The Bulldog Amsterdam; click for more

Amsterdam based British DJ Dave Clarke welcomed the imminent introduction of a cannabis café pass system designed to prevent tourists from buying pot in Holland this week, telling Skrufff ‘I think it is a good thing.’

“Holland and Amsterdam is much more that the stereotypical view of smoking and poking. Most Amsterdam-ers are quite OK with the ban, to be honest,” Dave suggested.

“What impact do I think it will have on the club scene? Absoluely none,” he predicted, “Though Easyjet sales might be down for a while.”

Moving from Brighton to Amsterdam some years ago, the infamously single-minded techno star settled in the heart of Amsterdam’s touristic centre and painted a sorry picture of the smokers he encounters around town.

“I’m sorry to say it, but most of them seem to be English and German idiots who cannot control themselves, they think they can fly and then throw up at best or fall out of windows at worst,” Dave complained.

“I very, very rarely smoke, maybe a few times a year at the very most,” he added. “The last time I went to a cafe was a long time ago in the winter maybe two years ago, but I went because they did a killer hot chocolate to go with a steaming hot olliebal.”

“Come to Holland for the culture and the architecture, Amsterdam is, for me, the most beautiful city in the world,” said Dave.

His approval of the foreigner weed ban, which was implemented in Dutch border towns including Maastricht last week, came as police reported that buyers are simply driving further into Holland, with some popping up 90km from Maastricht in Nijmengen.

“In recent days, we are spotting cars with Belgian plates in the city center, who are clearly there for the coffee shops,” Nijmegen police spokeswoman Florian Vingerhoeds told reporters. “Before, we never saw Belgian plates.”

The futility of using laws to crack down on drugs was also emphasised by former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski who writing in the New York Times this week admitted his attempt at total zero tolerance with heavy prison sentences for users was a total failure.

Leading Poland between 1995 and 2005, the ex president admitted they expected the prospect of fierce prison sentences for people caught with even ‘minuscule amounts of drugs’ would deter users and catch dealers but said neither goal happened. Instead tens of thousands of otherwise law abiding young people were criminalised. he said.

“The vast majority of those individuals were not drug dealers,” he added. “Some of them, however, were adolescents whose prospects for careers as lawyers, public officials or teachers were suddenly blighted.” (New York Times: http://nyti.ms/LokREY )

http://www.thebulldog.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

click for more

“At some gigs for artists like Plastikman very few people are actually dancing, they are all taking photos, Facebooking; anything but getting lost in music.”

20 years after he established himself as one of the first global stars of techno, Dave Clarke remains one of dance culture’s most popular- and opinionated- characters, whether talking about Richie Hawtin’s alter ego or America’s soon to be next superstar DJ Paris Hilton.

“If Paris Hilton made a great track, would I support it? That depends,” he admits.

“By ‘great’ it would have to mean it appeals to me; not because there is a magazine hype,” he explains.

“I have no issue in supporting great music even if it is by people that are not on my radar, music always speaks for itself.”

He’s also surprisingly open-minded when quizzed if there are any circumstances he would work with the billionaire pop princess, noting her similarity to manufactured British pop icon Kylie Minogue.

“Twice in my career I was offered to work with Kylie,” he confides. “Though just let me be clear on that, I’m not sure that if I had agreed whether it would have actually happened.”

“I said no because it is not where I wanted to be,” he continues, “Although I never saw how flexible she could be when she worked with Nick Cave, I missed that totally,” he admits.

“It’s not about high fees either, it about the ‘comfort factor’,” he explains.

 “It’s about can I look in the mirror into my eyes and like what I see. Since I have never taken cocaine that becomes a very stringent test,” he sniffs.

Celebrity collaborations aside, he’s recently teamed up with upcoming young Dutch producer Mr Jones to form Unsubscribe, following a sustained break from making any music at all. Chatting about the slew of new remixes they’ve done together (by the likes of Boys Noise, Ben Sims, Tom Trago and John Foxx- the Ultravox pioneer’s classic solo hit Underpass) Dave’s in uncharacteristically reflective and magnanimous mood.

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Starting with your new music as Unsubscribe; you took a long break- why?

Dave Clarke: “For many reasons actually; a change of life, wanting to take a back seat for a while to see how things develop in both my life and the industry: Also because I was waiting for technology to become more reliable if I gave up some of my analogue ways. Though maybe I should have waited until everything became 64 bit then I wouldn’t get so frustrated.”

Skrufff: In the past you’ve always been solo as a producer: now you’re with Mr Jones: why did you choose him in particular? And why did you decide to collaborate?

Dave Clarke: “Almost my entire time in the studio had been on my own, I wanted a change, I was always a little envious that groups (when not arguing) could bounce ideas off each other and let that push the creative direction forwards; doing everything alone (from engineering/ producing/ writing) wasn’t something I wished to continue forever. Jones was sending me music all the time and I really liked most of his tracks and loved his commitment, I played a lot of his productions on my radio show and met him in Utrecht and it grew from there. So far working together has been a very relaxed process for both of us.

Skrufff: How does the process work: who does what? (Have you generally used engineers? How do you feel about producers who hire anonymous producers generally? Acceptable or not?)

Dave Clarke: “I have never used an engineer (except in a studio that came with one), engineering is easily one of my favourite pastimes in the studio to get sounds to work together can be so rewarding. I have no issue if an artist doesn’t understand engineering but is good at writing and has solid ideas and uses the engineer as a catalyst, but some “artists” (normally those that refer to themselves in the 3rd person in interviews) just sit behind the people that do all the work and claim the credit to reinforce the brand that their PR people have made for them, that sickens me to be honest.

I mean some people have a Warhol approach, I suppose, maybe in the past DJ Hell had a little bit of that and actually that worked well for everyone concerned, but some artists shouldn’t even pretend, or maybe journalists should dig deeper and tolerate these things less, but I don’t believe expose’s are encouraged against sponsors of magazines, but I’m sure there would be a market for a truly independent and truthful view.

As for me and Jones…..it is very democratic, we learn things from each other, I was hovering between platforms on which to restart making music (I used to use Cubase during Devils Advocate) and Jones got me into Logic which is great from a deep engineering perspective.”

Skrufff: How much are these releases about marketing yourself for gigs?

Dave Clarke: “Not at all, DJing is instinct, production is more a cognitive process, it was time again for some of that.”

Skrufff: How much do you accept that you are a brand: what does ‘Dave Clarke’ stand for?

Dave Clarke: “Truth in the music I present, whether it is mine or other peoples’. I will stay true to what I believe in and won’t move due to whimsical insecurities.”

Skrufff: You said on Twitter recently ‘Not into this cheesy rave noise revival, boring’: what’s your assessment of club culture these days? What impact is the rise of electro-pop having on wider club culture?

Dave Clarke: “Electro pop doesn’t feature in my world at all, so I have no opinion on that. Club culture has changed, especially in the UK, Scotland still has that rebellious nature but in England that has been pushed away by corporate strategies that maybe feature culture as a last resort. Obviously there are some shining lights that put music first, like Fabric, and thankfully they reap the profits of their belief.

Many things have changed Europe-wide though, smoking is one factor which I find hard to believe the impact the ban has had. When people used to smoke in clubs in Italy or Ireland they stayed on the dance floor, now they have smoking breaks and go out and use it to chat to people, so strangely the smoking law can have an impact on how deep clubbers get into the music. Then you have the advent of the cheap flight generation that follow you from country to country, all the time things are changing.”

Skrufff: You also wrote on Twitter recently ‘all trance DJs deep down are embarrassed by what they play. They take it on the chin!”: do you really believe this?

Dave Clarke: “For some of those guys it really is just about the money, some are honest, some are not, although I’m sure that maybe a few actually love that music, not too many mind.”

Skrufff: How do your trance DJ friends react to such comments? (You must have a fair few in Holland- Ferry Corsten?)

Dave Clarke: “Ferry is ignoring my tweets now!”

Skrufff: You also recently Tweeted ‘the Battle of Culloden is on BBC 4 now, history is only a few miles from my hotel.” You mentioned it reminded you of school days: did you have any/ many fights at school? Ever get beaten up or bullied?

Dave Clarke: “Only Jonty can turn the Jacobite rebellion into a school bully conversation! I am lucky enough to travel quite extensively, whilst that in itself isn’t always a rewarding experience, occasionally some of the pages of your school work get lit up by the location you are in, and whilst in Inverness I saw the fields by the road and then when I got back to my hotel there was a programme at 4am on BBC4 talking about it, I like coincidences like that very much.”

Skrufff: What’s happening with your radio show White Noise; why did you change radio station in Holland?

Dave Clarke: “I did a two hour show every week for 5 and a half years, that ate into my new plans of wanting to be in the studio. I did everything myself for the show and something had to give. You may not be aware but there are some syndicated dance shows that are NOT prepared by the host and in fact all they do is provide 15 minutes of speech which is edited together with music by someone else.

I did the whole thing because honesty matters, but I don’t have the time anymore, it was a big dilemma as I want to keep supporting the music and the artists, so I decided last year that reducing the show to an hour was the best way forward. I still get to listen to music (which I need to do for gigging anyway) and more importantly artists still can have a platform with my backing. RTE 2fm happily stepped in to take over the podcast.”

Skrufff: When was the last time you were make-up? Why have you seemingly stopped wearing it?

Dave Clarke: “There is a time and place for everything, that was then and this is now, no other answer really.”

Skrufff: What do you make of the rise of Vegas as an ‘EDM destination’: is it somewhere you’re particularly keen to visit or to crack?

Dave Clarke: “I will be there in a few months, but I am not an atypical English artist with The Beatles in mind thinking that I have to ‘crack’ America. Also, when you leave the UK any colonial overtones that you may have had are washed away with European culture.”

Skrufff: You’re travelling week after week, month after month, year after year: ever find yourself getting bored?

Dave Clarke: “The ipad helps the travel experience immensely, when I first got the ipad I used to watch videos, now I mostly read from it, trade mags, current affairs, it keeps me up to speed and it eats the miles and hours.”

Skrufff: Do you ever have any existential thoughts about devoting too much time to DJing?

Dave Clarke: “My skull fascination helps keep my own mortality clear in my mind, if I rewound my life would it be any different? That is a question no one can answer so why beat yourself up over it?”

http://daveclarke.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Leading Ibiza club promoter Danny Whittle was ‘sick in his own mouth’ when he heard of TV impresario Simon Cowell’s plans for a ‘superstar DJ’ X Factor style talent show, he revealed this week, and vowed that Pacha will have nothing to do with the concept.

“How likely is it Pacha would get involved? We wouldn’t, it has nothing we would want,” said Danny.

“What impact will the show have on club culture generally? None at all,” he predicted,“Certainly not the side of club culture that actually matters.”

Handling Pacha’s bookings since the late 90s, Danny helped David Guetta and more recently the likes of Swedish House Mafia and Luciano become bona fide international stars off the back on weekly residencies at Pacha though predicted established DJs will have little to fear from Cowell’s contestants.

“They will just create some shit DJ who will probably make a fortune playing in shit clubs,” he suggested.

Danny Whittle on Ibiza-voice (2004 interview): WHAT IS IT DANNY WHITTLE DOES EXACTLY? - Brand Director? Musical Director? Content Director?”) click for more

Details of the show emerged via a press release Simon Cowell released in which he promised it will ‘capture the incredible rise of the DJ phenomena’ and discover ‘the world’s greatest DJs’

“DJs are the new rock stars,” the multi-millionaire TV presenter declared, “It feels like the right time to make this show“.

Underground tech-house type Danny Howells was as unimpressed as Danny Whittle about the show, telling Skrufff he was ‘pretty repulsed’ when he heard about it.

“Hasn’t he done enough damage to music as it is? I can’t see how this would be entertaining either – I don’t think the X-Factor fans are gonna’ be flocking to this and I won’t be giving up Corrie (Coronation Street) to watch it,” he said.

“He’s obviously seen the rise of the pop DJs, and as a result this will be nothing at all to do with music. It will be about pretty boys who have marketability and play lowest common denominator shite, like the pop DJs who are already polluting the world. If it would throw up a new DJ Shadow or Grandmaster Flash, it would be interesting. But you know that isn’t going to happen,” said Danny.

Danny Howells; click for more

Unlike Danny Whittle, however, Howells predicted the program will have a wider impact on wider club culture.

“I dread to think what it will do actually, but I think we already live in an age where the word “apprenticeship” doesn’t seem to exist,” he pointed out.

“This show will just reinforce that and we will see more pop DJs come out of nowhere with a great “light show” and gimmick and who, hopefully, disappear just as quickly.”

“Looking at it positively “ABBA rose to prominence after being in a talent show (Eurovision Song Contest), so you can’t dismiss the possibility of someone talented coming out of this. But I really don’t think they’ll be looking to find a new David Mancuso or Larry Levan.

They’ll be looking for someone who looks good being papped (photographed) on a jet-ski, who can tell an engineer which Electro Sample pack to use, and who knows how to raise his arms into a Jesus Christ pose. I rarely get booked alongside those guys, sadly,” he sighed.

“Anything to add? Where do I apply?” he laughed.

Danny Whittle concurred.

“Can I enter?” he chuckled, “I have some records and I could be called “Danny Double Dex”.

click for more on Dave

British techno legend Dave Clarke was similarly unimpressed.

“What’s my reaction to this story? Disbelief followed by resignation,” said Dave.

“The fact is, the art of the ‘DJ’ has been denigrated in the commercial light to such lows that this was inevitable. Too many commercial DJ’s worry about image and many feign “performances” so that it either enables their light jockeys to have a strict programme at best or it’s feigned because of a lack of real time talent (a lot of ‘producers” don’t even make their own music; this has been true for 10 years or more). “

“Smoke and mirrors have always been around . .  .BUT . . . does X-Factor or any of the other shite have any effect on cool music?….Not at all. So aside from the pride in being in an industry that for all intents and purpose didn’t really exist when I started except as a dream, an aspiration this DJ TV thing it is just a direction that was inevitable for the marketing people to follow.”

Dave’s expectation of the show’s impact on wider club culture fell somewhere in between the two Dannys.

“The commercial clubs will fall over themselves to feature this shite, but then they never followed the underground anyway,” Dave predicted.

“Certain magazines will no doubt push hard to be part of this to validate their “polls” but mostly I have always found the term “Club Culture” an oxymoron in 90% of cases in the commercial world. Go to Ibiza and show me the “Culture”, it’s more about “Vulture”.

“What impact on superstar DJs?” he sighed.

“There are two types of DJs ; those that care and represent a belief, an integrity and those that care only about money and fame, the term ‘superstar DJ’ is a lazy term by lazy journalists,” he grumbled.

“I can’t wait to see all the fragile ego past-it DJ’s trying to line up to be a “judge“,” Dave concluded.

“I also bet there will be some shite intellectually challenged hacks phoning up now to see if they can be involved.”

http://bit.ly/cu0uiL  (Simon Cowell in action on X Factor)

http://daveclarke.com

http://bit.ly/AkbTuu (Danny Whittle on Ibiza-voice (2004 interview): WHAT IS IT DANNY WHITTLE DOES EXACTLY? – Brand Director? Musical Director? Content Director?”)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

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For those who missed the first 3 DJ interviews about ring tones, these three tunes each appeared on the phones of Danny Howells (The Osmonds), Dave Clarke (ABC) and Tim Sheridan (Star Wars).

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Posh people’s lifestyle guide Debretts issued new guidelines for mobile phones and ring tones this week, so Skrufff decided to ask a bunch of DJs about their personal choices, including high tech techno type Dave Clarke . . .

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): What’s your main ring tone- and what does it say about you? (Debretts’ options include ‘ head-banging rocker, fashion-conscious teenager, gamer, sci-fi nerd, smooth seducer, tv addict, ‘invisible’ – see below)

Dave Clarke: “I would say that 98% of the time my ring tone is silenced as I have the phone on vibrate. It’s been like that for many years; otherwise it’s just an old fashioned bell sound.”

Skrufff: Have you had many customised tones?

Dave Clarke: “I have a few self edited ring tones, such as ‘Susan’s Strange’ by the Furs for my girlfriend, Jah Wars by The Ruts for a friend: and the opening bar of ‘Evil’ by ABC for someone I don’t like.”

Skrufff: Have you ever been embarrassed by a ring tone (yours or someone else’s?)

Dave Clarke: “Nope, though an old road tour manager had the Screech Screech from the film Psycho for his girlfriend, that was always funny.”

Skrufff: How important are ring tones for business?

Dave Clarke: “Not at all.”

Skrufff: What winds you up the most about how other people use mobiles?

Dave Clarke: “That they answer on the car phone without telling you there are other people also in the car until halfway through the conversation.”

Skrufff: Have you ever had a full-blooded row’ on your mobile (ie in front of others?)

Dave Clarke: “I tend to take it away, maybe round the corner, I very rarely argue on the phone, but if I do it also has to be private for the person you are arguing with, they deserve privacy too.”

Skrufff: Debretts say ‘Don’t make calls to people from inappropriate venues; a call from a bathroom is deeply off-putting’: have you ever done that?

Dave Clarke: “Sometimes you can’t help it, just cover your mouth and phone so there are no real delays, or pretend you are testing out a new Lexicon plate reverb.”

Skrufff: Do you have any links where people can buy your ring tones?

Dave Clarke: “I hope not.”

http://www.daveclarke.com/

http://weblogs.vpro.nl/whitenoise/

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Notoriously techno DJ Dave Clarke claims to be better than MJ at Moonwalking….. if anyone has any video clips, please send them…

Click on the picture for video instructions (as watched by 27 million people!!!)

Click HERE for text instructions…..

Seth Troxler & Ali Dubfire (pic by Alco Lind)

Circo Loco bon vivant Seth Troxler won this year’s inaugural Cook-off’ competition, effortlessly out-tasting haute cuisine from rivals including Deep Dish’s Dubfire and John Acquaviva…..

ADE delegates quaffing champagne in the registration queue (pic by Aico Lind)

Early arrivals snapped up limited edition ADE umbrellas while others made do with champagne (in between torrential downpours on the Wednesday…..)

Boy George laughs at another Dave Clarke joke (pic by Mike Breeuwer)

Demolition panel (saturday 19.00; click for more details)

The Skrufff team will be temporarily relocating to Amsterdam next week as Jonty Skrufff moderates and appears on seven panels at this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event.

Also DJing on Friday night at Club Home (alongside Da Fresh, Christian Cambas, John Acquaviva and Anthony Attalla) in the day time he’s moderating panels on new talent (Room at the Top: http://bit.ly/nKg9ju) and Russia (http://bit.ly/qhBDXO ) plus a heavyweight panel Staying Alive on Friday afternoon (http://bit.ly/pUtuTi )

Da Russia panel (Thursday: 17.00)

“Staying Alive features six of the sharpest, most opinionated, accomplished characters in today’s music business, chatting about everything from egos (how should you handle out of control artists?), releasing music (are albums obsolete?) and surviving failure, I think it’s going to be particularly interesting,” said Jonty.

“The panel is all about how to survive and thrive in today’s music business and all six (Mute Records founder Daniel Miller, Ed Banger chief Pedro Winter, Cream CEO James Barton, Mo Wax’s James Lavelle, Wall Of Sound’s Mark Jones and Pieter van Bodegraven (Talpa) are full of knowledge, experience and ideas.”

Nastia (appearing on Room at the Top, Wednesday 15.30)

On Wednesday he introduces upcoming talents DJ Nastia (Ukraine), Claudia Cazacu (Romania, London) and Egbert (Holland) on Room at The Top, discussing how they’re carved themselves niches in today’s massively overcrowded club scene. Legendary R&S chief Renaat Vandapapaliere (Belgium) is also on hand, discussing how he reinvented his seminal label two years ago (almost 20 years after he first helped popularize techno).

Claudia Cazacu (on room at the top, Wednesday)

Thursday’s program includes a panel on Russia plus another on Ibiza, featuring panelists including Judge Jules and Ibiza Voice chief (and until recently Cadenza/ Luciano guru Samuel Guetta).

Alongside more panels scheduled for Friday and Saturday (including Radio: How relevant is radio to the next generation?), Staying Alive and Dave Clarke’s Demolition panel, he also DJs at Anthony Attalla’s party at Club Home, on Friday night (http://bit.ly/pTjBlj )

Friday Club home

“ADE’s greatest attraction is its audience, which is comprised predominantly of independent music people who are paying their own way to be there,” Jonty added.

“I’m looking forward to meeting up with old friends and connecting with new ones- please come and say hi if you’re at one the panels or see me rushing round Amsterdam. I’m the one with the big black umbrella with a yellow stripe.”

Seb Mortimer (Skrufff.com)

Push today (click the picture to access his articles)

“The most bizarre situation I experienced was setting fire to Katie Price, I got chatting to her in a bar once and she asked me for a light. I must have had a new lighter or something and it must have been set very high.”

15 years after he launched seminal British dance music magazine Muzik, founding editor Push admits his memories of the era are a little hazy.

“I can’t remember when and where it happened, but I think it was somewhere in Soho,” he continues, recounting his incendiary encounter with the uber famous (in Britain) reality TV star (who at the time was better known as topless model/ glamour girl Jordan).

“As she leaned forward, a huge jet of fire shot out from the lighter and there was this horrible smell of burning hair and a squeaky scream,” he chuckles, “I think it was mainly her eyebrows that went up because her hair was in braids and pulled back from her face. Luckily she was totally hammered and seemed to soon forget about it.”

One of the first music journalists to start seriously championing acid house and techno, Push started his career with then hugely indie music magazine Melody Maker, setting up the newspaper’s first dance section in the early 90s. From Melody Maker, he left to become founding editor of Muzik, which he edited from its launch in 1995 until the end of 1998.

Notable for taking dance music and its fast-growing global culture seriously, the magazine was instrumental in launching superclub brands such as Cream and popularizing Ibiza yet also covered underground club culture and issues,successfully campaigning for free drinking water in clubs and warning of the dangers of tinnitus in one of its earliest editions.

It also created a new caste of fledgling superstar DJs, in putting then relatively unknown producers such as Deep Dish, Brian Transeau, Slam and Josh Wink on the cover, most of whom were then booked at the same nascent superclubs and festivals.

“I’m so proud of Muzik. It was a terrific magazine and a very successful magazine,” says Push, “It won several awards and sold over 50,000 copies a month during my time there. My personal greatest achievement was getting through the first year. I’ve never worked so hard in all my life.”

“I think the magazine’s single greatest achievement was giving dance music a sense of identity that it had never had before in the music press,” he continues.

“We took all those supposedly faceless DJs and musicians and presented them the same way that Melody Maker and NME presented rock and pop stars, and I think that was exactly what was right for the dance scene at that point in time.” 

Though virtually all of the stars and clubs Muzik first championed remained global club brands today, Push himself stepped out of both the limelight and club culture soon after leaving the magazine, going on to write several books.

His best known one- Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail came out in 2005 soon after Dan Brown’s million selling epic Da Vinci Code popularized the pursuit of the Holy Grail though Push stepped even further out of the public eye after developing cancer. 5 years on he’s thankfully survived and has just set up a new website collating much of his writing from the early club days: http://www.pushstuff.co.uk Jonty Skrufff (who worked with Push as Muzik’s lead feature writer for its first two years) found out what’s been going on.

Skrufff: Starting with your new website; why did you decide to start it now?

Push: “I actually started working on it a couple of years ago, but for various reasons it’s only now seeing the light of day. It’s partly an experiment to see if anyone is remotely interested in this old stuff, partly an ego thing, and partly a fun way for me to fill in time. I first had the idea several years ago, when I was facing some serious health issues. It was like a promise to myself. I sort of told myself, “OK, once you get through this, you’ll be able to do that”. So it’s also about me keeping my promise to myself.”

Skrufff: What was your original vision for Muzik?

I wanted it to be a music magazine for the 21st century. That’s one of the reasons we called it Muzik, a title which wasn’t particularly tied to the dance scene. It was always meant to be more about the music and musicians than about clubbing and clubbers. That was what made it different to Mixmag”.

Skrufff: When did it all start to go wrong for you personally?

Push: “I don’t think it ever went particularly wrong for me personally, but it did get to the point where I wanted to try to do other things. I was editor for 40-odd issues and I felt that was probably enough.”

Skrufff: Others have since taken the credit for your work in founding the magazine and it seemed to me like you were written out of Muzik’s history: how conscious were you of that?

Push: “I don’t know anything about that. I always saw it as very much a team effort. (founding deputy editor) Ben Turner and I worked on Muzik for almost 18 months before the first issue came out and I think we made an awesome team. We brought different skills and ideas to the project, but the partnership worked well. But it wasn’t just me and Ben, there were also lots of others involved prior to the launch. Bruce Sandell, Muzik’s advertisement manager and later its publisher, was just as important as us.

Then there was Alan Lewis and Andy McDuff on the publishing side – they’d launched Loaded just before they launched Muzik. Then once the magazine started coming out, we had all the journalists and photographers and designers and subs and so on. Everybody played their part. As for me, well, you can’t actually write me out of the history. Last time I looked at any of those first 40-odd issues they all said “Editor: Push” in the flannel panel.” 

Skrufff: How did you feel at the turn of the millennium as the magazine lost its credibility and slipped ever close to closure: did you ever communicate with- or feel anger towards, Conor McNicholas?  (Skrufff; Conor later went on to be become NME editor after presiding over Muzik’s closure)

Push: “I don’t know Conor. I’ve never met him or spoken to him, never had any contact with him. I’d been gone for several years by the time he took over. I was sad to see Muzik’s sales figures dropping and sad to see it close down, but I don’t know what the story was at that point, beyond the fact it wasn’t selling. The covers they were putting out towards the end couldn’t have helped, though. Some of them were fucking dreadful. We had a couple of stinkers when I was editor, but by that point they were all stinkers.”

Skrufff: More recently you wrote the Holy Grail book with Rat Scabies; how much did you consciously abandon club culture? Why?

Push: “It wasn’t just club culture. For a long while, I lost interest in music altogether. I’d always had a very broad taste in music – as a kid I’d like punk as well as disco, as a music journo I’d interviewed the likes of Nirvana and Guns ‘N’ Roses as well as your Chemicals and your Orbitals – but after I’d left Muzik I almost couldn’t bear to listen to anything. I don’t know why. Maybe my ears were full.

So the Holy Grail book was an opportunity to do something totally different. People see Rat’s name on the cover and think it’s a book about punk, but it’s nothing to do with music at all. It’s a road trip about two blokes trying to find the Holy Grail who spend all their time poking around in old churches and hanging out with nutcase treasure hunters. As it happens, since I finished writing that book, my appetite for music – of all different kinds – has returned with a vengeance.”

Skrufff: In an interview with Fortean Times you said ‘If I had to say what the book is about in one word, I’d say: “belief”. ‘ how much was Muzik about that? How much did you loose your sense of belief? Why specifically did you walk away?

Push: “I had other things I wanted to do. Plus, to be honest, I was exhausted. I needed a break. For the last few months I was at Muzik I’d also been working up dummy pages for another new magazine for IPC, which the powers-that-be then decided not to launch. I was frustrated by that decision, but it coincided with me being offered a book deal for what became my first book, The Book Of E, a history of ecstasy which I wrote with Canadian journalist Mireille Silcoff. Muzik was certainly about belief and I still believed in it, but I felt my time there had run its course.”

Skrufff: You also told Fortean Times “Technology, communications and medicine are changing the world faster and faster by the day; I certainly need to step outside that and ask where my place is as a human being in all that’: have you found any answers? (Are you still actively seeking the Grail?)

Push: “I said that? Wow, I’m impressed with myself. What was I on about? Hmmm. Well, no, I haven’t found any answers. I’m not even sure I know what the questions are yet. As for actively seeking the Grail, yeah, I’m still doing that. Absolutely. But everybody’s doing that, aren’t they?”

Muzik's very first issue

Skrufff: What’s your take on the rumours of treasures being found in France?

Push: “My take? I’m jealous.”

Skrufff: And how about 2012, December 21st? Where are you planning on being?

Push: “Bugarach, a French mountain village near Rennes-le-Chateau, which is where Rat and I do a lot of our grail hunting. Bugarach was Jules Verne’s inspiration for Journey To the Centre of the Earth and Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It’s your best hope of surviving the apocalypse. Apparently. Mind you, some say it’s going to happen on December 12th, not 21st, so you’d better get there for then. It’s probably a good idea to get there early anyway. I suspect it’ll be busy and it’s only a small village.”

Skrufff: At what point did you develop lymphona? What were the first symptoms?

Push: “I was diagnosed with lymphoma in early 2007. It started with a tumour in my left eye socket, which developed quite slowly. The first signs were double vision, which got progressively worse, and problems with bright lights. My vision was very strange for a long time. It was like looking through a glass pyramid. I was shocked by the lymphoma diagnosis, though. I knew I had a serious problem with my vision, but I hadn’t expected anything like that.”

Skrufff: What lessons has having the disease taught you?

Push: “The same lessons everyone learns when they go through something like that. You can’t help but reflect on your life and what you’re doing – and I do have quite a different view of life now. I haven’t always been happy with my lot, but I’m bloody ecstatic these days. Life really is too short. It took a little while to get my health back on track and I have some ongoing problems caused by the treatment I had, but that’s OK. It’s more than OK. I have been very lucky – extremely lucky – and a lot of other people in a similar position haven’t been.”

Skrufff: With reference to Muzik; any regrets; looking back, anything you wish you’d done differently?

Push: “Lots of things, really. The main thing is I wish I’d written more for Muzik. I wrote almost nothing. In the 10 years I was at Melody Maker I wrote more than 1,000 pieces. But at Muzik, I wrote less than 10 features and maybe only 20 or 30 reviews over the course of three-and-a-half years. I just never seemed to have time to write. There were too many other things to do.”

Push’s website is at http://www.pushstuff.co.uk

His blog is at http://pushblog.co.uk

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click on the logo to see the top 50

Individual DJ Top 10s

: Ade Fenton

: Alisson Gothz

: Ascii Disco

: Camilo Rocha

: Chris Finke

: Chris Fortier

: Christian Smith

: Christopher Lawrence

: Danny Howells

: Dave Clarke

Ade Fenton (click on the picture to see the top 50)

Ade Fenton

1. Joey Beltram – Energy Flash

2. Kraftwerk – Numbers

3. Dave Clarke – Red 1, 2 and 3

4. Jeff Mills – Waveform Transmission Volume 1

5. Underground Resistance – Sea Wolf

6. Aphex Twin – I Care Because You Do

7. Red Planet – Star Dancer

8. Surgeon – Badger Bite

9. Outlander – Vamp

10. Jeff Mills – Purpose Maker EP

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Ade Fenton: “Energy Flash is, quite simply, the single most important record of all time. It not only changed my musical tastes, it changed my life and eventually led to my career in the music industry. When I first heard it, it was like someone had flicked a switch in my brain. I remember being in a club and thinking “what the FUCK is this??!!?” From that moment, techno became an obsession and I owe everything to that one track.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Ade Fenton: “I don’t think any of my top ten crossed over to the mainstream, with the possible exception of Kraftwerk. Thankfully, that meant techno lasted a long time.”

http://www.adefenton.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Alisson Gothz: Click on the picture for the top 50

Alisson Gothz (Brazil)

1: Kraftwerk- Trans Europe Express

2: New Order- Blue Monday

3: Bomb The Bass: Beat Dis

4: Orbital- Halcyon + On & On,

5: Chemical Brothers- Block Rocking Beats

6: Madonna- Vogue

7: Daft Punk- Around The World,

8: Kraftwerk- Pocket Calculator

9: Prodigy- Firestarter

10: Underworld- Born Slippy

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Alisson Gothz: “I think “Trans Europe Express” is a major classic, you cannot think of techno, electro and even hip hop without going back to this track.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/dance music the most?

Alisson Gothz “Beat Dis” by Bomb the Bass! At that time I was really deep into goth rock and the only kind of electronic music I was listening to (aka early Industrial/EBM/New Beat tracks) was somehow linked to this “dark” scene. I only got into dance music after discovering the colourful world of Acid House. Another one I love is “Theme From S-Express”, by S-Express.”

http://www.facebook.com/alissongothz

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Ascii Disco (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Ascii Disco:

1: Donna Summer – I Feel Love

2: Vitalic – Pony E.P.

3: Orbital – Are we here

4: Dave Clarke – Red 1 / Red 2

5: Underworld – Born Slippy

6: Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient works…the whole 2CDS

7: Sonic Youth – the burning spear (yes it is disco!)

8: Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar

9: Trans X – Living on Video

10:  Ascii.Disko – Einfach

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Ascii Disco: “This track is timeless. I still play it a lot. It is techno, electro and house and most of all sexy.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Ascii Disco: “My own track “Einfach”. I was totally into rock and did some Electro music for fun. “Einfach” was a success and I then was asked to play DJ sets in clubs. So I started buying techno records like crazy and became a DJ all because of this track. “Einfach” opened a complete new world to me. It was the beginning of my life as ascii.disko.”

http://www.asciidisko.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Camilo Rocha (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Camilo Rocha (Brazil)

1: James Brown – Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag

2: Issac Hayes – Shaft

3: The Winstons – Amen, Brother

4: Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder – I Feel Love

5: Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown

6: Alexander Robotnick – Problemes D’Amour

7: Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body

8: New Order – Blue Monday

9: Rhythm Is Rhythm – Strings Of Life

10: MARRS – Pump Up the Volume

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Camilo Rocha: “James Brown’s track represents a major shift in the story of rhythm. It launched the funk rhythm, with the accent on the first beat of the bar, as opposed to the dominant pattern of soul and rock which emphasized the second beat. Everything that came after, disco, house, techno, electro derives from the rhythm structure pioneered on this 1965 single.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Camilo Rocha: “I wouldn’t say there was a single piece of music that converted me, it was more like a process. But tracks like Blue Monday and Move your Body were pretty important in pointing me to a future based on repetitive electronic beats.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Camilo Rocha: “Marshall’s Move Your body for sure, allegedly the first house track to use pianos! Nuff said!”

Camilo’s blog: http://bateestaca.virgula.uol.com.br

Twitter :  http://twitter.com/camilorocha

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Chris Finke: (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Chris Finke:

(In Alphabetical Order!)

3 Phase Featuring Dr. Motte  ”Der Klang Der Familie” – Transmat (1992)

B-Sides (Frank De Wulf) “The Tape (Remix)” – Music Man (1991)

Flock Of Seagulls “I Ran” – Jive (1982)

Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” – Arista (1985)

Joey Beltram “Energy Fash” – Transmat / R&S(1990)

Lenny De Ice _We Are ie” – Reel 2 Reel (1991)

Mescalinum United “We Have Arrived” (The Mover Remix) – PCP / R&S (1992)

Acid Junkies “Sector 9″ – Djax-Up-Beats – 1992

Nico “Darkstar (Positive Outlook)” – ESP Records (1992)

World To World  ”Amazon” – Underground Resistance (1992)

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Chris Finke: “This was a near impossible task, but I included some of the dance tracks in that have really influenced me and would be relevant. I’m past caring about putting cool tracks into lists, all of these kick ass on the dancefloor one way or another and each one has had some sort of influence on me, whether its the energy of  Flock Of Seagull’s I Ran’ and The Tape, or the mind-melting effect of tracks like Klang Der Familie and and We Have Arrived. Or just the sheer musical genius of Jermaine Stewart’s We Don’t Have to…, Amazon or  Darkstar (Positive Outlook).”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Chris Finke: “Again this is hard to pinpoint, but the one track in the list where I really had to stop and think ‘this is next level’ was Lenny De Ice’s We Are ie”. Hearing that thunderous Amen break and killer B-line at a big outdoor rave for the first time (Weekend World, Brafield Stadium, Northants!) was a jaw dropper for so many people there, it really stuck out.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Chris Finke: “Of all the ones on there that didn’t cross over, I would say that Amazon could have actually crossed over if it had been released a few years later (in the same way that “Knights of the Jaguar” did). It’s got everything and the kitchen sink but its put together so well, it’s an absolute classic.”

http://www.facebook.com/chrisfinkedj

http://www.soundcloud.com/chrisfinke

http://www.twitter.com/chrisfinke

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Chris Fortier: (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Chris Fortier:

1.    The KLF – What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Mix) (KLF Communications)

2.    Cybotron – Alleys Of The Mind (Deep Space Recordings)

3.    Ce Ce Rogers – Someday (Atlantic)

4.    LFO – LFO (Warp)

5.    Leftfield – Not Forgotten (Hard Hand Mix) (Outer Rhythm)

6.    The Chemical Brothers – Chemical Beats (Junior Boys Own)

7.    Joey Beltram – Energy Flash (R&S)

8.    Vernon – Wonderer (Instrumental Mix) (Eye Q)

9.    Hardfloor – Experience (Harthouse)

10. 2 Bad Mice – Bombscare (Moving Shadow)

11. DBX – Losing Control (Accelerate)

12. Candi Staton – You’ve Got The Love

13. Mr Fingers – Can You Feel It (Trax)

14. Danny Tenaglia – Bottom Heavy (Tribal America)

15. Royal House – Can You Party (Warlock)

16. Jeff Mills – Purpose Maker

17. Prodigy – Charly / Your Love (XL Recordings)

18. Plastikman – Spastik (Novamute)

19. BT – Embracing The Sunshine (Musicnow)

20. Jaydee – Plastic Dreams (R&S)

21. Eric B & Rakim – Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix)

22. The Choice – Acid Eifel (Transmat)

23. Orbital – The Chime (FFRR)

24. Primal Scream – Loaded (Creation)

25. Delerium – Silence (Fade Sanctuary Remix

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Chris Fortier:  “My list could really be in any order. There isn’t a necessary priority to any of them.  I selected tracks I felt were heavily influential and pivotal in music that when these tracks came out, there was a notable shift or new wave movement with the overall electronic music scene.  And these essentially sparked new trends or threads of the music.  The KLF one is somewhat even more personal to me since it was around the time I started to really DJ and figure out the kinds of tracks I wanted to buy and play.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Chris Fortier: “Cybotron, Ce Ce Rogers and also Mr Fingers. These were some of the first records I remember hearing as I was discovering house music as a teenager.  Cybotron (circa 1981/82) would really be a blueprint for some real experimenting in the new techno.”

http://soundcloud.com/chris-fortier

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Christian Smith: (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Christian Smith:

1. Manuel Goettsching – e2-e4

2. Kraftwerk – Numbers

3. Cerrone – Supernature

4. Man Parish – Hip Hop, Be Bop

5. Adonis – No Way Back

6. Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body

7. Visage – Fade To Grey

8. Ministry – Work For Love

9. Severed Heads – Dead Eyes Opened

10.Section 25 – Looking from a Hilltop

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Christian Smith: “This tune was written in 1981 and was well ahead of its time. It’s a one hour ambient/minimal journey that is simply timeless and never gets boring. This tune has been sampled many times in house and techno records decades after and is a cornerstone of modern electronic music.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Christian Smith: “It’s impossible to narrow this down to one song, but if I would have to choose one track it would be Kraftwerk’s Numbers. I was 9 yeas old when this was released and I still remember hearing it for the first time: total future! Even today it sounds like nothing else out there.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQb2Y8wmMTk

http://www.facebook.com/officialchristiansmith

http://twitter.com/#!/CSmithLIVE

http://www.djchristiansmith.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Christopher Lawrence (Click on the picture for the top 50)

Christopher Lawrence:

Bobby Konders’ House Rhythms – Nervous Acid – Nu Groove 1990

X-Cabs – Neuro – Hook Recordings 1995  -  This track defined my sound!

Hardfloor  - Acperience – Harthouse 1992

N-Joi – Malfunction – Deconstruction 1991

DJ Misjah & DJ Tim – Access – X-Traxx 1996

808 State – Cubik – ZZT 1990

Gat Decor – Passion – Effective 1992

New Order – Temptation – Factory 1982

Dave Clarke Presents Red 2 – Wisdom to the Wise - Bush 1994

Speedy J -  Pepper (The Hot Mix) – Warp 1993

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Christopher Lawrence: “Nervous Acid was the first real acid house track I ever heard. This track changed my life. It was 4am, E was being passed around in a water bottle. I was hooked and never looked back.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Christopher Lawrence: “No particular track. I had been clubbing since I was sixteen but was more into new wave and post industrial. It was acid house that really converted me.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Christopher Lawrence: “Hardfloor ‘sAcperience and DJ Misjah & DJ Tim’s Access.”

http://facebook.com/djchristopherlawrence

http://twitter.com/djclawrence

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Danny Howells ((Click on the picture for the full top 50)

Danny Howells

1: James Brown – Let Yourself Go/There Was A Time/I Feel All Right (Live at the Apollo Vol 2)

2: Primal Scream – Higher Than The Sun

3: Donna Summer – I Feel Love

4: Slam – Eterna

5: Kraftwerk – The Robots

6: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – The Message

7: Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy

8: Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique

9: Prince – Mountains (12″ Mix)

10: Jam & Spoon – Stella

11: Propaganda – P-Machinery (beta) 12″

12: Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

13: Human League – Love & Dancing

14: The KLF – Chill Out

15: Simple Minds – Theme For Great Cities

16: Al Downing – I’ll Be Holding On

17: Hardfloor – Hardtrance Acperience

18: Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea

19: Soul II Soul – Keep On Moving

20: Last Rhythm – Last Rhythm

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Danny Howells: “Because my mum used to play this non-stop when I was four of five years old, and I suppose it was my first introduction to sheer hypnosis in music. It’s a medley that runs to about 20 minutes or so, and it just sinks deeper and deeper into a trance, with James Brown engaging the crowd in a call and response chant of “hey hey, I feel alright..” and so on. And he’s controlling his band, getting them to create drum and brass stabs with callouts of “two times”, “three times” etc. This is where you can hear where Prince got so many of his live ideas from. “

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Danny Howells: “There were many influential tracks for me, but one stands out and that’s Slam’s “Eterna”. I’d been DJing and clubbing for a while, but I remember one of our local DJs playing this at a party in Hastings once, and it came on at the same time that I had my first true “experience”, if you know what I mean.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Danny Howells: “There were many, often b-sides to early 80s synth tracks. Things like Soft Cell’s “Memorabilia” etc (although I suppose that was pretty popular). The 12″ mix of Act’s “Snobbery & Decay” was a huge influence on me and was a chart flop, even though it was on ZTT. Plus when I was a kid, there were frequently extended versions on the b-sides of disco 7″s like Al Downing’s “I’ll Keep Holding On”. Tracks like this exposed me to the art of the extended mix. I know I’ll look at the top 20 I just sent you in half an hour or so and realise I’ve left something really crucial out!”

http://www.facebook.com/dannyhowellsdj

http://twitter.com/Danny_Howells

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

——-=——

Dave Clarke; (Click on the picture for the full top 50)

Dave Clarke:

1: New Order- Blue Monday

2: Donna Summer- I feel love

3: Phuture- Acid Tracks

4: Underground Resistance- Seawolf

5: Blake Baxter- When a Thought Becomes You

6: Cybotron- Clear

7: Man Parrish- Hip Hop Be Bop

8: Newleus- Push the Button

9: Nitzer Ebb- Let Your Body Learn

10: Front 242- Headhunter

Skrufff: Why did you select your number 1 choice?

Dave Clarke: “Blue Monday was one of those tracks that had everything at the right time, 12 inch format, that electronic drum programme that made you want to save up for a drum machine, the vocals . . . just all together at the right time, I even played in Athens last week in Blend.”

Skrufff: Which track turned you personally onto clubbing/ dance music the most?

Dave Clarke: “That is very, very hard to say, but I have to give kudos to Phuture for Acid Tracks, it got me canned off a hip hop jam, but it was the future (if you excuse the pun) . . . who needs drugs when you have this, it blew my mind.”

Skrufff: Which tracks had the greatest influence without crossing over to the mainstream?

Dave Clarke: “I find “top ten’s” so hard and unrealistic. As a music enthusiast I get inspired all the time, from Lydia Lunch to PJ Harvey to Fad Gadget in the past to Mr. Jones and George Lanham now, in fact the majority of my music collection and influences never crossed over to the mainstream at all. I could be a snooty so and so and give you a top ten of utterly uncompromising influencing music that the majority of your non music making readers would be baffled by. I think from my top ten it would be Push the Button by Newcleus as the production (done on a four track cassette recorder) blows away similar productions done on big desks, it gave inspiration from many, many angles.”

http://daveclarke.com

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff