Rodi Style interview for Frenzy

On Friday August the 7th, Rodi Style will be making his DJ debut for Frenzy in Bournemouth alongside Klubfiller and Kym Ayres.  In advance of the gig I caught up with him for a quick interview which can be read in full on the Frenzy website.

Rodi Style @ Frenzy

Mark EG to appear at Frenzy in Bournemouth on July 10th 2009

The legendry Mark EG will be appearing for Frenzy at Dusk Till Dawn in Bournemouth on Friday July the 10th 2009. 

Mark EG is a man who needs to introduction to south coast clubbers.  Are you ready to see him unleashed on the Dusk Till Dawn Funktion 1 Sound System?  Not only that, but if you remember when Dusk used to be Club Destiny then you’ll be pleased to hear that room 2 is the Official Club Destiny Re-Union Party!

Mark EG @ Frenzy

For tickets and more information visit the Frenzy website on http://www.frenzyclub.co.uk.

DJs on the night include:

// Main Room

Mark EG
Helen G
Cheeky Scott b2b DJ Wilma
MNKY & Ryki
Jay Salomon

// Room 2 – The Club Destiny Re-Union Party

Craig P
DJ Wilma
Discodean
Cheeky Scott
DJ Jedi
Harlow
DJ DV8

Frenzy with Implosion and Future Power People: Hard Dance In Bournemouth on June the 5th

A flash in the pan, it’s just a craze, it won’t last.

The tabloid press blasted us for being an evil cult. They tried to ban this style of music from TV and radio stations, they disullusioned the media with lies they read and heard. And so the birth of hard dance music was condemned as being the root of all evil, forcing the fun-loving people of today totally underground.

With the government and the media on their side, warehouse after warehouse was, and still is, stopped whether it is legal or not. During these last few years we have seen the arrival of many styles of music including hard house, nrg, hardstyle, hard trance, electro, and other types of freestyle music.

Most of this music has been made by young and very talented musicians of all kinds. To you we salute and to the fun loving people of this generation we promise to you the struggle will continue, as will the fight for the right to have a good time and dance all night long.

We have witnessed the beginning of a phenonomen which has continued to grow from strength to strength. To house, club to warehouse, party to event, trend to way of life.

We dedicate this event to you, the Future Power People.

Frenzy with Implosion: Future Power People

// Main Room

Frisky
Caz Wood
MNKY & Ryki
Discam
John Black b2b DPM
Cheeky Scott b2b Jo Jo

// Room 2

Dirty Inc
Alex Warren

More info from: www.frenzyclub.co.uk.

Bournemouth Flash Mob to support the Slinky 12th Birthday

Last Friday I was thinking up ways in which I could promote the second part of Slinky’s 12th Birthday which is at the Opera House on May the 1st.  It occurred to me that clubbers are quite instinctive and outgoing characters, so thought I’d organise a Flash Mob in Bournemouth to generate a little bit of PR.  I sent a Facebook message out the Slinky Group with the image and message shown below:

Slinky Flash Mob Mission

The results were beyond expectation considering there was only 24 hours in which to get this moving.  The end results can be seen on the images below.  Subsequently I had the BBC get in touch as they wanted to cover it.  Just goes to show what the power of the Internet can do:

Bournemouth Square at 1359 PM

Bournemouth Square at 1401 PM

The Slinky Silent Disco was a success, and was a great piece of promotion.  The whole of Bournemouth Square came to a standstill for five minutes.  Definitely one to try again in the future.

For more information on Slinky’s Birthday check the website at http://www.slinky.co.uk.

The Frenzy DJs agree to play naked for charity

Just a quick note as I know it’s been a rumour for the last couple of weeks on DSI and Facebook, but I can now confirm that the DJs on Friday night the 3rd of April at Dusk Till Dawn nightclub in Bournemouth will all be DJ’ing naked in support of PETA the anti-fur campaigners.  You can see the full press release on the Frenzy Website.

I'd rather be naked

Frantic resident James Condon – an interview before he plays for Frenzy in Bournemouth

James Condon - Frantic Resident

James Condon is resident DJ for the mighty Frantic and has played for every single main hard dance promotion you care to mention. And of course Frenzy is where you will see him on April the 3rd of 2009 when he takes to the decks on our Frenzy Army camo-theme night.

Check out this interview with him 0n the Frenzy website @ http://www.frenzyclub.co.uk/interviews/2009/james-condon-dj-interview.asp

An interview with Above & Beyond before they DJ at Slinky’s 12th Birthday

I’ve recently been able to interview trance superstars Above & Beyond in advance of them DJ’ing at Slinky’s 12th Birthday Party.  This year Slinky are having two dates and two parties to celebrate being 12, and Above & Beyond will be headlining the May part on Friday the 1st of May 2009 at the Opera House in Bournemouth. 

Slinky's 12th Birthday Party

Here’s the interview which was also hosted on the Slinky website where you can also see more associated images.

There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one group that can do both: Above & Beyond.

This three piece have remixed Madonna, won Essential Mix of the Year, and played to one million people in Rio de Janeiro. More importantly they’ve written songs with the power and the melody to en-trance that one million-strong crowd, many of who were singing along, word for word. 

We’re lucky enough to have them headlining the white-themed part of Slinky’s 12th Birthday celebrations on the 1st of May.  Want to know more, then read on:

1. Hi guys and thanks for agreeing to the quick interview.  Could you briefly tell us who you are, where you are, and what’s playing on your stereo?

I’m Tony from Above & Beyond, I’m on the Eurostar going to Paris (avoid flying when you can) and “Here It Comes” by Doves is on my iPod.

2. What has been your proudest moment during your career in dance music and DJ’ing and are you able to tell us about it?

There have been so many it seems churlish to select just one, but since you asked so nicely I will. Winning Essential Mix of the Year in 2005 was pretty special: it was the first year they’d ever given an award, and we saw off people who had been inspirations to us.

And in some ways the “Trojan Horse” element of the mix, the random spoken words by some of our studio neighbours, caught the zeitgeist and made a political statement far more powerful and complex than we could have made on our own.

3. There seems to be many types of awards now available to DJs and producers. Do you personally place any value on accolades such as the DJ Mag Awards and is it important to you to receive that type of recognition?

It is always nice to win awards, especially if they are beautiful things, but since so many of them are internet voting polls there is always this nagging doubt about what they actually mean in reality: so few people actually vote in practice it can make the results meaningless.

It would be nice of there were dance music Oscars, voted for by your peers. That would be nice. And I don’t mean a panel of journalists who obsess about some tiny genre and miss the big picture, but our peers.

4. Do you have any ambitions, whether they’re related to the dance music industry or outside in normal life, what might they be?

I think its important to set goals as a directional aid, but in life there is no back of the net in which to wallow in your own self importance when you reach one, only a muddy goal line with another pitch glued on the back of the first to save goalposts and a big centre forward bearing down on you.

5. I understand you met whilst at University… what path do you think your lives and careers would have taken without this meeting of minds?

Jono and Paavo met at University, I met them through my brother, the internet and the peculiar software standards of Yamaha samplers. Who knows what might have happened if we hadn’t met.

I think the important thing is to not dwell on the “what if” but make sure you are ready for change: when that door opens you better be through it with your suitcase and passport and your clean pants on in case it closes in your face forever.

6. What skills to you all bring to the Above & Beyond collective as individuals? 

I’m quite good at drawing and a qualified PADI Rescue Diver, Paavo can do computer programming and makes excellent sushi, and Jono does really good magic tricks and impressions.

7. Are there any other artists or singers’ tracks you’d like to cover and put the Above & Beyond stamp on that you haven’t yet done, or not been able to?

I’m not sure. We’d always wanted to work with Radiohead but the experience wasn’t so great. When they finally asked us to remix one of their tracks they gave us a song with a weird time signature and no chorus and, after they asked us to remix it, offered the parts to everyone on their website.

So there were thousands of remixes out there as well as ours. I think we did an amazing job all considered, but with so much noise out there it’s hard to feel satisfied. So today, feeling like I do, no. We’re OK on our own thanks.

8. I recently read Jono mentioning that “part of dance music is copying things” which makes a lot of sense as there seems to be a constant re-hash of genres and ideas.  But on the other hand it must be hard coming up with that original aspect, how do you guys do that and where do you take inspiration from?

Dance music is the only genre I know where you have to make records that are designed to be played two at a time. So you can’t be too different. You have to blend in with what’s around at the time or, putting it simply, no DJ is going to play your tune.

Dance music is like a huge, ever-changing jigsaw puzzle being designed and manufactured by thousands of people all at the same time. And you know what? We’ve just made that bit of blue sky you’ve been looking for all these years.

9. You all travel extensively as Above & Beyond, other than the UK where’s your favourite place to gig and why?

Brazil. Brazilians are beautiful, they love music, they can dance, they have the best food, the best cocktails, the best wine, the best weather and the best football players. And my girlfriend lives there.

10. It must be good great being Above & Beyond. International jet-setters, playing to adoring fans every week… and of course getting paid for the privilege. But, and it’s a big but, is there anyone else you wish you could be, even if it was just for a day?

It is good great! If I could do anything else I’d like to be the professor of Complexity Science at Yale University. Or maybe be Brad Pitt for a day. Before he met Angelina, of course.

11. On your travels have you seen any evidence of the global credit crisis having any effect on clubland and dance music?   

Definitely. Some sponsors are getting cold feet and so some of our shows have been affected. Luckily we are on an upward trajectory so the effect is not as bad as it must be for the fringe players.

12. If the credit crunch isn’t scary enough, I’d like to know what your scariest ever moments have been when DJ’ing, or failing that, the weirdest?

The scariest moment for me was before going on stage for our first ever gig: it was in Japan in front of 8,000 people and I’d only ever mixed in my bedroom before. I could hardly breathe.

I was, as my old chum BC might have said, beyond scared. I had no experience to draw on, only some NLP training I’d hastily taken the week before, a sliver of self belief, alcohol fuelled bravado and the knowledge that Jono and Paavo were with me and had DJ’d once before in the student union in Harrow. So they were experienced old pros who could hold my hand if disaster struck. Which it did, of course, on the very first mix.

Luckily for me, Japanese people are so polite that not one of the 1,600 eyebrows present was raised, as we went live to the 4.15 from Newmarket. But it was OK in the end. I had a fiver on Monkey’s Bum and he won by a nose at 12:1.

13. So what can the Slinky clubbers expect from you at the Opera House on our 12th Birthday?

Fireworks! Nudity! Death defying stunts. You know, the usual. But can I make a request? A couple of years ago we played at the Opera House and on stage next to us there was this seven foot high half-man, half-inflatable, white dancing figure with a baseball cap on and an inane grin drawn on his face.

I’m not sure why, but it struck me at the time that it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my life. Paavo will tell you, I was laughing so hard I nearly wee-wee’d myself. He’s a fucking star that blow up man!

Who is he?????? He smiles, he dances, he smiles, he wobbles in an adorable, inflatable way. He’s like the Pilsbury Dough Boy on a pill. Fucking genius. If he’s not there I’m not going on. I’m serious.

14. Thanks for the interview, we’re looking forward to having you at Slinky so without further ado I will you have the last word:

Don’t forget our new CD “ANJUNADEEP:01 which is out now and available at all good record shops. Which, apart from the very lovely http://www.CDJShop.com (your first stop for downloads, CDs and T shirts), is basically just HMV now, isn’t it?

Jesus. Our Price – gone. Virgin – gone. Woolworths – gone. Zavvi – gone. Good old HMV, hanging in there. I bet the others wish they’d had a small yappy-type dog on the team to ward off the bailiffs now. Even if he had been cruelly genetically modified over the years to have an unnatural affinity for old gramophones.

Good old HMV dog, whatever your name was. No good pissing on lampposts now, mate, there isn’t going to be no Zavvi lady dog coming down the road any time soon. Been made into cat food, she has.

Find out more about Above & Beyond on their website on http://www.aboveandbeyond.nu.

Rodi Style interview for Slinky in Bournemouth

Rodi Style will be DJ’ing in the Slinky Hard room on May the 1st as part of our double-birthday celebrations.  He’s a name that is becoming increasingly well know with hard dance clubbers having won Best Newcomer at the 2008 Hard Dance Awards.  He is also renowned for his deck-trickery and manic performance.  Slinky caught up with him for a few questions:

1. Hey Rodi, let’s get straight into this with some hard-hitting questions.  Where are you currently, what’s playing on your stereo, and most importantly has your credit been crunched or are living the high life as an international superstar DJ should be?

Hi Slinky!  I am sitting at home in my studio in Manchester right now listening to a house remix I just finished for Toolbox House.  I am making sure there’s no weird elements or strange happenings in it before I fire over the final to the label.  My credit is doing alright as is not as crunched as lots of other people but I am certainly not living the high life.  I wish!

2. You moved over to the UK last year from your native Canada, and in fact lived in Bournemouth for a bit.  How have you settled into English life?  In particular were there any culture shocks?

I think I’ve settled in now and have gotten used to calling garbage cans “bins” and car trunks “boots” and throwing the random “bollox” and “sound” into my vocabulary.  The culture shock wasn’t too bad although I almost got ran over a few times crossing the road and not carefully looking both ways.

3. You’re playing for Slinky on our 12th Birthday, and we’re holding two parties.  You’ll be DJ’ing on the second date and also making your Opera House debut.  I would imagine you’ll have a few surprises lined-up for the Slinky clubbers, so is there anything you’d care to share?

I’m very excited to finally get to play at the Opera House and as it is a birthday party, I will be putting together something very special for the occasion.  I haven’t quite decided on what yet but I’ve got a few ideas!  Regardless, I am really looking forward to it!

4. I notice you’re in a band in your native Canada which I’d like to know more about.  Not only that but when exactly do you get time to practice or even gig with these guys?  

Well at the minute all we’ve really done is made some tracks and slowly moved towards our goal of completing an album.  It’s more of a pop group so everything is sequenced and synthesized so we don’t have to practice at the minute… and aren’t well known enough to get shows as Sound Language.  

We’re just trying to make enjoyable music that even our parents can enjoy.  Although my parents fully support me, I don’t think they really enjoy or understand hard house haha.  Check out our Myspace page on http://www.myspace.com/soundlanguagemusic to hear some of our tracks!

5. You’re signed to the Tidy roster which is quite simply the biggest hard house label in the World.  How did you manage to join such illustrious company as that’s one hell of a gig!

I made my debut at the 12th weekender including a very last minute impromptu two track mix in the Queen Vic which I would probably point to as the turning point in my career as I must have done something right at that moment.  

I did try quite hard to make a splash including standing on the table and scratching.  Big thanks to Kieron for suggesting I drop two tracks during the Tidy dirty dozen fun times!

6. Do you have any ambitions, whether they’re related to the dance music industry or outside in normal life, what might they be?

Dance music industry-related I would really like to expand my house alias a bit more this year and make an artist album in hard house.  I’ve got loads of ideas that I think would sound great for an album but may not translate into dance floor killers.  However I think they’d really work in an album context.  

In the normal life area, I’d really like to become a British citizen and not have to worry about work visas anymore.

7. Many people (mostly nerdy) have said you’re one of the most technically DJs they’ve seen.  But let’s cut to the chase, what exactly does that mean?  Surely from one DJ to another you just simply mix… or is there something different about a Rodi Style set?

Hmm, I suppose I don’t really just purely mix as I like to do a lot of trickery, scratching and fx stuff…  really geeky stuff on the efx and equipment!  I get bored quite easily if I’m standing around doing nothing at all.  If the table is sturdy enough and I know I won’t “break the rave”, I will on occasion hop on the table and do a bit of feet scratching on the CDJs as well.

8. There are a lot of new DJs who are coming through at the moment and seem to be getting the support of the big events. Which DJs and producers do you feel are the next big thing in hard dance?

Jordan Suckley, who’s getting some great recognition now that he’s signed to PFA and all, is still one of those DJs that impresses me everytime I see him play and he is going to go very far.  

Also the guys over at Escape in Swansea (Rob Davies & Will Rees) are also very talented crowd rockers!

9. We’ve been asking DJs recently what they would do if they were PM for the day, given the current economical and political climate. If there was a Prime Minister Style, what would he be doing right now?

Grant me a Green Card and citizenship perhaps !

10. Last but not least, please name us five famous Canadians as I personally can only think of Mike Myers.  Are there any more?

Hmm.. well there’s always Pamela Anderson, Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder), Deadmau5, Jim Carrey and Elisha Cuthbert.  Reprazent!

11. Actually I’ve just thought of another one, Celine Dion.  What do you think of her, any good?  

Everyone including myself crack jokes about her but she’s probably laughing at all of us while sitting on a huge mountain of money. I wanna be able to write hit commercial songs haha!

12. Cheers for the interview, we’re looking forward to having you at Slinky so without further ado I will you have the last word:

Please visit http://www.djrodistyle.com for goodies, free mixes, and up to date info on all things rodi style !  And I will see you guys on May 1st!!

More info @ http://www.slinky.co.uk.

The Hard Dance Awards Nominations Announced

Voting has now closed, and the final nominations and shortlist has been announced for the 2009 Hard Dance Awards.  Here is the list:

Best DJ:
Alex Kidd, Andy Whitby, Proteus, Showtek, Zany

Best Producer:
BK, Paul Maddox, Showtek, Technikal, Zany

Best Label:
Awsum, Kiddfectious, Scantraxx, Tidy, Vicious Circle

Best Track:
Amber D ‘Rush On Me’, Frontliner ‘Spacer’, Organ Donors ‘Teardrop’, Showtek ‘Black’, Showtek ‘Hold Us Back’

Best Remixer:
Andy Whitby, Dark By Design, Showtek, Technikal, Technoboy

Best Resident:
Andy Whitby @ Frantic, Cally Gage @ Frantic, Garbo @ Storm, Nick the Kid @ Hindsight, Paul Glazby @ Storm

Best New Face:
Adam M, Frontliner, Kidd Kaos, Pickup & Rise, Scott Fo Shaw

Best Small Club:
Cyber Kitten, Harder Timez, Hi Oktane, Hindsight, Xstatic

Best Large Club:
B2T (Bounce 2 This), Bionic, Frantic, Good Greef, Storm

Best Event:
Creamfields, Godskitchen Global Gathering, Kiddstock, Qlimax, Tidy Weekender

Best Artist Album:
BK pres. The Nu Wave, Lisa Lashes ‘Lisa Lashes’, Organ Donors ‘Old Skool Autopsy’, Showtek ‘Today Is Tomorrow’, Zany ‘Fusion Of Sound’

Biggest Party Animal:
Alex Kidd, Headhunterz, Mark EG, Proteus, Showtek

Regional Hero:
Caz Wood, Danny Ginn, Garbo, Headhunterz, Nick The Kid

Outstanding Achievement:
BK, Madders, Mark EG, Rob Tissera, Tidy Boys

Best Website:
DontStayIn.com, Facebook.com, HarderFaster.net, Q-dance.nl, Trackitdown.net

Obviously I am slightly disappointed that Frenzy and Slinky didn’t make the club categories, but offer good luck to the guys who did make it!  Will be interesting to see who ends up winning.

Tidy Girl Kym Ayres and Paul King at Frenzy in Bournemouth

Frenzy's Cult Meeting

Frenzy’s Cult Meeting with Tidy Girl Kym Ayres & Paul “F1” King
Friday the 6th of Marc
Dusk Till Dawn in Bournemouth

After the sell-out success of Frenzy vs Resonate, Frenzy’s March event sees one of Tidy’s finest take to the Dusk Till Dawn decks for the first time since 2007.  Joining her will be hard house legend Paul “F1” King who is also one half of Pants n Corset plus the famous Trauma Trax guise.

Supporting them will be Frenzy residents MNKY & Ryki who are fast making a reputation for their hard trance style… plus of course a rare back to back bounce set from Cheeky Scott and Carl Phoenix.  We also welcome back Future Hero V-i-C with a Filth and NRG set.

// Main Room – Hard Dance & Hard Trance

Kym Ayres (Tidy & Slinky)
Paul “F1” King (Hard House Legend)
Cheeky Scott b2b Carl Phoenix (Bounce Sessions)
MNKY & Ryki (Hard Trance)
V-i-C (NRG & Filth)

// Room 2: Electro & Old Skool

Dirty Inc (Slinky)
DJ Wilma
PointA
More TBC

Doors open 10pm. Entry is £3 before 11pm then £6. All drinks £2.50

For more information visit:

http://www.frenzyclub.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=46461919526
http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/bournemouth/dusk-till-dawn/2009/mar/06/event-198620