Hood and the boyz

HAILING from the gritty city of Detroit, Robert Hood needs little introduction.

Founding member of the legendary Detroit collective Underground Resistance, he has been one of the most innovative and forward-thinking DJs and producers around – an artist who helped pave the way for the wave of stripped-down dancefloor minimalism that flooded techno clubs during the late 1990s.

As DJ Surgeon once remarked, "When Hood first released his pivotal Minimal Nation EP back in 1993, it was like a bomb going off".

Tonight, at Studio 24, Hood comes to Jackhammer Vs Kontrol to launch his new mix for the Fabric club and record label in London.

Growing up in the city which gave the world the famous Motown sound, the younger Hood was, as you'd expect, heavily influenced by his musician father and wanted to play the trumpet just like he did.

"(My father] died when I was very young, though, I was six when he passed away," he recalls. "At my grandmother's house there's a painting of him, and below the painting there's a glass case with his trumpet and his drum sticks in it.

"So all I remember growing up was seeing that trumpet, and that made me want to take it up, which I did when I was in grade school.

"I played trumpet for about a year or so – I did a couple of recitals but lost interest. I think everybody went through that – you kind of get bored with it and sort of slack off," he adds.

As you expect for a kid from Detroit, Hood grew up with music in the house – "a lot of Motown and Philadelphia soul, artists like Marvin Gaye, of course, and Curtis Mayfield.

"I remember Isaac Hayes, the soundtrack from Shaft had come out," he continues. "I think I was four or five. Supafly was out at that time. There was always a lot of music going on.

"My father was a jazz musician – he played piano, trumpet and drums. And my mother was in an R&B group, they recorded a little 45 locally."

"As I said, we listened to a lot of Motown. In fact, my grandfather's cousin is Berry Gordy (record producer, and founder of the Motown label]. My uncle managed lots of jazz bands and R&B bands, so we've always been musically inclined and had an ear for it."

An avid record collector who wanted to play music as far as he could remember, Hood got himself a drum machine and a keyboard from a pawn shop and started laying down beats.

"I was going to a recording studio where I paid $15 an hour to make a demo" he says. "I met a guy called Mike Clark through a girlfriend – and he knew everybody! He knew Mike Banks, Jeff Mills – in fact all the DJs and producers in Detroit. He introduced me to Banks and I let him hear a demo."

He was then invited to work on a compilation CD – and has not looked back.

As well as being a massive name back home, Hood is very much in demand in Europe, which he admits has always been good to him.

"As far as my career, it is hard to consider a future without Europe's support," he admits. "Before my career began, artists like Thomas Dolby, Heaven 17, and Kraftwerk had a profound influence on my musical direction.

"Then, as my career took me to the UK and Europe, I paid attention to how the kids across the water moved to this music. It made me focus on how to get inside their minds.

"I noticed Detroit and Berlin were bouncing ideas back and forth. It was no longer enough to want Detroit to feel my sound. I needed the entire planet to feel me," he smiles.

• Jackhammer Vs Kontrol, Studio 24, Calton Road, tonight 11pm-3am, £10 (£5), 0131-558 3758