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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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The Real Deal: Ed Real gets the Lucy Fur treatment ahead of CyberKitten's 5th Birthday!
Reported by Lucy Fur
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Submitted 15-04-08 19:49
Friday April 25th is set to be one awesome affair with CyberKitten already in top gear preparing to celebrate its 5th Birthday. The spectacular spring date marks 5 fabulous CK years, all which saw the promotion produce some of the scene’s most notorious upfront kick ass hard parties and show-stopping UK tours. Adding to the birthday's fever pitch is CyberKitten's unprecedented second year win as the UK's Best Small Club at the 2008 Hard Dance Awards. Heralded as a fiercely intimate party, you can get yourself ready to experience that superb atmosphere that connects the DJs and clubber in a truly unique fashion with Ed Real - up close and personal!
Ed Real, award winning promoter, businessman, media personality, producer and DJ, Ed really has seen it all. His passion and expertise behind the decks is infectious and he’s played all over the UK and beyond at some of the worlds leading events like Dance Valley and Impulz right through to homegrown gatherings like Creamfields and Glastonbury. From his A&R days at Nukleuz to Riot and the highly successful label Riot Recordings, to Trackitdown.net and the Hard Dance Awards, Ed truly lives and breathes dance music! We welcome the return of Ed to the wheels of steel for CyberKitten at Fever in Northampton and so ahead of our first party for 2008, CK resident Lucy Fur put some questions to the man himself.
Hi Ed, you are one busy man! 2006 saw you head to Brazil and launch your Riot album as well as playing numerous gigs across the UK and beyond. What were your main highlights from 2007, what have you been up to (apart from the Hard Dance Awards)?
2007 was a fun year and a great opportunity to play some exciting events in the world of hard dance and beyond. Not so much travelling as we focused on building trackitdown.net into the world’s number one dance download store, which is where we’re heading right now!
However, I can’t believe it’s April 2008 already so I’m struggling in some respects to remember much of last year – whoops!
2008 is shaping up to be vintage in terms of performing and working at TID towers. I’m booked to play the biggest and most prestigious festivals and raves on the planet; Global Gathering, Dance Valley, DefQon One, Kiddstock, Sanctuary Festival etc and will be ending the season in the Nevada desert at the infamous Burning Man – 50,000 folk going wild for a week in a party paradise!
Of course you run the annual Hard Dance Awards which took place in Sheffield this year. What was the reasoning behind taking the awards up North (and outside of London) this year? And given the success of going on tour with the HDA, where might you look to host the awards next year?
For the fifth year we needed to head up the M1 and take the event to one of the best areas for dance music in the UK. The response from the fans and industry was nothing but positive and next year I’d like to look towards another metropolitan part of the country to keep on spreading the showcase for the scene.
What were your main highlights from this year’s Awards?
It had to be the surprise appearance of Dirty Sanchez during the awards ceremony. If you go to www.harddanceawards.com then there is loads of video footage for you to watch if you weren’t there. Classic!
You were voted “Party Animal” in last years HDA but you’ve had to relinquish that crown to Alex Kidd this year. Despite this I don’t think anyone could ever see you with ‘pipe and slippers’ in mind. What keeps you out there having it large?
I love the drama and that’s the reason most of us keep on hitting the motorway each and every weekend! The anticipation and the elevation one gets on a banging night out is addictive and I love getting to know new people and smashing up the dancefloor with new tunes too. I get goosebumps every week around 3pm Wednesday and can’t wait to get amongst it. Christmas comes every Friday!
You’ve always said that hard, fast and furious are the way you like your beats, what is it that you love best about spinning hard dance?
The adrenalin and the energy from our beats are unsurpassed! I have a short attention span and mixing up-tempo techno, hard house and hardstyle with other tough vibes keeps me and the dancefloor on my toes.
You are a regular at alternative nights Torture Garden and Bang Face – and as a DJ this definitely suits your eclectic style and wild persona. For those maybe new to the scene or who haven’t seen you play before can you explain what Ed Real brings to a party?
Fun for all the family and tunes from past, present and future that’ll entertain and perhaps even educate a touch too! It’s a party not a club night when I’m on the line-up – that’s what I’d like to convey when going to ‘work’.
Ed Real tunes?! Have you had a chance to get in the studio recently, and if so what gorgeous numbers can we look forward to?
Of late studio trips have been few and far between which is a bit frustrating, but I’ve the luxury of the biggest collection of high-octane underground tracks to pick from so I’m not complaining! Tracktitdown.net uploads about 4,000 new titles A WEEK and I’m on site all day long picking the best of the bunch!
The best thing about this is that anyone reading this can do exactly the same thing too. But be warned, once you start diving into this library of killer cuts it becomes addictive.
What producers are really doing the business for you right now?
The new studio partnership of BK and Vinylgroover really is setting the standard with great ideas and amazing production. Beyond that the big tune in my box right now is by Kamui called Electroslut. The sound coming from his studio is so big that the production crosses all boundaries.
I’m really into a lot of big room hardstyle which shocks a lot of purists but there’s no denying that this European flavour is re-writing the rules on the dancefloor. Some of it is so over the top that it’s comedy and I love the high drama. Playing regularly at Q Dance events in Holland for 20,000-40,000 hardstylers, I get to see just how much this sound has made an impact. It’s the new hardcore.
Psy trance has dipped a touch for me, I love full on style from Eskimo and Astrix etc but they’ve been quiet for a couple of years. This stuff goes down very well at places like Torture Garden and the illegal raves I play. It’s alternative hard dance that has a massive global scene but is really underground still in the UK.
I have been exposed to a bit of NRG of late but it’s not really doing it for me, it’s hard but without the house and that’s the funk and soul of our musical heritage so I like to dig out some classics when in that kind of environment. Saw Rodi Styles give it some life with his amazing tricks over Easter and that was fun though. He’s quite the performer!
Recently Hard Dance went back to the End with Hard Nation. Of course it was only fitting that you and BK should be back behind the decks for such an occasion, how did it feel to be back there?
It felt amazing – not having to get there at 2pm to put up banners and posters after a massive Saturday night out then spend 10 hours on my feet drinking and sweating made all the difference!
It was brilliant to see loads of old faces and feel that energy in the main room. Cyclone the sound engineer and I had a bit of a moment in the booth as it was like a 60 minute flashback for me and I loved every minute. More please – it’s such a brilliant venue and now part of our history as Riot! has achieved legendary status for a lot of us fans who’ve been doing this for a while now.
With the recent demise of two key distributors the shape of the industry is definitely changing. As a key stakeholder in Trackitdown.net you are certainly poised to help ease the transition away from vinyl. How as a DJ do you personally feel about the inevitable loss of vinyl to the industry? It’s certainly quite an emotive subject amongst many DJs who learnt their craft on the wheels of steel.
I play old vinyl, I play CD’s. To me it’s essentially the same thing – playing the right tune at the right time that’s going to buzz up the party!
Dance culture has evolved and Harderfaster is killing the paper flyer, which for those who remember plastering their bedrooms with big fold-out rave flyers is just as big a deal. It’s inevitable that youth culture early-adopts new technology and downloading music is just that and every month we see more people using Trackitdown.net which rocks as they’re choosing to do it legally at least!
With the success of the recent Hard Dance Awards, along with all the legions of committed clubbers and numerous UK wide DJs and promoters enthusiastically engaged with the scene, hard dance looks on the up! It's fair to say you’ve been in the hard industry since almost day dot - what is your current view on where we are now and what are the things we need to continue to do as a community to ensure the longevity of this scene we’re all passionate about?
The marriage of more showcase events like the Hard Dance Awards with the proliferation of new young crews doing it themselves and throwing parties will help stimulate the scene and that’s really exciting.
Top quality tunes are essential and that’s the missing link to a smaller extent now. For the last couple years it’s been hard work finding really great tunes but certainly this year is going to see some bombs such as Vinylgroover’s new Bass Junkie album of new works which is going to inspire a generation I hope!
On Friday April 25th you are headlining CyberKitten 5th Fab Birthday at Fever Northampton. The club is also celebrating its prestigious win at this year’s Hard Dance Awards which saw it retain its Best Small Club status two years in a row! CyberKitten’s head honchos Yojo & Col are two of the most passionate, hard working and dedicated promoters in the scene. What’s your take on the dynamic duo?
Mentalists! The pair of them must be mad making a profession out of this whirlwind of late nights and loud music… hang on, isn’t that what I do too!?
We’re kindred spirits I think and I view them with the utmost respect for the energy they put in to making friends and strangers have the best time of their lives. That’s a special type of person and people underestimate how hard such an agenda can be sometimes.
In keeping with 5 fabulous years of relentless production, CK’s Birthday theme presents a 5 Year Retrospective of Hard Dance, how will you approach this in your set and what magic do you have in store for the CK faithful?
I’m going to be digging out five years of big tunes and squeezing that into my set! I’ll have tunes coming out of my ears!
Please write your CK favourite anthems in the comments below and I’ll do my best to dig them out and dust them off for you!
Saturday nights or Sunday mornings?
Saturday nights alright!
Fave telly show?
Skins – what are these kids on!?
Barcelona or Berlin?
Sonar Festival in Barcelona es muy famosa!
Marmite – yay or nay?
Definitely! It’s a party in my mouth hahaha.
Words of wisdom in 5 words or less?
Keep it Ted!
Thanks for your time Ed, look forward to seeing you at CK’s Fab 5th (really very excited about this). It’s going to be a rocking affair!
Lucy Fur x
CyberKitten Resident // Red Artist Management
All photos courtesy of Ed Real. Not to be reproduced without permission.
CyberKitten FAB 5th Birthday Bash!
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On:
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Friday 25th April 2008
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At:
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Fever [map]
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From:
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22:00 -04:00
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Cost:
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£10 on door, £8 concs, £6 earlybird (limited) £5 NUS
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Website:
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www.cyberkitten.co.uk
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Ticket Info:
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Advance - 07849375534
Ticketweb
On door
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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CYBERKITTEN FAB 5th BIRTHDAY BASH!
CyberKitten – Winners of the ‘Best Small Club’ Award for a rocking, unprecedented two years in a row – 2007 & 2008 Hard Dance Awards! We'll all be celebrating this year’s prestigious win at CyberKitten’s Fab 5th Birthday Bash!
Passionate, rebellious, and unstoppable, CyberKitten's thrilled to celebrate its landmark 5th! Proud to present a power-packed Hard Dance extravaganza - showcasing a 5 year retrospective of spectacular Hard House! Fabulous FUN!
MIDLANDS EXCLUSIVE!
Headlining festivities are two of our scene's illustrious titans, dj/producer super-stars – the all mighty ED REAL (Riot, TrackItDown, HDA) and the magnificent SUPERFAST OZ (OD404, Kaktai, Red). Purrfectly hand-picked to lead CK's 5th! We are sooooo fricken excited! Both Ed and Oz are immense talents, true scene trail-blazers, and uber cool all the way to Shanghai baby! Put Friday April 25th in your party diary and get ready to ROCK! CK's 5th grand mad one takes place at Fever nightclub, Northampton’s premiere much loved party palace.
Fiercely fleshing out the main room bill are CyberKitten’s brilliant top guns, the awesome CK residents! Witness the scenes undisputed Queen of Filth - LUCY FUR (Red), rampant on-fire dj/producers NASTY NEIL E (Nasty Digital) STEVE GILLEN (DTW), scorching nrg duo ANDY RISE and MATT PICKUP (Hard Up Digital, Hard Up Funk), the blazing BRAD DUKE an' Hard House princess HYPERVIXEN. Yes party people, we’ve got a royal selection of the hard scenes wild ones! All are geared up for a mental musical escapade – guaranteed to pack a wallop an' smoke your pretty head to smithereens (just the way you like it) !!
COURTYARD!
What would CK be without it’s super-sexy DirtyFlirty! In the courtyard DF residents are joined in a hot house versus with the fabulous Funk DeLuxe players. Adding to frisky fun is birthday celebs for CK/DF resident Simon Vegas! Get ready to shake your rude groove and strut! The gorgeous gang's on a saucy mish to dish up the dirt an' take you h.i.g.h.e.r!
Party pictures by resident photographer Sean O'Dell. Brand new podium team affiliation T B A! Party colour theme TBA! Adding! Sexy Dancers! Gorgeous Give-aways! Fab Charity Raffle(WNTS)! Crazy Competitions! Mad Prizes!
More FUN than a barrel of kittens surfing Niagara (go Canada go) ...... !!
See you on the dancefloor ;-)
CyberKitten Xx
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Other Features By Lucy Fur:
How to Pickup at CyberKitten HardLine
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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