Proteus: The Master Of Darkness!
Reported by Joanna McEwen
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Submitted 26-02-08 09:23
Rrrrrrrrrraaaahh! With a sweep of his cloak, the silver masked demon strides through the smoke, lights flash and darkness falls. The deep and dark beat rumbles and builds until its onslaught shakes the very earth itself and all those who stand before it. Proteus. The Master of Darkness. Bow down and honour!
Proteus: The world’s number one hard dance DJ, winner of the Hard Dance Awards in 2004 and 2005, ranked in DJ Mag’s Top 100 for two times, powers the loins of the global dancing masses with his industrial dark and dirty dance music. For it is music. Just not for the faint hearted.
Proteus: Headliner of spectacular events across the planet, highlights including closing Dance Valley’s 10th Anniversary in front of 60,000 people in Holland, the Creamfield Festival, Logic, Hard House Academy, Antiworld and Torture Garden in the UK, the Zurich Love Parade, tours of Japan, Australia and New Zealand and most spectacular of all, supporting The Prodigy for the Helsinki leg of their world tour. Those who understand the nature of the beast welcome Him Who Knows to what will be the highlight party of 2008 – Party Proactive’s Fourth Birthday at the SeOne on the 8 March. Those who have yet to experience the full force of His Power – let this Party be the one to show you. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
You’ve called your music “music of the damned” but in reality you’re rather a cheerful chap! What is it about dark music that appeals to your nature?
My girlfriend has always said to me that I get all my aggressions out and that I change into something else when I’m at the stage. I’m a very easy going and happy guy and music has always been some kind of channel for me to get all the “darker” feelings out, it’s not as serious as it sounds, hehe! I have always been in love with darker styles of the music like goth rock, metal, industrial and all the darker genres of the dance music. Maybe it’s because here in Finland most of the music is mainly minor key based and you just hear those sad songs all your youth, hehe!
Your belief in the music you love helped to create the hard scene in Finland from 1996 onwards, from DJing and producing to putting on parties and club nights including the appropriately named Hellfire, Inferno and Sade and hosting the Dark Side Radio programme. As there are fewer people living in the whole country of Finland than do in London (5 million approximately) was this an easy or hard thing to achieve?
It was very hard work and I think there is still lot to do to get the Finnish harder scene better even it’s very big considering the population here. One of the milestones was when Finrg was created around 2000 and we are now like one big family together, all the artists and DJs support each other.
I have always had this “mission” to get dance people and metal people together because I love both genres. At the moment I’m writing my first artist album and the sound in the album is very rough and crossover between industrial and hard dance. The album is set to be released before the summer and I hope that by listening to the album people can see that the line between harder dance music and metal is very thin. On my radio show, Dark Side, I try to play lots of different darker music styles and according to the listener’s feedback the show has already been pretty good “melting pot” here in Finland between dance and metal people.
Your success shows through all your achievements, the latest being asked to remix a track, Grace, for one of Finland’s biggest bands, Apocalyptica. How did that come about?
I had a gig at GoodGreef last summer and suddenly in middle of my set I got this text message from Finnish mobile number saying that “Would you be able to do remix for us? regards Apocalyptica”. First I thought it was a joke but after I got to back to Finland I phoned the number and it was real thing! I had never met the Apocalyptica guys before personally yet it seems that they followed my things little bit because they wanted to have a different and Proteus kind of feeling to the remix of their track. I finished the remix last year and luckily the band liked it a lot. Now I just have to wait until Sony BMG decide to release it.
Your Dark Side Radio plays anything from hard NRG to hardcore, goth rock and industrial. Do you ever listen to your light Side – a bit of Spanish guitar, Frank Sinatra or the Pussy Cat Dolls perhaps?!
Yes, for example I’m big fan of Chris De Burgh, seriously. I will never forget when I bought his single Lady In Red from this Finnish record shop. I used to have big black mohawk hair those days and this lady at the desk just watched me and I could see her thinking that this guy can’t be serious, hehe! I am also huge fan of Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, HIM, Nick Cave and Dire Straits. I love all music which sounds great to my ears, even jazz, if I’m very drunk, hehe!!
One of the reasons cited by your management for not playing at last year’s Hard Dance Awards was your desire to keep the scene real. What does that mean for you?
For me it’s about believing in hard work and in being independent and believing in hard underground dance music. My biggest heroes in hard dance scene have always been artists like Lab4, Mark EG and Karim, who believe in what they do.
You auctioned yourself off on Ebay a couple of years ago, where a lucky clubber was able to have you play for them at their own personal party. Crazy! Did they get the full Proteus treatment and how was the party?!
It was more than great and we did it because we wanted to do something different and crazy and of course fun! The party and all the people were amazing and they had proper venue and entry was strictly with invitation only. I played extra long set, if I remember right about two-three hours and atmosphere was unbelievable! I got really drunk that night, hehe!
You were obviously extremely close to Lab4 both in musical styles and flamboyance and as friends. In fact, it was their influence in the mid nineties that turned you on to the harder stuff. How does it feel to be at the helm of this sound today, now Lab4 have sadly parted ways?
For me Lab4 was the best and the most significant band / act in the harder scene ever and I think there will never be anything as they were and are still. Both Adam and Lez are very busy with their own projects now but what is best is that they do music and gigs all the time! Of course they do the gigs now separately and I totally respect their decision to do that. What comes to me from them is to try and do my best when I play and produce the harder underground sound. For me it’s whole my life.
You created a live show once with yourself, Adam from Lab4 and guitar, keyboard players from Relic, your brother’s band and guests from Carbon Based. How was that experience? Do you ever wish you’d learnt to play the guitar and joined an industrial metal band instead?!
The live shows were one the highlights of my life. We did the show first time here in Finland in 2006 and again in 2007 without Carbon Based. The shows were based on my own tunes and we tried to create “as live as possible” hard dance / industrial live shows! Both shows were very big successes here in Finland and they were part of the Finland‘s biggest dance event Laserpoint. Both times we played as closing act at the mainstage for 4000 people.
Yes being in a band has always been dream for me and I have my own ESP JH600 electric guitar at home. I have played guitar parts on some of the tunes on my new album. I’m not very good guitar player but I can do some basic things and what is good with guitar is that there is always so much to learn and practise. Me and my brother have a plan to create a band together in a near future as a side project.
You’ve always been influenced by and played psy-trance – even going as far as tattooing the Dragonfly record label logo onto our arm when you were younger! You’ve also warmed up for Juno Reactor’s first gig in Finland recently. Its influence on the hard dance scene is undeniable as is the hard house influence on the psy trance scene. What is your take on the melding of musical styles – something Party Proactive has always aimed and continues to do (check out the lineup for their Birthday Party on the 8 March!).
I think psy and hard dance have always been very close together and the tunes we produce here in Finland with Finrg are very psy influenced. I used to play psy trance before hard dance in 1995 and I have collected psy tunes all the time since then plus I still do some special psy gigs every now and then. I think the welding of the musical styles is great idea and really important for the whole scene! It’s always good to be open minded with music and different music styles have lot to learn from each other.
For me it’s great honour to be part of Party Proactive’s line up with legends like Chris Liberator, Dave The Drummer, Andy Farley and Pete Wardman, Ting and Ed Real and of course Dali. Also I’m really looking forward to hear DJ D4RK’s set because I’m big fan of his Pitched Bl4ck track! It’s going to be great night!
And finally, your love of the fetish and theatrical which accompanies your music seems to allow you the freedom to own any stage. What words could you offer those who are coming to party with us at Party Proactive who might be tempted to explore their ‘other’ side, be it through dress, music, whatever?!
There are many of us and we are all different. Be always yourself and be proud of it! See you soon at Party Proactive 4th Birthday!
Thank you, Oh Bountiful Master. I quiver with the anticipation of being dominated by your musical prowess!
Photos courtesy of the HarderFaster archive and Proteus. Not to be reproduced without permission.
PARTY PROACTIVE: THE 4TH BIRTHDAY
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On:
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Saturday 8th March 2008
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At:
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S.E.One [map]
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From:
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21.30pm - 07.30am
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Cost:
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£8 / £10 / £18
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Website:
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www.proactivepresents.com
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Ticket Info:
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Ticket Information
£8 Very Limited Early Bird Tickets – only on sale till Sunday 27th January
£18 Standard tickets
More on the Door
Ticket Outlets
Proactive HQ (no bf): 07814179946 / brainless66@hotmail.com
Ticketweb: www.ticketweb.co.uk / 08700600100
Clubtickets (Buy 5 and get 1 free): www.clubtickets / 08702462050
Antiworld /Antidote909: www.antidote909 / e303power@hotmail.com
Mama Maria: Maria@toomuchbutneverenough.com / 078113684399
Viewtickets: www.viewtickets.co.uk
More On the Door: www.moreonthedoor.com
Cyberdog (Camden Market): 0207 4822842
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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Well, well, well has it really been that long…?
Time flies when you’re having fun and we at Party Proactive HQ have certainly been having a lot of fun! With Party Proactive kicking off 4 years ago, starting as a weekly Saturday night at the legendary Purple Turtle, to say our journey has been colourful and full of surprises is an understatement!
4 years in the making, a mind blowing 2 year residency at the world famous Turnmills, voted the Number 1 party in London by the users of Harderfaster.net, YOU know the PARTY PROACTIVE 4TH BIRTHDAY is UNMISSIBLE! This is not just another party or just another birthday club night, it is THE party of 2008!
And with every new chapter comes exciting changes and this time we have picked the incredible SeOne as our venue of choice. The SeOne is an underground London clubbing institution, drenched in clubbing history, and we are going to give it the Party Proactive makeover!
To celebrate our 4th Birthday Party we have carefully hand picked a selection of some of the best musical moments in our fabulous 4 year history and the best of something new. With stalls and a chillout space with massage, healing, tea and tons of love, colourful décor and production and courteous security, we hope you will join us for our biggest and best party to date!
Come Colourful, Courageous and Ready to Party!
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Flyer:
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 - 
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Region:
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London
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Music:
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Hard Trance. Psy Trance. Deep House. Funky House. Hard House. Tribal House. Electro House. Tech House. Techno. Breaks. Electro.
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DJ's:
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MAIN ROOM – Psy / Techno / Hard House and a bit of breaks and tribal to get us in the mood
DALI – LIVE featuring guitarist AMIT OFIR
Proteus (Finland)
D. A.V. E. THE DRUMMER – LIVE SHOW (Hydraulics Records, UK)
CHRIS LIBERATOR
Andy Farley B2B Pete Wardman
THE *Ting* B2B Ed Real
Joanna McEwen
Steelo
DJ D4RK
Ben Skinner
ROOM 2 - TOUGH TRIBAL HOUSE AND BREAKS
Jonty Skrufff
JACOB MOSS
Jack Michaels
YIANNIS BALKAIZAS B2B JUSTIN COOKEE
TIM GALE
In association with F.A.B.
DJ Felix UK / DJ Martin Sharpe / Darren D / Kris / Midge / DJ Dyl
ROOM 3 - HOUSE / ELECTRO AND MINIMAL
Chris Rayner
In association with ELECTRO! FREAKS N’ GEEKS AND DB3!
Luke Laudan, Tom Lennox, Bignuts b2b Karl b, JAY R, ChicanoLive! (Hybrid set), Julius (Vertigo/Codex), ROB T and BRADLEY C
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Other Features By Joanna McEwen:
Ticon the matter seriously
Riding the frequencies with Hertz
The Many Faces of Paul Maddox
Axel Karakasis Gets Proactive
Proactive Gets Dejavoo!
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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Legend and top geezer, shame I cannot make it for this great B'day party...