Easter weekend is a time to rejoice and for some clubbing is a perfect way to do it. Though you are more a kin to be dancing in a heaving sweat box praising the DJ than any other form of alter... so we've put together a non-stop weekend party schedule for devout clubbers intend on a weekend worship of electronica.
FRIDAY:
Our first stop of the weekend is Club 10-86 at Cabaret Voltaire featuring exceptional guest DJs - Vakama, Sven Weismann and Secret Cinema. Secret Cinema (Jeroen Verheij) is one of the European pioneers of techno music hailing from Rotterdam. In 1994 his classic "Timeless Attitude" (just recently reissued with Slam and Joris Voorn remixes) sold more vinyl copies than any other electronic artist at the time, leading to one of the most spine tingling cuts and slamming sounds which has become truly "Timeless".Hear it for yourself now:
GEM008 X1 Secret Cinema - Timeless Altitude (Secret Cinema's 2011 Mix) by GEM Records
DETAILS: Club 10-86 presents Secret Cinema, Sven Weisemann & Vakama at Cabaret Voltaire, Blair Street, Edinburgh. 11pm - 3am, £11 / £14.
SATURDAY:
It's Saturday morning and your still going strong at the after party but it's getting light and you know it's still not time to throw the towel in. So where now?... Okay this is a little controversial but we're off to Glasgow and the two day festival called The Electric Frog. We like this idea as you can party during the day and catch the last train home to finish Saturday night in the Burgh, brilliant!
Grant Paterson caught up with Orde Meikle (one half of Slam and part owner of Soma Records) for a chat about all things Slam and Electric Frog...
How did the collaboration with the Electric Frog come about?
Orde Meikle [OM]: Our manager Dave who books a lot of stuff for Pressure and the Slam Tent is friendly with the guys who promoted the Electric Frog last year - they had a successful event and Dave had helped them get Felix da Housecat to play. This time they wanted to step it up a notch and so they asked us to get involved in the overall event, taking it from one day to two - with some afterparties at the Academy, Sub Club and The Arches to boot.
What's got you excited about doing a festival on your home turf?
OM: A lot of people are going to T in the Park and RockNess this summer but Glasgow is still one of the best places to put on a party and to play, so we are excited.
The line-up looks pretty tasty - is there any one DJ you fancy seeing for yourselves?
OM: We miss the Saturday as we are playing Fabric in London but we are there for the entire Sunday. Ben Klock is on before us and we will be down early for his set for sure.
When you were starting out, could you ever have imagined yourselves as you are now, having this career and a record label [Soma]?
OM: We had a good imagination but not one that stretched 20 years into the future. It's good we have been able to continure to evolve and also create, as well as helping others to get into the music world through the Soma label and the clubs.
Who's inspired you to become a DJ and how did you get into producing your own tracks?OM: The DJs that we admired back in the day were Andrew Weatherall in this country, Alfredo in Ibiza and probably Larry Levan and Ron Hardy in America. We knew early on that we had to make music firstly to play and also as a calling card to other countries - letting folk know what Slam and Glasgow was all about - and once we started we never looked back.
You're very busy travelling and producing... what's a day in the life for Orde and Stuart?
OM: We get up early and get stuck in emailing, listening to music and making tracks in between. Weekends are spent traveling with the odd one off at home with our families.
Jetting all over the world seems glamorous - a dream job in fact, what's it really like?
OM: Interesting and fun but it also takes you away from loved ones a bit too regularly on occasion.
What's at the top of your digital record boxes at the moment?
OM: The crate is a very liquid thing at the moment - tunes come and go so quickly. We have some excellent remixes commissioned for Soma 20 by Gary Beck, Loco Dice, Joris Voorn, Carl Craig and many more - a lot of those are on the top.
We've heard you play the best deepest house to darkest techno sometimes throwing in the odd classic. What's your approach to DJing?
OM: Play what you feel and what you think can move the audience
What do you think has happened to the scene in the past few years and what's different or better now?
OM: So many people are making tracks and DJing and putting on parties - it's hard for the crowd to get excited unless something is really special or out of the ordinary. That is a double-edged sword - good in many ways but it can also be detrimental.
With no sign of you letting up, what's in store for Slam, Soma and Paragraph?
OM: It's Soma's 20th birthday year and we have some parties planned later this year with a massive compilation project of remixes and back catalogue - anyone who is anyone in dance music is involved and it's a massive undertaking for the label. We will be remixing some of the other artists and putting a mix of our favourite remixes out for the birthday too!
• The Electric Frog takes place this weekend at SWG3, Glasgow
Sat 23 April: Erol Alkan, DJ Yoda, Francois K, Ivan Smagghe, Danny Krivit, Optimo, Unabombers, Andrew Pirie, Thunder Disco Club
Sun 24 April: J Rocc, Green Velvet, Dave Clarke, Kode 9, Ben Klock, Slam, L-Vis 1990, Todd Edwards, MMM (live), Animal Farm, Electric Eliminators
Tickets are £25 (day) and £45 (weekend), available from Tickets Scotland. Full info attheelectricfrog.co.uk
BACK IN THE BURGH...
Okay, this is a pretty difficult call... we have more techno in the Cab Vol with Pulse... minimal tech in The Store, jazzed up funky tribal goings on at Departure Lounge in The Caves, or the amazing Alex Metric in Liquid Room (our pick is a bit of breakz after all that techno).
Metric has remixed artists as varied as Depeche Mode, La Roux, NERD, Phoenix and Bloc Party as well as working with breakz magicial Alex Freeland. Voted 'Best Breakthrough Producer' in 2008 at Breakspoil he's gone from strength to strength winning countless 'The Best Of' titles since!DETAILS: Alex Metric, Liquid Room, Victoria St, 10pm - 3am, £8
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174704615913734
Sunday:
The last and final day of our full on weekender has to be spent at our old favourite:- BURGER QUEEN - Reunion party...Huggy and his team of house DJs will be igniting easter Sunday with the best loved house and disco, featuring sets from Gareth Sommerville, Davy Brown, Nasty P, Gino and Babes... and the man who has recently brought house music back to the City Cafe... Lel Palfrey.
What's happening in the world of 'Huggy' these days?
I'm very busy as always in my personal and business life, I'm just about to become a father my wife is due in the next 6 weeks which is very exciting. At work it's all go 24-7 looking after www.xileclothing.com, in the studio and DJing so I don't have anything to complain about.
What prompted the Burger Queen reunion?
I can't actually take the credit for this one it's all down too Gareth Somerville's persistency that we've brought back Burger Queen. A couple of times last year Gareth asked me if I'd consider it, at first I was really hesitant as I'm very much a future thinking DJ but the more it was talked about the more interest was raised. I'm sure that we'll see a lot more clubs piggy back on the idea.
How does it feel to be back doing Burger Queen again?
Listening to my old records was very nostalgic it brought back some amazing memories. Running the night again has also re-united a lot of old friends our Xmas Party last year blew me away with Cabaret Voltaire bursting at the seems and the feedback was so good that we decided that we should limited it to just 2 events a year.
What's your fondest memory / most memorable night - from all the Burger Queen's?
There's far too many to say most were a complete blur but we had an amazing night when Burger Queen went to Glasgow. We bussed around 250 clubbers through to the Tunnel. For years everyone went on about the atmosphere in Glasgow being so good so we all made a huge effort and totally blew the Tunnel away that night Glasgow never knew what hit them.
Who was your favourite guest from BQ?
Burger Queen was never about guests it was all about the clubbers I can count on both hands all the guests we had in its 6 years... but S-Xpress's Mark Moore was probably one of the best guests we had.
Who would you say has inspired you as a dj and producer?
Everyone and anything I just played what got me excited from all genres of music, back then you didn't really get underground dance music on TV or radio you could only hear it at the right clubs. And today still my inspiration comes from everywhere.Recently we've heard your music selection change quite a bit from the house days, will you be playing your new more progressive - techier edge or the funky fried house rammed with classic's?
I've always flirted with different sounds musical boredom and repetition is one of the reasons we don't have as many exiting clubs today. At the re-union parties you'll hear everything from House to Techno to Acid and of course some well known classics. This weekend we have Soul Biscuits in the Speakeasy so you'll get classic 90's Hip Hop too which I've very excited about too.
What's your all time favourite floor filler from Burger Queen?
I guess it has to be either John Paul Young's 'Love is in The Air' or T-Empo 'Saturday Night' they both bring any Burger Queen regular to tears.
What's different now, than back in the days of Burger Queen?
I was very worried that the atmosphere might not be the same but I was speechless it was one of the best nights in years. I guess great music will always bring the best out of people.
Your an old school DJ (apologies for the 'old'), are you still a vinyl man or CDJs or have you embraced new technologies?
Technology all the way I've been using midi controllers and laptops alongside cd's and turntables for a few years now and I am the first to sing its praises. I believe the more you can offer the clubber the better the DJ you are with Technology today I can do so much more I can remix on the spot I can loop vocals / drums / piano's and efx it just adds so much more atmosphere. But purists don't worry for the re-union parties it's vinyl all the way
What's your favourite gadget at the moment?
Native Instruments Traktor and the X1 and all it's add has revolutionised today's DJs .
Your a producer as well as a DJ, what's been happening?
It's been pretty full on with loads of studio work I think it's the only way to get recognised today and I've quite a few things out and lined up for the summer, I've always got a few tracks on the go
So, what's the plan after the reunion, will you be in Ibiza, or some far flung places in the world?
With my imminent arrival I haven't been taking that many bookings but there will be some very exciting events later in the year.
HUGGY IN THE MIX:- http://www.mixcloud.com/huggydj/
Huggy's Future Classic's Tune Selection:
Pleasurekraft 'Carny (Heartik & Ranier Weichhold)
Coloursound 'Fly With Me' (Dirty Doering)
Joris Voorn "UnTITLED Dub Vol. 1'
Sean Miller & Daniel Dub 'Sinnerman'
Klein & Meister 'Cares' (Dirty Doering)
Andhim 'Like A Wirsing'
Dualton 'Formula' (Reboot)
Supernova 'Beat Me Back'
Nick Curly 'Cozumel
NiCe7 'Point' (Audiojack)
Paul Kalkbrenner 'Platscher'
DETAILS:
Burger Queen Reunion, Cabaret Voltaire, Blair St, 10pm - 3am, £5 / £8
Final Word:
Have a great weekend clubbing and remember to play safe and have fun... Happy Easter!
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