PEANUT BUTTER WOLF

Any true blue fan of the infamous L.A. based and world renowned Stones Throw Records will know that Peanut Butter Wolf can be quite an elusive character. Rocking years of experience on both sides of the industry and creating platforms for artists such as Madlib, MF Doom and, of course, Dilla to help continue promote hip-hop as art, he has undoubtedly given a lot to the genre, whilst keeping the importance of diversity and evolution in music a must (as more recent signings ranging from the sonically eloquent Georgia Anne Muldrow, the low down Dam-Funk and the all round freshly pressed James Pants demonstrates). I managed to catch the man before he jumped on stage to rock his full AV set to a rammed club courtesy of Throw Some Shapes in Brighton.

So Mister Wolf, what’s in a name? Label manager, producer and turntablist and I imagine avid vinyl collector…
Yeah, definitely, though I’ve never really been a turntablist as such. I guess I scratch and stuff but was always more of a DJ, turned into label guy I guess. That’s how I look at myself. I think one of the first things I got involved with early on was ‘Return of the DJ’ which was and still is a big scratch record, and I kinda got lumped into that category from then on. But even on my first solo album, ‘My Vinyl Weighs A Ton’ although I did some of the scratching, it was mostly other DJs I got doing the cuts.
 
That’s still a pretty impressive bag of tricks and an impressive album, is there anything else you might be hiding from us, even not related to music?
Euuuuuuuuhmmmmmmmm… No. Haha.
 
The story behind the name PBW has been told, but has anyone ever heard of the Peanut Butter Wolf Monster since?
You know I just got hit up on Facebook by the sister of the kid that made up that name, but long story short is, I’ve totally almost forgotten where that name came from. It’s been so long, almost 18 years now.
 
Indeed! Your career expands in many directions and has done for some time now, when you started the label did you ever imagine getting this far?
I did originally want to start a label, but then I became an artist and kinda put the label ideas aside, but it was definitely in the back of my consciousness somehow. And eventually, it all kinda came back to me.
 
You started the label in 1996. What do feel has been the key to the longevity and evolution of Stones Throw?
Not over thinking it really, just doing it, and going by my instincts. It’s a really hard industry, so you have to stay confident and believe in yourself or you’ll easily end up quickly doing something else.