We are full speed ahead into the sweltering Summer months. After this cold dark winter, and a spring we don’t quite remember (April?), it’s all of a sudden swim season again. Time for hot nights and what happens to be my favorite summertime activity: pounding disco.

To help Austin ring in the new season, Learning Secrets is bringing in esteemed founder of the The Wurst Music Co. from New York, My Cousin Roy this Saturday, May 8th at Beauty Bar! Roy is a veritable King of the Edits amongst the thriving disco scene in New York. With a stack of funky 12″ cuts, a bulging roster of disco producers, and a young clothing line of classically tailored garments, Roy is leading us into what looks like a bright future for dance-o-philes.

Tickets are DIRT CHEAP. Why, with a simple trip to Learning Secrets’ RSVP page, you gain admission for $3 (tickets are $5 without). The sausage kings of Austin, Frank will be catering the event with FREE Dogs and Suds until they run out. This night is going to be filled with some of the wurst puns and the best disco in recent history.

Roy was kind enough to answer a few questions Rhythm Sektion had about him, his label, and the new clothing sector of the Wurst empire. Stay tuned at the end of the interview for your chance to WIN TWO FREE tickets to this Saturday’s show, plus a special Rhythm Sektion swag bag. And we’re off….

Are you from New York originally? If not, how’d you get there, and why do you stay?

Good question. My father was in the Marines so I grew up all over the world. Born in North Carolina, lived in Okinawa, Japan twice, London, England twice, Philadelphia, DC a couple of times, and in North Carolina a few times. Spent my childhood summers and winter breaks in Long Island with my grandparents so that was the closest thing to home growing up. Went to school upstate and have been in the city for 13 years now.

Love the city, its energy, the people, the architecture, the list goes on. I have family and amazing friends here. Nothing compares to New York really

Could you describe your personal music DNA for us? Is it mostly disco, or are there some eclectic left field jams that you identify with specifically?

I play dance music, period. Guess it’s mostly disco in the sense that “disco” is a blanket term for so much dance music. I play everything from disco to house to electro to 80s dance to no wave to industrial to techno, new and old. Lots of “eclectic left field jams”, I think, depending on your meaning. I think some people would call what I play all “eclectic left field jams”.

How did Wurst Edits come about? Was there a specific song or record that you can draw the whole process back to?

It all started with my edit of Ruts DC. I loved the original of “Push Yourself – Make It Work” but it seemed too short for me. While extending it, I decided to try out some looping and lo and behold, my first proper edit was born. Some friends had expressed interest in releasing this and my edit of Bob-A-Rella, but I figured “what the hell” and launched my own thing in the form of Wurst Edits.

And from the edits, Wurst evolved into releasing original music. What do you look for in a Wurst artist, what about their music do you just have to capture and release to the world?

Good question – it’s difficult to pin down exactly what I’m looking for because that’s not what I’m doing. There is no particular thing I’m looking for, but I am drawn to music with personality, character, and feeling. I think folks will be surprised to hear our upcoming releases.

I really love the aesthetic of the whole label. Even the logo itself communicates a clean American classic style to me. This leads me to ask about your clothing line. What’s the main idea behind it?

Why thank you. The Wurst Editions, our experiment in menswear, came from simply not finding what I wanted in the shops, and having the opportunity to produce it myself, right outside the city, and with amazing materials. I loved the idea of applying the Wurst brand to something outside of the record label, and to date, it’s been quite a wild ride.

So if you could name an underlying theme to cross from the music to the clothes, what would it be?

Timeless

What can we expect next from Wurst?

On The Wurst Music Co front, we’ve got remixes of Neurotic Drum Band’s “Robotic Hypnotic Adventure” by Abe Duque, Runaway, and newcomers Harkin & Raney due out next month. June sees the debut of Great Weekend on Wurst, with “It’s Now…That’s Where It’s @”. Nick Chacona makes his long-awaited Wurst debut in July, “Slice of Life”, backed with none other than Stockholm’s own Name in Lights on remix duties.

The next Edition is a collaboration with my old friends at Outlier, an amazing clothing company from Brooklyn whose slogan is “tailored performance”, meaning that their garments can stand up to anything the city can dish out. The fabrics are water resistant, breathable, wind resistant, and regulate temperature but looks like beautifully tailored pieces, rather than techy hippie wear. The Wurst Edition No. 3 is a pair of shorts, The Wurst Outlier Shorts. Due out in June.

Also wanted to mention that Nick Chacona and I have been producing together as Beg to Differ. We have a couple of remixes due out this summer – LoneLady’s “Nerve Up” on Warp, and The Hours “Ali in the Jungle” on Sony.

Well there you have it.

Rhythm Sektion is giving away TWO FREE TICKETS to this Saturday’s show. To enter to win, shoot an e-mail to yo@rhythmsektion.com with “My Cousin Roy” in the subject line. Give us your name and phone number. We’ll select by Thursday at 3 PM. Otherwise, don’t forget to RSVP for the cheap price.

Below is a recent podcast Roy did for XLR8R. It’s righteous if I do say so myself, check it out, and see y’all Saturday.

XLR8R Podcast with My Cousin Roy