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Features
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| 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! |
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Barry Diston gears up for Colours
Reported by TheFridge
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Submitted 08-11-06 21:43
How do you introduce a man who runs his own musical kingdom? Not content with just playing other people’s records, Barry Diston engineers and produces in any one of his three Fidget Studios, owns two record labels — Fidget Records and Fidget Hard, promotes and runs a notorious after-party (funnily enough, although called Fidget) and his live sets are the stuff of legend.
With his name on over 100 releases and an ever-growing discography of his own hard dance tracks. it’s safe to say he’s one of the most respected producers in the scene. Back in London for a live set at this Saturday night’s Colours @ The Fridge, we thought it was time to find out what this musical monarch’s been up to lately.
For those who don’t know you, where are you from and what kind of music do you make?
I’m from Coventry, And I make the finest in boom-boom-boom music (well that’s what my mom calls it!) But to anyone else, it’s hard dance. Although I’m known more for my hard dance tracks, I do engineer music right across the dance music spectrum, which includes everything from Paul Morrell’s remix of 4 Strings’ ‘Into the Night’, entering the charts on 4th Dec, right through to a hardcore track I produced with Mister Stewart,which is featured on ‘Hardcore Heaven 4’, and every sound in between including electro, funky house, house, trance, dance, hard house, and hard dance!
How would you describe the Barry Diston sound?
It’s hard to say, purely because the Barry Diston sound is constantly changing and evolving to keep things interesting and exciting. One theme carried throughout my music is always the element of fun. I like to think that I keep my productions clubber-friendly and interesting.
It’s been just over a year since Benz last interviewed you for HF. What have been the highlights of the last year for you? and what goals do you have for 2007 and beyond?
On the dj’ing front, the last year has been a good one. Thanks to club promoters Red & Blue, I have been appearing regularly in London at my fortnightly residency at Hue, and at Colours also. I have performed live at the Fridge twice so far and am looking forward to my next performance on Saturday 11th November. I have also played some great parties at Cyberkitten for Yojo and Col, at some awesome events for Jack which have been in Leicester, on the boat parties running along the Thames, at events in my home town of Coventry and at Paul Morrell’s night at the Glasshouse.
On the studio side of things, it has also been a good year. The last 12 months have seen the creation of Fidget Studio 3, which is a brand new studio designed and built from the ground upwards. Who knows what 2007 holds? Years ago, a fortune teller told me that next year would be my big year!
A page on www.aardvark.dj says you have “built yourself a proper little music empire in the centre of Coventry. Fidget After-club, Fidget Studios, Fidget Records and its sister label Fidget Hard.” Did you always plan on creating your own empire or has it evolved organically over time? How long has this empire taken to amass and what additions (if any) do you hope to make in the future?
When Fidget, the club night was born in 2002, I never thought for one minute that it would lead to a full time career for me. After the success of my first release on Sundissential records, the next step was jumping in at the deep end with the Fidget recording studio. From there it was a natural progression to create a record label to release the new material on, and so Fidget Recordings was born. From there came Fidget Hard, which was an outlet for the harder tracks being created in the studio.
In wanting to push things a step further, 2004 saw my first live act held at Cyberkitten. From there, I have been performing live at venues across the country. 2006 saw the creation of studio three as well as the fidget name and logo branching out into other ventures, including a surround sound and video productions company. Over the years, one thing has naturally evolved into the next. With regard to future additions, who knows? Given what has happened over the past few years, anything is possible!
You’ve played at gigs all over the country and as far afield as the USA. What’s been your favourite party that you’ve played at? Is there anywhere you’d really love to play?
It’s hard to single out any one particular party as a favourite as I have enjoyed them all tremendously. There’s only one more place I’ve not yet played that I would like to and that is Global Gathering — I would love to play a live set there.
Who would you consider your musical influences growing up? And now?
I have many musical influences. BK, Steve Blake, Alex Calver to name a few, but a lot of my musical influences come from people who come to the studio. With engineering all styles of music for all different people every day, I pick up influences and ideas all the time. Engineering so many different styles of music definitely helps when searching for ideas in making new tracks.
You run the very respected Fidget Records label, and Fidget Hard. Why the name Fidget?
The name Fidget came from the club night. When I began to think of a name for the club night, I was searching the internet for other words to describe dancing or even the feeling you get when you just can’t stand still. I had a list of about 15 words, and it got shortlisted, and eventually ended up with Fidget — the name you would give to people who can’t sit still at 4am on a Sunday morning when the club would just be opening!
Could you tell us a bit about your productions. You’ve made over 100 tracks since you first started producing in 2002. What tracks are you the most proud of?
I think ‘Spacequake’ (Fidget 2) has to be one of my favourites. It’s a completely original track with a great lead riff in it. This track appears in my live set although it is a difficult one to play as the riff is really fast. More recently, a track I co-produced with Rich C, ‘Love Picks Me Up’, I’m also very proud of that one. It’s a great track and it kept at number 1 on the tidy downloads website for weeks.
What technology do you like to use in the studio? Has it changed much in the time you’ve been producing and what’s your favourite piece of kit?
I use a mixture of hardware and software. When I first opened the Studio in 2002, hardware synths, compressors and effects units was the way everything was made, but over the last few years, advances in computer technology has seen the introduction of software which is as good as (if not better) than a lot of hardware. My favourite piece of kit would have to be my Mackie studio monitors. They are a studio favourite because of their accuracy.
As well as making your own tracks you also engineer and produce for other artists and bands, owning not just one or two, but three studios. Why wasn’t one studio enough? What artists and bands have you most enjoyed working with over the years? Is there anyone out there you’d really love to engineer or produce for or collaborate with?
Studio 2 was added in 2005 to cater for bands as it had a large live area. The latest studio built early 2006 was the next step up, as it’s in its own purpose built sound proofed building. Over the years I have enjoyed working with many different artists. I had a lot of fun with A-Star when we were producing the Lashed Digital show on Pure Dance on sky. One guy I’d like to work with in the studio is BK. His music was responsible for me getting involved in the dance scene in the first place. It would be great to do a collab one day with him.
Having engineered and produced so many tracks for yourself and others, what in your opinion, makes a great track?
In my opinion, The ingredients of a great track consist of a good bassline, something to identify the track by, i.e. a vocal or memorable lead riff and most importantly, an element of fun.
Do you think the likes of Ableton and Final Scratch have revolutionised the dance music scene or are they just another technological bandwagon?
I have had a brief look into Ableton and Final Scratch and couldn’t find any way either of these products would benefit anything I do. Maybe they are useful to other people, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t say they have revolutionised the dance music scene.
It’s no secret that the hard dance scene has been on a bit of a downer over the last couple of years. What do you reckon the scene needs to improve and flourish?
I think it needs some fun putting back into the music. It’s all got a bit serious lately. It’s all very well having the boom-boom-boom, but it needs more t-k-tsch t-k-tsch t-k-tsch and da-da-da-da vroooooom, warp bop warp bop. And then a fun little vocal bit in the middle.
Brad Duke once described one of your renowned live sets at Cyberkitten as “Tearing Synths, a hurricane of beats and basses and an energy that carried right through the dancefloor...Juno’s and Virus’s an Nords aplenty….” How would you describe it? What equipment do you use and do you spend a lot of time preparing your live sets?
A good chunk of the Fidget studio comes with me to the live events. This includes a 32channel digital mixing desk, synths including my Juno, Virus, Nord and Supernova, and effects units. I spend a lot of time preparing my live set because there’s quite a lot involved. I usually start getting the set together two weeks before the event, and then the 7 days leading up to it I spend fine tuning and practising. The whole thing is completely live, I play all the complex lead riffs of my tracks completely live too, and it’s because of this I have to start practising well in advance to get my finger movements up to speed, as some of the riffs are really fast moving, especially my intro track, ‘Spacequake’.
This Saturday night, you’re playing a rare live set at Colours @ The Fridge. Are you looking forward to being back at the Fridge? Why should HF readers come and check it out? Do you have any new surprises in store?
I am indeed looking forward to returning to The Fridge to play live. The last couple of times there have been great. It’s an awesome venue with a great crowd, and the promoters and resident djs Red and Blue are fantastic. They always make such an effort to make people feel welcome at their events. I do have a few new surprises in store, so even if you have seen me play live before, do still come down on Saturday because I have a brand new live set for you all to enjoy.
For more information about Fidget Studios, visit: www.fidget-studios.com
Thanks to Charlie Till for the photos. Not to be reproduced without permission.
COLOURS ft Barry Diston Live
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On:
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Saturday 11th November 2006
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At:
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The Fridge [map]
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From:
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2200 - 0600
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Cost:
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£12 early bird tickets, £15 advance tickets, MOTD
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Ticket Info:
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For advance tickets please email to ClubColours@hotmail.co.uk
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More:
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Special edition Colours featuring Barry Diston *LIVE* and presenting you the best of uplifting and bouncy hard dance to London’s number one dance venue the Fridge.
Come and see for yourself, you will not be disappointed. Our unique party atmosphere combining our resident stage performers, impromptu performances, our unique helium balloon treatment special production FX, pryros coupled with the overall production values of the Fridge should not be missed. We are planning to double the scanning lighting together with additional lighting throughout the club and a full colour laser. This is not simply another party at the Fridge, it is Colours!!!
Barry Diston’s Live show, takes playing live to a whole new level. This is more than just tweaking a few filter sweeps over existing tracks, and more than just triggering samples on and off on the laptop. In this live show, the whole of the fidget studio gets set-up on stage. The various parts of each track are mixed through the mixing desk LIVE, also all the synths are running through live, direct from the hardware. The most outstanding part of this live performance is the way Barry actually plays the complex lead riffs in the tracks LIVE using the keyboards. This is as live as it gets – don’t miss it!
Once again we are delighted to be able to welcome our newest colours resident, Cally Gage, to delight us with her fantastic range of tunes from bouncy, uplifting, hard trance, party to banging Hard House. From the quality stable of Frantic, Cally definitely should not be missed.
We are delighted to be able to welcome back Rachel Harvey from Australia. She is a massive DJ in Australia, and has played in many clubs around Australia including sets that include John Digweed, Carl Cox etc.. It is our privilege to engage her to delight us with her fantastic range of tunes from bouncy, uplifting, hard trance.
As always we are excited about our resident, the *Ting* (Proactive, Torture Garden, Frantic, Ricochet) again gracing the decks of Colours. Like her previous parties at Colours, the *Ting* has been given total freedom to perform and Dj as she sees fit, providing us journey that simply can’t be missed. You will be captivated with her unique mix of music and the shear energy that only the *Ting* can deliver.
And of course, our headlining residents Red and Blue (Twist, Frantic, Hue, TranceSpectrum) and currently holding an amazing number of residencies will be returning with their unique mixing style coupled with their wide spectrum of music that takes you through bouncy, uplifting and classics, but all with their hard driving sound. These guys just have to be seen!
Colours give you a night tailored to take you on a true musical journey that progresses smoothly through the night, not a mishmash of ill sequence DJs that so many other clubs just throw together.
We have purposely decided that we will go with a team of quality DJ’s that are unique in their style and mixing, and who have proven ability in progressing the night smoothly. All working together for that very special musical journey we promise you.
We are striving to provide everybody with a clubbing family, for all to enjoy and be one. Simply, the place to be with your clubbing family.
Colours is about the perfect world that we all want to live in. Equality for all. Peace for all. Colours is a true Polycultural and Polysexual club, a club for all, a club of tolerance, and most importantly, a place to party on that musical journey we promised you.
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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. Bouncy House. Hard House.
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DJ's:
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Main Room - Uplifting & Bouncy
Barry Diston *Live*
Red and Blue
Cally Gage
The *Ting*
Rachel Harvey
plus
Stage Performances, Dancer
Impromptu Performances through the night
Pyrotechnics, and
A real party atmosphere
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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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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1-xmas.gif)
to bitz! See you soon amigo 
Yojo & Col xx 
Have a wikkid night 
Looking forward to meeting you one day Barry