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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!

Blatantly Brisk: interview with Paul Nineham Reported by littlemissgenki / Submitted 19-11-04 18:42 Paul Nineham – otherwise known as DJ Brisk or half of hard dance kings The Stimulant DJs – has had one hell of a year. Not content to continue breaking the boundaries of hardcore and hard dance, the three record labels he co-owns, Stimulant Records, Blatant Beats and Next Generation Records continue to go from strength to strength. Having just released their latest hardcore compilation The Collection Volume 2 with fellow Stimulant DJ and label owner Ham, showcasing the talent signed to Next Generation Records and Blatant Beats, HarderFaster gets the score on this blatant overachiever . . . Our last interview was just over a year ago and since then you’ve been pretty busy, what would you say the highlights of the last year have been for you? It’s been a crazy year, with multiple international gigs/tours taking in Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA alongside some amazing domestic events too. Our Hardcore arena at Tidy events have gone from strength to strength. We’ve managed to put out a hefty amount of records on the shelves too with new material on Next Generation, Blatant Beats and Stimulant. I’m closing the year with a final tour of Australia to promote our latest Stimulant compilation in conjunction with the mighty Hard Kandy superclub/brand from Melbourne, Victoria and then back to the UK for Slammin Vinyl, HTID and Futurevibe on New Years Eve. You’ve played at some incredible places around the globe in the last 12 months. Where’s the favourite place you’ve played and why? Do you prefer playing larger festivals or smaller more intimate venues? Is there anywhere you haven’t played that you’d like to? I can’t honestly pick an individual event or club as a favourite, as they all hold great memories for different reasons. I enjoy playing at both large events and smaller clubs but sometimes the huge events can have you playing some distance away from the crowd which can take away the ‘up close and personal’ aspect of playing to the crowd. I began my career playing to 200-500 people in smaller clubs, it’s hard to beat that intimate vibe with a small gathering of up for it people. Don’t get me wrong, big parties are amazing and awe inspiring, perhaps the DJ booth should be right in the middle of the dance floor at big events so you can be right there with the crowd! The winners of the Hardcore Heaven awards were announced recently. Congratulations on getting 3rd in the best dj section! Were you happy with the results of the awards? Were there any surprises? Thanks! If I’m totally honest with you then I’d have to say no, I’m not totally happy with the result as I’d love to have come first!!! That said, it gives me something to strive for and work for and I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to vote for me as it is very much appreciated and an honour to receive such support. Apart from nabbing 3rd place I wasn’t surprised with the other results as both Scott Brown and Sy have been working hard over the last year with consistent performances – they deserve it! Over the 18 years you’ve been in the industry, hardcore has gone from underground raves to mainstream clubs and you now write a review column for Mixmag every month. Has your style changed much over the years? Where would you like to see hardcore going in the next 15 years? I would say my ethos, style and approach to hardcore has remained true throughout the years. I tend to play a blend of fast, tough yet euphoric music and this also applies to my production work – I like the music to have balls but still have an uplifting edge. As for the future, I would like to see more major organisations embracing the hardcore sound and feature it within their events. It strikes me as being criminal that all the so-called ‘dance music festivals’ do not feature a hardcore arena at their shows. All other genres seem to be featured and represented at most of these events and yet hardcore is notably absent – come on promoters, sort it out! Let us host a tent at one event and if doesn’t rock all night we’ll eat our pants (and you should see the state of mine!). I’d also like to see hardcore on national radio, I mean we have every kind of world music represented on Radio 1 and yet when it comes to dance music we rarely get to hear anything above 145 bpm. Now that the late, great John Peel (R.I.P) has tragically left us, I fear that the coverage for Hardcore music on national radio will be extinct. With such a huge loss to alternative music I do worry about the future. You must have some good stories from back in the day! What was the craziest party you ever played at? There have been so many good parties over the years it’s hard to pinpoint the craziest. One of my personal favourites would have been one of my birthday bashes at Club Kinetic (my weekly Friday residency from 1992–1996) where we had 3000 people all going crazy to the likes of Carl Cox, Slipmatt, Stu Allan and many more. A great night for sure and I was presented with 2 huge hand made cards that were covered with hundreds of signatures from the Kinetic regulars – an absolutely brilliant and unforgettable night! You play hard dance under your Stimulant DJs guise and Hardcore as DJ Brisk, yet the vibe at a happy hardcore rave is very different to your average hard dance club. Is it very difficult adjusting your style to playing these different events? Do you prefer playing any particular style? Is it OK for me to use the term ‘hard dance’ or are you a non ‘hard dance’ fan? I wouldn’t say the vibe is a million miles apart between the two genres as they both rely on upbeat, driving beats to make the party happen! Playing the two different styles has not been a problem for me as I really enjoy the change of tempo and style of music. As for preferences, I enjoy the different approaches to each sound for example; I love the longer sets that come with hard dance sets such as a 2 or even 3 hour performance but then I really get off on thrashing out an hour of non stop hardcore mayhem too! It’s fair to say I love both styles but for different reasons but either way, as long as it’s hard, pumping and in-yer-face then I’m happy. Hard dance, hard house, hard trance . . . whatever you want to call it, as long as it’s rocking then the title is of no consequence. Hardcore has lost one of its highest profile fans recently with the death of John Peel. Is there anyone else in his league that you can see taking over from him? How do you replace a legend like John? He was an institution in the British music industry. A true believer in independent, underground music and someone who broke boundaries each time his show aired. If another Dj comes along with such an eclectic taste and belief in the music then great but no one will ever be able replace John Peel. Recently you played an incredible set in the massive Hardcore arena at Slammin Vinyl. Do you plan sets like that in advance, or is it a spontaneous thing? Do you ever get up there and wish you could drop some Hard Dance tracks instead? Thankyou, glad you enjoyed it! My sets are pretty much spontaneous. There might a mix that I know works particularly well between 2 tracks in a set but my sets are played ‘off the cuff’ when I get to the venue, as only then can I assess what I think the crowd needs given the mood, time of night etc. When you are presented with a great crowd such as the night in question it really helps bring out the best in you as a DJ. I find a great crowd = a great performance, well usually anyway! As for dropping a hard dance set on a hardcore crowd I’d rather do the reverse and drop a Hardcore set on a hard dance crowd such as a Tidy Weekender (come on Tidy, you know you want to!). Why? Because I know it will open the eyes and ears of the clubbers who still haven’t tried it out! Hardcore fans already know how good hard dance is which is why we’ve had the likes of Andy Farley, BK, Billy Bunter and Lab 4 (to name but a few) feature at numerous big hardcore events and I KNOW that should the situation be reversed the dance floor will lap it up. My best memory of your Slammin Vinyl set is when you dropped a mix of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and the crowd literally went wild. Why Queen? Surely half of the hardcore kids are too young to remember Freddy Mercury?! Good point! There are certain tracks that are timeless regardless of bygone eras and ‘We Will Rock You’ seems to be one of the universally recognised tracks by the young and the older generation. It’s a great tune to interact with too and it’s great to see an army of ravers all clapping their hands in time to the beat in the breakdown. Hats off to Freddy and Queen for writing such a seminal anthem! Your Hard Kandy double cd has just been released. Did you find it hard choosing tracks for it? What kind of criteria did you use? The hardest thing about getting material for the album was actually getting people to send in their cds! I sent out a mass email to all the labels I play and support and whilst the majority sent in their most upfront material there were still a handful who either sent in cds/promos far too late or who simply didn’t bother – nice one guys!!! That said, I did have a wealth of music to choose from and I was spoilt for choice when it came down to it. The plan for the album was to deliver a mix over 2 cds that accurately represents what I would do in the clubs, which is basically a blend across the various styles within hard dance including Hard Trance, Hard House, Hard Style and a splash of Techno. I think that has definitely been achieved on this project and it was great to have the freedom of 2 full cds to present the mix. You co-own three records labels: Stimulant Records, Next Generation Records and Blatant Beats. Why three labels? You must be ridiculously busy! 2 simply wasn’t enough and 4 was too many!? Seriously, we started off with Next Generation Records in 1996 as an outlet for our hardcore production but before long we found we had more material than we could release on just one label and so Blatant Beats came into play in 1997. Our Hard Dance production didn’t kick in until 1999 which is when we set up Stimulant Records and yes, all 3 labels more than keep us on our toes! Stimulant Records [www.stimulantrecords.co.uk] has recently released The Fallen Angel vs. Nazareth’s ‘Forever’ and ‘No Love’. Can you tell us how those tracks came about? What other new releases do you have coming out on Stimulant in the near future? The Fallen Angel and Nazareth both have a common interest in Techno and it seemed a good idea for them to collaborate on a single together. I was a personal fan of The Fallen Angel and Rowland The Bastard’s ‘One Inch Deeper’ and wanted something along those lines for Stimulant. ‘No Love’ more than hit the spot with the emphasis on pounding Techno grooves layered with female vocal samples, great stuff! As for new material, over the next couple of months we have 3 releases lined up namely; Nazareth ‘Bass Release/Uprising’ STIM039, Cyberdrive ‘Bounce 2 Da Beat/Feel The Rush’ STIM040 and Nazareth ‘Overdose Active/It’s All Nothing’ STIM041 so, busy times ahead. You’re about to head off on a three week tour of Australia. Where are you playing? Is the scene very different over there? Do you find the crowds are different to play to than UK crowds? So far I have dates in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and my debut appearance in Canberra too. The scene down under isn’t particularly different than the UK as they have some of the most up for it crowds going and some incredible venues too. I always get a warm welcome in Australia and this will be my 7th year visiting there – really looking forward to going back! What hardcore djs & producers do you rate the most at the moment? Scott Brown, Sy, Ham, Neophyte, Paul Elstak, Endymion and V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D are all making waves with their skills right now. What hard dance djs and producers do you rate the most at the moment? Yoji Biomehanika, Scot Project, D.A.V.E The Drummer, Dave Joy, and Max B Grant are all flying high! You say on your Next Generation Records website [www.nextgenerationrecords. co.uk], ‘although we have got quite a lot of equipment, it does not make it any easier to make music, in fact, sometimes if can make it harder. So don’t be disheartened if you only have a basic set up, a computer and some kind of sampler is all you need to write some very good tracks!’ Does this sum up your approach to making music? Do the toys really make things harder sometimes? I think the point behind that comment is that you can have all the equipment in the world but unless you have an idea to explore it doesn’t really mean anything and you can get incredible results with very little equipment these days. Gone are the days where you need a huge studio full of expensive kit to make a track and there are a whole new wave of producers who make their track solely on their computers. Having numerous pieces of equipment can sometimes ‘muddy the waters’ and a lot of our studio equipment is now redundant thanks to the ever improving software available. You’re a very prolific producer and remixer yet also seem to be djing almost every weekend. How do you make time to be in the studio? And when you do have day off, what do you like to do to unwind? It’s very difficult to try and juggle all the gigs and studio work but studio time is generally reserved between Tuesdays and Thursdays, which leaves the weekend free for dj gigs and Monday to sleep! As for unwinding, well a game of squash, maybe some mountain biking then dinner and a dvd with my girlfriend to relax in the evening usually helps. Vinyl or cd? As the co-owner of three record labels, what do you think of some of the recent advances in djing and production technology? Personally I’m a huge advocate of vinyl, you can’t beat the feel of vinyl and 2 turntables. That said, I find myself playing more and more cds these days as they are infinitely cheaper than acetates (dub plates), have better sound quality and can take around 11–12 tracks on one CD. I can now carry hours and hours of music in just a small cd wallet which is particularly handy when travelling overseas. I tend to use cds to showcase new unreleased material and play vinyl copies as and when they become available. There are other interesting innovations such as Final Scratch where you play digital music files from a laptop but use 2 data discs that you put on 2 standard turntables and mix as you would vinyl. I’ve yet to try these out myself but they work extremely well according to Yoji Biomehanika who uses this system on a regular basis. What tracks do you have being released in the next few months? Any special Christmas stocking fillers HF readers should look out for? Yes, we’re finishing off the year with a bang with heaps of releases just in time for Xmas. Here’s what we have: Eclipse ‘Before Tommorrow (Origina/Breeze & Styles Rmx) NG038 Euphoria ‘Silver Dawn/Dreamskies’ NG 037 Frisky & Hujib ‘The One/Drop Da Bomb’ NG036 Brisk & Ham feat Whizzkid ‘Crazy Love/Sounds Legit’ NG035 Frisky & Hujib ‘You Better Run (V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D Rmx/Original) BB047 Brisk & Ham ‘2 The Floor/Run For Cover’ BB046 Dreadhed ‘Chemicals In Motion/Liberate’ BB045 Cyberdrive “Ready To Rock (Stimulant DJs Mix/Paul Glazby Rmx) STIM038 Nazareth ‘Bass Release/Uprising’ STIM039 Cyberdrive ‘Bounce 2 Da Beat/Feel The Rush’ STIM040 Nazareth ‘Overdose Active/It’s All Nothing’ STIM041 Finally, is there anything else you’d like to say to HF readers? Thanks yet again for all your support and I hope you all have a great Xmas and wicked new year! Thanks Paul! Have a wicked time in Oz! Thank you, have a great Christmas! Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By littlemissgenki: HeatUK (The DVD) – From The Backyard To South West Four - World Premier Preview: Interview with SnowBall Productions Paradise City 001 Preview: From free parties in pubs to private jets—interview with Antiworld promoter Enrico Sorbello Paradise City 001 preview: interview with Mauro Picotto Never Enough Maria: Interview with the Queen of Hard Dance 48 Hours in Amsterdam Preview: Interview with Clubbing Travel Specialist Kirk Field 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: K8-e on 20th Nov 2004 15:40.45 TRUE LEGEND! Great interview. "Mind Control" was the tune that started me djing and is still one of my all-time favourite hard dance tunes. I can't say enough how much I respect this man (and Ham too). Also loving the hardcore a lot more these days and starting to experiment mixing that as well. They truly are an inspiration when it comes to this - crossing across the genres effortlessly as both as djs and producers. From: Letty Bird on 26th Nov 2004 04:21.28 BRISKY!!!! Nice write-up hun! See ya soon! x From: TEK-DJ Management on 26th Nov 2004 21:28.11 Wicked interview Paul!!!! Hope to see ya soon for another drink or few, haha! From: kernzy and klemenza on 30th Nov 2004 19:07.49 Good show

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