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Archive for the ‘INTERVIEWS’ Category

Click on the picture to watch the trailer

‘No offence is as heinous as unorthodoxy of behaviour. Murder kills only the individual – and after all, what is an individual? We can make a new one with the greatest ease – as many as we like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself.’

Chatting about the absurdities of the war on drugs which sees petty dealers often punished more harshly than murderers the Guardian’s Jennifer Abel quoted from Aldous Huxley’s prophetically dystopian novel Brave New World last week, to ask ‘Is it simply that people who take drugs are seen as misfits?’ (Guardian)

Chatting to Skrufff this week, 90s raver turned documentary film maker Piers Sanderson is not so sure, at least where it concerns the impact of Britain’s acid house revolution of the late 80s (documented superbly in his new film High On Hope.)

“I don’t think acid house did threaten society actually, though it certainly seems unbelievable today that the guys who built the speakers for the parties ended up being imprisoned in Victorian jails for 6 months and that you could be sentenced to ten years for possessing five pills,” he says.

“But it was all brand new. Nobody had seen anything like it before. 10,000 people all on drugs, dancing away in disused warehouses, ignoring police road blocks, over-turning police cars and setting them alight; to the generation in power this level of civil disobedience must have been terrifying.”

“As Tommy says in the film ‘as much as we thought it was the light and the way, the authorities thought it was Judgement day’,” says Piers.

dancing on cars

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Click here to listen to Jonty Skrufff's Gothic Horror Remix of Ghost Machine

“I don’t know what it is about the harder, faster style that grabs my attention more. It just seems more vital and alive somehow. It challenges you and pushes you to some amazing thoughts. The momentum and pulsating nature of music like this just makes me feel more fluid and patterns emerge in life that are otherwise invisible.”

With the likes of Slam, Chris Liberator and Dave Clarke already supporting his debut album ‘the Sinister Sound System’ British upcoming producer Martin Radcliffe’s views on techno carry weight, a point amplified even further recently by Britain’s Sunday Times.

“Dare & Haste’s music is proper techno, I didn’t know they still made it. Lovely,” The Times’ critic declared, “Weird how you can make decent techno now that’s not really any different from how it was in ‘94, and it still sounds bang up to date.”

With most of the album pounding away at a take-no-prisoners decidedly retro tempo of 135 bpm, his music has attracted suggestions he’s no fan of minimal, an assertion Martin’s quick to dispel.

“A review of the album in the Irish Daily Star said it ’sticks two fingers up at all things minimal’ but I wanted my album to be as hard as it is because that’s my personal favourite style as a producer, not because I hate minimal,” he stresses.

“I have even had to stop people from trying to mention me on some of these anti-minimal sites that actually exist. How the fuck can people say they like music if they only like one style? If all you like is hard techno you don’t like music, you like hard techno,” he snorts.

“I have lots of minimal-esque tracks that I have produced. Maybe I’ll put them up on my Myspace and confuse the hell out of people. The truth is I like it all but when I sit down to work the driving factors are usually hard, challenging and uncompromising,” he says.

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Jagz Kooner (photo by Mick Rock) click on the picture for more on Jagz

“I remember going out on Friday nights with Bob and a few other people and not coming home until Monday or Tuesday and I got to the stage where if I knew I was going to go out for the weekend I’d take my passport. Just in case. 90% of the time I’d get home fine, but for a while I just wouldn’t leave home without it.”

Sitting in his Wormwood Scrubs studio sipping tea, legendary dance/ rock producer Jagz Kooger looks remarkably well, particular since the party buddy he’s referring to as Bob is better known as Primal Scream’s hardcore party animal/ singer Bobbie Gillespie.

“Good times? Yeah they were GREAT times,” he laughs, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Starting his 20 year career when he teamed up with Andrew Weatherall to form Sabres of Paradise in the early 90s, the studio whizzkid would go on to produce and remix the likes of Oasis, Kasabian and in particular Primal Scream though not before his mid 90s career hiccup the Aloof.

“We make an album called Sinking, everybody loves it but it sells fuck all,” Jagz admits on his unusually candid official biography posted on Myspace, “We set ourselves on obliteration mode and duly implode (no body loves us).”

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click on the picture to access Tom Tom Club's online portal

“I agree that in America there is a real problem for those artists that are in any way avant-garde. Over here, if you want any commercial success at all, you need to write a song that the postman can sing while he’s making his rounds.”

Taking a break from upgrading his Connecticut studio, Chris Frantz from dance music legends Tom Tom Club admits he agrees with Tommie Sunshine’s recent claim that ‘real’ dance music will never happen in the States.

“Of course, we all know that a great deal of musical innovation has come from dance music. Unfortunately, so many people here in the USA feel no need for innovation at all,” says Chris, “You mustn’t get discouraged by this, though. Don’t be put off by the stupident-sia. You should stick to your guns!” he urges.

Sticking to his guns ever since forming the most critically rated and commercially successful bands of the 70s punk era- Talking Heads- the now 50-something drummer has long focused his energies on Tom Tom Club, the pioneering punk-funk dance group he co-runs with his wife Tina Weymouth. Though Tina equally remains more recognised in the mainstream for her role as Talking Heads’ blonde bombshell bass player, Tom Tom Club’s status in dance culture has long been assured courtesy of their 80s club classics Wordy Rappinghood and Genius Of Love.

Though Wordy Rappinghood is the more likely of the two to pop up on rock and classic radio stations worldwide, it’s Genius Of Love, which has brought them greater presence, having been lucratively sampled by everybody from Grandmaster Flash to Mariah Carey.

“We have never had to sue anyone because our attorney writes one hell of a letter,” Chris chuckles, “And yes, Genius Of Love is one of the most sampled songs ever and yes, Mariah, bless her heart, helped pay for our children’s education.”

Classic track chat aside, he’s talking to Skrufff.com today to promote the new Tom Tom Club remix of Mexican Institute of Sound’s new single Cumbia, their first new material since a two track Xmas record of 2008. Typically uplifting and drenched in tropical disco vibes, the release heralds a new burst of activity for the band, with European festival gigs pencilled in for a summer tour.
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click on the picture for more Riva Starr

“I come from Naples, the city where if a black cat crosses your path, you have to wait for someone else to walk that way first. But I don’t believe in that shit, I’m convinced that you build your own life with your choices, good or bad. Then sometimes fate can help you.”

That London based Italian producer Stefano Miele has taken charge of his destiny is immediately apparent from a cursory glance at his musical CV.  Labouring in relative obscurity for the first seven years (during which he released two albums and thrived for a period in the breaks scene) he found near instant success when he reinvented himself as Riva Starr three years ago, courtesy of the blogs and more importantly via the sheer quality of his music.

Giving away infectiously club friendly electro house stormers (and a few mash-ups along the way) on the blogs he rapidly built up an online fanbase which soon included the likes of uber-hot tastemaker DJs Jesse Rose and Claude Von Stroke, both of whom released his tracks.

“I would say they were both absolutely crucial to my career,” says Stefan, paying tribute to their support.

“I moved to house because of their tunes,” he continues, “I believe they are on top of their game and they really help upcoming prodicers to develop their sound and move forwards. I’m really happy to be part of the family.”

That he’s close to Jesse Rose in particular, is confirmed by the fact that Rose’s uber-hot Berlin house label Made To Play is releasing his new Riva Starr album ‘If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade’ next month, plus first single from the album Dance Me.  While the single’s a straight up Berghain style club track (remixed to perfection by Made 2 Play’s in-house engineer Oliver $) the album is considerably more eclectic, reflecting the fact he viewed it differently from stringing together a bunch of club tracks, says Stefano.

“Making the album was definitely more complicated than arriving at the studio, smoking a couple of joints and write down a bangin’ loop for da’ club,” he smiles.

“I tried to make it interesting and full of variety while still reflecting my musical taste. If anyone thinks that I put all those influences in there because I wanted to please the audience then they’re wrong; I just like it like that.”
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Bursting onto the global stage in 2005 with his debut album ‘4 Da Loverz’, German/ Iranian electro-house producer Sharam Jey immediately consolidated his standing with a 2 year non-stop DJinh world tour.

Calling a (semi) halt 12 months ago, he returned to the studio to work on new album In My Blood and as 2010 starts is about to unveil it on his own label King Kong Records. Including contributions from electro/ rock stalwarts Princess Superstar and Tommie Sunshine, the album features a vary selection of high energy big room electro-house stompers with a distinctly maximal, pop flavoured accessible vibe. Chatting to Skrufff this week, Sharam’s focused and enthused and upbeat about his new album’s prospects.
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Click on the picture for more from Principles of Geometry

“We’d rather speak about ‘hasard’ than accidents. ‘Hasard’ takes a huge place in our music. ‘Hasard’ makes life what it is. So does music.”

Asking French electronic geniuses Principles Of Geometry how big a role happy accidents played in the creation of their melancholic masterpiece album Lazare elicits an unusually thoughtful response, reflecting the equally considered complexity of their music.

With neither Guillaume Grosso or Jeremy Duval speaking English fluently, each is careful to define what they mean, discarding online translations of ‘hasard’ including  ‘chance’, ‘hazard’ and ‘luck’ (and indeed ‘accident’).

“We tried to find the right English word as a translation for what we mean but couldn’t,” the pair explain. ‘Chance’ for example, means ‘luck’ in French and we didn’t want to speak just about luck. Rather we wanted to highlight the fact that sometimes things just happen, as part of fate. Destiny is what you make it. And after that comes luck.”

Given that Principles Of Geometry created one of the greatest albums of the last decade (Lazare) in 2007 only to see it languish in underground obscurity seems more than a little unlucky though both are impressively cheerful about the album’s so far low impact fate.

“What we set out to achieve was to create a piece of music that we wanted to hear and what we wanted to hear with Lazare is ‘Life’,” they explain. “What we mean by that is life in its most simplistic and naked sense. Light, Darkness, Love, Rage. A sort of truth we’re both focused on,” they say.

“We don’t mean an absolute truth statement about humanity, we swear, rather it’s about summing up our personal feelings and emotions on an album. By doing that Lazare comes alive and has in effect its own life.”

So did they ever start to feel personally unlucky when Lazare failed to crossover and sell the millions of units it would have done if it had been released by the likes of Massive Attack or Portishead?

“Ah ha, no, not at all. Lazare exists. We know it, we did it,” they laugh. “But having the album distributed in the UK still would be great.”

Instead the album, a subliminal selection of magnificent predominantly melancholic electronic ballads still resides on uber-cool French boutique label Tigersushi, continuing to attract critical acclaim from selected media pundits and the likes of Border Community’s (British) tastemaker James Holden (and me).

“Firstly thanks for loving it, we’re found of love too. And seeing our music being appreciated and shared keeps it alive. It’s the reason it’s there,” they continue, “and James Holden, we love you too.”

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Catch Henry in London (weather permitting) on 02.04.10 at the Corsica Studios, in Elephant & Castle

British techno legend Henry Cullen (aka D.A.V.E. The Drummer) endured a nightmare journey back from Bulgaria last weekend after snow storms forced him to take trains, planes, buses and automobiles to get home.

Contacting Skrufff from Sofia airport in Bulgaria, Henry described how his first trip to Varna in December was cancelled after ‘super-snow’ saw his flights cancelled though said he was optimistic flying from Gatwick to Sofia last Saturday morning. Meeting the party promoters unexpectedly when he arrived at Sofia Airport, the acid techno legend said he was feeling positively cheery, before discovering not everything was as it seemed.
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“You can see where this is going can’t you,” he laughed.

“As I’m waiting at the gate in Sofia, Jackrock and Balthazaar appear. ‘Weird’, I think, “these two are Bulgaria’s biggest techno promoters and the promoters for this gig, why are they here? Maybe we are all going together . . . Hooray! But . . .”
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Jack de Marseille (click on the picture for more)

“Why did I want to be a vet? : Because I love animals. Why a tennis coach? : Because I love sport. Why a DJ? : Because I love music. And life provided the opportunities.”

Starting his raving career as ‘a foot soldier of the original techno scene’ (as his biog puts it’ French dance music legend Jack de Marseilles (aka Jacques Garotta) remains at the forefront of French dance culture, some 20 years after he first started DJing. Following his enthusiasms throughout his life, he’s been a vet then tennis coach, embracing techno fully after being inspired by influences including ‘the hedonism of gay clubs’ and later by legendary UK underground crew Spiral Tribe.

“I stopped high school just before training as a vet in 1981,to became a tennis coach and stopped that in 1990 to became a DJ,” Jacques explains.

“These were easy decisions because I was following my instinct and life gave me lots of gifts and surprises in return. It’s important not to miss chances. I was in the right place at the right time. It’s all about passion,” he enthuses.

Fast-forwarding to the present and he’s just released his latest artist album Inner Visions with no quarter given to the woes of the music industry, he insists.

“Why make an artist album when the music industry is changing so fast? ; Because I’m not thinking about money just about music,” says Jacques.

“Making an album involves a different approach than when you’re making a 12 inch record, I want to experiment with different musical directions and also do some collaborations. For example, the album artwork has been created by Vika Prokopaviciute a painter from Moscow, while in the CD box itself there’s some poetic text by Aline Soler. She expresses emotions from music with her words.”

Inner Visions - the album

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Camilo Rocha @ Vegas (click on the picture to download Camilo's latest Tech-o-disco DJ mix)

“The original vision for Discology was about good dance music from any era meaning disco but also funk, soul, old school hip hop, 80s dance, acid house, boogie, vintage electro, classic Detroit. The name Discology has actually more to do with ‘disc’ than ‘disco’.”

Though London and increasingly Paris have gone ‘nouveau disco’ crazy in the last 12 months, Sao Paulo club night Discology first began championing the trend 5 years earlier in underground clubs and minimally converted strip clubs around the city. The brainchild of top local journalists Claudia (Clau) Assef and Camilo Rocha (also one of Brazil’s best known DJs) the club nowadays takes place once a month at Vegas, one of the wildest and best clubs in Sao Paulo nightlife.

“The inspiration came from Clau and I looking at our massive record collections and thinking it was a real waste that they should stay home,” says Camilo, “At the time, 2003, local clubland was still dominated by linear DJ sets, so there was something radical about the notion of playing all these styles together, from many different eras.”

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