Interviews

Tim Zawada runs much loved Star Creature Records and the highly collectable Tugboat Editions out of Chicago. The veteran DJ, producer, radio host and label head takes some time to talk to us about his deeply interesting background, Chicago, and his labels that have been churning out funk and disco boogie hotness since their inception.

Thanks for stopping by. Where are you at the moment and what are your plans for today?

Hi - I'm here in Chicago. Plan for today like most days, work on some records, and see what happens.

Where are you from and where are you based today?

From Chicagoland area – south suburbs. Star Creature HQ is currently based in the Little Village neighbourhood on the southwest side of Chicago. When I'm not there, I mostly find myself on the near northwest side.

When you were growing up, what sort of music were you exposed to?

Pretty much everything. I grew up in the CDs, MTV, and radio era – right as MP3s became a thing but way before streaming. It limited my access as a kid to discovery so wasn't until high school when I was out with friends in their cars that I got exposure to DJs and mixing. That was right around high speed internet and Napster / downloading. Floodgates opened up shortly after that.

When you first started to form your own tastes what was the first music you were buying?

I always liked all types of music. I lean in different directions for years here and there but was and still am open to everything. Always was looking for more underground and up and coming artists whatever I was into at the time.

Where did you buy music from in the early days? When did your obsession with collecting records begin?

By the time I was into vinyl, there were only a couple record stores near me, and they were really lame – just junk. I started acquiring cool records by going to the thrift stores and Goodwill's in the area – mostly Gary, Indiana. This when I was around 18. Shortly after that I had a chance encounter with a guy at a Salvation Army there that hipped me to Mr. Peabody's Record Store, not too far from my mom’s house which was co-owned by Mark Grusane who put me on a ton of stuff around then mid to late 2000s.

Who were some of the artists you were into in those days?

I was pretty clueless. Soul and Funk were the rage to collect but I was gravitating more towards disco and… *boogie*, though I didn’t even know that term until Mark said it to me. I brought in a bunch of thrifted basic boogie Dazz Band and Whispers Records saying I wanted more of that, and he started feeding me 12”s after that. Some of the 12”s Mark sold me on my first solo trip was Derrick – Boogie Times, DeBarge – Wear It Well, The Limit – She’s So Devine, Cashmere – Do It Anyway You Wanna, The Concept – Mr DJ and Mr. Peabody’s own Night Drive compilation.

When did you first start to DJ?

I originally had no intentions or desire to start DJing. At the time, DJing was a real commitment – You had to have a lot of equipment and records and a lot of skills. There were some serious barriers to getting started. I knew some great DJs and didn’t want to disrespect their craft.

I was in college and only had 1 turntable. I loaned it to my friend so he could do a gig. He also had 1 turntable and wasn’t a skilled DJ - just had records. He came by to drop my deck off after playing a friend’s house party and was just super amped. He had a great time, so I said ok next party I’ll bring some records too. We were terrible for those first couple months but started to figure it out.

So many greats have come out of Chicago. What do you think is in the water?

There are probably full academic texts written on the subject. I think the size and work ethic of the city but really the more negative side history– segregation and marginalization of the groups the original creators and innovators came from. A rich history of mistreatment in the US and Chicago. A lot of people looking for community and places to escape and express led to a lot of underground musical movements starting in this city.

Were you friends with the likes of Ron Trent when you were coming up as a DJ?

I was a fan of Ron Trent, but we didn’t meet until much later. I remember the first time seeing/hearing him play was at The Shrine for a Valentines party in 2010. It’s a very memorable set to me as I had seen many DJs by that point, but Ron played different than anyone else. I learned things during that set that I still use today.

Sometime in the early Star Creature days I had a videographer friend that mentioned he was going to Ron’s studio to shoot a video for a documentary. I gave him a stack of our records to pass on and I guess he dug them. Although they may be in different sections of the record store, Ron’s productions have a big stylistic overlap with a lot of records we are doing. Warm, synths, soulful, funky, spaced out, left field, deep, etc… We’ve DJ’d a few times together and talked about some projects. One day I hope, it would be a massive honour.

You have played on radio a lot over the years, tell us about your radio work. Are you still broadcasting your daily show?

I started at my college radio station WIUX in Bloomington, Indiana but now I program a weekly radio show here in Chicago airing Friday Nights at 8pm Chicago time. The station is Lumpen Radio and it’s a non-commercial arts and community focused station. I’ve been involved for almost 10 years now. Locally it airs on the terrestrial airwaves at 105.5 FM but can also be streamed at lumpenradio.com or on their Lumpen app.

Since it’s on FM most of the listeners are driving around so I try to set it up with nice alternative jams to get them ready for the weekend – a good mix of house, disco, boogie, old and new, kind of whatever and we have a lot of guest DJs as well.

When did you first start to produce?

I was in some bands and started producing in high school – a lot of sample based stuff and making beats. Halfway through college I got copies of Serato and Ableton Live so started doing remixes and edits, mashups etc… stuff to use for DJ sets. I joined SoundCloud in 2009 and started posting tracks there. My disco edit alias was Tugboat Edits which eventually started making their way to vinyl a couple of years later.

What was the first release you put out?

The first record I ever put out was Tugboat Edits Volume 1 - a collection of some of my own tracks and edits. Todd Mariana (RIP) from Deep Grooves Mastering did the cuts, pressed at Archer and hand stamped by me in Chicago. The first Star Creature was E. Live's Everybody b/w Be Free ft Sally Green. I originally had a different direction planned for Star Creature until I stumbled upon E. Live on SoundCloud. We didn't even have the label name picked out yet so might be our only record without our catalog number cut in the run out groove.

Was there a release that slipped under the radar that we should check?

I think all our releases are still under the radar and highly checkable.

Are you working on anything currently in the studio? What is the vibe?

I’m not currently working on a lot of records but not on any solo material. There are many musicians much more talented than I am and I would prefer to focus my energy on pushing others art.

When you first started Star Creature did you have any idea it would become an internationally known cult label?

Not at all. I started Star Creature because I wanted to play more modern boogie records alongside all the vintage ones. There were a few artists – most notably K-Maxx but others like XL Middleton and of course DaM-Funk and I just wanted more sick funk 45s in my bag. My initial goal with Star Creature was to do 6 records.

I had learned how to press a record from doing the Tugboat Edits 12”s and had a good distribution relationship with Groove Distribution here in Chicago. My crew The Boogie Munsters, were throwing a lot of boogie and disco parties and there were constantly cool DJs coming to Chicago to dig and play so we had a vehicle to make it happen.

If you had to put the ethos and vision of Star Creature into a words what would you say?

It’s really tough – was easy at first but the sound has expanded over the past 10 years. I think to be a Star Creature record it has to be rooted in funk, incorporate elements of disco, boogie, jazz, and house. It has to pass the test of sounding like it could be from Chicago or at least something that would be played in a proper Chicago setting. Although our artists are from all over – it has to work here.

Absolutely love the aesthetic/ the artwork on your releases. Who does that for you?

Our original inspiration came from independent funk and disco 45s of the 70s and 80s. Same label having different color, logos, inconsistent fonts, not really worrying about the details and just showing up to the plant ready to press a record.

I’ve worked with a lot of different artists on album visual work, but majority has come from Pammela Rojas who has also performed as the vocalist on several Shiro Schwarz records. Pamm is a close friend, and we work on many projects, Star Creature and non.

Everyone always asks about the Chicago Boogie compilation illustrations which were done by Ben Marcus of Good-Bye Press here in Chicago. He also did the first Star Creature 12” sleeve and is constantly making cool art for his own projects and others.

The most recent batch of 12” labels and sleeves were done by another Chicagoan Eliza Weber who has also done a few other design projects for us and does a ton of design work around Chicago and beyond.

When did Tugboat Editions come along. Tell us about the specific format of the label.

The earlier 12” label was called Tugboat Edits and that was fairly well known. I started Tugboat Editions as a way to bridge the Tugboat Edits profile with Star Creature so people could know that the two were related. Tugboat Editions mostly focuses on cover versions of 70s/80s boogie tracks. Tugboat was my dachshund, rest in peace 2009-2023, and is the inspiration behind the design on the B-Side.

Adam Rowe created that design. He is in The Bell Boys who put out the 2nd record on Star Creature and was an employee at the legendary Gramaphone Records at the time. Michael Serafini, the owner of Gramaphone suggested the name Tugboat Editions for the project.

Can you give us some info on Stimulator Jones and what he’s been up to before this release?

Stimulator Jones is a super talented musician and musical force. Super cool and nice person that has insane chops in the studio across any instrument he touches.

I first heard of him through the Sofie’s Tape compilation on Stones Throw which had an incredible roster, but his track Soon Never Comes was a major standout. I checked for everything he did after which happened to be 3 killer albums for Stones Throw that fuse jazz, hip hop, R&B, etc…

I knew Saucy Lady also knew him and he ended up doing a remix of one of her tracks that we released a few years ago. I remember he was selling autograph copies of his albums during pandemic, and I had to buy them all direct for my collection.

I don’t remember how but out of the blue it seems one day he emailed me a zip file full of insane Chicago style tracky and deep house cuts. Hard yes from me and then casually he mentioned having a sick cover version of an absolute rare groove boogie gem that would be a perfect fit for Tugboat Editions.

So far we’ve dropped Stimulator Jones – The Stimulator Tracks Volume 1 and coming on October 4th is the 7” cover version of Ben’s I Would Have To Be A Fool. You asked about overlooked tracks earlier – check out Precious from Stimulator Tracks Vol 1 – still new but that one is going to do big things this year. But you’ll have to stay tuned for more after that because there is a reason we titled the first Volume 1.

What else have you got cooking in the Star Creature kitchen that we can look forward to?

There’s a ton to be excited about. Lots more boogie, lots more dance focused cuts, lots of experimental synth funk. We are rounding into our 10th year with no plans to slow down.

Where can we catch you playing next Tim?

Every Friday on 105.5 FM in Chicago. Best place to keep up is the Star Creature Instagram @starcreaturevibes where I post all my gigs, all our new records and share tons of records from other labels I love plus some jams from my personal crates.

Thank you for your valuable time.

My Pleasure!

Check out the latest release on Tugboat Edition.