At the foot of our generation's largest widespread pandemic, Colorado native Bobby Collins AKA Turnstyle is spreading infectious grooves and basslines. Under the Turnstyle name, Bobby shows how immersive the soundscapes of the 80s, 90s, and beyond can be.
In the past two years, he put out three albums of which his latest Alley to the Valley was released on January 1st, 2020. He formerly went by the moniker Bobby C Sound TV where he joined the ranks of Nu-Disco and Funky Breaks producers inside of the Ghetto Funk scene. Nonetheless, we get that remedy for mandated social distancing and more from one producer who's been in the game for a minute.
Get to know Turnstyle both sonically through his Stereofox mini mix and verbally through the interview below. We dive into all kinds of topics, like his career and influences, the coronavirus, traveling and more!
- LSDREAM - Oblivion
- Oliver - Ottomatic
- Turnstyle - By The Sword
- Sean Paul - Get Busy (Bhangra edit)
- DJ Kool - Be Faithful (Turnstyle edit)
- Vanilla - Shutterbug (Turnstyle edit)
- The Heatwave ft. Mr Lexx & Keida - Walk Out Gyal (Turnstyle remix)
- Daddy Freddy - Haul & Pull (Turnstyle edit)
- A Tribe Called Quest - Oh My God (Tobe Tronic’s Speed Drum remix)
- Young Black Teenagers - Tap The Bottle (Turnstyle’s Quick remix)
- Oliver- Mr. Overtime
- Oliver - Bygones
- Casual Connection - Rollerskating Jam
- Bazuka - Dynomite (Jean Tonique remix)
- Casual Connection - Money Money
- Beastie Boys - Super Disco Breakin’ (Turnstyle remix)
- Turnstyle - Baseball Furies
- Turnstyle - Moonroof
Hey Bobby, it’s great to have you for an interview. How are things?
Well there’s a giant pandemic afoot and people are freaking out, but I can’t complain. Keeping myself busy these days with lots of new tunes and edits in the studio.
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To start off, I’d like to get some insights on your re-brand from Bobby C Sound TV to Turnstyle. Give me the play-by-play on this whole process.
It was something that had been brewing for a while. I felt my Bobby C moniker was always a bit of a mouthful and I had a few shows where it had been misprinted on the flyer (when I was the headliner, ha!). I had also been wanting to work on music in different styles including some more chill tunes so I figured I’d switch it over. Turnstyle was a word I always enjoyed and it seemed an appropriate title for a change.
Bobby C Sound TV was somewhat of an exploration of your affinity for Cinema and other things. What kinds of themes are you exploring under Turnstyle?
Well, things are really wide open under Turnstyle. Exploring a lot of different genres of music and trying to break up any formulaic routines that I’ve been using to make music. Basically taking myself out of my comfort zone and trying to explore anything of interest. When I play live I still do the audio/visual thing though and keep things high energy. I’ve really been buried in the studio the past couple years exploring new musical terrain and now I feel ready to dive back into the visual side and work on my video editing.
You’ve been pumping out tunes and started off 2020 with your latest album The Alley to the Valley. Tell me more about this release.
This album is more just exploring musical ideas and not going into the album with any preconceived notion of what I was going to make. Every tune was just a rough idea I explored. I tried not to think about them too much or get caught up with what I thought I should make which is what I usually do when making an album. My business partner and I are also launching a sync label so we’re both working on lots of genres for soundtrack, commercial use, etc., etc.
You hail from one of the American music epicenters: Denver, Colorado. What makes it a special place? Now’s your chance to flex your hometown.
Colorado is an amazing place. I’m glad to be from here. We get more sunshine than any other state and I think that helps people to be easy going. The mountains here are also a source of constant inspiration. Really glad to see Colorado doing so much on the creative scene. I feel lucky to have traveled to many countries and played shows all over, but I’m always happy to come home.
You’ve traveled far and wide the past years. Looking back, what have been some notable experiences for you and why?
I’ve had a couple people say that I should write a book on my travel experiences, I’ve definitely got some memorable and funny stories. Out of everything that has happened from my musical endeavors, travel has probably affected me the most. I think about the places I’ve been lucky enough to travel to pretty much every day. The trips to Europe have been amazing and I’ve made great friends. I’ve wound up in some places I never thought I’d be like Latvia, Estonia, Norway, and Israel. I believe I’ve played shows in around 25 countries which is crazy when I think about it. It’s really hard to narrow it all down to just a few experiences as there’s been so many. I just feel grateful for it all at the end of the day.
You have a lot of musical influence and have shared the stage with many big names. Who would be your Top 3 musicians (living or not) you’d love to collab with and why?
Jimmy Page far and away would be the top person I’d love to collab with. His legendary status pretty much speaks for itself. I’d really like to shake his hand and thank him for the music he’s created, but a collab would have me over the moon. James Brown would be another. I know he was a complicated person when he was alive, but a more powerful performer there never will be and he literally changed music. Probably one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. The last guy would be Slim Gaillard. I would’ve given anything to have hung out with Slim when he was alive. For those who aren’t familiar, he was born in Cuba, traveled to Greece with his parents when he was about 7 (in the 1920’s I think). He got separated from his parents in Greece and never saw them again. He started living as an orphaned child there. Somewhere along the way he took up music and could pretty much play any instrument you put in front of him. He found his way over to the states and started playing jazz and invented his own language called “vout”. He’s pretty much the funniest human I think has ever lived. He passed away in 1991 and he’s someone I think about all the time.
With 2020 off to a momentous start for you, what’s the rest of the year looking like for you?
Well, I’m focusing my efforts on curing coronavirus so I can get back to traveling. I had some shows in the EU and a trip to Morocco that have been cancelled, but I’m going to use that time to get back in the studio. I hope to have an EP complete in the next few months and I’m going to write some more music for the sync label (called The Heard Records btw). Going to be attempting music for trailers and soundtracks. At the moment I’m making a ton of disco edits for a big disco show that I play annually and it’s coming up in a couple of weeks. I have quite a few shows coming up, but I get the feeling most of those will all be postponed so more time in the studio for me. Hopefully more collabs and mixes with you guys as well!
Stream Turnstyle's latest Alley to the Valley here.
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