Hook'n'Sling is the brainchild of Sydney breakbeat producer, Anthony Maniscalco. Anthony has been DJing since 2000 at various spots including Japan4@ Ambar (Perth), Funktrust, BUMP and Australia wide Pepsi Live events. He made the natural transition to become a producer about 3 years ago after dicovering his talent for producing edits and bootlegs to use in his DJ sets.

His first release came in the form of the Number Cruncher EP, released through Hussle & Bussle - one of Australia's premier breakbeat labels. The EP itself saw success with the likes of the Plump DJs, Danny McMillan, General MIDI and Friendly to name but a few and received high rotation on radio stations hosted by Annie Nightingale and Pete Tong. Hussle & Bussle were so impressed with the success of his efforts that they enlisted his talents to produce 2 remixes of Nasty Tales' Come On A My House.

Even though he's very busy in the studio, Anthony still manages to host a radio show on the highly tuned into ibreaks.co.uk net radio station. Hook'n'Sling's "The Heat" is one of the station's most listened to show and definitely shines a beacon of breakbeat in Australia.

Early in the new year, Anthony will be releasing his followup single to the Number Cruncher EP - Vegas Heat/Silver Service - and RA caught up with Anthony to talk about its upcoming release.

- How did you come up with the name?
Hook and Slings' a block party tune from the 60's by Eddie Bo. I found it one day crate diggin a few years back when i was playin more Hip Hop / Funk / Mid tempo. It was just one of those tunes I suppose that stuck.

- There seems to be a bit of confusion between you and the UK breakbeat production duo of the same name. How would you define your production style in comparison to theirs?
Sound wise we're quite different. Those lads are more into the Bassline / Tearout sound....the darker end of the spectrum. My stuff's more on a funkier tip....still quite heavy at times though.

- When did you start writing tunes and what got you interested in the first place?
I got into writing about 3 years ago. I was still DJ 'in at the time but bought a little Digi 001 set-up to make my own bootlegs and mashups and re-edits.....plus i was in a band at the time on an MPC doin drum loops + fx.....natural step i suppose.

- What tools and software do you use to create your music?
I use both software and hardware. I combine hardware synths like Nords / Novation with software...best of both worlds really. i just switched to Live 5 about 3 weeks ago...its great. I just completed a remix for Sarah McLeod from The Super Jesus on Live...and im really happy with it so im gonna stick with it.

- How do you find the inspiration to write your music?
Tough question. Well funnily enough, im not always inspired. Its tough writing without inspiration or direction. Every now and then, something comes along that i really like whether its a guitar riff from a TV commercial or another breaks or hip hop or house tune....i just take those ideas and get in the studio and make em my own. Did i mention that was a tough question?

- Who are the artists you would say are your biggest influences?
To be honest, I got so many influences...its hard to narrow down to a few. At the moment? Switch, The White Stripes, DJ Touche and Deekline and Wizard

- How did you originally become involved with Hussle & Bussle?
I shop down at Central Station Records here in Sydney and one day I got talkin to Trent Rackus behind the counter there about Hussle n Bussle. Trent works for Hussle / Ministry of Sound so after passing over my demo, I got the go ahead from Tim McGee, they signed up the release and it all went from there.

- What can you say about Hussle & Bussle's contribution to the breaks scene in general?
Im biased....so what can i say.....they're 100% behind Aussie talent....can't be a bad thing can it??

- Tell us about your radio show on iBreaks.co.uk - The Heat. Which artists and DJs mixes have you hosted on the show?
Yeah the shows goin great, last month it ranked second most listened to show on the station. Thanks to everyone whos supported the show! Previous guests have included Friendly, Bass Kleph, Nick Thayer, Hexadecimal, Dopamine and Will Saul. upcoming guests include, Daniel Taylor and The Street Punx.

- Current top 10
01. Metric - Stale
02. HooknSling - Vegas Heat / Silver Service
03. BassKLeph - Dance With Me
04. Tricknology 9 - Stefani Sessions
05. Audio Bullys - Get Get Down
06. Metric & Rogers - This Is Hip Hop
07. FreeLand - Heel N Toe (Daniel Taylor remix)
08. Soul of Man - Foxy Moron
09. Dopamine - Harsh (Dopamine + Klaus rerub)
10. Bobby Lorenz - Think (D.Ramirez vs Kristoph Stereowhore Re-Think)