what the hell is wrong with the u.k. techno scene???

hi all
i'm out in brasil right now for the 7th time.
Since i first came over here a couple of years ago things have really changed. They've had a lot of the big techno names here recently (you know ,Rush,Umek,Liebing blah blah) and what is really cool is that they really have no pretensions about people like myself,Chris lib, Markeg etc playing at the same parties as these guys
mainly because they are really interested in the music and a bit of variety.

My point is. why the hell don't we do this more in the u.k??

The techno scene is becoming fragmented with these guys playing over here and the ''other'' guys playing over there. I just don't get it.
o.k. our styles are different but they may be closer than a lot of people think. I've been popping down to system at propoganda when i can get the chance and it's a really good night. Marco carolla,Terry mitchell are residents they've had Adam beyer (who was excellent I must say) and Gaetek and plenty of other guys including Umek who seems to get a right old slagging these days (perhaps understandably)

Basically i've found that the techno scene worldwide is far more accepting of different styles working together than my home town and it's really getting to me!

Now i hear that some friends of mine have been trying to organise an event in London featuring a mixture of London and european techno jocks
and they've encountered problems with the bookings because a lot of these guys won't play with us. they will never hear a geezer live p.a. shame on them!

I mean we're all supposed to be techno djs? and techno is an anti mainstream underground form of music right? so why the attitude?
is it just wrong of me to hope for a world where we all get on and respect each other? I don't think so

it's weird, you get to shake a guys hand out in some foreign country where you're both playing together and having a fun and the next thing you hear is that he won't play with you in london cos you're not in the secret techno club.

Your thoughts please

a bemused drummer
:roll:

sounds familiar.a friend of mine in detroit says that many of the artists there cop all kinda attitude bout DEMF; "carol marvin is a bitch", "**** c-pop", "carl craig turned his nose up at me","alan oldham is a traitor","the fesitval is too commercial" blah, blah, blah. then they whine when european / uk djs are the headliners at the party. i think some people can get spoilt and jaded after a bit in certain places. problem is, you can't tell them to just friggin snap out of it and stop being such babies. when you go somewhere like brazil, that hasn't had a scene until recently, people are going to be much more enthusiastic about stuff.

i think a lot of djs and producers on the european continent feel that that the UK has an extremely insular dance music scene. i posted on / and read the acid phonk forum for a bit. at one point i mentioned that the new acid junkies live cd was dope as all hell and no one knew what i was even talking about. "acid junkies? nope, never heard of em' sorry m8" wtf is that?

there's a secret techno club handshake?

Hey Dave,

I totally understand mate I feel the same too. I have 90% of my DJ bookings in Germany and I feel more at home there now with the Techno scene than here in bloody London. I find they are so much more open about what you want to play than here where if it's not in this months MIXMAG then it's not cool SHIT !!! People out there go out to party and I speak to people that either drive for 5 hours or get the train for 4 hours just to come to the club, now you would never get that here would you ? The thing which f**ks up the scene here is the lame music press nameing no names as well all know who they are but I scan through them when i'm bored at the airport but it's the bloody same in every mag, same interviews with the same mega-selling artist etc. The review section always makes me laugh because always in the techno section I can hardly ever remember seeing a record that i've got or even seen in any record shops let alone ever hearing in clubs and I go every week SO WHO BUYS THESE ? It's all about back patting. Germany has got it sorted with mags like Groove & Raveline firstly they are free and every issue they have reviews on all the proper music you hear in clubs. In the UK it's all about getting the hard cash. The END Club is £14 and it's 10-6. Most clubs in Germany are 10 Euro's (£6.50) and it's 10-noon !!!!

That's my rant over with......ahaha

Paul "Meldrew" Langley

hey dave the drummer! i just signed on a small agency with SHOKO F in tokyo, and he says you guys are pretty close. small world! when are you coming back to japan?


@subject
from what i understand spain is totally the same way, they only book the same 12 artists over and over again. :roll: it is definitely like that at maniac love or liquid room here in japan. i play in tiny clubs for dozens of people... its kinda fun though because there is alot of freedom to experiment :twisted:

I would love to be able to see you, chris, mark etc on the same bill as say sims, liebing etc, but it just doesn`t happen in the uk?!?!?, in all the years i have been into techno i have only had the chance to see you & chris once, although i would like to see you a lot more, there aren`t many acid nights up my way (merseyside) so i don`t really get the chance, last time was julian liberator in liverpool about 12 months ago.

there are a lot of people in the uk that would turn there noses up at you & chris etc if you were to play at a night such as atomic jam or lost etc, probably to look cool or something!

it`s the same with my mate`s, if i said come and see ddr/chris liberator they would say something along the lines of "no he`s an acid dj it will be sh*t".... whic is utter bollocks and it`s not just acid that you play.


feel free to start a night in liverpool :wink: , i recommened yourself, chris & mark tyler as residents.

that was me techfunk02 the above message

i agree, the scene is in danger of disappearing up its own arse. and we all know that its to do with the amount of wonga thats on offer nowadays! sure its wikid to b earning a shed load for playing your records, i hope myself to one day b in the position were im being paid to entertain kids with techno, but i (and i imagine nearly half the Djs u ask) would b MORE THAN WILLING to do this for free. the few gigs ive had have been such a buzz that its worth it just to have people thanking u for providing a wikid soundtrack to their night. i think alot of techno producers, especially big names like umek, are the people who are going to take techno into the pit of despair known as commercialism.

which is fine by me to b honest, as long as i know i can still go to HOG, The Jam, Lost, Orbit, Uglyfunk or any of the other true class underground nites that are still available to the true techno fans.

I've been studying anthropology for awhile now (as a self intrest thing) and I've been applying what I have learned to the techno scenes I have been apart of.
Alot of you guys have been around to Toronto- and I don't know what you know abou the scene here- but its very much how you describe. We used to have a huge techno scene here. The largest promoter of it was pHryL and they refused to even consider booking the likes of the liberators, dave or any of your crew. Reason being they had a motto "Keep you cheese in the fridge"

I got ahold of a live tap dave did in Saskatoon (PPm 5 year) and gave it to phil from phryl- First thing I did was I told him it was me on the decks- and he loved it. Then i let the cat out of the bag and told him who really did the mix. He still wouldnt book you guys.

From my experince- Toronto's techno was brought up on the detroit gods. As parties got bigger- the base of our party economy sort of wiped its self out (with the help of a city ban on raves) and things went to the clubs. The acid techno ect, was left in the raves for the kiddies to party it up with and it stayed there- because the only pull your names bring in are the very young crowd around here.

Tastes have become very eclectic around the world- and around here you guys just play 'trance'. Being a player by association is how alot of DJ's make it anywhare period. I was on my way up but sort of took a heavy blow when I opened for a party that Dave, Geezer and ? did a live pa at here (nightmare: headbangers) because i got associated with a young crowd- and the hard techno trance dance 'crap'.

What to do?

Well we started a Free Tekno scene here and threw Canada's first Teknival (wich I Chris Liberators wife showed up at! i never met her though- alot of our djs didnt show so I ended up playing for about 4 hours) and taken alot of the scene back into its roots. We're hoping to inject some will into people. The realization that once your out in a giant field- that the party truely is what you make it and that theres a good enough groove in all styles of music.

I am rambling much !

Back to making tracks for me.. :P

cheers
Tyler

Ok.. the main problem (I think) boils down to the general missconception that hard music means bad crowds of trouble makers... is this true??
Fuc*** NO absolutly not!!!

I think this is just down 2 musical racism... I used 2 play quite hard, now I don't go as hard as I used 2 .. but I see no prob In playing with djs that do It's just a matter of Line Up consistency... u start building!!

My 2 cents anyways,


PS- I am 100% down the same path I have been producing 4 sometime now and still I get sh** atitude from popdjs over here, these guys tend 2 forget that the world isn't just they're backyard... I Keep doing what I do and eventually cheese goes out of date, so our time must come!! ehehe :P

Z

Hey Henry,

Just saw your post here on the site. Yeah it's quite funny how in Brazil you've got Chris, playing alongside UMEK and Valentino at a party. The techno scene here is much more acceptant of a good mix of music genres as well as big names at parties. But isnt this the way everything should be anyhow?

People gotta take their heads out of their asses and open up their minds to
new styles and experiences.

One point that i would like to add was how you were saying "our techno is very similar to the techno they produce". Well essentially it is, but the world is quite ignorant and from speaking with a lot of people here who HATE acid techno produced techno, they feel that acid techno or london based acid techno production is more close to trance and commercial music as it follows a certain pattern in producition. Obviously I dont believe this but this is what i believe is being said around the globe and might be a main reason for the problems you are having in London as well.

Maybe im missing the point but thats what I believe is happenng.
It's an example of sheer ignorance and that chap proved it when he sent that mix to the guy from PhRyl and he was like "WOW THIS IS GREAT", and then later telling him it was you. I know these PhRyl parties and the promoter himself. He was doing the EXACT same shit as what was happening in London, only booking Adam Beyer, Thomas Krome etc etc because he strongly felt that london acid wasnt UNDERGROUND.

Peeps gotta wake up, and until they do i will stay in Brazil and enjoy the music!

Cheers
Pauze :twisted:

1st - nice to see you've found our new board Mr Drummer! I think you'll like it here.. :=]

OK, 2nd. What you're talking about on your post is commonly known as music snobbery. And unfortunately it's all over the UK. Everywhere u go in the UK, whether you're into punk, techno, hip-hop, garage, drum n bass or gay disco (?!), there's always someone who will quickly slag off the 'other' punters who go to that 'other' club. then there's the music press. constantly telling us that dave clarke is god and dave the drummer and his london acid techno sucks dick. i think the dj top 100 is showing us the real score :=]

ok, so you get this all over the world, but credibility seems to be more important than anything to the elite techno scene... the UK press rules the roost throughout the world and unfortunately, I reckon beyer and corola and these guys see the fact that they get coverage and respect from reviewers and interviewers and that london acid techno gets nothing. they talk about it in their little circles and decide that london acid techno is formulated crap.

well that's what i thought when i first heard london acid techno (hehehhe...), but because i started playing a bit of trance in 1992-5, i could see the fact that acid techno rocked. if i hadn't have done that i'd still think that the music i played was the best in the world and no-one could convince me otherwise. probably the same as beyer etc...

look h.... although i'd love it to change, i don't think it ever will...

carolla is playing some pretty formulated crap these days himself....wait, he played euro - house here in nyc recently. that's just straight up crap.

rock on to the acid techno sound, london and otherwise.

(abuit drunnnk right now)

Carolla is great. I've heaard him play straighht up hard technouse - deep house and electro barely touching the techno he is known for. What the **** should you care what he is playing? Why should you care that he is known for techno (and really ****ing good techno too) and he drops the occasional house mix? Or deep house track? Or eruo cheese (ive never heard him spin eruocheese). Is it really musically snobbery?
I dont know-
I dont see or hear them bad mouthing you guys.
Its the fans.

I want to get something straight here- are you putting them into the selling out vien? Just seems a bit hypocriticale to me.
But maybe there is a polotic here I dont understand because im not from the European countries.

uh. i'd put carolla into the "played complete and utter euro-house garbage last time i saw him" vein. matter o' fact i'd say he's completely overrated as a dj.

i care when i pay $5 for dat crap yo.

he sucked at demf :oops:

well thanks for the feedback on this subject.
i guess i just get my angry days now and then.
f**k it, i'm having a good time here in brasil
and no one really cares what i play as long as it's good.
i've been spinning a right old selection from london techno, to acid
then bits of hard techno and german stuff right down to things like "sunshine" on intec and that kind of more melodic stuff
it's been going really well especially in the morning at the outdoor raves,
playing more melodic things is so great when the sun's coming up here.
so bollox to the boring secret techno club.
who cares anyway? i'll still play their music (if it's good) and as long as the dancefloors rock then i'm satisfied.
tell you what, i dropped the friends theme on noodles yesterday, just stuck it i the middle of a breakdown of another record for a few secs, slightly puzzled the crowd but they got the joke hehe.
yeah i'm pretty content really, sometimes i whinge and i later i just feel like an old woman yknow?
techno's great, people are great and always entertaining, and there's always something new to learn about this job.
next time i go to system i'm just going to have a beer with my mates and listen to some good techno (hopefully) and remind myself not to whinge
but to look forward to the future.
enjoy it while it lasts
this is not a rehearsal

love to all
d

nah h, it was a good point and well worth bringing up. but like i said - it's the way it is. mind you, it's all made me think about a few things on this board. Read my post - 'Carola Sucks Ass And Acid Techno Is Gay'..