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Features
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| 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! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! |
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Innovate preview: who is Nick Rowland?
Reported by Macavity
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Submitted 07-09-05 19:18
Do you know who Nick Rowland is? Even if you’ve not heard the name you’ve more than likely danced along to one of his tracks. He’s produced and engineered tracks for Nukleuz, tidy, and Alphamagic to name a few and he’s one half of the the Rowland & Wright mix of Rob Tissera’s Quake classic ‘The Day Will Come’. He’s been out of the country for the past few years, but now he’s back with a vengance and will be making his first returned UK gig at Innovate at The Fridge on Saturday 17 September. Still not quite sure who he is? Want to know more, then read on.
Nick Rowland
You’ve been producing since 2002. How did you start out in the music business?
I’ve been producing professionally since about then, although I have been involved with song writing & music since I was a youngster. When breaking into the dance music circuit we (me, myself & Dave Wright) simply kept sending CDs to all the labels, it was as simple as that. Alphamagic got in touch and signed a number of tracks, which at the time was great, but of course better things were wanted, Nukleuz & Tidy. The key here was perseverance — I remember getting a little drunk one night at Sundissential and pestering Ed Real all night to hear, what at the time I thought was, the best track ever. I know now very differently, as we later found out that CD went out of the window on the M1, but it got us noticed! A couple of tracks later and Nukleuz signed ‘Silverspeed’, and the rest pretty much snowballed from there.
You’ve been away for a while. Where have you been and what have you been up to?
I actually moved to Montreal, Canada. However, I was nowhere near as productive as I should have been, so had to come back!
Where are you originally from?
Bristol. Well, a small town called Wells in Somerset actually, but I was born in Bristol.
What do you do when you’re not producing or playing music?
I am a recluse — I sleep and drink.
You’re now back in London. What are your plans? Are you working on any juicy tracks at the moment?
Being in London now means it’s much easier for me to work with people. I have a lot of interesting tracks & collaborations lined up with artists including Nick Sentience, James Lawson & Ali Wilson, I’ve also just finished another track with Phil Reynolds. Working with Nick & James will be wicked as I looked up to these guys when I started out doing dance music, Nick especially so I’m well looking forward to that. I’m looking to do a lot more engineering and hopefully find some talent with fresh ideas to push things on a bit. Playing out more is also an option now, I do DJ and have done so for over 10 years, but I tend to be more involved in studio stuff, so I’ve never really pushed for gigs. Now I’m back in the capital, that could soon change, which will be awesome. I’m playing at Innovate on the 17th of September which is quite a way to start things off again.
You’ve produced with Rob Tissera on his classic ‘The Day Will Come’ with your studio buddy Dave Wright. How did this come about?
We actually worked with Rob on another remix project prior to ‘The Day Will Come’, which was ‘These Things Happen’ — it went out on Intensive. That went so well that Rob asked if we would like to do a mix of the Quake classic. Of course the answer was "Yes!" so a remix was done and Rob loved it. We then got a phone call from Rob asking if he could come down and work on another, more trancier mix. So we hit the studio again.
Cover shot
I hear you have a sneaky version of it that no-one else has got. Do you plan to release it?
It would be nice if it was, it’s actually the original Rowland & Wright remix which was featured on Hard House Anthems 4. A select few people have it and many people still ask about it so it would be a shame if it never saw some sort of release. However, there are currently no plans for a future release. I suppose if enough people pester Rob . . .
What other artists and labels have you worked with?
Labels: Tidy, Nukleuz, Short Circuit and many more.
Artists: Nick Rafferty, Ed Real, Phil Reynolds and of course Rob Tissera, pulling off some pretty big tunes including ‘No Other Love’, ‘U’, ‘20,000 Hardcore Members’ & ‘Bring The Lights Down’ to name a few.
Nick Rowland
Will you be doing any more Rowland & Wright stuff in the near future?
Maybe, maybe not. (Have you met him?!)
Producing records, it’s a pretty intangible business. When do you decide when a track is 100 per cent finished?
It’s really hard to know when to call it a day with some tracks, but you have to! I have noticed that if you keep going back to tracks too much, tweaking this and that, you actually work backwards. I tend to play each track to a few people — James Lawson is particularly (& brutally) honest which is always good, and Dave is always a good test of new material. If the feedback is good then I leave it alone. You have ask yourself — "Does it sound good?", "Does it sit in the mix OK?", or, if you find yourself going over and over the same thing, then you need to be able to tell yourself, "Get on with it!" or you wind up spending a day fiddling with stuff & tweaking things that may never even make it into the final track. I tend to try and stick to the Three Minute Rule — if a sound, riff, countermelody or anything else doesn’t sound right after three minutes of messing around, scrap it and move on! It works well so far.
Have you played at The Fridge before?
Nope, it’s a wicked club and Innovate is a wicked night. I’m very excited about it!
Picture from Innovate’s birthday
Is it good being back in London?
It’s great, just remind me to do my Christmas shopping early this year!
What’s on your Ipod at the moment?
Black Eyed Peas, Paul Van Dyk — Live at 15 Jahre Maximal and my mum singing "I'm a little teapot".
What’s your favorite music gadget?
My new PowerMac, it’s not really a gadget but it’s my musical ‘toy’.
Contact nick@nrmusic.net for engineering, remix and other enquiries.
Photography provided by Nick Rowland, Innovate and Masif Records.
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Other Features By Macavity:
Ben Coda Gets Ready for Glade Festival
The Tidy Boys are Back To Clean Up London
David Minns Tells Us Why South London is The Place To Be!
Russia's No 1 DJ, Bobina Springs into London
Ali Wilson - From Harderfaster to Carl Cox's Favourite Producer
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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Comments:
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From: luke warner on 7th Sep 2005 20:29.47
Top bloke, one hell off an engineer to, see you soon Nick mate
From: matt gardner on 7th Sep 2005 22:46.52
Nick, you are an absolute f**k*ng legend, and I cannot stress that enough; super clean, crisp production sound. Master!
From: little gem on 7th Sep 2005 23:02.53
Always wicked production, big fan of your stuff! Gem xx
From: Krazy Nut on 7th Sep 2005 23:04.07
One of the few producers out there that consistently does the buisness certainly my fav producer of the last few years looking forward to hearing the new one with Phil Reynolds Worlds Of Doubt is a classic, Keep up the good work Nick...........LEGEND!!!
From: benz on 8th Sep 2005 09:53.47
top stuff, look forward to hearing some new bits from him!
From: Dave Wright on 8th Sep 2005 10:18.00
Will you be doing any more Rowland & Wright stuff in the near future? Maybe, maybe not. (Have you met him?!) . . . . . I should sue you!! Lol. Heh - its good to have you back. You've been a good friend and a great production partner. Here's to many more choons!!
From: Ali Wilson on 8th Sep 2005 12:50.14
Good work mate! Wicked producer!
From: Tina Martin on 8th Sep 2005 14:13.19
And am sooooo gutted I am going to miss seeing him at Innovate!!!! 
From: Craig Paxton on 8th Sep 2005 17:17.12
Can't wait to have Nick down at Innovate. Really looking forward to hearing him play at the Fridge.. 
From: K.A.R.L. on 8th Sep 2005 21:59.18
Good to see someone different from the norm playing at the Fridge. Well done Innovate and roll on the 17th....
From: Scottie on 11th Sep 2005 00:39.37
Glad you're back mate. Looking forward to the new stuff! 
From: onthebass on 12th Sep 2005 05:34.47
Top stuff Mr Rowland. Have always been a big fan of your productions. Would be great to see you play out here in Oz one day 
From: Red5 on 12th Sep 2005 17:27.51
Been a big fan of the Rowland & Wright material, so looking forward to seeing him play at Innovate!
From: Lorenzo Barrero on 12th Sep 2005 18:27.17
Roll on this Saturday!
From: Nick Rowland on 12th Sep 2005 21:20.06
 Thanks all Really looking forward to Innovate and I have just finished a few exclusive mixes of some bits just for the occasion!
From: Nikki S on 13th Sep 2005 08:29.01
Big up ya Nick R!! It's been wicked working with you and I'm looking forward to Innovate this Sat!
x
From: Elz on 13th Sep 2005 13:51.02
Can't wait to see Nick play on Saturday, haven't heard him play before.
From: Dave Mac on 16th Sep 2005 10:31.51
foooooking legend mate. looking forward to working with you again mate.
From: anushka007 on 17th Sep 2005 13:15.52
wow I am so looking forward to see him go - great stuff and see you on Saturday 
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