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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! |
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Interview with the Vinyl Zoo crew
Reported by tom
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Submitted 01-10-02 10:39
With their monthly 'Zoology' residency at Club 414 in Brixton and regular quarterly tie-ups with the Milk crew for 'Milkology', Vinyl Zoo are becoming increasingly well known and respected in London's clubbing scene. We caught up with promoters, producers and and resident DJs Daniel Nugent (aka Latex Zebra) and Richard Bush (aka RedCaT) for a few words about what the future holds for them and Vinyl Zoo.
HarderFaster: Firstly, why the name Latex Zebra? (Sorry had to ask)?
Daniel Nugent: This never lives up to people’s expectations. My Wife and I where bored down the pub one night and we decided to play Hangman! Very tragic, I know. We decided to try words that had Z’s and X’s and letters no one ever picks. Latex and Zebra came up, we looked at it and just thought, it would stand out as a production name. I then decided to DJ under that as my previous name Farmer C was a bit naff.
HF: How did you first get into clubbing and promotion?
DN: I was lucky to get into the scene at quite an early age. I went to an illegal rave when I was about 15-16 in 1990. From there I just fell in love with Acid House and the first Trance that came out. I started DJ’ing in 1997 and was doing lot’s of house parties. There are no noble or groundbreaking reasons for starting to promote. Just that I’m lucky to have some talented mates that DJ who wanted to play to bigger crowds. It was also a very good way of promoting the label and being able to play our tunes out.
HF: Is Zoology the first club you've run or are there others that have fallen by the wayside?
DN: Well it’s the first proper club. B.S.E (Zoology Resident) had access to a St John Ambulance hut in Richmond. We used to have free parties there. The first had about 20 people there. The last one we did had about 200 people squeezed in. We did about 20 of those; the best thing was that most people in the area were all Sparage (UK Garage) fans. We converted them into Techno/Trance. Lot’s of them still come to our parties now. We’ve done something good then. It was RedCaT who pushed for the 414 night and before I knew it, we had 3 parties set up!
HF: Who are your current residents and how did you pick them?
DN: Myself, RedCaT and B.S.E, they pretty much picked themselves by being very good DJ’s and being involved in the label (Vinyl Zoo) when it started. I play a lot of German Techno Trance, Tracid Traxxx and stuff like that. I’ve been getting a lot more UK stuff through the post recently and I’m playing stuff off a few more labels now. RedCaT is more on a Tech-Trance tip and gets hold of tunes I’ve never heard anyone else play. B.S.E is our resident maniac, full on Acid Techno. We always put him on last so we don’t scare people off. We're going to experiment with the orders of play soon as we’ve been quite rigid in who plays where.
HF: What is your policy when it comes to booking DJs for your events?
DN: That they can mix and they are cheap…. Just kidding. We look for something a bit quirky, when booking unknowns, people who aren’t scared to play something other than full on Hard Trance/House. We also like to mix it up. We might have Ali Wilson one month and then D’Marr Ford the next or Si Fevah and then Gizelle.
HF: What advice would you give to a DJ who was starting out and wanted to get the chance to play at your event?
DN: A bit of originality is a good start. There are plenty of DJ’s we can book who will play Nukleuz, Tidy Tracks etc. Surprise us with some unusual labels. Putting a Vinyl Zoo tune on is bound to go in your favour. If people want to play they only have to mail us for our address so they can get a CD to us. We listen to everything and as much as possible, feedback regardless of whether they’ll play at Zoology or not.
HF: On the listings for your event you say you'll play 'Hard uplifting Trance of the variety that will not be spun all over town that night' - what do you mean by that, what exactly is the flavour of trance that you can expect to hear at Zoology?
DN: Very Hard Trance, almost Techno. We try and build things up. The warm up will have some classics, a bit of Hard House and Hard Trance and then it’s normally RedCaT doing his Tech Trance thing. A lot of melodies, but very tough beats. Then we have our guest DJ. Then it’s me playing a lot of German Acid Trance and Techno. Uplifting but still bloody hard. Then B.S.E doing whatever the hell he likes. Mainly on a UK Acid Techno tip, we are trying to broaden his horizons. No success yet! As I said this will get jigged around soon, so we might have Acid Techno at 12:00 and Trance for the last set.
HF: What other plans do you have for Zoology over the next 6 months?
DN: Well more link ups with Milk for the after parties. DJ swaps with other promotions and we are looking at dressing the club a bit more in the future. We have our 1st Birthday on November 8th with Keith Fox (Didn’t realise the animal connection with his name until just then!). We also have a huge New Years Eve party planned at 414. Will be a selection of DJ’s from all the Friday night promotions and a few special guests as well. It has the potential to go on well into New Years Day. We’ll stop when people have had enough.
HF: To someone who's never been, describe what they could expect (esp. musically) from a night at one of your promotions?
DN: Another person who has yet to see what we're about... Shocking. So many people say “Oh, we’ve never been.” When they turn up they have a great time and come back with friends. Organised madness is what you’ll find. The DJ’s dancing on the floor with the crowd (before and after their sets usually). A very happy vibe. Probably has we have a regular fan base and by the time other people arrive the party is already in full swing. Musically, expect a nice progression of music and a variety of styles. Hence the Zoo theme.
HF: What's the story behind your tie-up with Milk - how did that come about and how has it developed?
DN: Milk obviously come in as we are finishing up and they had heard what we where doing. We got chatting with Piers (Milk promoter) and he booked me for a set at Milk. I went down well and then he booked RedCaT and B.S.E, we in return booked a few of Milks residents and we just realised we have similar aims musically and with the kind of parties we want to run. We (I think) are on a sort of rotation now and will play at Milk every few months. Same for D’Marr Ford, who we hope to get back soon. Piers has so much energy, he constantly amazes me. Piers and RedCat are the real driving force behind Milkology. I turn up, help decorate, DJ and then party.
HF: How did you feel the inaugural Milkology went?
DN: Very well. It was our biggest gig so I was very excited. Crash is a great venue though I’m glad that Milk has moved to the Viaduct, which is a more underground venue in my opinion. It was a good chance for Milks crowd to hear us and vice versa. Both crowds mixed well and it was just a very good party. All the Vinyl Zoo DJ’s who were then largely unknown, impressed a lot of people. We have quite a few work offers since then and they continue to come in regularly.
HF: Tell us about your plans for the upcoming Milkology - how do you and Piers plan to develop it in the future?
RB: The plan at the moment is to keep doing Milkology every 3 months to keep it new exiting and innovative. In terms of both music and environment! Milkology 2 is looking to be great, not only do we have a great line-up (see below) but also it is Milk and Vinyl Zoo's birthday, so expect it to be a good one.
Dan or Latex Zebra (pounding us with his German hard trance)
Rich or RedCaT (I will be playing you my own mix of Funky techno and anything I see fit)
Chris or B.S.E. (as always his unique mix of UK Techno including lots of ACID)
Ed Real (doing what we all know and love)
Ali Wilson (doing his stuff mixing it all up)
D' Marr Ford (funking it up!)
Tuff Cub (giving us one of his bouncy sets!)
Jay Dee (with his great techno sound!)
and More TBC
One of the key things that Milk and Vinyl Zoo have when we working together is a fantastic crowd / atmosphere, this is never listed on any website or flyer, the only way to get this known is by word of mouth. Why not come down on the of 1st November and see for your self!
HF: How long has the Vinyl Zoo label been about and what releases (and in what style) have you had?
DN: We were a year old in September. We’ve had 3 releases so far. Zoologists - Truth being our most popular, getting 4/5 in DJ Mag, which was nice. Style wise, each release is different. We try and mix styles. One side might be Hard Trance the other Funky Techno. Most DJ’s play a few styles so we can cater for all sorts of sets. We try and avoid pigeon holing ourselves with one style. Again it’s the Zoo theme. Lots of different styles on offer and we put a nice cartoon animal on each release to make everyone unique.
HF: What releases do you have in the pipeline?
DN: Coming up October/November we have my own track Supersonicus, an Acid Techno thing with a hint of German bounciness. On the flip is my Wife (DJ Widow..Who isn’t a DJ!) And myself doing a Hard Trance track Shadow Boxer. After that we have RedTeK - A Drain on The Bushman which is proper Funky Techno and should be big, the other side is Zoologists – Zoology which is Acid Trance madness. December or January we finally get our 3rd release out pHlashers – Figure of 8 an UK Acid Techno track. Backing that up is WaD – Monkey Finger, mad samples, Acid and very hard to categorise.
HF: Do you think London clubbing has turned the corner when it comes to numbers at clubs?
DN: Well there is plenty of choice whatever your tastes. I think this summer was the quietest I've ever seen clubland. I think it will pick up again. A lot of people are starting to look at other events rather than go to all the big name parties that are on. That said, there are more than enough clubbers to go round and we've only had one bad night at Zoology.
HF: And finally a question we ask everyone: what are your top 3 tunes of all time?
DN:
1. Gat Décor – Passion
2. Virus – Sun
3. Hardfloor – Aceperience
With thanks to the Vinyl Zoo crew for their time.
Relevant Links
Vinyl Zoo
The next Zoology is on Friday 4th October - for full details click here.
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Other Features By tom:
Interview with Guffy
Interview with Energy Dai
Interview with Tara Reynolds
Interview with Anne Savage
Interview with James Lawson
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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