Dave Clarke - Interview Einstellungen

[Bad_Lieutenant]

Dave Clarke - Interview

(IMG:http://www.daveclarke.com/_newImages/01_01_2.jpg)

You were very lively on stage at your most recent gigs. I saw you swinging, dancing and clapping your hands behind the decks at Lowlands and Innercity. That´s a contrast with the Dave Clarke we know from a few years ago.
You know, I can do both. It depends on the actual gig, on the vibe of the gig and how I feel at that moment.

Does it have anything to do with relief, maybe because of the release of your album?
No, sorry mate. It has nothing to do with that.

Ok. Can you tell me something about your new album, The Devil´s Advocate. It contains so many styles and influences. Is there a message in the album?
No theres no message in the album, except that its from me. I don´t feel comfortable having a message for a whole album. I find it a little bit pretentious to say ´this is the albums message. I find it important to make an album that is fun to listen to. I make music and people can interpretate that in totally different ways. I just wanted to make an album. Not like: here is an album and this is the message. I think the album is really me.

Aha, so the album shows the real Dave Clarke?
Yes, I made something I feel comfortable with. It contains hiphop, instrumental, and a lot more. Just fun to make.

In 2001, long before the electro hype in Europe last year, you made World Service. The second (electro) disc features tracks that are very popular right now. What do you think of the sudden interest in electro?
Well, I tend to stay away from hype and judge everything on what it sounds like. If I like it, and it becomes a hype, I like it. If I like it, and it´s not a hype, I like it. The way electro sounds at the moment is a lot weaker than it did several years ago. But I definitely feel passionate about some stuff that comes out.

And what do you think of electro in general?
I miss the black influence. I feel electro and techno is becoming marginalised. There`s nothing wrong with most electro these days, but I miss the black element nowadays.

You´ve recently been on tour in Australia. How did the crowds respond?
Sydney was amazing. I had a real really good gig there. The people were very passionate.

What´s your opinon about mp3´s?
If it becomes legal and artists get paid, then I´m happy. Mp3´s have a really bad quality. Full bandwidth, that´s fine. But I find mp3 funny, because you get less quality than a cassette. It´s horrible. I think mp3´s are important, I think it´s inevitable, and certainly when artists get paid for what they do and customers are happy with what they´re paying for they´re a very efficient way for musicians who are already established. I think only half the people that are unestablished can make it above a certain level ´coz what people forget is, when they do work hard and they work together, it can be very good way of profiling an artist. If you´re looking on the internet and you see 10.000 tracks you´ve got no idea what you´re choosing. Unless you spend an afwul lot of time on the internet and it´s your job to do so, you´re also gonna miss a lot of things.


You said in an interview that last years gig at Glastonbury together with Chicks on Speed was ´an amazing and spiritual experience. Are you going to collaborate more with COS?
I don´t know because I´m only going to do a couple more shows before I´m gonna work on my next album, and then I want to be touring that. But I like to play live with people. One thing I would love to do is to actually have everyone that was on the album play live with me in one show. That´s amazing. I would love that.

But is that possible?
I suppose so, anything is possible. Getting everyone together will be a hell of a job, and there aren´t any plans, but maybe sometime.

So we won´t have to wait another six years for a new Dave Clarke album?
I f*king hope not. I might start recording again soon, in 4 or 5 months.


After a lot of problems with your record company, do you feel happy now at Skint?
Yes, I always feel happy when I´ve finished an album. There will always be things that you think can be done in a different way, but generally, it´s probably the best decision I could have made. If I had to go back and make the same decision again, knowing what I know now, I would have done the same thing. So yeah, I feel happy now.

You are a well respected dj, producer and remixer. Have you ever been asked to make film music or music for adverts?
Not specifically for adverts. I don´t want to make music by delegation, talking to people who can say: do this, pick this, fix that and so on. I can´t work like that. Film music is one of the little fantasies I have. But then again, it´s still music by delegation. I would rather they asked me if they could use music that I have already made. I would be much happier with that.

Does the fact that you are a father now change the way you see techno music?
No not at all. It changes your vision of the world. Techno is not a massive part of the world, it´s for enjoyment and for listening and for thinking. It´s not the world. As a father I´m more aware of political problems, more aware of the environment. It changes the way you see those kinds of things.

How do you see the future of dance music?
That´s a difficult question. I look at it from an English point of view and then I think dance music, commercial dance music, is shit in England, and it continues to be shit. It includes shitty pop music now. The whole music industry in England, of music at that level, is shit, without a doubt. It´s thick music for thick people. And it´s sad, because the music that people are listening to doesn´t give them a chance to explore themselves and they are not aware of any choice. When I come abroad, to Holland or Belgium, I hear good music on the radio, not only dance but music as a whole, and then I think: it´s so rotten in England.

What can you do about that?
I´ve been thinking about that a lot. I want to do my part on the Internet, about what I, as a consumer and as a license-fee payer, see as being the problems with music in England. That´s something I feel passionate about.

What are the plans? Can you tell me something about it?
I don´t know, it´s very tricky because as an artist you have to be careful with your own career as well. You don´t want to give people the wrong idea so they think: What the f*ck is he talking about. I´m not playing his music on this channel. You´ve got to be very careful. The way you play has got to be fair. But I´m a passionate music lover and I do believe that public broadcasting should be there for the betterment of the public. It should not be there for getting figures of commercial radio. I think that´s where it has gone wrong in England. I think it has actually burned out. That saddens me. I shouldn´t have to be listening to specialist music radio for 2 or 4 hours a week on the national radio. When I come here and listen to Kink FM or Studio Brussels in Belgium they play music during the whole day. In England it´s opium for the people. It´s to keep them in their jobs and satisfy them and not challenge them musically. That´s going to have dark consquences on the quality of music in England, and it already has had consequences ´coz 15/20 years ago music was much better. English bands were very, very influential, and that´s not going to happen now because that´s all finished. It´s all dead, very sad.

Do you see a challenge in that?
Well, if the BBC is still around then...you know, maybe in 20 years time, I´ll be director general. It´s not about money. It´s about the passion for music.

What are your plans for the near future?
I´m going to be playing live at Pinkpop and Speakerplay, 2 sets at Dance Valley (Electro and Techno) and off course Glastonbury and The Love Parade.

Aha, there will be no Love Parade this year, but the parties go on?
Yeah, maybe it´s more fun now.

This interview is for a techno-based website. Do you have any advice or tips for dj´s and producers starting out?
Yeah, make music for the right reason! Don´t do it because you think you can become famous or you wanna shag a lot of women or men, or get free drinks and free drugs or a lot of money. Do it because you love the music. And if you do it because you love the music, you have a solid base. It might take time, but it´s all about the passion and eventually, if you´re talented, everything will fall in to place.