Mo’ Wax — Where Are They Now: The Prunes (1995)
Mo’ Wax was a record label started by James Lavelle in 1992, which closed about ten years later. Initially they released 12" singles and licensed a compilation from Japan of Japanese Hip Hop, until 1994 when they began releasing albums of their artists original work. While some of these artists such as DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, and Money Mark continued releasing music after Mo’ Wax closed, others have seemingly disappeared from the music scene. In this series I will look at each artist on Mo’ Wax and try to find out where are they now…
In 1995 Mo’ Wax created a spin-off label called Excursions. It put out ten 12" singles which were then collected onto a compilation album, also called Excursions, and released by Mo’ Wax in 1996.
The Prunes are Christian Buksti, Peder Pedersen, and Simon Bonde. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Christian and Simon first met in 7th grade and would dig for breaks together at their local record stores. At the time they weren’t producing, but were just interested in hearing the records used in their favourite hip hop tracks.
They met Peder at high school in 1991, the same year Peder entered his first DJ competition. After teaming up, the trio began buying equipment like the E-mu Emax 1 sampler and making loops together. As producers, they were initially known as Tha Prunes Brothers as Peder explained in 2006:
“When I hooked up with Simon and Christian (the 2 other members of The Prunes) they had these stickers with the image of an orange and a prune on them which they put up everywhere. Danish producer Phase 5 then gave us the name “Tha Prunes Brothers” when we did our record with him (Al Agami “Who Got Tha Loot”). We later changed it to “The Prunes”, which we thought was more timeless I guess.”
Al Agami’s 1993 album Covert Operations features two songs, Hook It Up and Damm (Who Gots Tha’ Loot), both credited to Tha’ Prune Bros. Then for their next release, on the compilation Fat Jazzy Grooves Vol. 8 & 9, they were credited as The Prunes.
Two of their songs featured on the 1994 compilation, which was released by US label New Breed. But the song which put them on the map was their remix of the Beastie Boys’ Sure Shot.
The remix came about after The Prunes met producer Jeppe “Jay-B” Bisgaard who introduced them to Danish rapper Dicky Daniel Klein, aka YB. The Prunes recorded a demo for YB which never came out, but word got out that The Prunes were looking for vocals to use on their beats.
At the same time the Beastie Boys were looking for people to remix their song Sure Shot, and Jay-B got The Prunes the acapella to use. It was only meant as a learning exercise for The Prunes to practise their skills, and no one thought it would ever be released.
The Prunes’ European B-Boy Mix ended up released worldwide in November 1994 on the Sure Shot single, which led James Lavelle to contact them about releasing something on his Mo’ Wax label in the UK. The Prunes then went into a studio and over three hours recorded all of the songs Mo’ Wax would eventually put out on their Headz and Excursions releases.
July 1995 saw their first release on Mo’ Wax as part of the Excursions series. Their 12" The Plot entered the UK Singles Chart on July 13, but peaked at #120 outside of the official Top 100.
Also in 1995, another song Headz Headz Headz was planned for release by Mo’ Wax. Reportedly planned as a promotional 7" for James Lavelle’s Headz club night, only three or five copies were said to have been pressed, with James Lavelle, Pablo Clements, and DJ Shadow the only known owners. Not even The Prunes were given a copy, and the release was a mystery for years. Had it been released, it is believed to have been earmarked for the catalogue number MW 030.
Headz Headz Headz only turned up recently, after someone posted on the UNKLE/Mo’ Wax forum U77 in 2016 about finding a copy, and a short clip was uploaded to Instagram in 2017. An official release, possibly pressing a split 7" with an unreleased Sam Sever song was discussed at the time, but nothing came of that. Later in January 2019, James Lavelle played the song on his Living In My Headphones show on Soho Radio, and the full song eventually found its way online. It’s now available to hear on YouTube.
Back in 1995, The Prunes released a mini album Tracks From The Darkside, which included seven tracks. It came out in the US on New Breed, who had first included The Prunes on their 1994 Fat Jazzy Grooves compilations. New Breed also released another CD using the Tracks From The Darkside name in 1996 with different tracks, as well as a 12" single Tracks From The Darkside, Vol.2.
In the UK, more tracks by The Prunes were included on Mo’ Wax’s Headz 2 compilations in 1996. Headz 2A features Cantona Style, while the vinyl edition of Headz 2B features short intermission tracks across the album created by The Prunes, which don’t feature on the CD. In 1996 they also remixed DJ Krush’s Meiso, which was The Prunes’ final release on Mo’ Wax.
Alongside these releases for New Breed and Mo’ Wax, The Prunes also created new remixes for the Beastie Boys. Following their 1994 remix of Sure Shot, in 1995 they remixed Root Down, followed by Putting Shame In Your Game in 2000, and Pass The Mic for the Beastie Boys Anthology DVD in 2001.
In an interview with Beastiemania, Peder mentioned The Prunes had also remixed the Beastie Boys’ The Negotiation Limerick File but it wasn’t released. He revealed there were other unreleased remixes too, including for DJ Hurricane’s Elbow Room which they unfortunately don’t have a copy of any more:
“Usually when we did remixes for the Beastie Boys we gave them 2 or 3 different ones to choose from. I think we gave them 3 “Putting Shame In Your Game” remixes… I think we did 2 or 3 versions [of DJ Hurricane’s Elbow Room]… If anyone out there has the remixes please hit me up…”
Collaborations with the Beastie Boys extended to their label Grand Royal, run by Beastie Boys’ Mike D, and in 2000 The Prunes released a 12" on the label featuring Freestyle of the hip hop collective the Arsonists.
The Prunes’ Blow Up Factor Vol.4, part of Grand Royal’s Blow Up Factor series, became one of the labels final releases before they announced they would be shutting down in late 2001.
The Prunes had discussed releasing an album on Grand Royal, with the group explaining it would combine rap, singing, and instrumentals. But unfortunately it didn’t happen.
Grand Royal’s final release was The Latch Brothers’ soundtrack to the videogame Jet Set Radio Future. It featured The Prunes’ Rockin’ The Mic remixed by The Latch Brothers, a group featuring Mike D, Wag (Chris Wagner), and Tick (Kenny Salcido), the later who had also interviewed The Prunes for Grand Royal’s website.
Aside from the seven-track mini album Tracks From The Darkside, The Prunes still haven’t released an album. Instead in 2005 a compilation Odd Jobs — A Decade Of Work (94–04) was released in Japan, and later in 2006 Peder mentioned plans for another compilation featuring unreleased remixes and other tracks, but said it was on hold. Instead the trio have remained busy with other projects.
Alongside their time in The Prunes, Simon and Peder collaborated on the comedy radio program Gramse Spektrum, which ran from 1996–1998, and appeared on TV from 1997–1998. They released one Greatest Hits album in 1998 which sold over 50,000 copies.
Then, around the time of their Grand Royal release, Simon and Christian were studying Political Science and working at the Danish Parliament, while Peder was working on his Pelding musical project.
Pelding, featuring Jonas Engberg, Thor Sørensen, and Peder, formed in 1998 and released their debut single The Skunk that year. Muzik gave it 6/10, and JazzTimes likened it to DJ Krush and Tricky. They released a self titled album in 2001 on DJ Vadim’s Jazz Fudge label, and a second album Spine with Joy Morgan in 2005 on Peder’s own label Lizard Shakedown Records.
Peder released his debut solo album And He Just Pointed To The Sky… on Ubiquity in 2007, and more recently has been working with Asger Baden. They released a collaborative album Furcula Episode 1 on Lizard Shakedown in 2017.
Both Simon and Peder also collaborated with Anders Brixen Kristiansen for the hip hop group Xtra Naan. Their most recent album was released in 2018.
More recently, Simon has focused on writing and directing TV commercials and music videos, and has directed videos for Peder and Xtra Naan through his production company Honeytrap, which he cofounded with Malene Dyhring.
Outside of music, in 2021 Simon acted in the Danish series Hvor ligger Løkken, while Peder also appeared in several series and has been acting frequently since the early 2000s.
While Simon and Peder have continued to work within the music scene, Christian changed careers. Between 1998–2000 he was Chief Editor at Danish music magazine F100, and during the early 2000s DJed as DJ Arne. After studying and working within politics with Simon, Christian now works as Sales Manager / Advisor for Dekode, a WordPress specialist based in Norway.
