HANGING WITH: CHRIS CAIRNS

Fresh out of the Dark Room Shots.net hunted down Partizan's Chris Cairns to discuss how he busted out the beats with his most recent side project, Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc., and got the skinny on the dizzying challenges of turntables, big name musicians and a 'crazy dope' production team.

What was the inspiration for the film?

When I started scratching I figured this was what was going on. Years of annoying the neighbours with wacka wacka fresh ucka ucka aw yeah... all that scratching's making me itch.

Could you explain a bit about the comment you posted on Vimeo to accompany the film: "Kingdom of the unreal but also a higher state of being, ultimately free of the limitations of the material world through the agency of science, technology, and imagination."

It's the opening sample from Foreign Beggars' album Stray Point Agenda. It seemed to make sense of the whole idea. Visualising impossible realities is a fun thing to do.

Shlomo, Prime Cuts, Plus One... You've pulled together some really big names on this project. How did you get everyone on board?

I had the basic idea quite clear in my mind. I'd assistant directed on my friend Anthony Dickenson's Foreign Beggars video, and thought they would be perfect for it. I've been a big fan of The Scratch Perverts for years and thought I'd see if they were up for it. I showed them a thing I'd made for Eclectic Breaks with DJ 2Tall and they were super up for it. They're very busy and there was no budget so huge credit to them for giving up their time and taking it to the next level.

It was a hugely collaborative endeavour, with the MCs recording vocal samples which The Scratch Perverts then sequenced and cut up. Will Clark is a skilled jazz drummer recommended by my dear friend Will Cohen, who oversaw all matters audio. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with such a talented team of musicians, not to mention all the crazy dope technicians and production team who made the whole thing a reality.

What were the biggest challenges on the shoot? And what did you find most rewarding creatively?

I decided to have the MCs and Shlomo spin in real-time on turntables on the shoot to mimic the 331/3rpm of turntables. It turns out that rotating once every two seconds is something of a dizziness challenge. Also your eyes continuously shift their point of focus. Sick bags at the ready!

Have you got other projects like this one filed away in your head?

But of course. I'm a big fan of Beardyman and JFB and hope to get something locked down with them in the not too distant future. I also have a snowboarding idea I would love to see the light of day. Watch this space.