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Published: 15 August 2004

Boy George- Fighting, Fashion & Fun- Punk Is Just A Word

“I never believed I was defined by my clothes, it was just a look and an attitude which felt comfortable to me, with my background, growing up in suburbia as a homosexual. That spiky punk attitude felt right.”

Like his great hero Davie Bowie and erstwhile contemporary Madonna, Boy George remains both iconic and a genuine global superstar, famed as much for his gender-bending seminal pop star persona as he is for his music. Unlike Bowie and Madonna, he’s increasingly returned to his underground, club scene origins, establishing himself as a top mainstream house DJ in recent years, and more interestingly, becoming a key player on London’s new electro scene. A fixture at Nag, Nag, Nag (hisTaboo costume designer Mike Nichols is Jonny Slut’s long term best mate) he’s virtually come full circle, following the DIY punk ethics of the 70s that first made him rich.

“You either have that punk attitude or you don’t,” says George, chatting across a table in his ultra-comfortable Hampstead mansion.

“It’s about the idea being more important than thinking ‘what am I going to get out of it?’ Lots of people say to me ‘You’re only like that because you’ve got money’ but I was always like that in the past and have never been any different. The fact that I’ve got money makes no difference, whatsoever.”

Putting his words into practise he’s currently pouring time, energy (and considerable amounts of his own money) into a myriad of DIY projects, including starring in a new Broadway production of his stage show Taboo, a series of 7” own label electro singles by his new band The Twin, plus launching his own fashion collection Y. The samples for Y are scattered around his house, as are his regular team of make-up artists, designers and support staff, beavering away on photo shoots, garments and the like, as he chats to Jonty Skrufff. The samples themselves are also distinctly DIY in style, cut and pasted handprints decorating mini skirts, shirts and 70s style ties. Not that they’re intended as particularly serious statements of intent.

“What I always found was that the people who really, really believed in their clothes, who went round really acting the part, were the ones who ended up in suburbia with six kids,” George laughs.

“Because punk is just a word. What happens with those types is that they end up becoming defined by their clothes, so ten years later they’re following a different style and they’ve become something else, with another label.”

Skrufff: What does punk mean to you these days?

Boy George: “In the beginning, punk was just another form of showing off- the people that used to be into Bowie moved into punk, simply because it was another wardrobe and another form of exhibitionism. People like me were quite young back then and the only real political aspect to it was the idea of being anti-social and a bit nonchalant about everything- it was all about being bored and hating the world. But it was also exciting and such fun. But like most things it soon became everything it set out not to be, and started adopting all these student concerns and all got a bit political; there was too much theory chucked at it which pushed out the fun. People started going round stamping on flowers and kicking over fences, which wasn’t what it was about at all- all that ‘let’s spit at each other and punch people’ attitude came in.”

I remember when punk started getting really mainstream being at ULU (London University’s concert hall) for a Gang Of Four gig. The Goth thing was just starting and I was dressing with more makeup and frilly stuff and I remember somebody tipping a pint of blackcurrant and lager on my head. It wasn’t good; my hair was ruined! You started to get that hostility, with the serious punks looking at you with your make-up and liner, giving out all that ‘what are you doing here?’ attitude. That’s where the New Romantic thing came from, because we moved on and found our own clubs.”

Skrufff: You famously referred to yourself as a drag queen in the mid 80s, at the Grammys in the States, did you see yourself as a drag queen during the New Romantic era?

Boy George: “I’ve never really thought of dressing up as being ‘in drag’, I do use that term but it could mean anything, it could refer to me wearing a suit. When I made that comment at the Grammys, saying ‘Thank you America, you know a good drag queen when you see one’, I didn’t mean it in the way they took it. It was more like ‘drag- whatever’. We’d been waiting hours to do a satellite link up, I was bored and came out with that comment just to be camp; I wasn’t being political or anything. It ended my career in America, though every drag queen in America loves me so I’m quite happy I said it.”

Skrufff: Does punk mean anything to you today?

Boy George: “The sound of punk, that immediate unprocessed sound, is very exciting, though a lot of the bands today trying to do that seem a bit too thought out, a bit too considered, to me. Punk was the reason I became a musician, I’d be seeing all these bands with great vibes about them who didn’t have great singers. Prior to that, being in a band was about paying your dues, touring and building up a fan base, then punk came along and it was like ‘fuck that, all you have to do is look great, have a bit of attitude and know a few chords’. It suddenly became a real possibility to be in a band. Before, as a teenager, I’d be going to careers advice talks at school and I’d be telling them ‘I want to be a singer or maybe I could get involved in theatrical costumes’ and they’d be like ‘Mr O’Dowd, you must be more practical, those sorts of jobs are unobtainable.’ Then suddenly I found myself putting a band together and it was very exciting. To me the punk thing still symbolizes that DIY culture thing, that ‘yes, you can do it, anything is possible’ vibe and that’s why I loved it.”

Skrufff: You used to walk around dressed extremely provocatively, did you get attacked much?

Boy George: “I didn’t really get attacked until there was a front page article in The Sun about punks fighting teds (Teddy boys). That’s when it started to get violent, prior to that people thought I was dressing up for rag week (Brit culture ed- student charity fund raising event characterised by students doing pranks). When something doesn’t have a label, people don’t tend to be so aggressive, once you say I’m a punk, or this or that, people then have something to attack. That’s when people started punching and kicking you. I blame Malcolm (McClaren), for all that- a troublemaker (chuckling). After that article, getting from my Mother’s house to the train station became like running the gauntlet, it was always terrifying- but I always did it. I thought ‘Fuck it, I’m not letting anyone dictate what I wear’. My Dad always used to say ‘If he wants to go out dressed like that, let him get beat up, see if I care’.”

Skrufff: Muzik magazine in on of their last issues published telephone threats from you saying you’d come round and beat them up if they wrote about you again, did you really do that?

Boy George: “Yeah I did, I was just about to fly to Moscow, I think I’d taken a couple of Temazepans (tranquillisers) and I was tripping out. I bought a copy of the magazine at the airport and I was like ‘Why don’t they just leave me alone?’ Don’t write about me!’ I don’t court the media, I go out and do my own thing and I’m really happy the tabloids don’t usually write about me, I wish they’d all just fuck off and leave me alone. They’re always saying ‘washed up and sad and desperate’, so don’t write about me.”

Skrufff: Do you take media criticism personally?

Boy George: “Yeah, of course I do, I find it really insulting. But they’re always trying to perpetuate this idea that I don’t do anything, that I’m a sad washed up old pop star, who just does a bit of DJing at the weekend. Fuck off, leave me alone; I’ve never been so busy in my life! I’ve got three albums on the go and a clothing empire to run. It annoys me because the whole thing is about lazy observations and lazy assumptions and it’s very British. It’s so fucking British to kick people. The big problem for me is that I’m considered to be anti-industry by the music industry. If people don’t hear about you or see you on TV, they think you’re in a coma, or sitting at home watching old 80s videos.. I think there’s so much potential with the internet. There’s none of that panic you used to have with bands, where it’s all fitted into slots, of touring, promotion and record releases. With the net I can spend months on projects, that panic of ‘I’ve got to keep up with my career’ has gone. I don’t have that feeling of ‘I’ve got to get this record out now or it’ll be over’ feeling anymore.”

Skrufff: What inspired your electro track Here Come The Girls?

Boy George: “Here Come The Girls has been done for a while and came out of doing Taboo. The basic situation for me in this country is that I don’t get played on Radio 1 and haven’t been played by them for 15 years. You find yourself compromising and compromising again because you think ‘if I do this or that, maybe they’ll play the record’, Then when they still don’t, you start to think ‘Why don’t I just do what I want to do?’ I was getting really frustrated with that Radio 1 issue, and also with being signed to a major label and having to go through the normal channels and felt that I was wasting my energy and time. Because in that system, you know before the record’s even come out whether it’s going to be a hit or not, whether shops have stocked it, it’s so depressing. You’ve made an album then before it’s even been released you know it’s not going to do anything, so you’re like ‘Why am I doing this? It’s frustrating and it’s not fulfilling, in a creative way.

I decided a while ago that I wanted to change things and started doing stuff by myself and working with people with different attitudes. Throughout much of the 90s, everything was about money; you could sell a dance record for 20 grand (US$35,000). So everyone you worked with was really greedy and wanted to know what they were going to get paid before they’d even done anything. I hate that, I hate people that put money first so started finding people on the same level as me, that wanted to do things just because they wanted to do them, to be creative. There are people out there like that, once you start looking you do find people on your wave length, that was the beginning of The Twin. It’s about doing things in a low rent manner, not spending loads of money on videos and that kind of thing. So I started spending more time thinking about ideas rather than ‘will MTV broadcast it?’

Skrufff: Do you feel there’s a new club scene forming around this new electro music?

Boy George: “The fact that dance magazines are slagging off electro is always a good sign. They’re saying things like ‘it’s the emperor’s new clothes’ but what they’re forgetting is that without electro, there wouldn’t be any house. It all comes from bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Human League and Kraftwerk and that’s where house music’s roots are. Part of the reason electro has become so popular is because even R&B has become so ubiquitous right now. R&B has become part of mass culture, whereas before it was unobtainable. If I go back to Eltham (South East London) all my little nieces and nephews are into R&B and they all want to be black. So anybody who wants anything alternative has moved over to electronic music, stuff like Adult, music with that punk vibe which has a dance element too. It’s silly irrelevant music.

Having said that, there’s also a lot of crap out there too- almost anybody can stand up there behind a drumbeat and go ‘I am a robot’. You still need to be discerning. You can tell when something is honest. I like someone like Larry Tee’s attitude to it all, he’ll say ‘there’s this great band in New York and they’re so wrong’, he’s got that vibe of appreciating a certain fragile quality to a sound, which I love.”

Skrufff: How do you view today’s house culture?

Boy George: “It’s an old boy’s network now isn’t it? - It’s about whom you know- you’ve got to be friends with Pete Tong. It’s another world that I feel I’ve been part of for a long time but I’m not really part of it because I don’t play by the same rules as every one else in it. House culture there as a medium but I’m much more excited by the electroclash thing- it’s much more fun, it’s DIY and it doesn’t rely on huge advances for singles. Electroclash is great, it’s much better.”

The Twin’s first two singles Here Come The Girls and Electro Hetero are out now on More Protein Records. (Here Comes The Girls is by The Twin versus The Replicant and introducing C33X).

http://www.boy.george.net

by: Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)

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Published: 15 August 2004

France’s Scan X- Techno is More About Attitude Than Style

6 years after walking away from releasing records, pioneering electronic artist Stephane Dri (aka Scan X) is back, with a typically intelligently titled new album How to Make The Unpredictable Necessary. Out now on Laurent Garnier’s superb independent label F Comm, the album is both innovative and entertaining, marrying dark, melodic Detroit-style tunes with metal machine style electronic beats. Though whether it’s strictly ‘techno’ is a question Stephane’s happy to debate.

“When people like Underground Resistance or Derrick May or Juan Atkins started to make techno, they didn’t say to themselves ‘OK, I’m doing techno’ rather they set out to make music in a new way, with new tools,” he points out.

“Those people were listening to different styles of music and making it in a different way and that was a new attitude that became known as techno. To me techno represents making something different.

Skrufff: You had a six year break from making your own music, why did you stop for so long?

Scan X: “For many reasons. I’d been making techno since 1993 and by 1997 when I took a break I’d become tired of all the loopy techno that was around. That was the period when everybody had adopted Jeff Mills’ style, which was often boring. I remember going into record shops and there would be ten tracks by the same artist at the same time and when I’d listen to them all only one or two would be interesting- the rest would be identical. So I started working on different projects, such as film soundtracks, and music for Playstation videogames and commercials.

Skrufff: Did you leave your own music behind altogether?

Scan X: “I was still performing techno PAs during this period and from doing that I’ve also totally changed my way of making music, I’ve started testing tracks on crowds then just developing them at home. So the new album is much more spontaneous. There’s always that strange aspect of making electronic music, certainly when you’re not a DJ, that you’re making music intended for a big crowd but when you’re actually creating it you’re by yourself in a tiny room, which is a totally opposite situation.”

Skrufff: I see you name checked Lady B on the sleeve notes, what do you make of electro and electroclash?

Scan X: “The electroclash was born from a frustration in my generation not to know what was rock & roll at the time. It’s a new way to make rock & roll with new tools. I know Michel from The Hacker and his background, and I know he used to like The Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees and bands like that. In electronic music it’s easy to introduce all of your background. The first time I heard techno was 12 years ago and at the time, the kind of people you’d find at the parties were completely different types, who were listening to different music at home. Some were into jazz and others rock, so for me techno then was a new way to federate people (ie to bring people from different groups together). People like Carl Craig brought jazz into the music whereas now someone like The Hacker is bringing Gothic rock to electronic music.”

Skrufff: How To Make the Unpredictable Necessary, what’s it all about as a title?

Scan X: “There are many reasons but one serious one and one jokey. The serious one is that loopy techno was boring me because all the records were so predictable, you’d know the sound, the style. A track becomes necessary when it brings something to your life; when you really love a track you need it. The funny reason was that my album was first scheduled for release two or three years ago and has been delayed many times so it was unpredictable in that sense. But I don’t want to explain the title too much- the liberty of music and art is that you can see whatever you want to see in it- that’s why I love instrumental music, it’s not about bringing messages but rather an atmosphere.”

Skrufff: Do you think of yourself as an artist?

Scan X: “I don’t know, what is an artist? My position is that when you make music or paint, you don’t control everything. You are like a medium. If a human controls 100% of a song or painting, it’s poor. You create something that you don’t understand yourself. So being an artist is being a medium. Sometimes I listen to tracks I made eight years ago and I don’t recognise myself in it. It’s very pretentious to say ‘I want to say this or that in my music’. You can think about music before and after but when you’re actually making it you don’t think about anything, you try to create an atmosphere and to surprise yourself.”

Skrufff: French people seem to have a greater appreciation of art and culture than the British or Americans, how is electronic music perceived in France these days?

Scan X: “Sometimes knowing too much about culture or ideas about music could be a handicap. It’s like poetry, you can be a good poet without being an expert in grammar. I have the same feeling for music, music firstly is emotion before being a science. Sometimes people who think they know everything about music really bore me. The test to know whether a record is good or bad is to play it and see if you feel something. For some people in France they snub electronic music when I think actually many people could listen to it, since there’s so much variety. Maybe people say they don’t like styles of music when they don’t understand it. They don’t want to make the effort to understand something new. In the UK people are more enthusiastic and impulsive- if they like something, they like it, they don’t spend so much time analysing things. I like that aspect of the English; people are more spontaneous. In France, they want to over-intellectualise the music.”

Skrufff: You’re based in Paris, is it really so different from the rest of the country?

Scan X: “Yeah it is, in Paris it’s very clubby, they’re more into house music and most of the producers here, make house. Outside Paris you do get more people making techno, such as the Hacker, Vitalic, Oxia and so on. None of the techno producers live in Paris.”

Skrufff: Do you socialise much with the other Paris producers?

Scan X: “I don’t socialise too much with house music people. All the (house) people have made a little circle (clique) where they only accept people who make their kind of music; it’s a little strange but it’s the reality of Paris. I don’t care. In England you can meet people at parties who follow drum & bass or house and there’s no difference between the people, you can speak to them all. You’ll never find this mixing in France. I remember explaining this to an English guy once and he said ‘in England we drink beer so we are happy, whereas in France you drink wine so you’re not smiling.”

Skrufff: I understand French authorities are cracking down on cannabis right now, how do they view dance culture and clubs?

Scan X: “They have an aggressive attitude towards it though that’s because they misunderstand it. Unfortunately in France we’re used to crackdowns because in the mid 90s they viewed techno and rave parties like the devil. Raves were supposedly places where you could find any drugs but what they forgot was that the first thing was the music. It’s true that a few years ago there were many free parties in France, sometimes with 20,000 people and there were a lot of drugs at some of these parties with some young people there looking zombified. Those parties didn’t present the best image for this music and I think maybe today we’re seeing the fallout from those days, unfortunately.

But people in France are used to fighting and I mean that in a good way. We have to fight to make parties as we have to fight to make our music and to get people to listen to us so I think over time, things will be OK. With Nicholas Sarkovsky (France’s ultra-puritanical right wing Justice Minister), we’re going to have a hard time, it’s true because some clubs have already closed in Paris. One club, 287, for example was raided with 100 officers to find drugs and of course, they found something, but just 60 pills. So with 100 policemen, costing 1million euros (£700,000) they only found 60 pills, which is ridiculous. Drugs are everywhere, techno doesn’t have a monopoly on them. But police never raid show business clubs, for example.”

Skrufff: Almost every other electronic producer seems to DJ these days, why don’t you?

Scan X: “I DJ at home but not out at all because I’ve found a way to express myself through my live PAs. I don’t need to be a DJ and from what I see there are very few people able to be very good at producing and DJing at the same time. Sometimes I’ve listened to excellent producers DJing and been so disappointed because they were making top quality records but as DJs they were crap. Sometimes it’s the opposite. I think there are only about ten or 15 people who can really do both, people like Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills.”

Skrufff: Do you still go out to clubs to dance?

Scan X: “When I’m playing somewhere if I like the music then I’m going to dance. One of the reasons I took a break from recording was because I was looking for excitement and pleasure from club music again. One of the keys to making good music is to get pleasure from it. If you are bored your music is going to be boring.”

How To Make the Unpredictable Necessary is out now on F Communications

http://www.fcom.fr

Jonty Adderley (Skrufff.com)

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Published: 15 August 2004

Alyson from HKClubbing.com Interviews Lene...

Alyson: Hey everyone, you’re listening to Alyson in here and we are just about to talk to this girl, I would say it’s the kinda voice that we’ve all been missing so much, at the same time this girl is getting sexier than ever, can I please ask her to introduce herself?

Lene: *giggles* Hi, it’s Lene, and you’ll probably know me as Lene from Aqua…

Alyson: How’s it going?

Lene: It’s going really well, I’m just lying here on the couch, it’s early morning in London, and I’m waking up slowly!

Alyson: Oh! You’re having a tour in London already?

Lene: No, I’ve been living in London for 7 years!

Alyson: It’s been such a long time since we’ve heard from you, especially for us here in Asia!

Lene: I know, when Aqua stopped, I just went straight into the studio and started to focus on my solo project. And I kinda stayed away from the press totally, so, I was a Private Person! Haha!

Alyson: Congratulations, coz recently you’ve been voted as one of the most sexiest stars by a magazine in Norway!

Lene: Thank you for that! You know it’s kinda odd to see yourself like that, coz, you don’t look upon yourself as a sex symbol, coz it’s hard, and you know how you look like when you wake up in the morning, and you should see me right now, I’m not much of a sex symbol!! *LOL*

Alyson: Really?? Hahaha~ Since “Barbie Girl”, it’s been 6 years, of course including the time when you’re with Aqua, but finally releasing a solo record, WOW! How does that mean to you?

Lene: It means a lot! You know, I kinda thought about it every once in a while in Aqua, but you know, I thought I was kinda betraying the boys, thinking in those terms, so… yeah! Then we stopped, and I went like, OK! I’m not done, I wanna continue, I wanna do my own thing, so it was a very natural feeling to kinda to continue. And I just changed my record label and my management, so I got new people around me, it’s like a whole new fresh start, and that was really cool!

Alyson: So far so good then! Then how would you feel if I let you listen to “Barbie Girl” again now?

Lene: You know having a couple of years to think about it, and kinda swallow that whole experience that we had coz that was humongous, and that was so much going on. I feel so much more proud, and um… It’s such a great genius pop song, *giggles* and it did something with so many people all over the world, and I’m so proud of it, I really am! I’ll probably go on stage and do a punk version of it today! Kinda to show people that I’m proud of my past!

Alyson: Looking forward to that! Do you still have contacts with the other Aqua members?

Lene: Aqua members! Well, the American one, he’s still up in bed, sleeping still, and we tried to wake him up, but he don’t want to. And ah… Clark’s in Denmark, he got a kid like 7… 8 months ago? He’s been a father, taking care of his family. And Rene, he’s probably working on his solo project in Denmark, so we’re all very busy.

Alyson: I’m sure a lot of people have asked you about this, but how would you let people know that your solo album is something different instead of another Aqua CD?

Lene: I can explain it like this I guess: I took the best element from Aqua, the humor, the irony, and I mix up with the music that I listen to, like, Linkin Park, Xzibit, Lifehouse, bands like that, that kinda melted those two together and found my goal middle-way. And I’ve been working with so many different people, like from urban to hip-hop, working with Brian Higgins, Brian Rollins, Merlin… he’s Sweden… so that it’s just a big melting pop of different music style, but it’s so up with energy, and I sing much deeper, it’s very rocky, electro-punky… and I tied it all together, and especially with the electro-guitars, and my voice, coz I have a distinct voice, you can always hear it’s Lene when she sings.

Alyson: Sure sure! I actually have your album here with me, and I think it’s got everything in it! It’s a great combination of different elements!

Lene: Oh thank you! I think it’s very important to make an interesting album that you don’t know what to expect on the next track.

Alyson: Which side of Lene do you want the fans to feel, when your album has so many different flavors to it?

Lene: Well, for me, to be on stage and to be live, coz that’s probably the most important thing, coz that’s when you get to know me. I can’t wait to get a tour up and running, coz I think you’ll understand the whole picture, when you see me on stage and feel my energy as well. That’s where I feel at home the most.

Alyson: Excellent! I know you’re now a songwriter as well! Like recently you wrote the song called “No Good Advice” for Girls Aloud and that became a #1 in UK. What’s the hardest part for writing a song?

Lene: Opening the hidden door inside of you, I haven’t done that much before, coz there were so many pros who did that for Aqua, and they were such strong songwriters anyway, so we didn’t wanna interfere with it. If you’re going through something that’s very personal, and it can be very hard to open that door, because, it’s stuff that you really don’t wanna talk about. It’s kinda hard to put it on paper and get the whole world’s opinion on something you’ve written. Coz they’re very personal.

Alyson: Is there any particular song on your record that’s something you’ve experienced in your life?

Lene: Yeah! A song called “Scream”. That’s the most personal one, that was about my eating disorder, I used to have eating disorder when I was younger, and I thought it’s helps me talking about it, but I think it can also help the young boys or girls out there listening to it. “Black Coffee Day” is also a little personal. I thought it’s important to this time around to bring some of those elements into the album as well. So it’s not everything are all kinda jolly happy go…!

Alyson: I know artists consider their songs as their babies, and it’s hard to pick a favorite, but I gotta be mean this time! Pick just one favorite track from the CD!

Lene: Well then, I’ll have to pick the first single “It’s Your Duty”. We chose that, because it’s such a good introduction to the album, and because it sounds very different, and it shows all the elements in me I think. So we have to put that!

Alyson: You know the chorus goes “It’s your duty to shake your booty” it sounds like a revolutionary message to all the females out there!!

Lene: Haha!! It’s not a very deep message! It’s a very girly track, I’m just talking about, we have to be proud of ourselves, doesn’t matter if we’re thick or thin, short or tall, we ARE all individuals, we should not look the same, there’s no perfect female model that we should look like… you know! That’s when makes it so beautiful, and we DO look different! And we should worship it!

Alyson: I actually have to sign up on your official site to see the whole video, and you looked amazing! Did you come up with the images?

Lene: Haha! Thank you, well it was the director here called Timoi, the one I clicked with the first time I met him, and we just had a bit fun. I’ve been locked up in here for a year, so I was exploding on the set doing it, and I think you can see that I was having lots of fun! But it was just something I really liked, and I was in control of it in the whole way, and I was agreeing to everything, and there was no discussion on the set, it was just flowing! It was just two really good days! I would love to work with him again!

Alyson: Back to question with Aqua, would you rather starting off as a solo artist?

Lene: No no no no!! You know, because of what I’ve done, it created me to the girl I am today, and I’m allowed to do what I’m doing right now, because I was in Aqua. But no! There’s no way I would go back and change anything, it’s too beautiful of a fairy tale I’ve been through, not the perfect one, but really beautiful. And I’m still learning to know that fairy tale when I would never ever say, “Change it”! No!! Hehe!! I really love it!

Alyson: Now tell us about your plans for the rest of 2003!

Lene: Umm! I’ve just started my TV campaign in Europe, and then I’ll come to Asia next month…

Alyson: Oh really??

Lene: Yeah, for a month!

Alyson: Any chance for being in Hong Kong?

Lene: Probably! You know I haven’t seen the schedule yet. But I usually pop by to Hong Kong, so I’m gonna cross my fingers for that. And then I’m back to Europe, doing the same things again, so it’s loads of promotions going on!

Alyson: Oh, before I forget! One of my colleagues told me this story: 7 years ago you were here in Hong Kong, and by that time, “Barbie Girl” wasn’t even a hit yet. And you guys went into HMV to sign a board on top of our CD shelf, and yes! We still remember that!!

Lene: *LOL* It’s been 7 years?? That’s amazing, that’s really cool! I can’t wait to come back!

Alyson: You know many fans here in Hong Kong are just waiting if you have a special message for them!

Lene: First of all, I’ll just have to say, thank you for supporting us throughout the years, I know that they’ve been so loyal, so it’s been a tremendous trip to travel with them. I hope they’ll enjoy the album and yeah, I love them! Haha! I love you all!!

Alyson: Thank you very much for taking your time out with us.

Lene: Thank you, take care!

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Published: 14 August 2004

Kristine Sa's debut album 'I Never Knew' posesses a mixture of sounds and emotions that captivates her listeners. HKClubbing catches up with her to see what she has been getting up to and how the internet has allowed her music to be felt by everyone.

HKClubbing: How would you best describe your latest album?
Kristine: This is such a hard first question! lol. I think I would describe my first album to be a little sad, and very honest. It is also a little experimental and very fun. There is a lot of truth and risk in this album.

HKClubbing: Which, if any artist do you believe has been the major influence towards your music?
Kristine: I’ve been heavily influenced by artists such as Jewel, Celine Dion, Sarah McGlachlan... basically, all the women artists that write and perform from their souls. It is very empowering and inspirational to me.

HKClubbing: You songs cover a variety of different styles, which one do you believe is the one that describes your music the best?
Kristine: I think I would have to lean towards the ballads. I love singing slow songs. I just feel like it gives me time to really sink into the emotions. However, I still love all of the other styles. I love being able to bounce around and move while singing. It’s a great feeling when the music moves you. And I also love to just speak what I’ve written. This is the least stressful style of all. No vocals to worry about. =)

HKClubbing: Any plan to visit Asia to promote you album, for example an Asia Tour or just press visits?
Kristine: Between those two choices, I think I would have to do just the visits. I would get too homesick!  If given the chance though, I would love to visit A LOT.

HKClubbing: I see that you can listen to a number of your songs on your site as well as live movies, how do you think the internet has helped to promote your music Worldwide and how much has it had on your exposure?
Kristine: I consider myself an internet baby. I mean my exposure began online so I have strong faith in the power of the internet. I mean, I am such an internet-junky myself. I love to go online and find out tons of info about my favourite artists, so it feels nice to know that I can be a part of that.

HKClubbing: What do you do besides your busy schedule of promoting your album, poetry, singing and writing?
Kristine: Just everyday stuff: go for bubble tea with friends, hang out with my family, etc. Lately I’ve been addicted to buying shoes. I finally fell into the “shoe” trap! It’s so hard to stop buying shoes once you start. You can never get enough! LOL.

HKClubbing: What should we expect in the future form Kristine Sa?
Kristine: I believe you can expect the same honesty from me, and I guess (thinking...) expect what you won’t be expecting. =)

Details

Published: 06 August 2004

What role does being a female take on your career?

I made it possible for female DJs to play in the same room with boys. That was the thing that I pushed the envelope on and broke the mode. Before I came along they were stuck in the back room playing with the other girls. That is the thing I am most proud of — breaking those boundaries down in the Drum N Base genre. Saying look I’m just as good and I want to play in the same room and get the same money. In 1989 that was unheard of.

What personality and characteristics do you think you need to be successful in the music industry?

To be successful in the music industry you have to do nothing but eat shit and breath music and have no life — No boyfriend, no sex, no anything — just work. You just really have to be driven and focused. Work and be determined and relentless. You’re glad to have sex when you can. If you’re the kind of girl that doesn’t want to leave your boyfriend at home when you go away, then this isn’t the job for you. It’s a lot of time touring on your own. You have to be that kind of personality to deal with that.

So I take it your single.

I don’t like that word single. It makes you feel like your inadequate unless you have a partner. I have fun whenever I want. I’d rather not be attached. I’m free, I don’t want a boyfriend and I want to be able to come and go as I please. Until someone else comes along and makes me think otherwise. I haven’t found anyone quite worth it yet (laughs).

How many SINGLES have you produced?

Probably 30 or 40 singles.

What motivated you to start your own label?

Proper Talent was a label that came about because I sold so many records and never really got paid. I was sick and tired of producing records for other people. So I opened my own label and just finally started to make money myself.

You play the piano for about six hours a day. What motivates you to play for so long?

Just because you love something you do it. I was training. When your constantly training you’re playing for about four hours.

How have you promoted yourself?

You just have to have a really good team of people around you: good publicity; good managers; good agents. You have to work your ass off and go wherever you have to go and tour relentlessly. It takes teams of people, it’s not just about you promoting yourself. You have to have management and agents. Everything you do is promotion from the Twix commercial I just did to the Calvin Klein. Every time you play, you promote yourself.

How do you think you got your foot in the door?

Just persistence, just constantly believing in your self. There wasn’t one particular instance that suddenly I got a lucky break and that was it, everyone knew who I was.

What are your future goals?

Usual stuff. World Domination.

By Alisha Alexander

Details

Published: 06 August 2004

HKClubbing.com caught up with Chris Fortier before his visit on the 18th October to Hong Kong to find out more about his global travels and how he is currently getting on in the studios.

Was there ever a point in your career where the constant travelling had a real negative effect on you?

I don’t think there has been any real negatives to the constant travelling? There are a few obvious things like being jet lagged a lot, but that isn’t too major. The only thing I wish I could have more time with is to work in the studio. With all the traveling it is tough to keep on a production schedule. But with all these things, you just try to do your best to manage it all.  Besides, all the traveling is worth it when you play good gigs.

When producing, do you already have a idea of what the track is going to be like?  Or do you simply let experimentation dictate the way the
track builds?

It never is one set thing. I think I get inspiration from all different things. That could mean hearing a melody in my head and then building on it. Or the same with using a vocal or sample like that. I just try to vibe things out with what I have in front of me and just go with the flow. But there are definite times when you have the whole track in your head and you just go in and go from a – z in one movement.

What's your favoured kit to produce with?  Do you also engineer your own tracks?

My main keyboard is a supernova, which I love. I like all the available sliders and knobs to manually manipulate. This makes it easier when you are jamming on something. As far as an engineer, I do most everything on my own now. When I first started making music as Fade, I worked with a partner and he was an engineer, so I was covered then. But I was learning everything we were doing and now eventually I am able on my own. I still use someone to mixdown my tracks of late, just to get some fresh ears. But I am sure I wont be using that much anymore either.

What's your best memorable gig worldwide and what made it so?

I have had many great gigs and I think it is difficult to pin point one. Some of them have been amazing for different reasons too so it is hard to compare. I love playing places like Mexico City, Lima, Buenos Aires, Athens & Montreal and of course New York. But I will say that the last time I was in Hong Kong, the gig was really wicked. The vibe was great in the club. That was a definite highlight.

When travelling to play, you're obviously restricted to whatever the
airline deems permissible for weight restrictions.  How do you go about
selecting music to take with you?  Do you always think that you've made the best possible choice?

I manage to work really well with a box to a box and a half of records. I all depends on the length of sets I am doing. When it starts getting to be over 6+ hours, you definitely want to have more records. But I am pretty realistic with records that I have revolving in my boxes at any given time, so I have learned to be efficient too. I do have quite a few double-sided records as well. And with more cds creeping into my sets, that adds even more musical possibilities.

What artists are due for future releases on FADE records?  Are they always celebrated producers or are you constantly on the look for future talent?

We have some really cool things coming up the rest of this year and next. Right now we have releases coming from Morris & Shylock, Desent, Steve Porter and also myself. As well as we have brand new artists such as Chris Micali, Woven, Motive feat. Abagale Fisher and Scott McFadyen. I think they are all exciting new talents and I am very excited about the unique sounds they are bringing to the table for themselves and for the label as a whole. And yes, generally I have picked up tracks from people that haven’t really done much or even anything at all before. It is something I take great pride in and much effort in to help these artists launch themselves out there.

Where do you see FADE records in 5 years time? How will you aspire to achieve this?

I would hope that the label is still in a healthy place. I feel pretty confident about the future and I am taking steps now to embrace all the new avenues we can go to get our music out there. It is an interesting and somewhat puzzling time for labels. But the main focus for me for the label is to put out interesting and diverse music and keep our sound moving in a positive direction. The way this is going to happen is just to make sure to pay attention to what is happening around us and be ready to take advantage of opportunities as they present.

Superclubs are dying left, right and centre worldwide with smaller clubs being the once again favoured places to go.  Do you consider this to be a good or bad thing?

I think at the end of the day, it will be a good thing for the music and the music lovers to go back and re-discover why they are into the scene in general. There are still some big clubs out there and even some new ones coming out soon. It is a certain degree of management that is needed too. The sky opened up very big and a lot of these clubs reached big. Some too big and it didn’t work out for them. For me, I just want to play good gigs, no matter what the size. I think we all want that. Just to enjoy the music and atmosphere for what it is and what it can be and just have fun!