Location: Just outside a hotel room in the Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage. Wanda, the very beautiful female member of Raze, opens the door and greets me with a warm and glowing smile. This is going to be interesting, methinks, "Oh we'll be out in two minutes."


Location: Just outside a hotel room in the Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage. Wanda, the very beautiful female member of Raze, opens the door and greets me with a warm and glowing smile. This is going to be interesting, methinks, "Oh we'll be out in two minutes."

"In 1978 I (Vaughan Mason) was working in a record shop but was in a big rut. So I borrowed 7,000 dollars from friends and my first recording, 'Bounce Rock Skate Roll', was done within a few days. I made 10 acetates which got a lot of record company interest and it was soon a hit. I got to the stage where I was opening up for Prince and Rick James . . . and Slave even opened up for me.

"Then I signed to Salsoul and released records like "Party On The Corner" but it wasn't a very fulfilling period because Salsoul weren't into pushing a record like Champion have been with "Jack The Groove".

Throughout this period, Ben Epps was in my band. We've known each other since 1970 so, with such an association, it was only natural when it came to setting up the record company that I asked Ben to join me."

Ben is the only member not present at the interview (he's out buying a kilt!). Prior to working with Vaughan, Ben's claim to fame was going out with Debbie Allen (the teacher in 'Fame') for a number of years and also touring the US with the play 'A Soldier's Story' which went on to become an Oscar nominated film. Back to Vaughan and the story of Raze.

"Last August, I went into a club in New Jersey called "Passions" which has a very petite dancefloor. Wanda was dancing by herself ? she dances like in Flashdance and can do all the moves ? splits, kicks, flips, spinning and all that.

"What got me was that not only were the men watching the totally blank look on my face prompts her to clarify the situation. "You are the cleaner, aren't you?" "Em, well, no actually. I'm from Blues & Soul. I rang from the hotel lobby about S minutes ago" (no response). "You know" I splutter, "the interview . ..?"

Rapid introductions are required to avoid the brush and broom but, as far as Raze are concerned, no introductions are needed with the pop charts as "Jack The Groove" sits healthily in the top 20, making it one of the most unlikely crossover hits in the last 12 months.

Raze as a group were born last summer as a result of the formation of Grove Street Records by the 2 founder members of Raze, Vaughan Mason and Ben Epps. Mason is a cult late 70's her for the obvious reasons since she's such a beautiful woman but so were all the women ? they really admired her dancing. I knew right then that if she could sing then she was star potential. And by God, can she sing!!"

Prior to being plucked from the dancefloor, Wanda was a dental assistant who finished 4th in the New Jersey Female Bodybuilding Championships (and what a body! ? sexist scribe). As well as mistaking B&S writers for cleaners, she's also undertaking a one-woman campaign on behalf of Martian green sunglasses ("it'll be all the rage this summer, just you see.")

For the past few years, Vaughan has been teaching recording techniques and it was two of his students who came up with "Jack The Groove" as part of the course work. "It worked so well that we made it the first release on our label. It was working well underground when Champion picked up on it and really pushed it," enthuses Vaughan.

Having lost its impetus, Champion followed "Jack The Groove" up with "Let The Music Move U" but unexpectedly "Jack" crossed into the pop charts and the follow-up has been held back . . . but that hasn't stopped the group's plans. Already the third single "Caught U Cheating" is in the can and another single under a different name is planned for March release.

"Obviously Champion don't want more Raze product flooding the market but we've got such a lot of material that we'll use the name E.O. Crew as well."

A tour may well be in the offing as well. A few days ago they were on Top Of The Pops and were very pleased with the performance. "We're a visual act ? we move and dance like nobody else and just wait till you see the videos of the singles! So when we come to tour, it'll be some show!," promises Wanda.
RAZE will not be confining themselves to House influence, although future releases by them and others on their label will be uptempo with leanings towards Euro-beat and other less obvious influences ("Have you heard 'Touch Me' by Samantha Fox ? I really like that!" exclaims Vaughan.)
Vaughan: "These past few months have been very lucrative ... I love the business side as much as the music side."

Wanda nods her head. "Yes, he's very good at making money . . . but I'm just as good at spending it!" (AK B&S).