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One in a hundred >> Digging at the radical roots of 1% Free
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
"It's from my father, Emmett Grogan. He formed an anarchist group in San Francisco in the '60s called the Diggers." A quick historical note: the Diggers made their name scrounging up free food and goods for "the people," while stirring up hostility towards "the man." "In the back of one of their newspapers, they used to put an image of two Chinese Tong assassins, and between them they'd put the Chinese character for 'revolution,' and at the bottom, '1% Free.' That was their lifestyle: one percent free. "The one percent were the ones who didn't want any part of the corporate scene. It's about living free, or about learning everything there is to know about living free." This vibe continues today in places like Christiania, the squatter community in Copenhagen where bartering supersedes cash, taxes don't exist and big ol' piles of weed lay about in the open. "The cops can't go in," crows Grogan. "There's a wall, like the Berlin Wall, with only one entrance. It's a guerrilla thing--people there are armed to the teeth. These hippie guys, they're sometimes more warlike than you'd think. They're in with the punks, they move in gangs." "These are European-style anarchists," interjects Grim Skunk guitarist Peter Edwards, "ready to go to war with the state. Denmark doesn't dare do anything, because they know they've got some real badasses living there." On the topic of badasses, where does Mr. Edwards fit in to all this? And what, aside from DNA, connects DJ/producer Grogan to his dad's rabble of shit-disturbers? Not much--and more than you think.
Rock pig reformed A semi-reformed rock pig, Grogan is a longtime pal of the Grim Skunk gang. After catching the Orb in '93 and checking out a few chill-out rooms, he scammed up the requisite decks and samplers and set about hybridizing house, hip hop, downtempo, dub, drum & bass and yeah, even rock. You can hear the results on 1% Free's new disc, Slow Sun Fast Nomads. "Max and I were working on releasing this album a long time ago," says Edwards, "on our own steam, with the idea of eventually starting up an electronic music label. We started to see that [Grim Skunk's label] Indica might be a good alternative, because of all the barriers that they've already crossed in getting records into stores. We approached them, and some of the guys were into it, but they felt it was a punk label." It is, and that politicized, indie spirit suited Grogan and Edwards fine, leading to the new sub-label Hydrophonic. The aim seems to be electronica streamlined not for the slick clubland types but rather festivities where the freak flag flies and "free" is the word, brother. That could be Christiania, that could be the annual Burning Man festival down in New Mexico, that could be Circo de Bakuza right here in town (Grogan DJed there, and organizer Carlito Dalceggio reciprocated by designing his CD jacket). That's where Grogan and 1% Free fit in--something his dad would be proud of.
Slow Sun Fast Nomads is in stores now, with live shows impending |
Most celebrity offspring resent the shadow of their famous forebears. Not Max Grogan, though. Just ask him where he got 1% Free, the name of his electronic music project.