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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! |
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tidy Summer Camp preview — welcome to The Hardcore Next Generation Show with Brisk & Ham
Reported by HarderFaster
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Submitted 23-06-05 18:25
In the countdown to next weekend’s tidy summer camp, we begin a series of interviews with some of the key artists on board. First we catch up with two cheesy quavers who’ve never lost their hardcore… DJ Brisk aka Paul Nineham and his partner in crime, Ham aka Dean Hamilton. As well as being djs and producers themselves, djing hard dance as the legendary Stimulant DJs, hardcore as Brisk & Ham and individually, and having produced and remixed hundreds of tracks under a number of guises, together they own and manage Next Generation Records, and regularly organise the hardcore room at tidy events. Welcome to The Hardcore Next Generation Show with Brisk & Ham...
First, for those who’ve been living in a cave for the last ten years, where are you both from? When did you first get into mixing and how did this come about?
Ham: I’m from East London and got into doing all this from being a raver back in the day. About 1990 I was buying decks and tunes and then getting into the studio side.
Brisk: It was a bit different for me, I got into hiphop first with the whole breakdancing rap thing about 86. This led to early house music and then into what became the rave scene, and the early parties in 89, at which point I followed the DJ path more than production until 1991.
So when did you meet?
Ham: Was it March 12 at 3pm in the afternoon?! Nah, it was it 93? 94? We met a couple of times but didn’t say much. We were both writing for Kniteforce, a very breakbeat Hardcore orientated label. Chris of Kniteforce and Ham are from same area, and had lot of the same friends. Paul had met Chris because he was also into the label and doing other production work, so they met up. Around 95 Chris started to lose interest. We felt we had similar ideas for a record label, and felt we could offer the same as everyone else and wanted to prove it.
Brisk: We’d both had a couple of bad experiences with other labels, not being paid, not being told what’s going on. We wanted to be in control of our own destiny. Then we realised, is that it?! Christ, it’ll be 10 years soon!
Can you remember the first time you played together?
Brisk: It was originally more of an individual thing. Ham had been playing for years. We both did a bit of pirate radio and limited gigs, but Ham limited himself to production.
Brisk was DJing while Ham was doing production. Brisk wishes he’d done that too as Ham is now far more advanced on the engineering side, but he is still chasing him!
We do a lot of back to back now. In 1999 the Stimulant DJs kicked off and hard house was the in word. We were quite busy. Bizarrely enough, we were doing more hard dance events as the Stimulant DJs then than we are now as Brisk and Ham. Things have changed, and now we do more Hardcore. We’re a lot more independent but team up occasionally, but we like to keep it a bit more exclusive. Plus we spend all week together, so if we spent all weekend together too, we’d probably end up killing each other!
You produce as well as DJing then? Do you see yourselves as predominantly djs or producers?
Well Brisk started as the DJ and Ham as the producer, but since then cross-pollinated. Those were our primary roles when we first teamed up but we’ve now levelled the balance… Ham’s learnt to be an accountant, Brisk is a label manager, we’ve both learnt to develop websites… the whole thing is a pain in the arse really!
Did you always want to get into music, or were you into other things growing up?
Ham: I always wanted to. The only trouble I had was from other people telling me how hard it was. It is hard! So if you want to get into it, you have to really want it to get into it! You have to have 100% dedication.
Brisk: You can go and study about the music business but until you actually deal with some of the people and real life situations you don’t really know what you’re going to get. You sometimes get a rude awakening!
Ham: It’s certainly not the rosy happy world you’d think it would be. But we should be a bit more positive!
Brisk: We’re just jaded cos we’ve been f*cked over so many times but we’re still here doing our thing!
In the last 10 years hardcore has come a very long way, to the extent that it’s now almost considered mainstream, with cds like the bonkers compilation now receiving prime spots in commercial record shops. Where do you think it’ll go from here?
Paul: Back underground.
Ham: It’ll carry on the way it’s going at moment. It’s always been considered not part of major club scene even though the Bonkers CDs etc sell as mainstream compilations. Clubland Xtreme sold 87,000 copies in week 1, so it’s doing better than established brands such as Euphoria.
Brisk: Perhaps the cliché that hardcore will never die is true. It goes in a four-year cycle. It goes around, peaks then becomes less popular. It’s definitely peaking at the moment!
Ham: There’s a lot of exciting stuff happening, like the new radio shows.
Brisk: While mainstream outlets may not take it seriously, hardcore is usually the first music you have contact with as a teenager. Then you slowly slow it down, get into house, or techno, breaks and more chilled forms of music until you end up married with kids and a house and don’t go out partying anymore! The point being a lot of the major labels and mainstream music press fail to see the significance of what is incredible music.
Ham: There’s a lot are good songs and you can’t keep a good song down! A tune may be used again in 10 years. It’s truly the only underground scene that crosses into the charts, look at ‘Shooting Star’, ‘Pretty green Eyes’ and ‘Heartbeats’. They’re all hardcore tunes that’ve been slowed down to be made acceptable for the masses.
If you’re listening to your average day on Radio 1, listen to the percentage of hardcore. The biggest thing that keeps it off the charts is that it’s too fast!
Ham: But don’t forget kids love fast music! Look at the Crazy Frog! But it’s too noisy for the average raver.
Brisk: The new internet radio stations are doing well though due to the lack of commercial coverage. Radio 1 does a token gesture with Kutski being the only DJ to feature any Hardcore in his show but on a 6 week rotation!
They’ve just set up a dedicated urban station with 1 Xtra, yet hardcore surely by definition IS ‘urban’! But ‘urban’ seems to be a trendy word for R&B and bad soul! There’s loads of urban r&b soul, rap, reggae on Radio 1 already, just look at Westwood, Fabio & Grooverider and Goldfinger. The lack of hard dance music on the national networks is criminal. It’s crimes against dance music!
We’re going to do our own radio show with on Sky digital channel 890 or www.puredance.co.uk if you’re on the web. The debut show for us is on Tuesday 28th June from 11pm—1am. It’ll be on once a month after that. The Hardcore Generation Show with Brisk & Ham.
It’s Vibelite’s show, but they’ve given us a monthly slot, with the other slots being shared with Sharkey and Jon Doe. Vibealite are also involved with www.hardcoreregime.co.uk who also have numerous Hardcore shows and stream selected live events. It’s a good resource and on all the time.
Having been ravers back in the day, you must have some great stories!
Nothing that comes to mind!
Ham: I saw a cat once!
Brisk: What, at a rave?
Ham: Yes, well you know how you trip out sometimes…
[this leads to a debate about whether you get better visuals on pills or acid…]
Brisk: A well known hardcore DJ buying, like, his twentieth pill from a transvestite in Sydney. That was the same morning I was chased down the street by eight Lebanese hooligans after being turned away from a club! I headed for a taxi asap!
You’re both involved in Next Generation Records. Who does what?
Ham: Well Brisk does everything and I sit on my arse smoking weed all day. Haha no, Paul does the artwork, the label production, licensing, website updates, company email. I deal with the accounts and mastering and engineering in the studio.
Brisk: Collectively we stress like bitches! We do a lot of creative decision making together, making advertising and marketing decisions. That’s why I had to shave my hair off as I had too many grey hairs! It can be quite full on but we do enjoy it.
Ham: We’ve been able to do this as a career for 10-11 years so we’re lucky.
Brisk: God this is a bit like therapy isn’t it!
Between you you’ve made hundreds of records. What do you do to find inspiration?
Ham: I don’t think there’s anything you can do, you’ve either got it or you haven’t! The best inspiration is knowing what you want to do before going in the studio. If you know what you want to do it makes it a lot easier.
Brisk: But sometimes you go in with nothing and it all comes together. With us both being djs we get to listen to a lot of other people’s music and that’s good to get inspiration from—not to copy, but…
Ham: You can hear different production techniques, for example, or new sounds. Your influences come from all around, from all forms of dance music and beyond.
How do you balance your time between DJing, production and running the label. Do you see yourselves as predominantly djs, producers or businessmen?
Brisk: I don’t, Ham does.
Ham: I don’t really…
Brisk: We just come in and get on with it!
Ham: We can’t work more than a week in advance. If we have a busy week in the studio you might get nothing done in other departments, or if you’re busy all week sorting accounts, you’ll get nothing done elsewhere. After weeks and months it all blurs into one musical mess! You have to have a day off here and there or you burn out.
Brisk: Even when we’re at home there’s always something you could be doing, you’re never completely switched off, you could be reading emails or looking at the message boards. If you work for a company it’s generally 9—5, but when you run it, it’s 24-7.
[A train goes past and rattles the building to its foundations.]
There’s some mechanics next door… Have you seen the Office? The boss next door is a bit like David Brent. He comes up some crap one liners and even in here we can hear him churn out the gags.
Sometimes we work until 4, then the trains start at 5.30 and then David and the M.O.T massive start revving their engines at 7am so sleep can be a luxury. At the end of the day it’s an industrial unit, great location choice huh?!
Brisk: We’ve a pet rat who curls his tail around the security bars in order to climb up them. Imagine my shock when one night I came face to face with a cat sized rat looking at me from the window, willing me to open it and let me in! Jedi mind tricks or something!
As the Stimulant djs you’ve made some of the top hard dance tracks of all time, like ‘F*ck the Beatz’. How do you come up with such magical combinations in the studio? What do you think is the secret of a good track and what do you do to unlock that secret?
Brisk: We used a rap vocal from a hardcore track. I like a track to tell a story: a beginning, a middle and an end. ‘F*ck the Beatz’ has this.
Ham: It’s probably one of our favourite tracks.
Brisk: Our hardcore background directly translates into what we do as Stimulant Djs and gives us our trademark sound. To most extreme hard dance critics we’re not dirty enough, to the cheese lovers we’re not cheesy enough. Sometimes we try and sound more European, sometimes we add more of a techno element or even a hoovery hard house sound.
But we always make records with a view to kicking the dance floor, so if we want a remix done in a specific sound, we get it done by someone who plays and makes that that style. Remixes are tricky…
Ham: Which is why sometimes the best remixes don’t come from the biggest names!
As label owners, what are you views on the eminent death of vinyl? As djs do you predominantly play vinyl or cds in your sets?
Ham: We always play vinyl but cds have their uses too.
Brisk: ‘Eminent death’ is morbid!
Ham: It’s not ‘eminent’! There’s a question mark over vinyl but I wouldn’t say it’s death is eminent. There’s still obviously a demand for vinyl. But that said, a lot of people are using cd decks… It all points to a more futuristic way of playing and making music. These days buying and playing music is all about convenience.
Brisk: The problem with convenience comes piracy and more and more availability. There’s a whole generation of kids who download and think, ‘Why the f*ck should we pay for it?’ I even found a site where they’ve got all our early releases for download, don’t try and find it though, it’s been shut down (thankfully)!
Ham: People are ransoming label owners with their own material, it’s ridiculous. People wouldn’t take 40 mars bars from a shop without knowing it’s wrong so why download 40 tracks?
Brisk: And there are people who’ll put their money where their mouth is and purchase downloads. There are people who buy vinyl but a lot of bedroom djs now have cd decks and some club together to collectively buy a stack of mp3s which they can then burn for each other in minutes which only dilutes the labels sales.
Ham: The average download number per track is about 100—200 units but who knows how many more are being shared.
Brisk: A recent Stimulant release sold 600 when only 1800 months ago it would’ve been over 2500. There are several variables that affect sales, but you can usually expect to sell 1000 records. But kids are also burning their own records then putting them on websites to share too, where does it stop?
Ham: It’s rife. If it keeps up the way it has been, the independent scenes will go first. people need sales to survive. If they’re not making any money, then they can’t do it full-time.
Brisk: If you put blood, sweat and tears into learning these skills then have it taken away from you by people stealing your livelihood…
Ham: Things do come and go. Maybe music will go like Morris dancing. No-one’s really that into Morris dancing any more. It may be that unimportant to people…
[an argument kicks off about this …]
Brisk: Unfortunately in a financial depression the first thing out the window is entertainment. You’ll axe spending on music to save your house and download the music instead of paying for it.
The whole ‘dance music is dead’ thing has been thrashed, well, to death! In a all the years you’ve been in the industry what are some of the main trends you’ve observed? What would you like to see change in the future?
Ham: I don’t think anything can really change, it’s the way it is with the four-year cycle thing.
Brisk: It’s evolution! You can’t control what people want from their weekend fix. Other than the seemingly four-year cycle within the genre of dance there is the overall cycle of music, Dance music has been popular for nearly 15 years, the original ravers have since had kids who themselves are getting into music and it’s not cool to listen to what their parents were into, and thus getting into maybe hip hop, rock etc.
Ham: I watched a programme about the fact that trends are all a reflection of what’s happening at the time. When we were in times of terrorism etc., generally people might have been more reluctant to go out. You’ve got no control over the mood of the world and the country at the time. Unless perhaps if someone invented a new drug? What is certain though, all forms of music are embracing the digital age, which started off with Dance.
Brisk & Ham: If dance music is dead why are mainstream artists getting their work remixed and remade by prolific Dance producers??
If you weren’t playing and making records, what would you be doing?
Ham: Brisk would be a graphic designer and I’d probably be… a producer of music. I never thought of anything else… but maybe a Formula 1 driver! I wanted a go-kart when I was seven but my dad wouldn’t let me have it because it was way too expensive. I would’ve been a lot fitter, wouldn’t have smoked… Dad’s got a lot to answer for! But I love music and if I was a Formula 1 driver I would still do music between races!
Brisk: I’d be a graphic designer who plays records at weddings and funerals with four different colour lights, you know, real mobile disco style.
Some of your tracks have done incredibly well both in the UK and internationally. Do either of you have a favourite track you’ve made over the years? What about all the remixes you’ve done?
Ham: Stimulant djs, ‘F*ck the Beatz’.
Brisk: I couldn’t choose. ‘F*ck the Beatz’ ranks highly, but we’ve never put anything out that we haven’t though was really good. We’ve got too many! But I guess if I had to choose one it would be the Stimulant djs remix of ‘Only Me’ by Hyperlogic. On the hardcore tip it would have to be Brisk & Ham ‘Crazy Love’.
Now that hardcore is no longer so underground, are there more and more younger djs and producers coming through? How do you spot a good up and coming dj or producer from a bad?
Ham: You’ll know a good up and coming dj as they’ll be in your face: you’ll see them out there, on flyers etc. For producers there’s more to it, you may hear a good track with potential, which prompts you to investigate further as Brisk did with Vagabond who now writes for/with us on a full time basis.
Brisk: There needs to be something that makes your ears prick up. As a DJ you’re taking tunes and presenting them. A lot of djs base themselves on other djs they like and you hear them play that style, say, with a bit of scratching just like another dj they may admire. Why be a clone of someone else? You need to put your own twist on it to make it your own. If we hear someone we like out, where possible we try and get them on bill in one of our rooms. But you’ve got to earn your stripes!
Ham: If you do a brilliant first track, you’ll become known. But djing takes time, you have to work your way around the country. It’s like a perpetual tour!
While female djs like Lashes, Savage, Reynolds, Amber D etc. are carving the way for women in the hard dance scene, there are still very few women djs playing and producing in the hardcore scene. Why do you think this is? Will it ever change?
Brisk: In Hardcore you’ve got to be a very good DJ regardless of gender to get anywhere to be honest. Other areas of dance music can, to a degree, rely heavily on marketing…hardcore is about the music not about the hype!
Ham: DJ Rap and Sky from Pulse FM have been two. Ironically hardcore back in the day lent itself to female djs. Nowadays there’s Cris.E.Manic who stands out in the UK.
Brisk: It would be nice to see more good DJs on the scene whether they are male or female.
Ham: For a female to be a DJ it seems you have to be very well turned out. Which is a shame, what you look like doesn’t matter.
Ham: There is room, but the trouble is that as well as having to be well turned out you have to be better than the guys. Hardcore critics are very enthusiastic about what they do and don’t like, so you can’t hide behind a glossy fabrication. You’ve got to have the skills or you can’t cut it. The bottom line is there’s not as many girls wanting to be Hardcore DJs in the first place.
Brisk: There’s DJ Daisy from France, she plays Gabba and good filthy dirty hardcore. Lady Dana also crosses Hardstyle and the slower end of Dutch hardcore. In mainland Europe people are more accepting. I don’t know what it is about the UK… Special K from Bristol is a good DJ who also promotes a night and then there’s Cris.E.Manic from London who always smashes it too.
What DJs and producers have influenced you ever the years? And now?
Ham: Prodigy and Basement Jaxx are good examples of pushing the boundaries. And of course Slipmatt.
Brisk: Carl Cox, Easygroove and Colin Dale are three UK DJs, but there are f*cking loads. I chose those three as they play lots of different styles and variety is the spice of life. In a club they mix it up. With Easygroove you never know what you’re going to get next! In terms of production I couldn’t choose as there are so many influences from so many different styles. Maybe I chose those three djs because when I was raving I heard them on a regular basis, the drugs were good then, consistently good too!
With so much politics and backstabbing in the industry, it must be very easy to become disillusioned. Have you ever thought about packing it in and getting a day job? Who in the industry do you admire the most?
Ham: No, I’ve never thought about packing it in.
Brisk: No, not really, it’s never been an option. Of course there’s been times I’ve been disillusioned…
Ham: Definitely.
Brisk: We’ve learnt the hard way on many occasions. To be here now and know what we know, it’s all been a valuable learning experience.
Ham: Yep we’ve gone and done it and basically just had each other.
Ham: I’ve got a lot of respect for Sy and Unknown, Slipmatt and the Tidy Boys.
Brisk: I respect anyone who is dedicated to their passion.
What future tracks do you have coming out that you’d like to tell HF readers about?
Brisk & Ham — ‘In Your Life’
Vagabond — ‘Poisonous’
Euphoria — ‘Drunk with Love’
There’s also Next Generation Records and Blatant Beats V3, the third album in our in-house series. That should be coming out in September. We’re very excited, and will be getting onto with it after Brisk’s imminent Australia tour.
Next Generation Records are hosting the hardcore room at next weekend’s summer camp. Are you looking forward to this? Do you have any surprises in store for summer campers?
Expect lots of brand new previously unreleased unheard of material on the night!
At the last Tidy Weekender the hardcore room was rammed with queues of fans waiting to even get through the door. Do you think Tidy will ever give you a bigger room at these events?
Actually at Magna in September we’ve got the Face of Steel room confirmed! After two years of hard campaigning we’re finally allowed to prove that hardcore deserves a bigger room and they’ve given it to us on September 10. So watch out!
Finally, do you have any dreams for the future?
Ham: I want to buy a new car and pay off my mortgage. I want to stay employed in the music industry then if that happens, 2) diversify into slightly different forms of music in the dance field, while still doing what we’re doing.
Brisk: Yes, keep doing what we’re doing and retire when we desire to, not when the industry dictates. I’d like to take hardcore to places it’s never been, to take the Next Generation sound to other countries.
Thanks for your time guys! Looking forward to seeing you at Summer Camp!
Brisk & Ham: Thanks!
Photos supplied by Brisk and Ham, photographer Dan Reid (www.danreid.co.uk)
tidy Summer Camp 2005
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On:
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Friday 1st July 2005
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At:
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Pontins Holiday Camp (Prestatyn) [map]
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From:
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Friday 1st July - Sunday 3rd July 2005
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Cost:
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Various - (Click link below)
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Website:
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www.tidy.com/ev/tidy.asp?page=site_welcome.asp&zone=com
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Ticket Info:
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Various tickets available depending on chalet size etc. Please click on the link below in order to view what tickets are remaining as they are selling out extremely fast!
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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The tidy Summer Camp is to return with a BANG this year!
We have a new venue far superior to last year’s, an awesome line up and so much sugary creamy fun it’ll rot your teeth.
2005 sees us relocate to the shores of the east coast, Hembsy in Norfolk. The site is minutes away from golden beaches, it has a huge swimming pool, a crazy golf course and only minutes drive from the Norfolk Broads if you fancy a tidy outing!
After tidy Weekender 7 sold out in record time we are pulling out all the stops to ensure Summer Camp 2005 will be the best summer holiday you’ve ever had! Even though the typical English weather pissed on our Roadshow at summer Camp 2004, we are going to brave it again, fingers and toes crossed! Dust off those sombreros, grab your Bermudas and get ready to sweat your knackers off…
The mayhem will run over 3 nights in various arenas showcasing the best djs this country has to offer.
The daytimes will be packed with activities and events including the HarderFaster Sports Day and the HarderFaster Vs tidy Grand Prix. Both events will feature a mix of djs, promoters and clubbers alike battling it out to the bitter end.
For more detailed information regarding this event and for tickets (which are selling out as fast as ever), please click on this following link: http://www.tidy.com/ev/tidy.asp?page=site_welcome.asp&zone=com
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Other Features By HarderFaster:
HarderFaster Awards 2016 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2014 - The results are in!
Lashes, Dimples and the Brighton Music Conference
HarderFaster Awards 2013 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2012 - The results are in!
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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Great in-depth interview 
