Liberating the UK,Interview with Chris Liberator

Reported by Tara / Submitted 06-08-08 16:08.35

The first and last time I met Chris Liberator for a coffee was in Camden in 2006, almost two years ago. Since then a lot has happened in the music scene: distributors have gone down, taking labels with them, and many of those who have survived have stopped making vinyl altogether. With Chris playing a rare three-hour set at this weekend’s Infecting the UK 001 at The Coronet Theatre, it was definitely time we met for an update, only this time at the classic Elephant & Castle shopping centre, once known as the Piccadilly of the South. And despite the many changes in the music industry since our last meeting, one thing has stayed the same — Chris is more passionate about his pet subjects of techno, punk and politics than ever…

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We find a seat at the café upstairs and start chatting, as it’s been a while. What’s been happening in the world of Chris Liberator since we met in Camden just over two years ago? “I‘ve still got the band thing going on,” he smiles. “And I’m still making techno more than ever, but I’ve been playing a few punk sets and Guy McAffer has too. We happened to notice one day we got back from somewhere and we were talking about the records we liked — Stay Up Forever, the punk tip, the John Peel tip, DIY, we both loved that kind of sound — punk but house punk.

“We’re both really into punk and DIY punk. Some of it is quite harmonious. We’re both from band backgrounds and my wife really wanted to sing. We’ve done two gigs now and they were really good fun. The name of the band is Dogshite.

On the day of our interview, Chris was really excited about his then forthcoming Dogshite gig at The Far Side Returns the next Sunday 27 July, which of course I’d planned on going to but had to work instead. By all reports it was one hell of a gig too; I’ll definitely be trying to make it to the next one. Apologies aside however, for the infamous Stay Up Forever (SUF) crew have been up to a lot more than DIY punk since that coffee in 2006.

“Yes, the Collective are still making vinyl,” Chris confirms, but warns that this is the last fight to see if they’re going to continue. With their distributor going down in November they lost a lot of money. “It’s not the first time but probably the last time,” he cautions. “It was really ****ed up. We spent a load of money on a lot of records and couldn’t claim it back, so we had to re-think to survive.”

With Kinetic Records moving into Hackney and two of the biggest techno forces becoming neighbours, the two have started slowly merging stock. “They’ve always supported us,” Chris recalls. However stayupforever.com is still the main shop to pick up those rare records and T-shirts. “We’ve gone back to our DIY roots,” Chris explains. And luckily one of the big distributors has now taken on and started financing some of their many labels, so they’re finally making a bit of money again to finance what they’re doing: Hydraulix, Raw, Blackout Audio (Mark EG’s label), 4X4... just check out the list of many labels on their front page of their website to get a feel for the scope of the collective.

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With so many labels going on, of course there’s going to be a load of great tracks in the lab at any given time, and Chris assures me they’ve got all manner of bits and pieces going on. There’s new tracks out on Smitten is Dead and Wah Wah and they tend to do around one or two a month.

What should someone trying to get hold of some rare records do then? “Get online now or come to the Hackney office during the usual office hours and buy directly from us”. Chris assures me that they’re definitely still fighting for vinyl, but also doing downloads. SUF is now up to its release 92 and they’re “going to reach 100 whatever happens! If it kills me!”

At present, they can’t make money out of vinyl, “but can just about release a limited run and cover sales. In fact the records are more collectable now.” They have nowhere near the collection they had available four years earlier though, but now wait and see if a record is going to sell. “We now repress a record once it’s popular. If you don’t get it when it comes out, six months later it won’t exist. So people have to snap them up!”

With so many labels not bothering with vinyl these days, I wonder if this is a bit of an old school luxury? “I still play all my sets off vinyl,” Chris says. “I still play it wherever I go and a lot of techno DJs are the same. A lot are getting into Serato and Final Scratch. I was playing in Italy, in Naples, for Family Groove recently. The techno DJs are still really committed to playing vinyl. It’s 50/50 for lot of people. It’s not like psy which has always used DATS and new formats. Techno is different.”

It sounds like he’s as busy as ever, I note. “Yes, I’m still out DJing all the time,” he confirms. “This weekend I’m playing at WEMF — the last World Electronic Music Festival in Ontario, alongside Christopher Lawrence, Andy C, Freq Nasty and many more. I’ve done it since ’95. I’m also playing in Winnipeg with Madam Zu, Julia. It’s the best festival in North America for dance music.”

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“I’m still playing all over the place. People don’t quite get it sometimes. Recently I played in South Italy. It was so good! A beach party for 300–400, with lots of English squattie travellers. I almost don’t want to tell you about it! It’s a day beach party, a free party with a great vibe and atmosphere. Then I’ve got somewhere like WEMF next week.”

How does he find the contrast between bigger more commercial events and squats, I wonder? “The squat scene is not as good as it used to be,” he sighs. “Spain is still OK, I go over there about every 3–4 weeks and it’s always a really good one. But now I’ve had a kid I can’t go out on Sundays, and as my wife wants to go out as much as I do, we’ve made a pact together. Once every three months or so we’ll go out together, I’ll get a set and support it. A lot of people have had to move on. It’s a shame it’s not better… I’m dealing with that after doing it for 20 years, but still do my best to make it out there!”

“A dirty warehouse with thousands of people is much more difficult to do. The scene’s had a few punches. A few big systems have left the UK. There was a run of violence. KSS are still doing their thing, as are Pure Filth and Everyone’s Sound. We’re still doing Nuclear Free Zone at the 414. It must be the longest running techno party ever! If anyone wants to hear techno on a regular basis once a month — Saturdays are good!”

“We’ve also been teaming up with the brilliant Force FM radio station in Essex. Check out their website at www.forcefm.net. It’s mainly garage but there’s one guy, Steve Mills, who’s been playing techno every Thursday. I went down one week and loved it. Kinetic does one night and SUF does one night, there’s always someone from the underground, people like DAVE The Drummer, Rachel Rackit and Steve plays every week. Malfaiteures do nights and Kinetic also do another night between 8–12 every Thursday. They put their sets up online. They’re not on the Force FM site but Ian’s own site.”

So how does he feel about the current state of the dance scene? “There’s lots of good parties coming up,” he grins. “but not so much in London, so Antiworld is a good chance for people to come out and hear some good techno!”

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And what would this good techno be, I ask? Tracks like the new SUF track, which goes: “I’m bored of electro/I’m bored of minimal!” Well I’m pleased to see that despite the distributor dramas Chris still hasn’t lost his sense of humour! “I don’t mind minimal, but I’m bored of hearing it all the time,” he laughs. “Now hard techno and acid techno feel squashed into a little place… we’ve got a bit of a joke going on. So I’m fighting back by making records with Sterling Moss!”

When we met in 2006, Chris was very much into his punk and his politics. With the new punk band kicking off, does this mean he’s also more into politics than before? “Yes, even more so,” he nods. “I get really angry about politics. SUF puts out a lot of records with crass lyrics and to raise more awareness. ‘No religion/No government’. You can’t say much, so it’s always been about action, with parties and the label.”

“With punk you can say a lot more! I’m more and more disillusioned with capitalism. I hate capitalism! People, it just washes over them; they don’t even notice it. I did an interview with an anarchist I know. He’s really young and out there fighting against all this 42 days stuff and the government taking all our liberties away. There are some some good things though, like the Banksy exhibition where he’s mixing politics with art. I didn’t go but I got a program. It’s good to see proper politics demonstrated through music and art.”

“I’ve been turning my wife onto old feminist bands. It’s like we’ve gone back to the stone ages with some things. There needs do be more of an outcry against things that are wrong. Feminism is a good example. There’s some great grass roots things happening, especially environmentally. But it’s almost like capitalism has won and no-one has noticed. Look at consumerism and the ‘third world’! People like Mike Moore make films and they STILL vote Bush back in!”

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“There’s always been a good counterculture. I’ve been reading a lot of books. Look at The Specials story and the impact they made against racism. Now it’s almost cool to be a lad and cool to be sexist! And look at designer labels — as if that’s a thing to celebrate!”

“As for the erosion of civil liberties… people are just lying down and taking it. You can join liberty groups like Amnesty International, you don’t have to be anarchical or political to be involved. We’re writing song for Dogshite about the net. It’s almost like TV anaesthetised the population and the internet has taken it further. We’re on Myspace, FaceBook, but it’s all about ego. How many friends do you have?! It’s like having a points system.”

While Chris is writing songs for Dogshit, I’m hoping like hell he’s still well into his techno production. “I don’t have much time because I’m looking after Tabitha,” he explains. “She’s now at nursery two days a week, so I’m only back in one day every couple of days so don’t get as much done. I’ve been working a lot with Sterling Moss and Maximum Minimum Records. It’s working well with Sterling and it’s interesting because we’re from very different backgrounds musically.”

“I’m doing a lot with Guy and finally doing stuff with DAVE the Drummer again. A lot of people still don’t know we did ‘One Night In Hackney’! We are Dynamo City in case anyone doesn’t know that! We still do the four deck thing. I wish we could do more but just don’t have the time. Some of my time is now devoted to the band and loving that. But if anyone thinks I’m turning my back on techno that’s definitely not the case!”

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So is he looking forward to his forthcoming three hour set at Infecting the UK 001? “Yes I’m really looking forward to it,” he grins. “It’s much nicer to play long sets. You really have time to play everything and build it up. As a DJ it’s often all crammed in. Me and DAVE the Drummer played at a hardcore festival on the techno stage and it was a 45 minute set. What are you going to do with that?! You bang it out.”

“DJ culture has diminished a lot lately,” he observes. “People used to go out and see a DJ for the night. Now when you bang it out for one hour it doesn’t let a DJ be creative and build it up. Most DJs worth their salt can do much better over three hours than three DJs playing one hour. Sometimes one hour can be a high-octane buzz, but personally I prefer longer sets and I’m really looking forward to it!”

And just as set times have sped up over the years, so has technology. “It’s changed everything,” Chris agrees. “And not necessarily for the better! The revolution is based on technology now. The whole acid house revolution started and machines were not made to make this kind of music. 303 and 909 machines were for bands to use! A few years later people discovered how they could make these sounds they could dance to.”

“Bands are now bigger than ever,” he notes. “People have gone back to guitars and live drums — like Infected Mushroom! But just because you’ve got technology doesn’t mean you have to embrace it. I still prefer the sound of analogue machines, but most tracks are now using a quarter of the gear they did three years ago.”

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Perhaps the biggest issue for Chris is, however, the impact technology has had on the quality of music and the way people now listen to it. “The quality of music and the way people listen to music has now diminished because of technology,” he laments. “20–30 years ago people would buy an album, take it home and listen to it on high, really loud or with headphones on. They’d listen to the whole album. Now people download MP3s of the worst quality and two minutes of song instead of 45 minutes of the album.”

“Artists themselves are now trying to fit a three minute song into two minutes. It’s the same with DJs, it’s easier to mix with new technology but is it any good? Is music even worth it any more? People’s attention spans are so short because of technology. Nothing is of better quality, just faster. That’s not a good thing!”

He continues: “Even though technology is good and interesting and exciting, it’s almost killing our appreciation of music. It’s like listening to Laurent Garnier or Sven Väth for six hours is like a thing of the past, it doesn’t happen much any more. If it doesn’t keep people’s attention spans then it doesn’t happen.”

There are some advantages to all this though. “Making music is easier,” he agrees. “I get sent loads of demos. It’s great people can make music and have the freedom to do it. But you still have to be talented to make something really good!”

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The worst thing about it all for Chris is that creativity is the lowest it’s been in 50 years. As he describes it: “We’ve had punk, dance music, rock n roll… but in the last 20 years nothing has happened, except rehashing from before. Even dance music, let’s face it, the biggest tunes of the night are rehashes. People are making something easy. There’s no attitude in music; no attitude with life. Rock music is all MTV. There’s some good dance and rock music — but where’s the ‘**** you’ in music? ALL good music has always been about the **** you!”

Having set the world at rights, I decide to end on a potentially controversial question, for it’s a well-known fact that many techno DJs hate psy trance and I’m curious to see if Chris is an exception. Why, I ask, does he love Infected Mushroom? “Infected Mushroom are top of their game in psy trance,” he replies carefully. “But I’m not a psy trance person, which is a bit of a shame. They’ve moved direction now. I’m not into what they’re doing but at least it’s original for someone who’s been playing electronic music to be up there with drums and guitars. Fair play to them for trying something different!”