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If techno was bigger over here we'd all be alot happier I reckon... i love playing the big parties abroad cause i meet so many great people on the same wavelength... as it is, it's a very small club scene here in the UK... i play so many techno parties abroad where we get anything from 3-20,000 people but in the UK it's impossible. the most we'll get is 2,000... what's going on????!!!
I dont think I agree with you that the techno movement is so small in the uk. While I may be way way wrong in this assumption, you look at your standard fairly large north american city. Most nights there is only one event that you can go to that will feed your addiction, and so everyone shows up to it because of a lack of options.
I know things in europe are somewhat different, and I'm not completely sure if you were referring specifically to say germany or italy or .cz (wow dont they seem to just love techno there), but even from my point of view around Toronto, we have 4 million people in the immediate vicinity, and if theres only one good techno event on a weekend, you bet everyones going to show up for it and thats going to be a huge crowd.
Well that and you seem to have cult leader status in this country, but Ive also been at events youve done here where theres only a few hundred people in the immediate area ( i must admit I kind of like those better because theres alot more room)
just beat me if im wrong.
Mike
You go in hard, and you go in fast.
here in montreal last friday we had chris liebing at one club commander tom at another and and joey beltram at another.. needless to say this town gets techno bizzy.
sorry if i took it off the topic of uk.. but i don't hear a lot about big tehcno events or even clubs doing techno nights much out in uk either.. ultimate base and carola's new night.. that's all i know about orbit and such..
I think techno is on the up in the uk, but it is the wrong sort of people and the wrong dj`s getting into it.
its the same with hardcore techno, in most other countries it seems to have really taken off when over here where to be honest were quite far ahead in terms of production and talent its shrunk massivly over the last year or 2 (altho things do seem to be picking up again).
I played in France early this year at a hardcore techno party in a Basketball court to 2000 ppl and it was amazing, never b4 have i seen so many ppl gather just for hardcore. Iv found through meetin and speakin2 other Djs from other countries etc. that people abroad seem to be alot more open minded musically i think (u may disagree) and are up for trying something new but here, especially in the more mainstream clubs, crowds are quite clique. Plus iv found that 'ravers/clubbers' (whatever the pigeon hole is these days!) in this country are alot 'lazier' (for want of a better word) and are quite happy to sit at home, eat 'ahem' sweets and listen to tapes. Enthusiasm did definatly seem to be dieing at one point, although i do remain hopefull!
It would be very good if all genres of techno parties were bigger over here. Although another factor could be the actual population of the countries?
Theres so many other reasons i could mention not just about other countries but why things seemed to have dwinndled over here as a whole, but unfortunatly i gotta shoot.....will continue when i get bak.heh
you want to talk about small....
nyc has to be the worst when it comes to techno...
and some of the talent we get is top notch.(ex. www.tronictreatment.com)
but people dont show...we even have local dj's like..
christian smith,selway,hawtin,...but still nothing.
the last big weekend night was hawtin and vath together at club arc...only 950 people???....huh.....wha??
ridiculous...
-z
i know what you mean.. i've payd nyc a few times and people just dont seem to care.. why?
nyc is dominated by hard house/trance/in-scene...
techno doesnt fit in the loop....people in nyc have lost
their sense of art and experimentation..
there is a scene but a very small one..the lack of unity doesnt help either.
nyc has gone from a striving art orientated scene to a money driven scene...
can you believe people pay 50$ to go see tiesto/pvd but wont pay 30$ to see hawtin/vath.
-z
i wouldn't pay 30 usd to see hawtin and vath.
30 usd in nyc to go see dj's is a bit of a deal in nyc..
average club entrance 35$
special events 45-50$
-z
$35 - $45 in nyc for techno?
nah.
tronic mondays $5 or less. used to be free.
i've found the techno thing to be big in germany, NL, Belgium. that's great and all but i've been to some awesome parties here too. hatwin / control 4 detroit soon!
this wouldn't exactly be "Underground Techno Discussion" if it were more popular now would it?
ny is a mess right now. we have a great assortment of techno parties during the week, with top-notch local talent and a great assortment of top-flight international jocks turning it out, but the problem is that people aren't showing up for the "talent" anymore. NY has become so much of a "scene" that a lot of these parties are getting crowds who are there to be "seen" instead of there for the music. which is why we can pack out a sven + richie monday night, but nights where rachmad, space dj'z, technasia, etc.. play we can barely scrape up a couple of hundred heads. on the one hand.. i feel reassured because techno surely is one of those things that you either "get", or you don't. i find it's kind of like dr. pepper in that you love it, or don't. i'd rather have that knowledgable CORE/NUCLEUS of people that get and are going mental to rachmad in a small intimate space, then be in a huge club where people are there more for the club's name than the dj's. but.. being a realist, i know this is not economically feasible and am having a hard time reconciling.
best,
CLoaX
"I don't have to take this abuse from you, I've got hundreds of people dying to abuse me."
monday night isn't the easiest sell for as techno party either. nyc was a mess over the summer when there were f*ck all parties to go to. i'm hoping more diverse talent will start to appear at the larger venues. ken ishii @ arc is a good start. needs to be on a friday night next time.
that explains why Im constantly scanning ebay for silly dr pepper stuff. Its the music that makes me do it.
heh
Mike
You go in hard, and you go in fast.
Good to see this discussion has become about the nyc scene rather than the uk
I personally think it's good that we in the uk stay small and underground. Keep out the bandwagon jumpers. Look at the trance/hard trance scene here.
What was a good scene musically and in the clubs exploded, and a few years down the line it's been ruined by commercialism and people who don't give a @#%$ about the music.
The people who are into techno in the UK are in it because they love it. They will protect and fight for a scene they can identify with it. So what if the parties are few and far between. It makes them all the better when they actually kick off.
It's down to what you prefer I suppose. I'd rather be in a small club rammed with techno heads, than in a large festival with 1/4 techno heads, 1/4 curious/open-minded people, and 1/2 who just don't give a @#%$.
It's different in Europe. Big events like ILT can attract 35,000 folk and it was great to see so many people who were into the music, but at the same time, there was a large cross section of nationalites there as well. Not 35,000 belgians.
And one of the questions I asked myself was "what is their perception of the UK scene?" They must see we have some of the pioneers, and some of the biggest names in techno producing and dj'ing and yet our techno scene is one of, if not the smallest scene in Europe.
I say keep techno underground. It's where we belong!
Daviec
Let me know what you think of my hard trance!!
As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point your way.