Introducing the art of visual mixing: Addiction present VJ Meskalin
Reported by Andy T
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Submitted 20-09-06 18:28
For those eight glorious hours on the dance floor most clubbers are blissfully unaware of the days, weeks, even months of meticulous planning that all contribute to the success of the party. With today’s hedonistic youth being more demanding than ever, bricks, mortar and djs just simply aren’t enough. Promotions spend a small fortune on production, making sure they have the biggest and brightest lasers, to the coolest décor, the most beautiful dancers, and of course, something fundamental to any club night, the visuals.
At Addiction you know we pull all of these stops out, and visuals have always been an integral part of any of our events. Early this year we met Nick Wren aka VJ Meskalin, a man with more year’s experience in the club and music scene than many people reading this interview will have put together. With preparation already well underway for his eight hour show at Addiction’s 2nd Birthday at the Fridge, which incorporates artist and crowd camera feeds, mind bending clips and FX, bespoke graphics, Addiction’s own material, all seamlessly mixed together in a 100% live environment, we at Addiction HQ thought it only fair to introduce Nick to the masses and let him speak up on how he’s carefully crafted these elements into what can only be described as an art form.
So Nick, before we get stuck in, tell us a little bit about your background. You’re no stranger to the club scene, and have worked with some pretty serious brands in the past. Having promoted both at home and overseas, and now less than two weeks away from controlling the visual helm at one of London’s biggest birthday parties, tell us all how you got to where you are today.
Well I put my first band tour together in 91. I promoted a couple of ska festivals at the Kilburn National and regularly promoted events at the Marquee in London and other venues and clubs in London and around the UK. I then got involved with the tribute scene and took over management of a Madness tribute band that I won’t mention by name. I toured them around the UK and Europe, and I believe they are still going and have recently just played on a bill in Hyde Park! I parted company with them as the boozing and looniness was seriously getting too much, sometimes I think I should write a book.
The ‘dance scene’ was evolving and changing throughout this period and heading towards the era of trance. I got involved with the Euphoria brand in the summer of ‘99, Moose ‘PF Project’ mixed the first album live for the now defunked Telstar label. I had the idea to take the brand out on the road as a club night and that’s what happened. I cut a deal with the label and got down to sorting a stable of djs and booking a UK club and university tour. The first 30 gigs turned into 350 over three years. At one point I had eight residencies around the UK.
I took Euphoria Live to Corfu and also did two seasons in Ayia Napa and the Euphoria Live night was voted top night both seasons. We had some mental events and that’s where I first introduced the visuals into the shows. I took a 5 metre screen and projectors to Napa and did I.MAX quality 3D stuff, skeletons, liquid orbs, aliens. The local Cypriots loved the night, they freaked out at first but they all soon calmed down. After these shows I started programming visuals for all the Euphoria Live shows, using both 3D and 2D visuals.
I also have to ask, why the name?
That comes from The Matrix, the white rabbit scene, I just liked the way it sounded and it always stuck in my mind. It is spelt differently than the original word. I’ll leave it at that!
What does VJ’ing really mean to you ? I mean why not DJ, promote or even produce music ?
I classify myself as a Performance VJ. When I am in the visual groove and I have my timing, graphics and clips just right it sends a shiver through me, it makes me want to scream and shout ! I want people to experience this buzz with me and get it, absorb it, feel it the way it makes me feel. This is where I want the whole thing to be spontaneous creativity. “You hear, you see.”
As the music takes the crowd on a journey the visuals should as well. These two genres are more often than not still separated, and I am determined to fuse them together in a live environment. With regards to promoting again, I am looking to promote a night called Abzorbtion, which will involve I.MAX 3D. I have taken it to a few uni’s and more recently to Corfu and it was received well, so watch this space.
I want to trip people out, show them a virtual visual experience where the visuals are right in yer face! I defy anyone not to try and touch them or move out the way of the flying objects. I still write tunes, but the visuals are consuming all my time at the moment. I have always been involved in the live scene, having played keyboards, touring or promoting club nights, or in more recent years as a VJ, it’s my fix, it’s a buzz, my Addiction.
You really are a true artist, and a firm believer in a 100% Live visual environment. What difference does this make to the night ? Why not just loop some DVDs for 8 hours?
I suppose I am maybe too much of a purist but I cannot stand ‘token’ visuals at a club night, some so called ‘VJ’ playing a DVD of a film or whatever DVD is lying around in the booth. What’s the point of having screens and projectors in a club if they are used badly?!
I will be mixing some edited material for parts of the Addiction event but I will be performance VJ’ing live for at least 3 to 4 hours if not longer on the night. I also have to take into consideration certain visual requirements that have been requested by some of the artists and yourself for particular sets. When I VJ alongside a dj, yes, I know the style but I usually have no idea of what tunes he/she will be playing. I try and anticipate, feel the drops and the builds, so the visuals reflect the mood, the intensity and electricity of the tune. It helps being a keyboard player, as I can select and play the visuals in time via a midi keyboard. I still have a long way to go but I am definitely on the right track.
So let’s get technical. You’ve almost got as much equipment as some of the artist PAs Live on stage ! A laptop, your own mixer, midi controllers, video cameras, DVD players, the list goes on. How does it all work together in unison? And how many of these tools are you using at any one time ?
They are all linked into a video mixer, so I can mix between four different video inputs and output the signal to the house projectors and screens. I will be running up to four elements at any one time. My lappy graphics will be triggered and controlled by my midi keyboard and I regard the lappy as my mothership as she contains all my live patches, avi graphics and effects. In effect, it’s the heart of the operation.
As a dj I think I can safely speak for us all that we get some pretty strange requests sometimes. Do you ever get requests? And if so what’s the strangest, weirdest thing you ever been asked to pump to the screens.
I have been asked to put up birthday requests, names, messages etc., but that’s just limp. To date no one has really approached me regarding something wacky! It’s probably because I look like a demented skinhead! I recently did a festival and I chucked three enquiring enthusiasts into the deep end and let them VJ for about ten minutes each. It was great fun, one of them, a girl called Nic, now wants to become a VJ with my help. That fine as long as she calls me Master Meskalin!
DJ technology is ever evolving, and technology leaders Pioneer have recently released the DVJ X1. Modelled on their CDJ1000 models, this offers DJs the chance to control both music and visuals. What do you think of tools like this? Should DJ’ing and VJ’ing be kept separate ?
It should be kept separate. You will find that some of the less successful DJs will start trying to include visuals as part of their mix experience and become DVJs. It’s like a supermarket product, i.e. get two for the price of one. Other DJs who struggle to come to terms with working in harmony with a VJ will try it and your usual array of train spotter types that ‘must have one’ will also add it to their collection. I can also see corporate clubs using it with chart tunes that have videos, but it’s not VJ’ing.
With the Pioneer if I am correct, you have to assemble the visuals to the DVD and then add the tune or vice versa. All great, but once the visuals are assigned to each particular tune you are stuck with those visuals when you DVJ live. Once you have tried to assemble, for example, one minute of varying visuals that fit the tune, you realise that it isn’t as easy as it seems.
Let’s say you assemble five minutes of different visuals that you thought at the time will work with the particular tune and place them on a DVD. On average a DJ will use approx 14 tracks in an hour’s set. The longer the set, the more tracks, so lots of different visuals are assembled on DVDs. The time it will take to do this to a reasonable standard will be immense and of course a DJ will buy, create or have tunes mailed to them so their sets change all the time. You play the DVD in your set and you don’t like the visuals you have assembled. Change them then. But . . . you can’t!
It’s not evolving, it’s just another way to sell a product. I saw a prototype at Plasa last year and had a somewhat fractious discussion with Pioneer’s marketing MD and more significantly DVJ Kriel at the Pioneer seminar. When I mentioned spontaneity and on the fly creativity, he could not answer and his assistant removed the microphone from my direction. There is more to this story . . .
Eight hours is an awfully long time to be doing any job. They also say time flies when you’re having fun. Which is it for you? Fun or a job?
It’s professional fun. I am a perfectionist and set myself a high standard, but I still have a laugh and enjoy the atmosphere, the crowd, the vibe. I make cock-ups, have occasional crashes, it’s all part of the game.
Looking forward, have you any plans or aspirations to evolve your show, either with new technologies or ideas, or to perform to new audiences and genres?
To evolve and continuing creating. I want to ascend into the top twenty VJs listing in DJ Mag. I want to go head to head with Kriel. I want to work closely with a DJ to create a synced set and do an Abzorbtion night. It would be very interesting to see how a UK trance, hard dance crowd would receive it. I want to introduce the RH Cam at some stage and also bring to the fore an idea called ‘the Burnout Booth’. The festies were good fun, so more of them, and of course events like this. I have also been asked to do visuals for a live burlesque show, if I get involved I will do it under the other name I use of VJ Voyeur.
Finally Nick, what are you most looking forward to about this party?
Getting a drink off you mate, that would be a memory to savour! I’ll film it and use it in my visuals! Seriously, the content of the event is great! Working alongside Adam White again as he did over 200 shows for Euphoria Live; being involved with Addiction, who have always embraced visuals as an integral part of their club nights; performing live; and, of course, shouting and screaming a lot!
Thanks very much for your time Nick ! and we’ll see you and your visual show at The Fridge on Sat September 30th !
Yeh! Bring it on!
If you have any questions for Nick then please email him at VJ.Meskalin@yahoo.co.uk
View The E Flyer for the full line up, ticket, competition info and much, much more!
Images courtesy of Addiction and Nick Wren. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Addiction pres... The 2nd Birthday
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On:
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Saturday 30th September 2006
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At:
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The Fridge [map]
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From:
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10pm til 6am
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Cost:
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£10 & £12 Ltd Advance tickets // Full ticket price £15 // £15 Paying Guestlist // MOTD
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Website:
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www.addictionclubbing.com
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Ticket Info:
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View the E Flyer for full ticket info
Extremely Ltd £10 Early Bird tickets are NOW available at www.addictionclubbing.com Once this £10 allocation has gone the price will rise to £12 and these will also be extremely limited.
Full ticket price £15 available from…
www.addictionclubbing.com NO Booking Fee !!
www.ticketweb.co.uk tel. 08700 600 100 + BF
www.clubtickets.co.uk tel. 0870 246 2050 + BF
www.skiddle.com tel. 0870 235 4775 + BF
and from London vendors..
Mad Records (Soho) tel. 0207 439 0707 + BF
Cyberdog (Camden) tel. 0207 482 2842 + BF
£15 paying guest list, email guestlist@addictionclubbing.com by 12pm Fri Sept. 29th
MOTD
For cash sales or enquiries please call Andy T on 07961 154 417
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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View the E Flyer for full line up, ticket info, competitions and more !!
Following our two ‘sell out’ Boat Parties this summer, Addiction is back and this time we’re celebrating two years of the most Addictive parties in town. Having lead the way as the most popular Thursday night Trance / Hard Dance party in the history of the capital for the last two years, we’re now on a new mission; to become one of London’s largest and most uplifting club events.
On Saturday September 30th we will be touching down at The Fridge in Brixton, one of London’s most legendary super clubs for the biggest birthday party in town. Not only are we celebrating our 2nd Birthday but we’re also using the occasion to mark the launch of an exciting new series of remix EP’s on our own digital imprint ‘Addiction Digital’ available from Sunday Oct 1st . Featuring storming remixes from Trevor McLachlan, Adrenaline Dept. & Olly Perris of 4 of our biggest selling tracks to date and also including the absolutely massive Nick Rowland remix of Alf Bamford AKA Technikal’s ‘Overdrive’ these remixes are living proof that UK Hard Trance has never been better !! On the night we’ll be giving away up to 50 FREE downloads of these remixes powered by www.trackitdown.net and they will all be available to purchase via download the following day on Sunday Oct 1st, so watch out for samples of these massive tracks coming soon !!
We’ll also be pulling out all the stops on the night to restore The Fridge to its former glory. With an all star line up featuring some of the brightest Trance / Tech Trance & UK Hard Trance stars of today, including the one and only Greg Brookman A.L.I.V.E., New Addiction Residents MDA & Spherical presenting ‘Welcome 2 the future LIVE’, the long awaited return of Adam & The Ant AKA Adam White & Anthony Dean featuring awesome LIVE vocals from STACE, Alf Bamford AKA Technikal’s Addiction debut, plus Tekelec Record’s Ali Wilson & Matt Smallwood, and Frantic’s leading lady Cally Gage going head to Head with Addiction’s Olly Perris, there really is something for everyone. Our very good friends and South Africa’s craziest house export 2 PhUnKeD uP! will also be returning to Addiction once more to host the Ice Box, and with the help of their hand picked crew they’ll be showcasing all things house music to provide the perfect alternative to the euphoric and pumping sounds of the Addiction main room.
With extremely limited £10 & £12 tickets ON SALE NOW and ONLY from www.addictionclubbing.com don’t waste any time !! Secure your spot on the dance floor now, and make sure you don’t miss The Fridge debut of one of London’s most talked about parties.
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Other Features By Andy T:
Addiction X Mas Ball @Hidden preview: introducing Norwegian hard trance heroes Adrenaline Dept.
Addiction Boat Party preview with Spencer Freeland
Harderfaster Introduces......Interview with Max Cooper
Last Ever Fahrenhite - Review and Farewell!
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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