45 Live Lowdown #18 - Baz Hickey

45 Live Lowdown #18
Baz Hickey

Nestled in the vale of Dublin, and ruling the 45s scene in Ireland, our main man Baz Hickey...

1. Where are you based?
Dublin

2. Why 45s?
Well for a start they are smaller and I can fit more of them on to the shelves at home. Over time I came to appreciate that mixing with 45s leaves little room for error. Everything is 2 bars and as a result it's more of a challenge to mix but a lot more fun as a result.

3. Your inspiration/mentor/hero?
Witnessing DJ Mek and Troubled Soul cut it up in venues like Eamonn Doran’s and The Funnel in the 90’s was a big inspiration for me. In terms of DJing with 45s, I’m inspired by DJs like DJ Scratch, Rockin’ Rob, DJ Koco, Diamond D and Mr. Thing.

4. Your most elusive 45, what is it and how long have you been looking?
Biz Markie The Human Orchestra ‘Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz’ on the Prism label. Been on the hunt for this one for a few years now...

Spade Brigade’s ‘I’m Your Man’ has also been on my radar for a while...

I’ve resigned myself to not ever getting K-Def featuring LL Cool J ‎‘Year Of The Hip Hop’ as they only pressed up 20 due to not clearing the ESG sample...

5. Best ever dig?
Seven years ago Dublin’s Fuzzy Logic Records were having a closing down sale and after sifting through literally everything they had on 45 I was losing hope until I spotted Ice Cube’s ‘Steady Mobbin’’ for a euro...

Around the same time I spotted a promo 45 of Fresh 3 MC’s ‘Fresh’ just sitting on the counter of The Record Spot again in Dublin. As it was slightly damaged the owner offered it to me for free...

But probably my best ever dig was finding a Stetsasonic ‘Go Stetsa I’ 45 in the Bernard Shaw Flea Market for just 2 or 3 euro...

6. All originals pressings?
Everyone prefers an original pressing but I’m happy to spin a repress. Especially if it’s a nice loud clean pressing that replaces a crusty, skippy original.

7. Do you hoard or buy and sell?
Very much a hoarder but I’m reluctantly starting to let a few things go of late.

8. How many 45s have you got and how do you catalogue/store them?
Hang on a sec [several hours later]. Sorry about that. I have 3,105 45s with another 20 or so in transit from different parts of the world. In terms of storage, it’s a complete mish mash at the moment. I have separate stacks and each stack represents what I played out recently.

9. Cover up or share the love?
Always share the love.

10. What’re your top 3 LPs tracks that you wish had been pressed onto 7”?
Craig G ‘Here's The Info’...

Brand Nubian ‘Ragtime’...

Lauryn Hill featuring Mary J. Blige ‘I Used to Love Him’...

11. Biggest disaster whilst DJing?!
No turntables when I showed up at the venue. In the end, the supporting DJ continued on and I went home.