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The sound of Manchester on a wet, dreary, overcast Sunday. Depressing but motivating in the sense of ‘I’ve gotta get the fuck out of there…..’

“Global superstars they may be to the average person, but to me they are friends and I can’t thank them enough for the support they have given me on this album.”

Berlin/ Mancunian punk-trance pioneer Mark Reeder and co-producer Micha Adam are just about to release a 5.1 surround sound  double CD/ DVD boxset comprising 41 of his remixes and videos, including tracks from the Pet Shop Boys, New Order spin-off Bad Lieutenant and Depeche Mode.

While the 5.1 surround sound DVD is likely to attract attention for its eclectic selection of remixes for upcoming talents including Spartak and Skrufff DJ Fidelity Kastrow it’s certain to attract the most attention for Reeder’s remix of Depeche Mode’s Sweetest Perfection which until now has never been commercially available.

Skrufff chatted to the veteran producer this week, to find out about his connections to the biggest bands he’s lent his talents to; Pet Shop Boys, Bad Lieutenant and Depeche Mode.

To buy Five Point One, click here ; http://amzn.to/tFsvpd )

Click to listen to clips from the entire album

Remixing Depeche Mode . . .

“I got in touch with Daniel Miller actually about some live photographs of Nick Cave & the Birthday Party that my former Shark Vegas band-mate Alistair had recently discovered he’d taken back in the early 80s. Daniel told me about their forthcoming Depeche Mode remixes album and asked me if I wanted to have a go at remixing a track.

I thought it would be utterly fantastic if I could include it on my five point one album instead, but I also knew that it was a very long shot as Depeche Mode don’t give out their tracks lightly and especially not ones that have previously never been released.

But if you don’t ask, you don’t know if you can get. So I told Daniel if I could use it, I would support Chelsea this season and he said ‘Mark, I believe everything you say, but I definitely don’t believe that!’ Thankfully, I managed to pull if off without having to go to such extremes.

I wanted my remix to sound organic and keep the dark, mysterious atmosphere of the Depeche Mode original. Naturally, I also wanted to add my own elements to the track too, so I gave it some gritty bass guitar and played a little John Barry-esque style hookline on a detuned piano in homage to him. It just seemed right.”

Bad Lieutenant: Meeting Bernard Sumner (Joy Division/ New Order) in 1978 . . .

I honestly can’t remember the actual circumstances of where and when I first met Bernard, but most probably it was in the Virgin shop I used to work at in Manchester, when he and Ian (Joy Division singer Ian Curtis) came in to sell me their first Joy Division EP  ‘An Ideal For Living’

We discovered we had similar interests and I got to know Bernard much better when Joy Division came over to play in Germany in January 1980 and we became closer friends after Ian died and have remained so ever since.

Bernard really liked my remix of Miracle Cure that I had made for Blank & Jones (and which featured him on vocals) and then we composed a song together which was initially intended for the first Bad Lieutenant album.

Unfortunately, though, our track had a tempo of156 bpm and was very synthi (synthesizer based) so it didn’t really fit into the Bad Lieutenant rock concept, so he asked me if I would remix the first Bad Lieutenant outtake Sink or Swim instead. (Click here to watch the video: http://bit.ly/vaaodq )

Following that, Bernard asked me to remix Twist of Fate, which had been a personal favorite track of mine off their wonderful debut album. These tracks were actually only ever released as mp3 downloads and therefore feature for the first time physically on 5.1 as CD and DVD.”

Meeting the Pet Shop Boys (1984):

“I got to know Neil in the early 80s through my friend Dave Rimmer just after West End Girls was first released. Dave went to school with Neil and worked with him at Smash Hits magazine. As for remixing German Film star I didn’t persuade them, they asked me. Neil called me and asked me if I would like to remix it for them.

They too had just heard my remix of miracle cure that I had made for Blank & Jones and they really liked it and said they wanted a similar sounding remix with my kind of retro feel. Michael Mayer later told me afterwards he really didn’t know what to expect from me and was dreading I was going to deliver some kind of horrid, cheesy trance remix. Thankfully, my remix apparently was a pleasant surprise to everyone at Kompakt.”

http://www.five-point-one.co.uk/

Click here to pre-order Mark Reeder Five Point One (2CD+DVD) [CD+DVD, Box-Set] on Amazon http://amzn.to/tFsvpd

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