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RAVE FLYERS
uk rave flyers started in late 1987 or early 1988, about the time when computer software such as Photoshop
became available on PCs and Macs for use with scanners - this allowed great eclecticism, with images from a wide variety of
historical cultural commercial geographical & artistic sources - the style and content of the classic early 90's flyers
sometimes reflected the psychedelic art of late 60s (eg the idealism and the spiritual elements) but they rapidly developed
a bold and beautiful style of their own, as well as incorporating s/f stuff (UFOs aliens etc), fractal designs, contemporary
comix styles, and overt drug references (smileys, mushshrooms, and lots of "E"s)
flyers for regular club evenings (rather
than big one-off events) were often humourous satirical or controversial, with caricatures of contemporary media personalities,
politicians, sporting idols etc - different clubs fostered different styles of music, each with their associated flyer styles
(trance, techno, hip hop, garage...) - increasing commercialisation of the dance scene resulted in greater use of pinups &
soft porn to attract attention - dance music is now a major part of mainstream entertainment and many flyers are used as much
to sell CDs and clothing as to publicise events
some of the more collectable UK flyers are Amnesia House, Biology,
Dreamscape, Eclipse, Energy, Fantazia, Genesis, Jungle Fever, Hacienda, Helter Skelter, Perception, Quest, Raindance, Spectrum,
Sterns, Sunrise, Time, Universe, World Dance
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CARL COX
The 'Summer Of Love' was special for me in more ways than one. It was at the sunrise rave on the outskirts
of London in 1988 that I had had my biggest breakthrough yet. I was already something of a regular on the infamous M1/Orbital
rave circuit but it was at Sunrise that I had the idea to hook up a third deck. At 10.30am on a hazy Sunday morning
I managed to tempt 15,000 partied out ravers back onto their weary feet and kick the party back into action - it was an amazing
experience- and since then my phone has not stopped ringing with offers for 'The 3 Deck Wizard'. I was fortunate enough to
participate in many of the events that have gone down in history as defining moments in the history of UK club culture, such
as playing the opening night at Rampling's legendary Shoom, running The Project with Oakie as well as holding a residency
at Brighton's ZAP club.
With my reputation as a DJ well and truly secured I was able to turn my attentions towards producing. Initially
signing to Perfecto I had my first hit in 1992 with 'I Want You' and, believe me, no one was more surprised than me when I
found myself performing on Top Of The Pops when my record peaked at number 23 in the UK charts!!
Despite the fact that
the follow up 'Does It Feel Good To You' also charted in the top 40, commercial success was never what I had been aiming for,
it was all somewhat too far removed from the reality and buzz of setting a dance floor alight. Whilst fellow spinners such
as Grooverider and Fabio moved from raves into Jungle, choosing to focus on a very UK and London orientated sound,
I couldn't escape the American and European influences that had always been there whilst I was growing up. I have always been
very globally minded which comes across in my choice of music, which I use to cross physical and cultural boundaries to bring
people together. Essentially my heart lies with house and techno and it was for this reason that I chose to take a back seat
from my impending career as a pop star and be true to myself by going underground and re-discovering my roots.
I started by setting up my first imprint, MMR, for Techno productions. I found that my popularity as a DJ
gave me an opportunity to take techno to the masses and my first album FACT (Future Alliance of Communication and Technology)
has to this day sold 250,000 copies. I spent 5 years under my own Ultimate Music Management which spawned club nights and
tours alike and set up the forward-looking Worldwide Ultimatum to encourage the creative talents of more DJ's such as Josh
Abraham's, Trevor Rockcliffe, Earl Gray and DJ Dan. In 1996 Nicky Holloway approached me to start a new night based on the
style of music I was playing at the time and Ultimate Base was born at Velvet Underground along with the help of Jim Masters.
Over the last 5 years Ultimate Base has showcased some of the world's finest techno DJ's, steered by a futuristic ideal, which
very much reflects my own way of thinking.
The last several years have been absolutely mind blowing. In between jet-setting between gigs as far a field
as South Africa, Israel, Tasmania and Asia I kick-started my acting career in the classic UK clubbing film 'Human Traffic'
and somewhere along the way I found time to start new labels Ultimatum Breaks and Intec to focus on providing quality purist
house and techno. I have regularly contributed Essential mixes for Radio One and I followed up the success of FACT (1&2)
with several more mix albums including 'Phuture 2000'. My career has been marked by a number of awards - I was awarded IDA
'DJ Of The Year' 2 years in a row, Muzik named me as the Best British DJ and I've had more honours from NME, Dancestar and
countless other organisations all over the world.
Out of so many highs it is difficult to pin-point the peak for me - it is a close call between The Love Parade
and the dawn of the millennium. Playing for a crowd of 1,500,00 up-for-it clubbers in Berlin was the ultimate DJing experience
in terms of seeing how wide reaching music can be but then being lucky enough to see in the millennium not once but twice
- first on Bondi pavilion, then hopping on a jet over the timeline to Honolulu, Hawaii, was also pretty special". by Carl
Cox
More recently DJ Carl Cox has given up my residency at Base in order to concentrate on spreading himself even
further a field. But don't worry, in between producing, writing, remixing, presenting, TV appearances, managing, not forgetting
DJing he will still be making regular appearances at Base and hanging with the very people who got him where he am today.
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COLIN DALE
Colin Dale began DJing at the age of 18 and is one of the most popular underground Djs on
the Techno/Hard Dance scene. A year later he was working on a regular basis as a warm up Dj for Tim Westwood at Gossips and
Heaven, as well as working fulltime at various record shops that specialized in Techno. In 1986 Colin Joined Kiss FM as a
pirate radio DJ, where he helped create the original and unique sound of 'Abstract Dance'. In 1991 his show, boasting over
50,000 listeners each week, was voted 'Best Specialist Show'.
Colin helped launch Knowledge at the WW1 Club in Victoria, London on Wednesday nights (where until recently
he was resident) with Colin Faver and Jane Howard of Serious Business. It quickly became one of London's biggest mid-week
clubs dedicated to the 'Abstract Sound'. e has been able to take his sound worldwide to San Francisco, New York, Washington,
Japan and Toronto. He has toured with Jesus Jones and travelled extensively throughout Europe, especially Germany.
His releases on vinyl to date range from various experimental tracks on independent labels and the Kowtow
track on the Djs Take Control Album (Perfecto Records). Future projects include remixes for Spiral Tribe, production work
on Novamute and his new Techno label Abstract Dance. Colin is extremely dedicated to his career and will work anywhere, and
at anytime if possible. In his free time he likes to relax.
If the world of banking were more interesting, we may never have heard of Colin Dale. But luckily he wasn't
cut out for filing and adding up.
Colin was born in Camberwell, South London, on the 14th April 1963. Tulse Hill Comprehensive
School provided the career advice that led to two wasted years at Barclay's, but the lure of the West End's fashion shops
was too great. After a while, he moved to record shops, during which time he joined the dance group that included Fabio, who
used to dance for Tim Westwood.
It was from this unlikely start that his DJing career took off.
"Steve Walsh didn't
turn up at Gossip that night and Tim asked me to do his spot, and it just started from there. I remember thinking and being
amazed that I could make such and such amounts of money for spinning records, really enjoy it, and it wasn't hard work or
getting my hands dirty.
"Then how I got into House - which I'd say started worldwide around 1986 in Chicago with the early
Jack tracks and things like that - that was through places like Shoom and Spectrum that really started it. I must say that
one of my biggest influences House music wise, when I was still into the Rare Groove, was Colin Faver. Colin, I think, was
one of the first people I heard play House music. It was when I went down to Shoom on the first night that done it, that was
it, it just blew me away, loads of dry ice, flashing lights, and a really good vibe. I just dropped the Rare Groove that night,
finished with it, didn't want to play it any more. All that in one night.
My style of music at the moment is Techno but
not straight Techno, it's quite hard, very alternative and uncompromising. But in the past I've played like classic House
Chicago music, through to Detroit Techno, and I think the Detroit Techno has been my real Love right through to the present
day."
The best nights I have been to must have been Universe , the Tribal Gathering. The night was perfect, there was nothing
wrong, thirty thousand people and no trouble. Everything that was on the flyer was there, and more. Top class DJs, good sounds,
it was just all there. I think the thing I liked most about that was that there was six tents and all the six tents were kicking
and had a really good atmosphere."
____________________________________________________
COLIN FAVOR
When the acid
house scene exploded in London, Colin became involved with many new one nighters including THE SHOOM CLUB, HEDONISM, ENTER
THE DRAGON and RIP. He also took up weekly residencies at THE ASYLUM and PYRAMID, two very popular nights in HEAVEN (London’s
largest gay club). Alongside Eddie Richards he started his own weekly night at the WAG club in Wardour Street. On Tuesdays
Colin jetted off to Paris to play a residency at THE REX CLUB.
In the late 80’s, early 90’s Colin Favor began to spin music all over the UK. He was heard frequently
at the HACIENDA in Manchester, THE WAREHOUSE in Doncaster, STERNS in Worthing and THE ORBIT in Leeds. He also
played at the huge rave events: RAINDANCE , SUNRISE , ENERGY , BACK TO THE FUTURE and BIOLOGY . Back in London he was one
of the resident djs at RAGE in HEAVEN, when the breakbeat scene really took off. Colin began to spend much of his time globe
trotting around the world, playing regularly in Europe and further a field to Japan, Australia, USA and Canada.
Next came the legendary "KNOWLEDGE", co-promoted by Colin Favor, Jane Howard and long time DJ colleague Colin
Dale . It was there that many of the now world famous DJ’s first got to spin in the UK, including SVEN VATH, FRANKIE
BONES, JOEY BELTRAM and RICHIE HAWTIN. The club gained worldwide recognition in the techno scene and one-off KNOWLEDGE night
were held at many clubs throughout the UK. Colin has also played at many of the best techno events and clubs around the world:
MAYDAY, LOVE PARADE, TRESOR and E-WERKS (Berlin), TUNNEL and UNIT (Hamburg), THE OMEN & DORIAN GRAY (Frankfurt), ULTRASCHALL
(Munich), THE FUSE and HELLRAISER (Belgium), STREET PARADE (Zurich), TWILO (New York), DESTINY (Toronto), ARRIVAL FESTIVAL
(Montreal) and the debut of Tribal Gathering in the UK.
In 1993 alongside Colin Dale he teamed up with Brenda Russell to start a new night called DEEPSPACE. This
ran for 9 months as a weekly Friday event at The Paddocks (now Leisure Lounge) in Holborn, London. In ‘95 DEEP SPACE
was relaunched as a monthly Saturday night party at THE END nightclub. This lead to SUBMERGE, a weekly night on Wednesdays
at the legendary Gossips nightclub in London’s Soho.
He has also made regular guest appearances, at LOST, EUROBEAT 2000, SEX LOVE AND MOTION,ANALOGUE CITY and
ULTIMATE BASE in London. Also ATOMIC JAM (Birmingham), OUTERLIMITS (Bournemouth), GUESHKY (Portsmouth) and the LAKOTA (Bristol).
His radio work began with a weekly Sunday show at Moorfields Eye Hospital in the 70’s, which he gave
up after he began to play too many Sex Pistols tracks instead of the Andy Williams songs the patients had actually requested!
He was later to be one of the founder members of pirate station KISS FM, which applied and gained legal status in September
1990. Colin presented many different shows on the station, including his weekly techno show which was on the air every Tuesday
night until June 1997. On this show he featured cutting edge techno music and interviewed many international artists/ DJ’s:
DERRICK MAY, KRAFTWERK, JUAN ATKINS, KEVIN SAUDERSON, JOEY BELTRAM, DAMON WILD, IAN POOLEY, APHEX TWIN, HARDFLOOR, KELLI HAND,
LAWRENCE BURDEN and CARI LEKEBUSCH just to name a few.
He has also presented music on GAIA LIVE and performed live mixes from THE GLOBAL CAFE, on the internet. Plus
one-of shows on FESTIVAL RADIO in Brighton and Edinburgh. His mixes have also been heard on Euronet Weekend Rave which was
broadcast to the whole of Europe via satellite, RADIO1, KISSFM in Berlin and NOVA in Paris.
The RABBIT CITY record label was co-founded by Colin and Gordan Matthewman in 1991. The first release was
their own production under the alias of Razor Boy and Mirror Man. Many more releases followed including early work by the
APHEX TWIN, Spiral Tribe and FORCE MASS MOTION, who had sent demo tapes to Colin’s radio show. He has also been
involved with production work for MUTE Records and remixes for FORTRAN FIVE, S-EXPRESS and BABY FORD.
Colin Favor was asked to mix one of the TRANCE CENTRAL cds for the KICKIN Label and in ‘96 he compiled
and mixed the first in the TECHMIX series on the same label. In 1997 he compiled and mixed the CREATIVE TECHNO cd for the
CLUB MASTERS series.
Recently he has compiled and mixed the second in the series of REWIND THE CLASSICS cds for UNDERCOVER MUSIC.
Featuring tracks from UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE, JEFF MILLS, LUKE SLATER and many of the other artists from the KNOWLEDGE era
of 92-93.
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DREAM FREQENCY
Whilst listening to the Gary Hickson show he heard him asking for acts to send in tapes,
this was around the time XL Recordings were setting up. He sent in his tape and was surprised when the radio station actually
phoned back. Ian had been to a Rave called ‘Live the Dream’, which was the second local outdoor event, just when
the scene was kicking off. He returned home, started to mess around, and made the track ‘Live The Dream’. The
second track released was ‘Love, Peace and Harmony’ which was totally different, more of a Soul track.
This
was when they saw the potential to cross over, it gave them inspiration for the album, which they called ‘One Nation’.
The album didn’t do brilliantly, but they know now how difficult it is to launch an album. Debbie was brought in on
a session and they did 4 tracks, at one stage she sang ‘Feel So Real’, which the record company loved. Ian then
did a re-mix of it which had the ‘Feel So Real’ chorus. Next was ‘Take Me’, which was the last thing
they did for about 18 months. But why was there such a break when they were doing so well?
"One Nation was recorded and there was a re-mix of ‘2 Bad Mice’, which was a waste of money on
a real terrible re-mix. We gave them ‘Free My Mind’, and they cut another 1000 white labels, and after 7 months
of PA’ing they pulled it, and melted all the records, it should really have come out!
Then nothing much really happened, until the Madonna thing came up. I was writing loads of tracks and Madonna
has got a label called Maverick, totally out of the blue they said they wanted to sign ‘Take Me’, this went on
from about March to July. It was hard to believe this was happening, I’m just a normal guy from a small town near Preston.
But there was a few samples on the record, and the Americans are totally paranoid about samples, so that was a spanner in
the works".
Mean while Debbie had decided she had done enough with Dream Frequency and now wanted a life in America, Ian
was left to find a new singer. However Ian approached Debbie to ask if she would be interested in returning to England for
the possibility of signing to Madonna’s label, she said she would come back.
Ian met her at the airport, only to find, she was pregnant, a totally surprising occurrence that Madonna just
couldn’t handle, so this was the final nail in the coffin really. Ian still wanted Debbie to stay, so she stayed and
continued to gig right up to 1 week before the baby was dropped. She’s a real veteran, and after the baby she was back
on the road, an amazing 2 weeks after. Due to the fact Ian now thinks Maverick is nothing but a stiff label, he is pleased
nothing every came of it.
Already they had come along way, since the first PA at Park Hall near Preston and onto their 4th gig in front
of 10,000 at Energy Docklands with Adamski, Black Box etc. Apart from the Shamen, Dream Frequency were one of the first to
be seen in Australia. At the beginning of last year they played 9 gigs in the 4 weeks they were there. Perth, Melbourne, Sydney
and counting in the New Year in Adelaide, Ian tells us this was a night with an unbelievable atmosphere. They were supposed
to be playing two gigs that night, and there was a private jet laid on to fly them to Melbourne, and 2nd gig was cancelled,
but to their amazement the jet was still laid on.
Just one of the countries they have been lucky enough to visit, Japan was another experience, booked for 5
of them to go and play a 3 minute set. They played at, Tokyo’s first Rave, for 50,000 people.
"Really cheesy Techno, with girls wearing G strings doing a wiggle to Techno, unbelievable, because there
is more men than women all the girls go out looking for a man! The rave was Free, the record company sold 70,000 albums with
which you received a free ticket, it’s all compilation albums out there, on CD, no singles".
You managed to appear on Top Of The Pops, how did you get on that?
"Feel So Real’ went in at 29, and when it went to 24 this encouraged a phone from our record company.
We had been down South, and were travelling back, listening to the charts. When they got to 25 we thought we were out, but
then 24, what a buzz’.
Did you not worry about your reputation with going on Top Of The Pops?
"At that time it didn’t really matter, Love Decade had been on a few weeks before, it was inevitable
really, you can still be cred and do Top Of The Pops, at the end of the day we were still going out and doing PA’s on
the underground, it was only on TV because a lot of people like the track".
And that is what is so important about Dream Frequency, well aware of their roots. Because Ian is such a prolific
writer, a PA you get one month will be totally different to the next. It’s always a full show, very visual, and as Ian
says "Putting something back into the scene".
Not just miming with a keyboard, giving a full performance. There is a lot of new ideas for visuals and alike,
but at the moment it’s just not practical, Dream Frequency hire a minibus to get to the gigs, and there just isn’t
room for any more equipment. But what does Ian get from doing all this?
"The best buzz for me is someone coming up at the end of a set and saying "That was wicked". That’s
the best thing, when you know people appreciate your work, just one comment like that makes your whole week worthwhile. The
PA’s are a good indication also as to whether a track will go down well, some new tunes get tried once and binned, it’s
all a good indication of whether a track will work".
But has breaking tracks into charts made Dream Frequency different people?
"Definitely not! I’ve always been the most down to earth person. Knackered after a gig, but I still
have time to talk to people. I can not stand people with attitudes, that’s not what it’s all about. At the end
of the day you need your friends, else you have nothing".
Down to earth, Ian is that! The same attitude as back in ’89, when he visited London and bought a smiley
face T. Shirt that he took back home and everyone admired. Religiously turning into Stu Allen, who he now admits would have
helped inspire his writing, and full respect must go to him.
Although Ian doesn’t DJ, he has give it a try. About 2 months ago, around Rob Tissirra’s, but
he admits he was pretty crap. He had a rough idea of what to do, but had to be explained the basics, hard to believe one of
the countries top music makers can’t DJ, but there’s no problem when it comes to keyboards and computers.
So what have you released recently?
"The label wanted the track ‘So Sweet’ released, which was more of a Garage track. Unfortunately
it was released late, due to stock taking, and a delay in printing the centre labels, everything was put back. Out of 18 months
there was only one record out, not because I wasn’t writing but as you can see it was disaster after disaster. I’ve
always been writing loads of stuff and doing PA’s all the way through".
So which is your favourite PA?
"Ossett, Rezerection outdoor event, last year. Tokyo for 50,000 is the biggest and one of the best".
Ian still goes partying, and his favourite club is the Orbit at Morley. He tells us he is always against clubs
that you find the people are more worried about what they wear, rather than the music.
"It’s about every race and creed coming together, and enjoying themselves, I’d rather be amongst
1,500 sweaty Ravers than 1,500 poser!"
The money they earn from PA’s is good, but as they explained there is a lot of expenses. Dancers must
be paid, the singer, van and petrol, not forgetting you get a full visual show. It’s not just easy work. 100% writing
every day, on the keyboards, solid bookings for gigs for 4 months. You always get value for money, but why does Ian think
they have become so popular?
"Well, I don’t know if I have, but if there is popularity there I would like to think its because I
give 100% into my music. I’m honest to the scene, I’m not faking anything. If only one person comes up and says
we were wicked, that has made my week worthwhile".
Why has Dream Frequency gone the direction in music it has gone?
"On the last one it was a combination of the record company and the way the scene was going in the middle
of the year, Dream Frequency have not gone totally Garage. The B side was more Trancey Hard House but we haven’t even
PA’d ‘So Sweet’. The next release, ‘The Good Times’, is more what you expect Dream Frequency
to be like two years down the line, out on white label in February and due to be released around March".
What are your plans for the future?
"I just want Dream Frequency to keep banging out pumping tracks that take you somewhere, if I’m going
to do some of the Trance stuff I like I might do it under an alias so people don’t get confused".
1992 was a good year for Dream Frequency. 1993 was pretty crap - 1994 had loads of hope and already shows
loads of promise. Ian is very optimistic about the scene as a whole, and hopes things will come back together. If there is
anything wrong with the scene he feels there could be more variation in one night, playing a bit of everything and giving
people a really good night. That’s the sort of thing he has been doing with Dream Frequency, because of his wide taste
in music, and although he hasn’t realised a lot of records recently you now know it wasn’t really his fault!
If he does make a track he always tries to make it so you’ll remember it, playing to the hands in the
air crowd. It’s not selling out but you have to have a track on your EP that’s got wider appeal. "Feel So Real"
and "Take Me" were not commercial tunes when they first came out, they simply became commercial.
______________________________________________________
N-JOI interview
We had set our sights a long time ago on one day interviewing N-Joi and to be honest
we didn’t think we’d pull it off. That was until we met up with the main men Mark Franklin and Nigel Champion,
to discuss how they have managed to fight their way to the top and to ask if they really have sold out to commerciality as
many people think. Read on and believe…
N-joi were the first band to play the circuit taking keyboards and equipment on the road and offering a professional
performance, people like The Prodigy would come and watch them, perhaps searching for inspiration. We asked Mark how they
first met up and got N-joi started. Well, we met up at school and became good mates, we used to have music lessons together.
At parties we’d always play the piano or entertain by playing the guitar or just messing around. People always said
we should get a band together and when we left school we met up and talked. When we had some spare cash we bought ourselves
the equipment. At first we didn’t know what the hell we were doing with it, but after around six months we had some
music we’d done. This was around 1988 when Adamski was round performing at clubs, so we got a small act together and
started playing at local clubs. Then we started to get a big interest in the music we were making, we managed to find the
right people to help us, got into a studio and put out music from a state of mind. Our first 6 track. This and our other music
started to generate interest from bigger labels, we were spotted by Deconstruction at the Astoria. They came up with the best
deal so we signed up with them.
Nigel took up the story on their first P.A. We did a party in the East End and got a really good reaction,
then moved on to doing local clubs. The first large event we did was the first World Dance, it was August 1989 and had acts
like KLF, Adamski and The Easy Posse. We played there and it was real fuck up, it all went wrong. After this it was a case
of giving up or come back with something better. Adamski blew us away which was real influence to us. For a while we laid
low and did our homework got our sound together and came back in a big way. We got a big break at the Dioramma in London,
a selective party with people like Fabio, Mr C, Eddie Richards, Mark Moore and Karl Craig from Detroit. We played well, the
word spread and we started to get bookings all over the country. The rest is history.
How would you describe your music when you first started out?
Purely House and Techno, which is what was
being played back in 89. It was a really good year to get started, there was a wide spread choice of music, which catered
for all the people, you had all the people enjoying the same kind of music in one room.
When you made Anthem, were you not worried that you would not be able to follow it up with something as good?
No,
not really, we do not think about what is going to happen afterwards. We think, people will like this, lets put it out and
worry about it afterwards. Our main inspiration was playing live, we used to know the people will love this and we would get
a real adrenaline rush. The thing about Anthem was, yeh, it was a good track but we didn’t try and put another similar
track out afterwards which a lot of other artists have done and still do.
Who influenced you musically?
It was the DJ’s really, not the artists. Its basically the tunes, you
find that with a lot of the dance acts today you get one good tune out of them and then you don’t really hear from them
again whereas the DJ’s just get really good tunes.
Did you find it hard to get bookings when you first started out?
Initially people did not know what we
were all about so we had to commit ourselves to a smaller fee, but one the word spread we were the only band on the circuit.
Do you do a different set every time?
Well not a different set every time, but if you saw us every week,
you would notice a little change, but if you only saw us once every couple of months I think you would notice it had changed
a lot. What we would really like to do is to play two sets, you cannot have a house track play at Awol, the scene is so segregated
now. The same as when we get booked for House clubs you find that there might be some breakbeat in the set and it is not going
down well, to the house people Breakbeat is ‘uncool’. Now we do want two sets. It is a shame that people are no
longer open minded, so that they would enjoy the whole set, but our main aim is to cater for what people want, and at the
same time please ourselves.
When you work on new material do you follow the trends, or do you stick to your own ideas?
Well the scene
changes so much, so rapidly you don’t want to be playing old material which is dated. You want to come up with something
that is really different and that is the best thing to come up with but you cannot do that all the time, so basically you
have to keep up with the time and what you feel happy with at the moment.
When you are making music do you make it for yourselves to perform it or for the DJ’s to play?
Both,
when it comes to vinyl you have to make something that mixes in well with the music that they have already got, but that also
works that way for our own set.
What are your views on the music in the present day scene?
A lot of the Jungle stuff is moving forward
and we like to listen to DJ’s like Fabio, Doc Scott and Grooverider.
How much time do you spend on making music?
Most of the time really, it is a 24hr job, especially if you
have got deadlines to meet, plus you have a set or a show and you want to put some new stuff in there. But it is a job and
also a hobby, and we are always trying to better ourselves, everything we try to do is original, we have always written our
own lines.
Has it been easier getting your music accepted commercially?
Well that record has been out a while and
we were going to back it up with another track, about a month later. We didn’t expect it to go into the charts, but
it proves there are a lot of people our there that are interested in it, we didn’t do any PR work on it at all. So basically
the track got there by itself, commercially it wasn’t really a problem.
Do you plan your music so that it is going to be accepted commercially or for the underground?
The ideal
thing is to write tunes that will get into the charts because they are good tunes. There is some good House music around at
the moment and we were planning to venture back into some House stuff, we do like Breakbeat as well but obviously if you can
come up with a good House tune it will be more accessible to play on the radio, but we would not go out and write anything
deliberately for that reason. We like a tune that has got a good kick to it, we will not put a load of vocals over some good
music just for the reason for getting on Top Of The Pops.
Do the record company mind you doing that?
We went to them and said we wanted to do more House music, they
were pleased because it worked well with their plans to concentrate on House music as Jungle was becoming such a specialist
market. But if you get accepted by all those people for your House music and then you started to introduce Jungle, and you
had got a big following, people might go with it, and you could be entertaining to a big mass. Well tend to do that anyway
we have Jungle on the same track so yeh, they would be exposed to it, but hopefully they will like it for what it is, but
it is difficult. Some of the House people get offended if you involve the Jungle, but yeh, it would be good if you could break
some of the Jungle in.
What would you say to people that say you are too much of a commercial band?
If we were commercial we would
just bang out tune after tune and not worry about the quality of what we were doing. We have been in the charts three times
before with Anthem, Adrenalin and Live In Manchester and then we didn’t put anything out for a year, the scene was getting
a bit mixed up. We were writing things that we were not really happy with, after being in the charts three times we had quite
a following so could have put stuff out for the sake of it. Take the track that has just come out if we wanted to be commercial
we would have given it a lot of hype and publicity, but we didn’t do any at all. Fortunately for us a lot of people
out there bought it and that meant we had to play it in commercial places like Top Of The Pops. It would be silly to refuse
to play in front of 8 million people, we went on just after 808 with Cubic, we came on with Adrenalin, which was quite a powerful
tune, and it was the hardest record they have every had on TV. It just came across as being a total fuck off thing to be on
Top Of The Pops, people were left with their jaws down, it was a really good thing to do it was like an education to the nation.
What are your views on sampling, and what do you think about people sampling your material?
If it wasn’t
for sampling Jungle wouldn’t be where it is today, the Jungle scene thrives on sampling. With Jungle people are being
quite clever with their sampling unlike with House, it is the clever samplist that is taking the Jungle music further, they
twist and stretch it. It’s when people take a whole section from another record and put it on their own record, then
expose that, people are sampling tunes from 1989, for example a whole piano piece, the kids that are about today assume that’s
an original track, when it could have been written 4 years ago by a guy in New York. Kids at 16 didn’t buy records at
12. That’s when it gets exposed but the Jungle scene at the moment people only shift 1000 to 2000 records.
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K-KLASS interview
An interview with band members Paul Roberts and Russell Morgan, unfortunately the other
two band members Carl Thomas and Andrew Williams were too busy recording next door.
The group have been around for a long time, longer than most are aware, they first got together around 1988,
so what do they think has kept them going for so long?
“We seem to have lasted longer than most, when we started you could count the number of British groups
doing what we were doing, on one hand: 808 State, Gerald and Adamski, everyone else seemed to fade out. For us making the
music has been secondary to going out and loving the music, it’s important to go out and know what makes people dance”.
The members of the band never made a conscious effort to become a band, Paul and Russ are from Chester, Carl
and Andy are from Wrexham, traditionally these 2 areas don’t mix. Before K-Klass was formed, Paul lost his job with
British Telecom and spent the last of his money on a drum machine, with a small amount of equipment that Russ had they started
to play music. One night they went to the Hacienda in Manchester where they met Carl and Andy, who they discovered were also
playing music, after the Hacienda into the early hours, and over the next 3 weeks they recorded 4 tracks which they took along
to Eastern Block, Manchester for an opinion. They were told they were brilliant, Eastern Bloc wanted to put them out. The
group were shocked, they didn’t even have a name for the band, let alone the tracks.
Shortly after this they released ‘The Wild Life EP’, this was more techno compared to the music
they are known for releasing today, so why did they make such a change?
“To me Techno is Detroit, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, so the word Techno to me has gone really
really wrong. Now the true meaning of the word Techno has been picked up and there are some really good Techno tracks coming
out.
At first we were influenced by Techno, you could here it in our music, we didn’t use piano and vocals
back then because we were a new band, we had little experience and it is much harder to do, getting chords etc. none of us
were musicians before. Everything was trial and error, we are only just starting to feel our way through it now”.
The band have come along way since then, they have had chart success, appeared on Top Of The Pops and live
on Radio One. Although they seem to have been influenced by the underground clubs they also seem very commercial, but do they
make their music for the commercial market?
“We make our tunes how WE like them, if we wouldn’t buy the tune or dance to it in a club, we’d
sack it! We make a record that we feel would be the next track we would like to come on if we were on a dance floor on a Saturday
night. They do turn out fairly commercial because we like to write songs, if you listen to the rhythms and drums underneath
then it goes a bit deeper than that. The dubs that we make are more an underground nature, you can bang them together in four
hours, a lot easier to do. To write a song takes a lot longer”.
So what are their plans now, 3 weeks before Christmas they released their album, a difficult time to release
as it didn’t really get the shelf space it deserved amongst the Christmas specials, Elton John and alike, even so it
did well, selling around 30,000 copies.
Still they feel it deserves more credit and so they plan to release it again on 23rd May, but with new mixed
by various well known names. These include à T-Empo mix of ‘Rhythm is a Mystery’, an Evolution Klub mix of ‘Don’t
Stop’, a Klassic mix of ‘Let Me Show You’ and to top it all off Graeme Park has remixed one of the heaviest
tracks on the album, ‘Underground Express’.
There was a slow track on the album called ‘Show Me Love’, with guest vocalist Jackie Williams,
quite Souly and not typically K-Klass, Sub Sub were due to re-mix this track but had to go on a European tour, this is however
a hook up they are looking for later.
A week before the album comes out expect the release of their next single, ‘What You’re Missing’
an 8 track CD, 4 track vinyl or 2 track Cassette.
“The piano chords in this track are so nice you get pins and needles up your back. I don’t know
why people give us stick for using piano, do people give Dire Straits stick for using guitars?”
K-Klass are continuing to use the piano and vocals they are now well known for, they feel this is what the
crowd want, so this is what they are going to give them. But what else are the band’s musical interests?
“We’re into anything really, all different types of House music, as long as its up and happening.
I went to London, The Gardening Club on Tuesday, DJ’s seem to have their heads so far up their arse down there, playing
monotonous crap. Loads of DJ’s about at the moment are so into themselves, play just what happens to mix well and whatever
they got through the post that week, even if its wank”.
The band live are certainly something to be seen, at an appearance at The Ark in Leeds recently the crowd
went wild. The live PA has just been changed, previously they used a DAT for the backing, drum and bass, but now the whole
set is completely live.
The band feel a classic example of a good club at the moment if Cream in Liverpool, but what do they think
about the scene and music overall?
“I do not agree that the scene is coming to an end, people saying its fragmented, splintered and going
different ways. This is the best year for a long, long time for records, if not ever, its getting better and better. There
are more tracks that have come out in the past 3 months with songs and vocals, playable ones, than in the past 2 years.
We have seen all different forms of House come along, we have been here since the start, it comes and goes
and at the end of the day there will be House music still plodding along, we are buying and playing tunes similar to what
we were when we first started”.
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EASYGROOVE
Easygroove is one of the most popular DJ from the rave days. He played at most of the big
Fantazia gigs and can still be found playing to crowds around the country to this day.
"I'll always remember buying an
Easygroove tape from town in 1992 / '93, it was of a Fantasia New Year bash, I was listening to it on my walkman, the
MC then got the DJ to stop the set and said something like "Are you lot feeling alive !!!" ... "well we are gonna take you
into the new year, It's 12 o'Clock, so let's party !!!" then Easygroove let the record go, it was one of mine, it then got
the rewind, then played again !!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, listening to my tune that was absolutely buzzing
up all the ravers at this massive event, I was in the middle of town with my walkman on, surrounded by a load of null faced
shoppers, I just wanted to broadcast the fact to all these bored shoppers that my tune was getting played at such a big event
at the turn of the new year !!!" Rich E
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