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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! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! |
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HarderFaster interview with Olly Perris and Andy T of Addiction Digital
Reported by Gordon Darley
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Submitted 02-12-05 02:32
One thing that drives this scene is good, solid hard work. Whether it be the DJs, promoters, dancers, photographers; nobody will take a blind bit of notice unless they apply shed-loads of old-fashioned elbow-grease. If you’re good at one, then why do the other at the same time? Having known the Addiction promoters and DJs for some time now, I was intrigued to find out just what drives somebody to take on the challenge of starting a label, on top of DJ schedules that are getting busier by the week, and promoting one of London’s most popular midweek shindigs.
I spoke to label manager Olly Perris, Addiction front man Andy T, and Mike Harris to find out exactly what is involved, who is behind it, and what is to come from this new venture from one of hard dances fastest growing brands….
So, from a fortnightly Thursday party, to hosting rooms at some of the biggest events London has to offer… to a brand spanking new label. Surely this is a lot of extra hard work. Why did this come about?
It seemed like the right move at the right time to help Addiction expand as a brand. Addiction as a club night has enjoyed monumental success since launching in September 2004 and one of our strongest facets has been our ability to market our product well. With one of our residents (Olly Perris) already an established producer with Nukleuz Records and all of our other residents getting into music production, we felt the time was right to attempt a move into the label market. It’s something which many club nights have attempted in the past with varying degrees of success, however due to the fact that we are 100% digital thus have no overheads and have a strong working relationship with the major digital distributors and, of course, a strong catalogue of music, the move for us just seemed logical.
Was it a natural progression? If not, just how different is the work involved?
It wasn’t necessarily a natural progression and certainly wasn’t in Addiction’s plans when we first launched as a club night, however due to the development and ease of the digital market and given our following from our Thursday parties, the idea just seemed to make sense. The work is actually fundamentally very similar to the promotion of a party in that you’re still trying to create a buzz via whatever means necessary. However, obviously the main difference is that Addiction can now target a global market and although we’ve had great success so far, selling tracks to Australia, New Zealand and America, we are continuously developing new and original techniques in which to expand this.
I know you have recently released the first tunes on Addiction Digital, but we haven’t seen anything on the shelves. Why have you chosen to sell tracks exclusively online? Vinyl isn’t quite dead yet, do you not feel that you (and other purely digital labels for that matter) are missing out on a large slice of the pie?
The main reason for our decision to remain 100% digital is that we can get the tracks out quickly, cheaply and easily. We theoretically can have absolutely no delay from the second we sign a record to when we can get it uploaded onto the websites which sell our tracks. Whilst some record labels can have pressing problems, mastering issues or artwork delays, we literally can upload our tracks in seconds and have them ready for sale. As we are of course only a smaller business, being 100% online also offers us fewer overheads, which although helps to benefit our profit, also means we can afford to keep providing quality releases with no fear of going bust at any moment.
Andy T
We all know who runs the parties, and the residents are making big waves about town at the moment, but who exactly is behind the label? And who does what?
Our resident Olly Perris, himself a former Nukleuz Records artist, is general label manager of Addiction Digital. Olly’s job is primarily to find tracks for the label but also to organise press releases, promotion and oversee the general day-to-day running of the label. Andy T is primarily in charge of our labels promotion and mail outs and is also joint A&R for the label, whilst Mike Harris is responsible for communicating our message to the masses. We have also benefited from using our Thursday parties to help promote the label. A good strong point for a club-turned-record label is the ability to cross-promote and we feel that this is an area we can greatly explore in the future.
To get an overall feel of what to expect from Addiction Digital, can you tell us what planned releases you have, and who is behind them?
We have an extremely exciting release schedule ahead of us! Our 3rd release will have just hit the shelves by the time you read this! It’s entitled ‘Look Ahead’ by Nick Jenkins and has been engineered by Matt Williams of Edison Factor fame. We also have a future EP from Luke Warner featuring two solo tracks; ‘Solar Flare’, engineered by Nick Rowland, and ‘Blinded By The Truth’, engineered by Spherical of MDA & Spherical fame. Our 5th release is going to feature another Luke Warner track; this time a collaboration with Dave Mac entitled ‘Move Your Body’ which has been huge across the London scene for some time. Also featuring on this release is another Dave Mac collaboration, this time with young producers Zero Tolerance with a track entitled ‘Music Is My Life.’ We also have literally in the last few days signed another huge track from Barry Diston & Rich C called ‘It Picks Me Up’ which we’re all extremely excited about here at Addiction HQ and some wicked material from Dave Leigh, aka Aftershok, one of the most exciting upcoming UK hard trance producers of recent times.
Do you have any artists exclusively signed to Addiction yet, or are you planning to at all?
Signing artists exclusively isn’t in our plans but we do have extremely strong working relationships with some of the scenes finest producers. We recently featured an EP from Technikal (aka Alf Bamford) who provided us with two quality tunes, ‘Overdrive’ and ‘Doomed’, which topped the download charts on both Tidydigital and Trackitdown. We feel we don’t need to sign artists exclusively as we’re lucky enough to have a constant stream of good material from big names such as Alf.
What is it you look for in each tune you sign? Is there a specific sound you look for with potential signings, or anything you avoid?
Basically it has to fit with Addiction’s overall music policy; uplifting but energetic and tough! We’ve built a superb reputation on our choice and progression of DJs at our Thursday parties and we aim to reflect this with the music we sign to our label. We don’t necessarily just look for big anthems; just decent, pumping original hard trance which will rock any floor. All of our current signed material has been tried and tested by some of the scenes biggest DJs and we’re pleased to say, every single reaction has been incredibly positive.
Cool. So, I’m a budding producer, and my new track has been destroying dance floors every time I’ve played it in my sets. In fact, I reckon it’s right up Addiction Digital’s alley… How do I contact you to submit it?
We absolutely welcome new material with open arms! Some of our future releases, such as the Barry Diston collaboration, has come from producers contacting us via our website and having no previous correspondence with us. We would love to break new artists, and if you feel you have material which we will love then don’t hesitate to contact Olly Perris via email on ollyperris@addictionclubbing.com.
Is there any other advice you would give to new producers, who have slogged it out in the studio to create good, solid tracks, in regards to sending their tracks out? Should they just give it to all and sundry, or should they be strategic about which DJs they pass their material onto?
You’ve got to be keen but not too keen. Generally before a label signs a track they’d like to see evidence of a buzz already on the record, so they know that the market will appreciate it. The internet is a great way to do this; we’ve signed tracks to our label which have been talked about on forums such as HarderFaster and tidy.com where the artist has simply uploaded the track for others to comment on. Generally, make sure you have a winning track and get it tried and tested by people other than your friends before sending it out. Once a total stranger likes the track, you know there can be a market for it, and that’s when DJs and labels are going to want to pick up on it.
Olly Perris
Finally, where are the Addiction Digital tracks available?
Our tracks are available from our mp3 store on our website, www.addictionclubbing.com, which is powered by Trackitdown’s affiliate store scheme, so you know you can buy with 100% confidence. Our tracks are also featured and selling extremely well on the Trackitdown.net main site , Tidy’s digital store www.tidydigital.com and Audiojelly, www.audiojelly.com. We’re aiming to expand into more sites soon, watch this space for information on that!
Thanks to Jamie Mitchel, Samia Taylor, Saqib and Darkened Angel for use of their pictures.
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Other Features By Gordon Darley:
A breakfast date with Andy Farley (and a free mix!)
The Organ Donors performing in nothing but marigolds? It must be Puzzle Project!
“What are you doing? Checking your e-mails?” DAVE the Drummer speaks out!
Interview with John Kelly
An interview with Ben Bennett
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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Ive been going to the Addiction more or less from the start. Ive had wicked times..listening to some high quality music. Im looking forward to the future releases from these very talented guys.
I'll happily pass your number onto Olly for a small fee 