Great Shot, Kid Koala!

Canadian DJ Kid Koala impresses the masses with his skill at spinning vinyl as the opener for such bands as Radiohead and Beastie Boys. Besides scratching records, he draws endearing comics like Nufonia Must Fall about a robot who writes love songs. So it's not surprising that the talented DJ and comic book artist has a special appreciation for the droids that inhabit the Star Wars galaxy.

"I would say R2-D2 is probably the character I relate to the most," Kid Koala says. "He talks in all of these odd twisted sine wave noises that nobody seems to understand but you can tell when he's sad, worried or happy. Plus I think he's kind of a nerd because he knows how to fly spaceships and understands the mechanics of really high-tech elevator systems. He's a bit of a gentleman because he's always opening doors for people. And he often messes up and gets things wrong at first but he always figures something out in the end. Artoo is kind of a tough little guy who knows things -- definitely someone who would be cool to have in your crew. Plus he doubles as a 3-D movie projector."

Long before Koala was identifying with astromech droids, he was a little boy growing up in Vancouver pretending his home was really in the snow banks of Hoth. "Back in third or fourth grade we would build snow forts at recess time and reenact that battle at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back," Koala remembers. "We didn't have any cardboard costumes or anything fancy so the tall kids would be the AT-ATs and the rest of us would run around and knock them over. Also I remember thinking that it was lifesaver instead of lightsaber and I caught a lot of flak for that."

Koala would earn his street cred back with his classmates tenfold soon enough. Kid Koala, a.k.a Eric San, was born only three years before A New Hope was first released in theaters. By the time he was 12 years old, and after many years of classical piano lessons, the young Eric discovered an increasingly popular sound that he would eventually make all his own. After making his first "scratch" on his sister's record player, he began saving his money from paper routes to buy his first turntable set-up. One of his first records ended up being quite the collectible that he still has in his record stacks to this day. "I have a Return of Jedi storybook album in French," he says. "But the cat who does the French-translated Darth Vader voice sounds nothing like James Earl Jones."

By the early 1990s, Eric was living in Montreal where he had moved to study early childhood education at McGill University. As he began spinning records in clubs, he started to attract a loyal following. In 1995, when Jon More (co-owner of UK record label Ninja Tune, and half of Coldcut) came to visit Montreal, Eric's innovative and humorous mix tape Scratchcratchratchatch ended up playing on the car stereo. Shortly thereafter, Eric, now known as Kid Koala, became Ninja Tune's first North American signing.

In February of 2000, Ninja Tune released his debut album Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which was accompanied by both a video game and 32-page comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. A tour featuring six turntables and live musicians soon followed and took the young artist throughout North America and Europe. Kid Koala continued to tour extensively as a member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and also as the opening act for Radiohead.

When he wasn't spinning, he kept himself busy drawing comics. His first book Nufonia Must Fall (published by ECW Press), a 350-page illustrated love story about an out-of-work robot and a workaholic girl, was accompanied by a soundtrack of original, experimental piano-based compositions. The original music and his characters set the stage for a North American tour of intimate, sit-down venues, during which Kid Koala lay his fingers down not only on the turntables, but on the Wurlitzer and on the remote control of an old slide projector.

His second full-length album Some of My Best Friends are DJs (complete with a 50-page book) was released in 2003 on the Ninja Tune label. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour throughout North America, Europe and Australia, known as "The Short Attention Span Theatre" which featured an unpredictable opening act, three DJs on eight turntables set up like a band, a bingo game at intermission, among other quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets all over Asia, Iceland, Eastern Europe, Russia, and South America all the while working on a fresh new book and a very unique puppet show set to take place in 2008.

Considering that on average Kid Koala performs around 200 shows a year, it's impressive that he made time to see R2-D2 in action on the big screen. When Revenge of the Sith opened in 2005, Kid Koala made sure he was in line with his fellow fans opening weekend in Montreal. As he sat in the theater watching the drama unfold, he couldn't help but appreciate the film on a completely different auditory level that most fans miss.

"John Williams is a great composer, and I am also a huge fan of Ben Burtt's sound design for all of the films," Koala says. "The sound effects in those movies are amazing. Even those whooshing sounds that the doors make when they open and close are wonderful. The doors in my house just squeak. I remember seeing a little news story on the making of some of those sound effects back when I was a kid. At the time, I didn't know anything about studios or recording audio or things like that but I do remember thinking that it looked like a really cool job!"

In addition to the soundtrack to the films, Kid Koala understands why the saga makes such an impact on everyone who sees it for the first time." The Empire Strikes Back made me a fan," Koala says. "I was a bit too young to see the first Star Wars in the theater. I've always loved how creative that world was and how every character had a story. Even that little cackling guy who sat next to Jabba the Hutt probably had a story. I remember wondering, 'That's kind of odd. I wonder how he got stuck with that gig?' There has always been a lot of fun attention to detail to catch in those films. I think underneath it all it just a touches on themes that people can relate to -- you know, things like Life, Love, Loss and Lasers! But it's presented in this fresh, futuristic, ultra-high-tech action world which has always been a thrill to watch."

Now that the entire saga is available on DVD, Koala says he knows exactly where he'll be hitting the pause button, mainly to covet various intergalactic musical gear. "I'll probably go fast forward to the cantina band scenes," Koala laughs. "Those cats were jamming! The anteater-type character on the keyboards was also great! I want one of those keyboards."

To find out more about Kid Koala and where he's touring next visit his official site here. And be sure to check out this video of Koala in action spinning records and chatting about his robotic comics. Listen to new tracks on the the Kid Koala Myspace Profile here.

Stay tuned to Star Wars Rocks for more interviews from some of your favorite bands and celebrities.