Ahead of his live UK gig @ Corsica Studios on the 5th November techno legend The Advent discusses how he started out in music, the state of the scene today and his inspirations and ambitions in music.
Q: As a true ambassador for techno what is your opinion of the techno scene in 2010?
A: MMMM, good Question! I think techno as it's true pure form, for me has been diluted into to many sub genre's which is a shame, I hear a lot more known djs & artists playing deeper "tech house" rather than the more pumping techno from the past, which for me is lacking in the energy that techno originally brought to the club, of course it depends on the artist & release. Some new artists are maintaining that energy that I personally call techno, like Legotech. Sash Carassi, Spirakos & Steen, Len Faki & Audio Injection to name a few, so there are a few that I am into and would play their music, but most of the other known artists & labels I’m not really into these days. Hopefully in 2011 that energy "wake up call" will return back into techno.
Q: At the beginning of your career you studied sound engineering at college and then moved on to work in a studio. Has this been a big influence on the way you make music?
A: This was my introduction into the music industry! Starting as an assistant sound engineer and working my way up the ladder was a good way to start working with a lot of artists, mostly rock music for the first year but the second year I got more involved with the early house artists and from this point (1987) I was completely hooked on house on techno. I learned a lot between 1986 and 1988 from some of the early pioneer's of Chicago & Detroit like Finger inc, Adonis & Derrick May, TO MENTION A FEW!!
Q: Do you get time to listen to other music and if so what music do you take inspiration from?
A: Yes I do get the chance from time to time to listen to promos but they don't inspire me to make music, usually what gets me ticking is a good weekend playing in front of a 500 club or a 30,000 festival, and seeing how the crowd react to my music, this inspires me to make music the following week, it's my Addiction!
Q: What else in life gives you inspiration to make music?
A: Life itself of course, you know sometimes you have a good day and sometimes you have a bad day so the music has it's ups & downs as well, all good inspiration is from life!!
Q: If you were going to have a night off and go out to a club which artist / dj would you like to hear?
A: That’s a hard one as I haven't been to see a dj in a long time, for the last 15 years I’ve been back & forth from London so on my days off I’m usually spending time with my kids and the other weekends I’m always away Performing at events, if I’m on the same line up as another artist / act I haven't heard for a while I usually stay a few hours at the event, as a posed to going straight back to the hotel, the last people I heard were Dave Clarke and the Space DJ'z at Nature One in Germany.
Q: You have recently had a release on Advanced Intelligence, is this your label?
A: Yes it's a new label I started with Ricardo AKA Industrialyzer, for our deeper & slower side. In today’s scene I think it's good to expand your variety in music production, it doesn't always have to be one sided, so the label "AI" is to focus on another side of our music styles.
Q: What projects and releases are you working on at the moment?
A: Recently I have finished quite a few projects some are actually out in November:
Pig & Dan "Addiction EP" The Advent & Industrialyzer remix and Tom Hades remix on his "Rhythm Convert-ed" label. Also I just completed an EP for label "1605" which is one of UMEK's and there’s a new Kombintaion Research release on the way "KR034" The Advent Vs Minimalrome which has two nice electro tracks on there. There’s a new CodeWorks & Advanced Intelligence release "Jonestown EP" which was a concept we had about the Jones town Massacre". In 2011 there will be a lot more projects to look out for!
Q: In the past you have recorded a more house sound under the name G Flame, is there any chance we will hear more house style releases in the future?
A: MM, Good question. Well after leaving our contract with London Records / FFRR me and my ex production partner Colin Mc Bean decided to move to another label also run by the same A&R that signed us to FFRR, now he was based at BMG/Metalbox, which for us was a great way to start something New: "GFlame & Mr G", this was a time before tech house exploded, so we used Elements from house into techno and vice versa, unfortunately after 6 12'" EP's and one Album we decide to stop, only a few months later Colin wanted to carry on as Mr G as he had departed from The Advent, so I helped him
with his label "Phoenix G" first 6 or 7 releases, which helped him get into the scene with a new alias. I did start a label for G Flame releases from NYC Called "Alpha Recordings", I had 4 to 5 releases, then stopped to carry on The Advent as Techno is my first option in Music, so who knows, maybe sooner rather than later you might see a G Flame release!!
Q: Do you prefer a day in the studio or playing a live gig?
A: I could never choose between these two! It has to be both. I prefer in the week to be in the studio and then at the weekend I like road testing the week's studio work. It’s hard to choose as these days I like to be in the studio and performing as much as possible.
Q: What are your ambitions for the future?
A: To discover new Talent with that desire and drive that I had back in the day. There are a few good new names to watch out for; Hugo Paixao and Jason fernandes are two young producers that I have been working with in the past year, we started a new label
S.T.G. and they also have new releases on Kombination Research. So there’s still a lot to for fill and accomplish!!
Q: What makes a good party for you?
A: First the Sound and PA has to be very good and loud, a good Line up, A LOT OF DRINKS, and whatever’s your poison, then the rest is a blur I think... burp!!!
Interview by Robin Ball
The Advent plays live alongside Ben Sims and Mark Broom in room 1 with Justin Robertson & Colin Dale in room 2. Socialeyes and Tilted Disco @ Corsica Studios London, Friday 5th November 2010. Click here for tickets
On Saturday 22nd January, Socialeyes returns to Corsica Studios for something a little bit special, the birth of the Groove Pleasure Soundsystem! Groove Pleasure and Socialeyes creator Robin Ball debuts this new concept for Socialeyes where he invites musicians and vocalists to add a live element to his dj sets. Robin says “I’ve had a dream to do this happen since seeing the Massive Attack Soundsystem in the early 90’s at the Glastonbury Festival, I had seen reggae dub djs playing whilst an MC sang but Massive Attack were doing it with dance music and it blew me away! What I will be doing is bringing this idea in a modern form to our Socialeyes night at Corsica Studios.”
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