*By Andy Bowler*

ok I've left this one alone on all forums for some time but I just thought I'd make a few comments ...
I agree with most of what you've put mark but I'm surprised as a journalist & with years of mag experiences that you ever got pulled into this... 4 months or so ago I was contacted by mixmag (which was set up by react as a promotion for the bonkers series..) they wanted to know about this new hardcore... they had no interest in the fact that most of the uk hardcore djs (I mean happy) were still around after years the djs I mentioned being at the top of the tree: Hixxy, Sy, Brisk etc had all been around for 10 years playing hardcore...they had no interest in the facts so I pretty much gave them no other info... I didn't try & get North mentioned cos I've always been wary of mags that have no interest in the scene I'm involved in so I didn't try & mention it at all I don't want my nights associated with mixmag apart from listings...
On another point this whole hardstyle situ really p*sses me off... you state hardstyle began for you last year yet I've been playing Italian kick drum orientated hard trance for 4 years I've numerous releases on Stik that are pre 2000 & would certainly fit into the "hardstyle" category..
Things become confusing because we have completely different pigeon holes in the uk than most of the rest of europe... mention hardcore in the uk & the majority think sy... hixxy (happy hardcore) in Italy hardcore means... Randy, dboy etc etc... pretty much the same in holland you mention hardcore & they would think Neophyte, distortion etc etc
they don't have happy hardcore... so the words hardcore mean 2 completely different things... Now in Italy where it seems this "hardstyle" originates they have had confusion for sometime over what is & isn't hardcore... hence coining the slower paced collaboration of hardcore (techno) kickdrums with hard trance as hardstyle...
you also have to bear in mind that in italy they have very few categories for music so this is not really so confusing... they have house, techno, commercial, hardcore & now hardstyle.... the word hardcore in italy now relates as it should to music that would be played by the likes of producer, simon underground etc...
wheras in the uk we have more pigeon holes than pigeons to fit in them..
I can't really understand where Neo fits into all this & I find it quite amazing that mixmag have latched onto a night that was only 1 event old & was hardly breaking new ground musically... At North we've pioneered the fusion of techno, hard trance & hardcore for years yet we decided the best way to promote our nights was to work ludicrously hard doing so not trying to feed off of a mag that only a few years ago was slating hardcore music ...& seems to be doing the same thing... I'm not slating Neo for their approach obviously being on the cover of mixmag for free will have some benefit to them but to do so at the expense of a scene & djs that have been around for many many years is certainly not the way to go about it & unfortunately Mark & Uberdruck seem to be the patsys in this!!!-+