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Features 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!

Deep insights with Andy Young ahead of Pendragon's Samhain party Reported by Tara / Submitted 27-10-10 19:19 When dance music first exploded in London, underground crews like Pendragon and Escape from Samsara helped lay the foundations for what was to eventually evolve into a huge international scene. As a member of The Secret, Andy Young rode the crest of the wave of these early heady days of trance. With Pendragon back to rock the foundations this Saturday 30 October @JAMM to celebrate Samhain (Celtic New Year, just in case you didn’t know), and Andy playing a rare live set, we sat down over a couple of glasses of wine and shared some memories… You started out in a rock band in New Zealand then moved to the UK, which is when you joined the Secret. Could you please tell us a bit about your background: when did you first get into making music, why did you come to the UK and how did The Secret come about? Actually this gig’s there’s not going to be any Secret stuff! The last Secret gig was 7/7/7 Festival. I immigrated to the UK with a band in order to become rich and famous… and it kinda didn’t work. Well it did for a while, but then we split up — it was the Spinal Tap thing… women! That was the end of the ’80s/early ’90s when rave music started and I was sold on that! I switched completely and moved to making jungle! They were the best parties, illegal raves with convoys and all that kinda stuff. Then we got into the acid trance scene, the Brighton parties were wonderful, and that led onto Samsara and by then I’d started the Secret with Dave and Edwin. The early trance days were fantastic. We played our first gig for Otherworld around ’95. Our very first gig as The Secret was at Megadog in Manchester and there were about 3000 munted Mancunians who’d scoffed all their drugs in the queue and went mental, it was amazing. Then we got to meet the Samsara crew and Pendragon. This whole Jase thing has brought everything back. We were quite a family then. It was before hard house. I hate hard house but you can’t say that on HF! Towards the end The Secret tried to hook into it. I don’t understand why they called it house, house to me sounds kinda groovy! Hard house and me don’t get on, but then me and psy trance never did. But it’s actually got a lot better and there’s a real melting pot going on. I used to hate psy trance with vengeance because for 10 years they had the same kick drum and base line. The same with hard house. While all the classics that inspired me were different. Stuff like ‘Illuminate’, ‘Lost in Love’, all the old acid trance classics, ‘Water from a Vine Leaf’, William Orb vs. Spooky — awesome! More like Oberon would play. He was always the closest to an acid trance vibe. These days trance is very samey. Our label [Insight Records] does all sorts of trance. It’s going quite well actually! It’s more of a side project really. There are usually only two of us on the case at any time. We regularly get radio plays from Armin, Pvd and all the big boys. If only we’d got that 10 years ago. I want to start an offshoot when we’re more established, called Deep Insight, which will be more progressive. That’s what I really want to do. So the first Secret gig was at Megadog @ Manchester Academy in November ’95 and the last date listed online is your secret album launch date @ The Fridge with Pendragon. By all reports The Secret was quite a journey! What were the highlights of your time as a band? To be honest that first Megadog gig was quite a highlight. We were bricking ourselves and we got such a reception! We got on stage with our keyboards and we had no idea what to do! I’d done it before with guitars and stuff but that was different. There were 3000 trashed Mancunians and at one point I went “Rah!” [gestures with arm in the air] and they all went “Rah”, and that where all the jumping up and down came from! There’s so many stories, but the first Brixton Academy we did for Samsara when someone, we think Edwin, knocked a bottled of water over the keyboards and there was a blue arching then all the power went off for 7 minutes. You’re talking Brixton Academy main stage! Then suddenly it kicks right in… you ask people afterwards and they’re like what?! They had no idea. We had a habit of blowing power, we also did that to Enrico at the Stratford Rex and it was off for about 20 minutes then! All the festivals, big parties, small parties, they’re all cool. I definitely miss that side of it… When The Secret was in its heyday. Our whole image was so different, we were so full-on on stage, we weren’t really taking it seriously, we were just having fun and we were party people. Before the set we’d be on the dance floor and after the set we were on the dance floor. It was very different; it was very hard for DJs to slot into their sets. And as we weren’t DJs, it was notoriously difficult music to mix… but there was a time when we thought we could conquer the world — and we almost did! Several times! And we encountered naivety. You know when you’re riding that wave and things happen that fuck it up? Another highlight has got to be Pendragon NYE from 2000, that was a fantastic gig! We’d been down at the river trying to watch the fireworks and pushed out way down the crowd then had to almost run all the way back to Tyssen St. Tyssen St was amazing, off the back of the main room there was an evangelical church and you’d bump into people going there! You’ve been making music since the birth of dance music. Who or what have been your main musical influences over the years? And now? Early on it was German acid trance, that classic underground acid trance that’s really deep. ‘Age of Love’ is actually a bad example. You couldn’t tell, was it trance, was it house? I’ve always looked back to that because I don’t think trance got any better. It just got harder and it got faster. But in those days it was unique. Everyone was using analogue synths and every record sounded different. There was lots of dirt and it sounded real. Now it’s all digital and sounds clean! Now good progressive house and electro is where your dirty stuff is now and that’s what I’m into now, a bit of rawness. I don’t get much time now though so a tune can take ages — or it can take a day! You describe your track ‘Ave Some of That’ as “cheese with thunder”. Would that be Camembert, Edam, Blue Vein or Cheddar? Do you think a good track needs a certain amount of cheese to hold it together? I don’t know about cheese to hold it together but some sort of musicality, or fluff. It’s such a derogatory term now, cheese. But it’s not. Davy came up with that, but he also came up with ‘The Fluff and the Fury’! We used to open our set with that because so many DJs would be playing their hardest tune… then we’d play ‘Ave Some of That’ and it would be awesome. It sounds like cheese on your stereo at home but hear it on a loud rig, it blows everything else away. Classic tune! One of The Secret’s best known tracks, ‘Gorgeous’, was also known for making people sick, wtf?! Please explain! Yup, after one of our Brixton Academy gigs someone admitted she had to rush off the toilet when ‘Gorgeous’ was on because it was making her rush so hard! I always thought that was one of the best compliments you can ever have! It’s true, sometimes on the stage we were rushing so hard! As a manager of Insight Records you’re constantly exposed to the best trance around. What DJs and producers have caught your attention recently? We’ve signed a Binary Finery track we’re releasing in February. They’ve reformed and moved to Australia and are doing a big tour and releasing at the same time. In terms of artists we’re signing, it’s more unknowns. We’ve got one release by 21 year old Anthony Uder, with two really good tracks, it’s quality and his first release. I remember when we were trying to make it, sending out demos and it’s heart breaking. Labels don’t reply or they send out standard bullshit and then when they do sign you they end up fucking it up for you somehow. When we got signed to Logic Records, the first track they released was ‘Gorgeous’. That should have been a really exciting time but they screwed up the mastering and that took the shine off it… So with these new producers I’m trying treat them as I would have liked to be treated at the time. Trying to keep them in the picture, and be really friendly and give them a chance. We’re not a big label but we do have access to big DJs. If we can afford it, we try and get a big remixer. We’ve gone down that line with 6-7 remixes, so now try and keep it to one as that makes sense. It’s nice to be able to release people’s music for the first time. We (Stowers and Young) have just had our latest track called ‘Deeper Insight’ signed to a Detroit label, Myth Records, run by John Marius and Kenny Thomas. He’s kinda like Paul Oakenfold’s right hand man and is mixing his next compilation, so to get it on that would be an absolute dream come true. You’re playing as live set at Pendragon @ JAMM this Saturday night and since you last played live, technology has no doubt changed considerably. Have you had to swot up about this while preparing for this Saturday’s live set? I thought, the way to do it is the run it all from Abelton live. So I invested in the software and the launch controller and all that… and at the end of the day I scrapped it all as I’m not happy with the sound quality! Compared with Logic live it was shit. I’m having to do it all in Logic 9 and it’s a nightmare! So I’m about half done. I went down to Southampton to see my friend who’s an amazing psy trance producer and we ended up started a tune together. It’s deep psy trance and trance so I’ll be previewing some of that, but I’m not sure how deep to go. Pendragon crowds like it hard, but I can’t do that fast stuff any more, I like the slower stuff, it’s funkier and got more groove. So I‘m thinking I’m going to start it with uplifting prog trance and then take it properly deep for a couple of tunes. It’s really quite minimal, deep and dark then I thought I’d fluff out of it and end with a tune for Jase, which would be really nice. So I think it’s going to be a lot fluffier than I’d planned. Samhain is actually Celtic new year. Will you be making any new year’s resolutions? Yeah I’m going to make some now. I’m going to definitely try and do more music this coming year, which probably means more collaborations, as that tends to be the way I work now. It’s really difficult alone as when you hit a brick wall you hit a brick wall… But then again I’m much more easy going about it now. That’s probably about the only resolution I’ll keep! What else do you have on the horizon? I think I’d like to get to the stage where I’m playing out perhaps once every two months. I think that’s enough to keep the excitement without it becoming a bit of a drag. Business is surviving so that’s cool. It’s nice to be independent when you’ve been a skint musician! But it has meant joining the real world; it creates a completely different kind of scene. It’s amazing how Kate and Mark putting a party on brings people out of the woodwork. It’s not even how short life is, but how transient it is. After Solange [the Secret’s amazing dancer who was tragically killed by a truck last year] I’m almost prepared for things now. Now Jase and last year a couple of friends of mine died. Last year was quite terrible, I guess I’m getting old. It does make you think about how special those times were and how special times are now, which is the more important thing. It’s really nice that something like this Pendragon party is happening. If you think about what Jase would want us to do on Saturday, I think he’d say, “Have a good one!” He’d want to have a party! It takes a while to sink in, these kind of things. I remember the first time I met Jase was outside Brixton Academy, maybe the first Pendragon and we’d been playing. I think he’d left and couldn’t get back in and he wanted to give Mark a CD he’d done and I happened to be outside, so I gave it to Mark and he was blown away by it. He recognised it as something really different! That was maybe ’97 and there was a really strong South African scene then. And finally, do you have a Halloween costume sorted yet? Any clues as to what tricks and treats you’ve got in store for your fans? I love fancy dress but I’ve only got one costume! I might have to go as mango man! Photos courtesy of Andy Young and UKClubPix. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Tara: Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden Telling Cosmic Tales with DJ Strophoria Tom Psylicious aka EarthAlien takes 50 Spins Around the Sun: Raising Awareness Through the Power of Music 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. Comments:

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