The heyday of competitive turntablism has come and gone, yet transplanted local turntable wizard Skratch Bastid, born Paul Murphy in Halifax, continues to find inventive ways to make his craft appeal to partygoers.

The producer/DJ/hustler/businessman is about to launch a quarterly party that brings together like-minded individuals to rejuvenate the art of spinning records. The inaugural event kicks off Saturday at Revival and features Murphy, Toronto Stylus award winner/FLOW 93.5 DJ Starting from Scratch and beatboxer Scratch from the legendary Roots crew.

“In our first rehearsal, [Scratch and I] came up with a whole night’s worth of material,” says Murphy from his Toronto home. “He’s got a brain like a DJ. He picks up on things that the average listener – or beatboxer – would not. His attention to detail is amazing.”

Murphy began his mixtape career by crudely splicing together tracks from CDs and cassettes. By the age of 15, he was making crate-digging trips to New York in search of unusual rap records, something that would draw the attention of older Halifax hip-hop heads and eventually lead him into the world of competitive DJing.

“My mom pushed me to enter a competition in town, and I placed third,” he says with a laugh. “That’s where I met everyone: Buck 65, Sixtoo [now of Megasoid]. The next year, I returned with a lot of inspiration and won. Then I took it to the national level, eventually winning the Scribble Jam... three times.”

Murphy tailors his transformer scratches to a wide demographic by blending everything from disco to dirty south into his routines. This is also evidenced on his recent critically acclaimed 110% mixtape. 

For the Revival party – aptly titled Scratch, Skratch, Scratch! – he’s teamed up with local visuals company MixMotion, so expect to see live visuals, projections, panel walls and an overall focus on interactivity.

“We’re looking to create a club night unlike any other,” Murphy says. “We’re looking to create ‘wish you were there’ moments.”

Interview Clips

Skratch Bastid talks about his influences:

On his routines:

music@nowtoronto.com