and the owner got word of me. It was there that I met Kelly Minter and I started hanging out with her a lot. When the rap/breakdance and graffiti art scene broke out in LA she was really into it and introduced me to all of the major players. Kelly was working for Rainbow TV Works so that is how I was introduced me  to the producers of the "Breakin & Enterin" film. I think that the production of the film actually brought a lot of us together cause  I was kinda of outside of the scene at the time and Kelly brought me in.

Can you describe your work for the „Breakdance Gang“ documentary?
The Producer (Topper Carew) hired me to produce 3 songs for the film. That is what my main job was. I did not know how the songs would be used in the actual film but I knew that Topper wanted me to bring my own vibe and make it bumpin! I had some insight into the production cause my girlfriend (Kelly minter) was associate producer and I was around the production offices a lot, but had nothing to do with the actual filming and was never on the set of the production. It was only later that I got word that my music went down well right down to the end.

Did you ever perform live in the „Radio Club“ ?
No I never performed at the „Radio Club“. I was at the „Radio Club“ a couple of times when it was first blowing up and it was a madhouse!  I wish that i had performed there cause the vibe had people going off cause it was so fresh to have MC's up on stage rapping and it was the ultimate dancers club. I was more of a studio rat then and sort of outside of the scene but now that I look back I could have spiced up the „Radio“ with a different flava with my beats.

Can you give us a short view bout the breakdance and music scene those days in LA from your sight?
The breakdance and graffiti art scene kind of hit LA like a blast from New York. All of a sudden the gritty New York vibe was in and the hip club scene moved to the industrial downtown LA areas whereas before, the hip hangouts were on the more sophisticated  westside of town. So the New York influence was big. But in LA the street dance culture was already overflowing with energy and young people were expressing themselves in amazing ways through dance and music in the clubs. In LA the funk and New Wave sound was huge so the hip hop culture explosion from New York together with our own dance oriented electro funk/New Wave scene in LA just made it a complete phenomenom.  From my point of view I was sort of outside the initial hip hop cultural influence. I was more into the technology side of things, Ya know, the synthesizers and the actual recording process. That was another revolution happening simultaneously and LA was a great place for it because of all the big music studios around and the music instrument shops where you could try out all the latest technology. It was a time where I would go from the music shop to the studio and straight to the club on a regular basis. I always thought that the LA music scene was more of a dancers culture cause in the clubs I was always hanging out with a lot of dancers and my music at the time was heavily inspired by them.

Did you work on similar productions like the „Breakdance Gang“ movie ?
No, Breakdance Gang was the first and only dance culture film that I have worked on.

Did you ever met other artists who where involved in this production like Chris “The Glove” Taylor, Egyptian Lover or Ice T?
Yea, me and Ice T used to run into each other a lot and always had a cool relationship. The same with Chris “The Glove” Taylor. We would always run into each other at the same clubs and liked the same type of music. I dont remember ever meeting Egyptian Lover but I remember how his Uncle Jamms Army parties set the stage for the LA electro scene so I always had big respect for what he was doing.

Was one of the titles „Burn“, „Let´s rock“ or „Breakdancers“ ever released on vinyl ?
No, the only release of any of my "Breakdance Gang" music outside of the film was when "Burn" was released on the Mr T video, "Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool." I remixed "Burn" at Larabee Recorders studio for that video. The original soundtrack for the video came out on MCA Records.

Can you describe how a title like „Let´s rock“ was produced?
I did not have anything pre-planned for the gig. I just knew  that I wanted to record some new ideas and this was a great opportunity to do something with this new Roland JX3P synth that i had been using on a lot of new songs.   There were  so many ideas flowing in my head and I could not wait to get into the studio and get them out. I had bought a Roland 808 and JX3p from a recent trip to Hong Kong and  had programmed some fresh new beats in the 808 and sounds in the JX3p. (I think that best thing that I did for my sound was buy the Roland JX3p instead of the Yamaha DX-7 at that music store in HK. They came out at the same time and my heart told me to go with the Roland sound.) So this was the first time that I used those synths in  a major studio. The songs were produced at Skip Saylor Recording Studio in Hancock Park. I played all the synth parts  myself using the Jx3p and sung the vocals thru a Roland SVC-350 vocoder.  I started off by synching the 808 to a click track and laying the beats, and then laying tracks of Jx3p parts. I had the PG-200 programmer for the Jx3p so it was relatively easy for me to program settings to get the sound that I wanted. I also had a Commodore 64 computer hooked up to the JX3p but did not end up using it because it was taking too long to sync.
Well "Lets Rock" was all 808 and JX3P. I remember spending a lot of time just programming the bass sound in the JX3P. I had the PG-200 programmer for the synth and recorded the bass to a click track. We recorded several different bass tracks and I had to play them myself so it took a while to get the pulsating feel right. I then sequenced the 808 drum machine and recorded the drum parts to separate tracks. Next came the vocoder and I used the Roland SVC-350 vocoder and sung the parts myself. I synced the JX3P oscillators to the click track and laid down the spacey pad sounds and strings. We then spent most of the time on the mixing board just getting the sounds right.

Why did you move from Los Angeles to London?
When I moved to London I had just got out of my contract with my record company in LA and was looking for another lable. My girlfriend had an apartment in London and I wanted to check out the scene there. I wanted to make music in England cause a lot of music that I liked was coming out of the London scene and I felt like I could do ok there with my skills.

Are you a full time musician or do you have a regular job too?
I still consider myself a full time musician right now. I have an organisation called the International Musique Society and I continue to compose and produce music.

Are the titles „Burn“, „Let´s rock“ and „Breakdancers“ the only one you did for the movie?
Yes, those are the only songs that I produced.

Do you still have a copy of the „Breakdance Gang“ movie?
Now I do thanks to you! It has been 23 years since I even seen the movie and I am amazed how fresh the songs that i did sound today. I never noticed at the time but the movie is the definitive movie on breakdance that I have ever seen. I like it better than the all the films that I have seen that came out of New York on the culture. I totally forgot how good the film is and the cool way that it documents the phenomenom behind the breakdance culture without being corny like many of the other films that came after it!

On which medium (8-Track Tape, etc) did you produce the titles for the documentary?
The songs were produced on 24 track tape at Skip Saylor Studios studio in Hancock Park.

Can you be seen in the movie?
No I am not in the film.

What was your greatest success as a musician?
Believe it or not, now that I have finally been reintroduced to the film Breakin & Enterin I think that was my greatest success has a musician. Although there was the Platinum record selling success with Milli Vanilli. The Breakin & Enterin project was groundbreaking and represented the most exciting period in the hip hop/electro culture. I feel like the songs that I recorded could have  been dance hits had they been released commercially at the time. I am feeling those songs today much better than anything on that Milli Vanilli record.

What was your part in the "Milli Vanilli" project and how did you get in touch with this German project?
I started the  International Musique Society in Hollywood(Chateau Marmont Hotel) with a partner(Gloria Hann) who was well connected to the German film distributor Scotia Film. Sam Wainberg of Scotia Film soon hired me to work on some film music and set me up with a studio and apartment on the Oberfohringer Strasse in Munich. On my first night out in Munich I went to P1 and there  I met Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan. Robert was a very good  breakdancer and a big fan of  Breakin & Enterin and we became close friends and started hanging out at the P1 club almost every night.  They were really interested in the music business but did not know anything about it so I began to mentor them cause I thought they were very talented performers. I first recorded some songs with them that turned out very good and we formed a band and started doing some club shows and fashion week performances around Munich. I helped change their look and directed a photo session for them and got Sam Wainberg of Scotia Film to introduced us to the editors of  the Bravo and Pop Rocky teen mags and the A&R people at Ariola Records. Just when things started happening for us I was called back to LA to work on the first single for my MCA recording contract. Robert & Fabrice later hooked up with Frank Farian and  wanted me to be a 3rd member of  Milli Vanilli but I could not do it because of my contract with MCA. I then moved to New York to work on my album with Mic Murphy & David Frank of The System. I later joined Robert & Fabrice as a band member of Milli Vanilli and we toured Europe and did the first MV promotional tour in the US together. When my debut album on MCA was released I was the opening act for the Milli Vanilli World Tour and we were on stage together at the Grammy Show when MV won the Best New Artist award.

How much money did you get for your work on the „Breakdance Gang“ documentary?
I was paid only $1500 for the 3 songs and that was it!

Do you still have any material from those days?
Yea, I did a lot of composing in those days and when I look back some of my best work was done at that time. A lot of my music was lost when I had a collection of tapes stolen from my car outside of a studio I was working in. But I still have some tapes of my early work and even have started to record some old songs with the new modern digital gear that I have. Surprisingly a lot of that stuff still sounds fresh today.

Can you give us a short timetable of your music live from the beginning to now?
I got my first Roland SH2 synthesizer in 1982. Signed  my first record deal in 1983 to Total Experience Records. Signed with Rick James Stone City Music in 1985. Signed to MCA in 1986. Started the International Musique Society in 1986. Signed to MCA Records in 1987. Moved to Munich in 1987 and helped create the Milli vanilli project. Released my first solo album for MCA in 1990.

What is your full name and how old are you now?
My full name is Dupont Randolph-Gray and I am now 44 years old.

Can you send us some photos from back in the times and from nowadays we can add to the article?
Yea, I will see what I can put together for you.

What are you doing now and are there any new music productions in the near future?
Currently I am running an organization called the International Musique Society which is the main base for all of my creative efforts in the entertainment biz. At the moment all my business is done under the label of the International Musique Society(IMS). My latest music project for the IMS is  the creation of a new boy/girl electrodance group called "Tomorrow's People". My goal for 2006/07 is to see this group break out of Europe and become successful around the world.