User:Flyrockboy

Eric Moore is an Irish Broadcaster and former Turntablist with VooDoo Scratch Attack turntable group. A life-long lover of music, Eric attributes his passion for music to his parents. Trips to the local Roller Disco with his Mother during the late 70’s, and Rock n Roll anecdotes from his Father, Thomas Moore (AKA) Mike Adams, frontman with 60’s show band “The Ravens” (who would share the stage with music royalty such as Roy Orbison, The Searchers, and The Rolling Stones) would eventually ignite his passion for music, resulting in a career spanning over thirty years.

In 1982 (age 10), Eric ditched his roller skates for a roll of lino, and became part of the first wave of Break Dancers to occupy the (at the time, Mod & Punk Rocker ruled) streets of Dublin, eventually making an appearance on the RTÉ main evening news.

By 1985 (now a collector of records from the early Rap/Electronic musical genre), Eric and (now Dj partner) Cut Master Jay began to experiment musically, re-editing songs via the shoddy equipment available at the time (two individual 1970’s leather bound, boxed record players (PYE & Ferguson), and a twin cassette ghetto blaster). Eric would later bin the record players after a near fatal electrical accident.

- The boxed record players were acquired by Eric via an early morning scout of the Neilstown area of Clondalkin during Dublin Corporation’s “Annual Junk Collection Day” (The one day of the year where the Corpo would take anything from beds to bath tubs., and of course, old record players..

In 1987, after discovering his favourite radio programme (L.L.C.R. Rock box, Dublin’s only Hip Hop radio show, presented by broadcast legend- Tony Christy) had been cancelled, Eric decided to take matters into his own hands, and began to approach the pirate radio stations under his new Dj handle (Dj Laz-e). With a one-off broadcast on Dublin’s Diamond 106 (where he left the mic fader up for an entire three hour show) and eventually landing a slot on Ballyfermot’s Smile FM, Eric began a career in radio that would see him (one day) host Irelands most popular and longest running Hip Hop radio show (Plastic Attack). Eric simultaneously set up & ran his own secondary school’s radio station after convincing the student council “it was the future”.

During this period (1987), Cut Master Jay (now armed with a set of Technics SL 1200 turntables) began to excel as a turntablist (scratch dj) and the two began to write/produce some of Ireland’s first “professional studio Rap demos”, recorded at the now famous Radio Active studios (Bray), and engineered by former Sound Crowd Wiz Kid, Timmy Hannigan. Eric would fund the studio time & his record collection via nixers, whilst working as a trolley-boy for Irish Rail. “Sometimes (while on the Cork route) I’d transport records for Comet Records from their Dublin shop, to their store in Cork. I’d get a few quid and maybe an album, depending on the weight of the box. The Belfast run was a different story all together… Back in them days, records were released in the U.K. before Ireland, and because Belfast was considered part of the U.K., they’d get the British release date. Bingo!! A certain popular Dublin record store (no names mentioned) would pay me to purchase new releases up north, so they could have the edge on the other record shops. Every Dj wanted to have the latest records first! Anyway.., the records were cheaper up there, plus it was pound for pound on the train at the time, which meant I had the sterling, so everyone was happy. Haha!.., Dublin’s Richard Branson”.

In early 1990 (not long after the national FM pirate radio shut-down of 1988), Eric and Cut Master Jay entered Ireland’s first National Technics (DMC) mixing championship, resulting in a 2nd place position. Eric would later re-enter the contest several times over the years, coming in 2nd place, and would eventually retire from competition to become a judge. The two would continue to work as a Rap duo, and later create Rap out-fit,  “Jus like Family “ (consisting of two rappers and two Dj’s). During this period, Eric (armed with an instrumental version of one of their Radio Active demos) decided to expand his musical knowledge and applied for a position at the Ballyfermot Rock School (now BCFE). Initially diffident at the thought of being the first Hip Hop artist at a college for seasoned musicians and songwriters, Eric notes the moment he knew he had the gig. “I was being interviewed by former Moving Hearts drummer Matt Kelleghan. I loved his work. A dj friend of mine used to drop McBrides in his Hip Hop sets and scratch over it. It sounded deadly! I explained to Matt, who I was, what I did and what I wanted to get out of the course. I was shittin! Then he asks me for my demo tape… I’m handing it to him, explaining that it’s only an instrumental version to highlight what I do with samplers, all the while thinking that he probably despises little shits like me for ruining music. He puts the tape in, presses play, and I’m still making excuses about the fact that it’s an instrumental version of a Rap demo (which without the vocal is gonna sound pretty damn boring. After about my 4th/5th blurb, he firmly asks me to hold on (or shut up). I’m not even in the door and I’ve pissed off the teacher… Completely disheartened, I lean back on my chair, wishing it would all end, but notice Matt tapping his foot to the track. Result…! The demo comprised of samples from old Sly and the Family Stone & Babe Ruth records, and he probably appreciated my knowledge of that music, as opposed to the whole Hip Hop sound, but I was thrilled either way, and it allowed me to then perform Hip Hop songs with a live band, which we would create within the college. I was however, snubbed by some of my classmates, who felt what I did wasn’t music, but I has proud to be the first to rap with a live band. That’s history right there.”

In 1996, following a short business venture as proprietor of Clondalkin based record store “Wild Style Records”, Eric moved to the Greek island of Ios, where he spent the next three years as a club Dj, working seven nights a week. On his return in late ’98, Eric was offered the Saturday mid-day slot on Dublin’s Power FM. The Plastic Attack radio show was born. With an eclectic mix of 80s Hip Hop, Disco/Funk, Funk/Rock, and New Wave, the Plastic Attack radio show  (now donning the tagline “Touching on the origins of Hip Hop with some Old School Rap classics..”) would gain listenership from both a domestic and international audience. By 2010, the programme would be snatched up by RTÉ Radio. Such was the programme’s success that it resulted in a clothing-line sponsorship deal (Plain Lazy), endless high profile interviews, and a track slot on international Turntablist album, Global Turntables, which featured some of Hip Hop’s original pioneers.

As a turntablist, Eric has shared the stage with his bucket-list of performers, from acts such as Blondie and Gary Numan, to Hip Hop Giants like Grand Master Flash, Afrika Bambaataa (pictured), RUN DMC, Ice-T, Public Enemy, SugarHill Gang, the list goes on…

As a radio broadcaster, Eric has (over the Plastic Attack’s 18 year life span) interviewed some of music’s most influential players, including New York music producer Tom Moulton (the first man to put a single on a 12” format), Studio 54’s Nicky Siano (one of the pioneers of sync mixing), movie director Charlie Ahern, New York art world queen Patti Astor, former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, Thin Lizzy’s Eric Bell, Radio Caroline jock/DMC boss Tony Prince, Ice-T, and Grammy award winning Melle Mell, to name a few. In 2015, Eric produced the acclaimed radio series “Cream of DMC”, documenting 30 years of DMC dj contests, which featured an interview and winning set from key contestants, from 1986 – 2015. Plastic Attack show is one of the longest running Hip Hop radio programmes, spanning almost two decades, 1998 – 2016. Music journalist Mark Kavanagh (Irish Daily Star) ranked  Eric (AKA) Dj Laz-e in his top 20 list of Irelands greatest (music) radio Dj’s.

Eric has also documented the early years of the Irish Hip Hop scene (via audio/photo), and his knowledge of music in general has gained him respect amongst journalists and music historians alike, with contributions to T.V. programmes such as RTÉ’s Rant and Nation Wide, and a string of write-ups in Hot Press and various other music magazines (both digital & print). As a Hip Hop historian, Eric was invited to take part in a high profile interview with Actors Ice Cube & Kevin Hart (via Today FM’s Anton Savage show). Eric also acted as cultural consultant for Today FM’s Matt Cooper show for the U.S. presidential election special (broadcast live from New York). He also served as cultural consultant on Gary O’Neil’s 2011 book entitled  “Where were you”, documenting Dublin youth culture from 1950 – 2000.

Eric has spent the past 8 years as a presenter with the national broadcaster, with shows on RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ 2XM, & RTÉ 2FM. His passion for music exudes via his radio programme Golden Years (RTÉ Gold) for which he was selected as one of RTÉ radio’s candidates for the 2017 & 2018 IMRO radio awards. The Golden Years (a multi-genre programme playing hits from the 50s – 90s) also features a regular item called “Undiscovered Gold, which features songs that should have had chart success, but for one reason or another, never made the top 40. Eric is also creator & executive producer of the New York based, forthcoming documentary film “Wild Style and Hip Hop’s untold story” (a film documenting the highs and lows of the making of the 1981 “cult classic” Wild Style movie, and its soundtrack provided by Blondie’s Chris Stein).

Today, Eric shares his passion for broadcasting via his School of Jock radio workshop (www.schoolofjock.com), a program where he installs college radio stations and mentors students in the basics of broadcasting, instilling a firm understanding in the mechanics of live radio.