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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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Interview with Nick Rafferty
Reported by Tom Allen
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Submitted 15-04-04 08:17
Having just mixed the latest Sundissential album Nick Rafferty is flying high right now with some massive guest spots at all biggest UK club events including Godskitchen, Slinky, Pams House, Garlands, ROAR, Transzaction, Tasty and of course his residency Sundissential. He's been delivering the goods on the production front as well with the Sundissential 3 album sampler 'U' doing the business and the follow up Fake 'in It' signed already to Honeypot Records and put on Lisa Lashes new Euphoria album. With Nick appearing at Peach Goes Hard this weekend at the Scala what better time to snatch a few words with him.
Tom Allen: Firstly Nick, seeing as this is your first interview for HF, how, when and where did you first get into DJing?
Nick Rafferty: I first got into Djing approx 10 years ago. I spent many an hour in clubs dancing to great music and found myself becoming more interested in the behind the scenes antics. My first ever gig was a party in Leicester at a place called Luxors! It was a friends private party, it was well nerve racking! My first residency was at the west end bar in Birmingham, where myself and Dave Lee used to play for a bag of nuts every Saturday and Sunday! Things went from there really. I guess that is where I met Danny & Madders and Sundissential led on a few years from there!
TA: And the production side of things?
NR: The first track I did was ‘I need a Fix’ on Tidy Trax. Andy & Amo got the four Sundissential residents to do an EP this was 5 years ago! Since then I have done various bits but am most happy now with the stuff myself and Nick Rowland are doing!
TA: Despite your hefty set of residencies, you appear relatively infrequently down in London. Why do you think that is and what plans do you have on that front?
NR: Yes, London has been a strange one for me. It has come in fits and starts. A couple of years ago I played at various gigs, Heaven and Freedom being fairly regular. Then it went quiet, but just recently there has been a lot more stuff come in again. Tasty being very regular!
TA: You've also recently remixed the trance classic 'Blue Amazon - No Other Love' - why did you pick this track to remix?
NR: I heard Darren Tate’s mix of this at the end of last year and thought god I hadn’t heard that track for ages! Anyway at the beginning of the year that mix turned up from Direction records. Anyway a very good friend of mine works at Direction and I just said could I have the parts on spec! We got them and the mix came out exactly as we planned. Already getting some comp action, the track will come out at the beginning of June, so watch out!!
TA: What are you looking to bring to a track like that when remixing it? Is it just a case of 'double the BPM, toughen the kicks and drop the melody into a standard HH breakdown then pocket the money' or something more?
NR: Darren’s mix just simply wasn’t tough enough for our floors! We wanted to keep the original break there as that is the track, so that people who didn’t know the track can experience it today. And generally spice it up there are a few different twists in there and just generally more energy. There was a lot of thought went into this to hopefully make it an interesting mix!!
TA: Out of interest, why do Messrs Rowland and Wright appear as 'The Coalition' on your collaborations?
NR: They wanted to have another name and this was it! To be fair though everything after ‘Groovin’ has been written by myself and Mr Rowland. Dave has been busy with his day job!
TA: Fake 'in It, your follow up to 'U' has also been caned on London dance floors recently, signed to Honeypot and will be appearing on Lisa Lashes' new Euphoria album - you must be delighted?
NR: We are really pleased with the way ‘Fake’ in it’ has been received. It seems to be getting played by various people like Ferry Corsten, as well as the great support by Dave Pearce on Radio. Good or bad it all helps!
TA: You've also diverged slightly and produced the techno influenced 'Everybody' - do you have anything more planned on the techno front?
NR: Yes the guys White & Jeffries, I will be doing more bits with them shortly! It is a case of fitting it in, it isn’t necessarily priority at the second!
TA: Do you regularly incorporate techno into your DJ sets? How do you see techno fitting into the music played in hard dance clubs?
NR: I do, I think techno is great, and I think it really works well within hard dance. It has been nice over the last couple of years that different styles of music have been fitted into sets! It keeps thing interesting and fun! Techno can just break the up and downs of hard house and hard trance!
TA: You've mixed a huge number of compilation albums that we know of, what's the tally so far and why do you think you've been asked to do so many? Which has been the most commercially successful in terms of sales?
NR: I have done 8 commercial comps, which isn’t to bad. I would say the Sundissential ones have been the most successful commercially. My favourites however are the React one I did with Simon Eve and Ziad, I love that and the last Sundissential one! I really don’t know why I have done all these but I am grateful, they have all been fun!
TA: The Sundissential Album which you mixed with Ilogik went down a treat in these quarters - how was it received by the Sundissential faithful? What were you looking to do when you mixed the album?
NR: This was a great album to do and thanks for that. I couldn’t believe I got asked to do this as the third one! Yes as far as I am aware it had a good response, it was definitely the best one out of the three for me! With this I wanted to develop the mix as I would develop a set, capturing some of the classic Sundissential moments and leaving it ready for Ilogik to take over. I think it worked quite well. Thanks to the Nukleuz lot for there time on this project as well!
TA: Were the tracks on the album digitally mixed or done by hand? What's your opinion on the use of digital mixing on compilation albums?
NR: No all the mixes were done by hand. All that was done was a couple of tracks were edited to squeeze as much onto the CD as possible to give value for money! I don’t agree with digital mixing, it doesn’t sound natural and to be fair is cheating and cheating the punters buying them! If you can’t mix an album you shouldn’t be in the game!
TA: You also run your own label, NR Recordings. What plans do you have for the label this year and what do you have signed to appear in the near future?
NR: It is funny with my label because it was an outlet to put my own material and anything that really grabbed me. Everything we have been doing has been getting signed which is great! Record sales are obviously low at the moment and it is difficult to know what to put out with out much risk. Forthcoming releases will be Rafferty, White and Jeffries numbers though!
TA: What's your current touring schedule looking like?
NR: Touring is great over the next couple of months I am in South Africa, America and Australia/New Zealand as well as the bits in the UK!
TA: You were attributed in a past interview with the quote "The Hard House scene has become like Miss Moneypennys" due to numbers of people going out just to compare outfits rather than be into the music. Do you think things have improved since then?
NR: I think things have dramatically improved since then. The music for one I think is excellent at the moment. People are a lot more open minded to what they hear and it is all round good fun!
TA: We've heard you've also started leaning towards production and DJing on the house front - how's that coming along? Any tunes in progress?
NR: I started off by playing house originally and have always been into it! As I often say there is loads of great music out there so don’t miss out! But yes I do a few backrooms too. It can be great fun! Production wise we haven’t actually done anything yet but we have spoke about it so watch this space!!
TA: As someone who's been in the scene for a long period, what's your opinion of the current 'state of the nation' as regards hard house and trance in the UK?
NR: There are a few things it certainly isn’t as vibrant as it was a few years ago. This is down to a selection of reasons. I think millennium was a changing point when punters realised how much DJ’s took the p*ss with fees!! Club licensing hasn’t gone in line with bars. A lot of people won’t pay to go in a club when they can go to a bar for free, drink till two and listen to similar music!
I think kids are into different things as well, the old style indie music is back! There are a lot more DJ’s, fewer clubs, and fewer punters! Saying that there are still some great nights going on! I think the weekly events are hard work but monthly, one offs etc are special and as big as ever!
TA: Finally Nick, please give us 3 tunes that are welded to your slip mats at the moment...
NR:
Blue Amazon ‘No other Love’ ( Nick Rafferty & the Coalition mix) Direction
Mike Robins ‘Are you a Freak’ (Guyver mix) Bulletproof
Zero B ‘Lock Up’ (Alex Calver mix) Tripoli Trax
Thanks for your time Nick
Nick Rafferty plays at Peach Goes Hard on Saturday 17th April at The Scala
Peach Goes Hard
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On:
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Saturday 17th April 2004
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At:
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The Scala [map]
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From:
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10pm-6am
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Cost:
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£10 in advance, more on the door. Members £10 before 11pm
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Website:
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www.peachyravers.com
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Ticket Info:
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Advance Tickets £10 from 020 7434 2222 or www.aloud.com, more on the door.
Members £10 before 11pm.
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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PEACH GOES HARD comes to THE SCALA!
HARD HOUSE ANTHEMS 5 TOUR, WITH LISA PINUP!
+ Peach Goes Funky in the balcony room!
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Flyer:
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Other Features By Tom Allen:
Hardhouse Academy Preview: Interview with Nuw Idol
The Thirsty DJs Interview with DJChewy
Lashed Preview 2: Interview with Charlotte Birch
Interview with Jana
PhilTime Preview: Interview with Phil Reynolds
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Flake on 15th Apr 2004 10:19.20
Good stuff old chap! looking forward to ya new material 
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