 |
Features
|
|
|
| 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! |
|
|
|
|
|
The Many Faces of Paul Maddox
Reported by Joanna McEwen
/
Submitted 01-09-09 22:01
Paul Maddox – once a hard house newbie producer and DJ, working his way up the ranks. Now, ten years of tinkering at the keyboard later, he’s established himself as one known for intelligent tracks and thoughtful tune selection. All whilst make the dance floor jump of course!
From his earliest re-mix of N-Trance – Set you Free, he’s gone on to release original tracks, mainly through Tidy, for whom he is their in-house producer, and Vicious Circle, but also countless remixes, most notably Ferry Corsten’s Rock Your Body, Rock, Travel - Bulgarian, Dial M for Moguai – Beatbox, Defective Audio – Intoxicating, Pants & Corset – Malice in Wonderland and Tomcraft’s Brainwashed.
Whilst these and others have been included on a huge number of compilation CDs from Frantic to The World’s Greatest Hard Dance, Paul’s musical talents are too big to keep in a box. His many alter egos including the slower more chunky tough house of Olive Groove and the more delicate and uplifting Azure have seen him release tracks on Positiva and Data and not only get airplay on Radio 1 but be voted track of the year on Judge Jules’ show. Plus his minimal techno guise as Spektre saw him release a Live at Glade on Tim Sheridan’s Very Very Wrong Indeed label. Where does he find the time in between jetting off for DJ gigs across the world from New Zealand, America, Japan, Norway and Moscow? Before his set at Party Proactive on the 3 October at Area, we wanted to find out a little more on where he’s at, where here’s been and where’s he’s going to (that’s if he knows of course)!
Hi Paul, I hope you’re keeping well. How has the summer been treating you?
Yeah, it's been great so far - managed to fit a couple of trips to Ibiza in around everything else so all good.
Have you been to any festivals (playing or not)?
Not yet - I'll be going to SW4. I normally end up at a couple of the bigger ones too but I've kept my wellies in the cupboard this year!
Having played across the globe what are some of your favourite parties?
There are too many great ones to pick a single one out, but the Tidy Weekenders definitely hold fantastic, if somewhat hazy memories.
Even though you’re still young [how’s getting asked for ID for when you’re playing at Nuclear Puppy in Edinburgh a novel approach to DJing?!] you’ve managed to pack a lot into the past ten years. What have been some of your finer moments?
Getting the opportunity to play all over the world has been great, but getting recognition for my productions is worth more to me I think, so having stuff played on Radio 1 and the like would probably be the highlights.
I know you got your big break when you gave a remix CD to the Tidy Boys – and then got your first gig playing out covering an absent DJ at a Tidy Weekender! What made them give a young 16 year old such a massive opportunity, do you think?
I think a lot of it was being in the right place at the right time. They were looking to better utilize the studio facilities they had by having someone working in there full-time and I came along with a half-decent demo at just the right moment!
Being the seasoned professional you now are, can you see yourself doing the same thing? Is there anyone you’re seeing now who’s could be the next you?!
Well, I wouldn't really be in a position to offer the same kind of opportunity that I got, but there are definitely plenty of new producers making great stuff. Scott Fo-shaw and Amp Attack would be two who spring to mind that are consistently putting out great stuff and starting to get the label recognition too.
What are you plans for the next few months (or years)?
I'm actually really busy with a project outside of hard house at the moment. We are currently working on the debut Spektre album (check out www.spektre.co.uk), as well as a new label "Silhouette" for our techno material, so that is what's taking up the vast majority of my time right now.
You have a close working relationship with Paul Glazby and Guyver. How does making tracks with people differ to when you’re creating on your own?
I usually find that I'm more productive when working with other people. It's easy to go off on a tangent and lose track of what you were trying to achieve when working alone. Having another brain in the room to bounce ideas off usually keeps things moving a lot quicker too.
You’ve mentioned before how inspiration can strike in the middle of the night and you have to get up and work in your studio. What does your studio consist of?
It's based around a PC running Cubase, with Battery, Kontakt and Sylenth1 as my main sound sources. I've also got a couple of old analogue synths and a nice valve mastering compressor / EQ for running finished mixes through for a bit of extra polish.
What piece of gear do you wish you had?
I'd really like to try a pair of Event Opals to see if they live up to the huge hype they've had - other than that though I'm pretty happy with my setup at the moment.
You seem to be developing other sounds under different names, most notably Olive Groove, Azure and Spektre, all with critical and commercial success. Being such diverse sounds, describe how they work with the harder Paul Maddox that people know and love.
I try to keep my main projects on the go at all times, but I tend to go in phases between writing a lot of hard house stuff or more spektre / techno stuff. It keeps things interesting to have different styles of the go in my opinion, as doing the same thing all the time can get really stale, no matter how much you love it!
You said in a previous interview that your ideal party would be, and I quote, “For me, a club that started off with some deep proggy music, then onto breaks, then techno, then hard dance to finish would be amazing!”. Well, we don’t have the breaks this time and we’ve thrown in some psy trance, but you’ve pretty much summed up Party Proactive in a nutshell! How important are different musical influences to your ability to create quality dance tracks?
I think being able to draw on lots of different genres helps keep things fresh. It can often work really well to take an idea from a track in one style and translate it to another. It's too easy to get tunnel vision and not be able to do anything original if you're exclusively listening to a tiny band of the musical spectrum.
You’ve mentioned you’d like to meet Freddy Mercury so I assume you’re a massive Queen fan (me too, ssshhhh!). Who are your other influences, music or otherwise?
Haha - don't think my luck's gonna come in on that one! I listen to a massive range of music though and take inspiration of some form from pretty much all of it. Vince Clarke (of Depeche Mode, Erasure, Yazoo etc) has always been a particular hero of mine for being able to make such brilliantly memorable electronic music.
And were you to be one of those influences for a day who would it be and why?
Too tough to call - probably none, I don't think I'd be able to hack the comedown of going back to being a mere mortal the next morning!
Thanks, Paul. We were listening to your mix CD whilst on the beach out of little tinny speakers and it still sounded great – imagine what it’s going to sound like through the phat speakers in Area?! – Wooohooooo!!
Cheers, see ya there!
Photos courtesy of Party Proactive and the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Party Proactive...The Happening
|
|
On:
|
Saturday 3rd October 2009
|
|
At:
|
Area [map]
|
|
From:
|
21:00 - 06:00
|
|
Cost:
|
Limited £5 / £12 / £15
|
|
Ticket Info:
|
Advanced tickets
Very Limited £5 tickets on sale now!
Ticketweb: www.ticketweb.co.uk / 08700600100
Clubtickets: www.clubtickets.co.uk /
Access All Areas: www.accessallareas.org / 02072678320
www.moreonthedoor.com / www.dontstayin.com / www.residentadvisor.net
|
|
Buy Online:
|
Click here to buy tickets
|
|
More:
|
Wow what an amazing 5th birthday party that was! Following a 12 month break Party Proactive rocked hard, we came, we saw and we partied! Our new choice of venue, AREA is clearly the right place for us to throw some fabulous parties and has certainly been given the thumbs up by all you crazy people.
A hop and skip later, we have managed to catch our breath back and are ready to set sail with our 2nd and final party of 2009, Party Proactive presents The Happening on Sat 3rd Oct at AREA.
A dazzling selection of artists composed of international and raw up and coming talent will be gracing the decks spread across three distinctly different rooms. Music ranging from psy trance, techno and hard beats to the ultra cool electro, tribal and minimal sounds in room 2 and 3 and a stunning outdoor terrace to chat, chill and smoke!
To help launch this event and get the ball rolling we are releasing a very limited number of £5 tickets and the price will quickly go up to £12 and £15.
So be quick, put Sat 3rd October in the dairy and get ready to party hard because for the last time this year the Party Proactive circus gets set to roll into town.
|
|
Flyer:
|
 - 
|
|
|
Region:
|
London
|
|
Music:
|
Trance. Acid Trance. Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Psy Trance. Nu NRG. House. Funky House. Hard House. Prog House. Tribal House. Electro House. Tech House. Acid Techno. Deep Techno. Funky Techno. Minimal Techno. Techno. Breaks. Electro.
|
|
DJ's:
|
MAIN ROOM – TRIBAL / TECHNO / PSY / HARDBEATS
HERTZ (Sweden)
MARK EG (Techno set)
COMPRESSOR LIVE
Andy Farley
Pete Wardman
Paul Maddox
Phil Lankester LIBRA 9
Steelo
ROOM 2 – TRIBAL / ELECTRO
Justin Robertson
Matt Thomas
YIANNIS BALKAZIS
RYHD B
Stefan Ro
GENERAL PATTEN
BEN 70
DIOS
ROOM 3 HOSTED BY PURE FILTH ELEKTRO
SIMON BOULIND [Egg | Aquarium | Ghost]
GOOD TIME KID [Egg | Ghost | Pacha London]
DGS [Egg | Ghost | Slinky]
& Guest DJ NATHAN FILTH GALLEY [Lost DJs | M Bar Go]
|
|
Share this ::  :  :  : 
Follow HarderFaster :: 
Other Features By Joanna McEwen:
Ticon the matter seriously
Riding the frequencies with Hertz
Axel Karakasis Gets Proactive
Proactive Gets Dejavoo!
Proteus: The Master Of Darkness!
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.
|
|
|
Comments:
|
From: Andy Force on 2nd Sep 2009 17:13.17
Paul Maddox is perfect for PP 
From: paul jack on 2nd Sep 2009 21:16.32
yep loving his mix - reckon it will work a treat for all you PP faithful!
From: ravechick on 3rd Sep 2009 08:47.11
gooooooooooooo Maddox keep up the good work babe, great interview xx
|
|
|
![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1-xmas.gif)
