Marc Johnson & James Nardi Insekt Interview

http://www.flashpointrecords.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=99

Link above but here is the text of the interview from the Flashpoint Records forums. Some of you would have read this already. Check out the forum over there, the interview there has pretty pictures and stuff!

Insekt's Marc and James tell us why it's all about the music!

Marc Johnson and James Nardi, along with fellow DJ-producer Chris Comben, are the promoters behind INSEKT, London’s biggest hard house night (or should that be London’s hardest big night!).

Marc was formerly A&R man at Tripoli Trax and is currently one half of the Flashpoints label. He has now produced over 50 tracks and remixes, including such well-known hard hits as ‘Release the freak’ (with the Test-Tube Babies) and ‘Kick ass elements’ (with DMF). James is one half of Killer Hurts recordings, along with Julian Dwyer, as well as Aftermath. He has produced dozens of tracks and remixes including the acclaimed ‘Little maniac’ (with Julian Dwyer) and Tony de Vit’s ‘Burning up’ (as Killer Hurts). Tracks by both Marc and James have appeared on many of the top-selling hard house mix CDs, such as ‘Hard Dance Republic’ (Vol 2, Mixed by Paul Glazby) and ‘Frantic Euphoria’ (Mixed by Anne Savage).

Along with some of the top names in hard house, including Karim, Weirdo and OD404, James and Marc are playing at Insekt’s next party at the Fridge on Saturday 3rd March. Just ahead of this, I caught up with them for a quick chat about their motivations, inspirations and thoughts on the current direction of the scene…



INSEKT has been going over two years now and only recently started holding parties at the Fridge, Brixton. Can you tell us INSEKT came about originally?

MJ: INSEKT was started when George E, Allen TG, myself and Pete Rothy got together after running a summer of Saturday nights at the Purple Turtle to try a proper all-nighter. After a couple of months Pete dropped out and James took his place, then Allen dropped out quite some time after and Chris Comben took his place. George also dropped out towards the end of our time at Fire. We almost lost heart and ended the whole thing then, but stuck together as a threesome and moved forward. Thankfully it all turned the corner after that.

JN: Yeah, I think I came on board just after the first party, and things have gone on a journey since then.

So what’s the vision behind INSEKT? What are you trying to achieve?

MJ: At the time when it was started there were no good hard house nights in London – none that I wanted to attend anyway. No one involved was ready to retire from clubbing, so we wanted to put on a night once a month where we would get to hear what we wanted as opposed to some of the stuff that was being force fed to the masses (which definitely wasn’t for us!). Now we just want to show people that when done right hard house can give you a top night out, and we also wanna help keep the sound alive.

JN: The vision behind INSEKT is to put on the best party possible with a DJ line-up made up of the people responsible for making the music you are dancing to. For me, London has become over-run with substandard nights, playing the same old hard dance by unknowns. Now there is nothing wrong with this, but we saw a gap in the market for an elite club night catering for the clubbers who are really into their music. You will not walk into INSEKT at the start of the night to hear the DJ trying to impress his mates by belting out the biggest tune in his box. The music always progresses just right from the start right until the end.

You seem to book particular types of DJ within the ‘hard dance’ genre. Can you say a bit about the musical policy at INSEKT?

MJ: It’s basically good quality hard house. (We’re all very fussy with our music - never ask Chris Comben for an opinion on a new track you’ve done!) We’ve always mainly gone for the producer/DJ as we feel that these are the people helping to keep the scene alive. You need new music for the scene to have any chance of surviving. Anyone can turn up and play other people’s records but it’s that little bit more special when you see Dom Sweeten or Karim playing something they’ve produced themselves.



JN: Every DJ we book is making an active contribution to the scene by either producing or running a record label. We also know them all personally; this is why the party works so well. We get so many emails from people wanting to send us in demos. The first thing I say is: have you ever been to INSEKT? No…? Then why not come down to the next one, say hi and we’ll have a chat.

Tell us about the kind of crowd do you get at INSEKT events.

MJ: Lately we are getting a more clubby/colourful crowd coming. I think that’s the DSI influence, to be honest. James worked hard on establishing INSEKT on that site, and it’s definitely changed the way the party is. The last party at the Fridge was quite mind-blowing as there seemed to be so many more happy, up-for-it party people about.

JN: Thanks Marc. :o) I think we attract quite a varied crowd these days. The one thing they all seem to have in common is their passion for good quality hard music.

You mentioned the last INSEKT party, at the Fridge in January. By all accounts it was a phenomenal success – packed out, the best tunes and a magic atmosphere. How do you plan to continue this success?

MJ: To carry on working hard and to learn from our mistakes. We’re all happy that we corrected gripes we had after October’s party and felt it made a big difference,

JN: Oh for sure. We took time to speak to the clubbers and asked them what they liked and didn’t like & took it from there. We all put a lot of hard work into the last party, and it goes without saying that we’ll be doing a lot more of the same for the party on March 3rd.



So tell me about the specific things you’ve been doing to make it such a special night.

JN: The Fridge is a world-famous venue that has been used a hell of a lot by different hard dance events, so we thought it was important to establish our own identity in the club. As soon as you walk in you know it’s an INSEKT event. We bring in extra production, visual screens, lasers, dancers etc. We had the decks on the stage all night, so it felt like an old school rave event. The place looked amazing! We will be doing this for every event. All DJs and Live acts will be on the main stage.

That’s great! :o) The growing popularity of INSEKT, along with the increased interest in other specialist HARD clubbing nights/after-parties (e.g. Twist, Harder…) seems to suggest that proper (HARD) hard house is on the up and coming back into fashion now. Do you agree?

MJ: Erm, I’m not sure if it is, as Twist and INSEKT have all been doing their thing for a while now. I think good parties are good parties and people will respond to them regardless. Just look at Proactive: it’s a completely different sound but they have that ‘X’ factor that people will go back to who would usually go to Frantic or Heat or even INSEKT. You could turn up to a venue, switch the lights on and start playing records but most people are wise to it now and won’t go back. I do think hard house will come back into fashion, but when depends on when the hardcore bubble bursts.

JN: I think hard house got a bit lost and swept along with the hard dance/trance boom a few years back. It’s now establishing itself again. It’s also good to see a new younger crowd of people coming through the ranks, who are hungry for some hard, fierce music!!

Ok, thanks. I see you have recently announced that Karim is your number one resident for 2007. Last year it was Paul Glazby. Personally for me I couldn’t ask for better! But can you say a bit why you asked these particular DJs to represent INSEKT?

MJ: Over the two years we’ve had Justin Bourne, Paul Glazby, Superfast Oz, Ian M and now Karim as residents, all of them have been at the forefront of our genre, keeping things going, producing, DJing, and running labels. The night was always about the music, not following trends or fads. We wanted these particular DJs to be involved because we felt they delivered.



Hard house and hard music in general seems to change all the time. A few years ago, some of the top DJs were getting into techno; now there are electro influences, but the main trend seems to be grooves and funk, along with a resurgent interest in that classic Trade sound. As DJ-producers right in the thick of the cutting edge, you have your fingers on the pulse (to mangle my metaphors!). So what’s next?

MJ: Interesting question. The people who run the record labels determine what will be next as without the music being put out there then trends can’t be set. If no one is releasing hoover tunes then soon enough there won’t be any new hoover tunes to play, same way as no one is releasing hard trance now (apart from the odd digital release) so there’s not much of that to force a new wave of interest. I actually think next year is going to be a lot more light-hearted and fun. Scouse house is massive now, as is hardcore, I think soon enough those followers will discover this scene. Sam Townend will have a big part to play this year as well as to how our scene is moulded as he’s just gone in as head of music at Tidy, which is a very influential post.

JN: A lot of DJs & producers have moved on to where they think the money is. So that has left a core group of people doing it all for the right reasons. As for the next trend, I honestly don’t know.

You’ve both been playing out and producing for around ten years now. What are your influences and favourite producers and DJs over the years?

MJ: He’ll probably cringe when he reads this, but my biggest influence has been Justin Bourne. I’ve always sent him tracks even from when I first started producing, a genuine nice guy and he was the first big DJ to give me any time and give feedback and has been my favourite DJ to listen to. Favourite producers have always been Mik Cree (Dynamic Intervention) and Dom Sweeten (Defective Audio). I have been so lucky to work with both of them and am going back in the studio with both in the next couple of months. It’s always very surreal, trust me!

JN: 10 years! Good lord. Keep that one quiet. Lol!

:o)

JN: Well when I started going out it was to places like Dreamscape, Fantazia and Vision outdoor raves. Then when I moved to London about 11 years ago it was the sound of Trade, Tinrib’s club Fish & Pete Wardman’s club Sherbet that really got me hooked.

Hooked, Pete Wardman– nice one, James ;o)

JN: These early days left a lasting impression on me and my sound. My favourite producers range over different styles: Liam Howlett, Dr Dre, Baby Doc, The Sharp Boys, Pete Wardman and Dom Sweeten. And my favourite DJs: Pete Wardman and Steve Thomas.

Sound choices! And your favourite tracks of all time?

MJ: Drop the Dime, Four to the Floor, The Killer, Block Party… could go on for days! Ha ha!

JN: Baby Doc, Voodoo Magic and Night Breed, and Ian M’s mix of Shiver

And who are your favourite DJ-producer tips for the top?

MJ: Frank Farrell for me. He’s got the hunger which is just as important as having the talent; luckily he has both.

JN: I’m loving the sound of Jon BW and Sam Townend at the moment.

As you say, INSEKT is all about DJs who are themselves producers of the music. So of course you play a lot of your own stuff at the INSEKT parties. I’ve mentioned some of the ones I really like in the Intro. Any particular favourite own tracks you’d like to tell us about?

MJ: I’m really happy with the Etherwave Remix I’ve just done, a track I did with Ben Stevens which is untitled at the mo and a track I did with Dom Sweeten called Blunt Force, I’m not shy to say that I love all of those.

JN: Haha…Don’t be shy, Marc. I’ve recently been playing mine & Julian Dwyer’s new remix for Club Concrete called Future Tense, which should be out in about a month, our new Killer Hurts mix of Mad Dogs and a dark monster called Demons of the Mind.

Nice! I think we heard some of those at the last Insekt, didn’t we?... Moving on… I’ve seen different opinions on CD or vinyl as the way forward. What’s your own take on this?

MJ: CDs are good for playing unreleased tunes. I don’t loop, reverse or mess about with the tracks so other then saving me £30 on a dub plate then they serve no other purpose other then playing new tracks. I have my own record label so will feel like I’m cheating on it if I stopped playing records.

JN: I don’t really have a preference, but thinking about it all my recent sets have been almost 100% CD.



Ok, thanks for that… Quick-fire round now:

'Are you all ready' or 'Rock da spot'?

MJ: Rock the Spot everytime!!!!!

JN: Yeah, me too!!

Girls Aloud or SugaBabes?

MJ: Easily Girls Aloud. It’s on the Ipod!!!!!

JN: Ha ha.. are you copying me? Girls Aloud every time.. The sound of the underground.. lalala.

Stick INSEKTs or kippers?

MJ: Kippers, as a stick INSEKT tastes crap in the morning!!!!

JN: I think both taste pretty crap.

Good answers, boys ;o)

Finally, there were all sorts of exciting visuals and sensory experiences at the last INSEKT (massive screens, massage, bubbles etc.) so are there any surprises up your sleeves for the next INSEKT on March 3rd?

MJ: What do you know about sleeves (suspicious)!!!!!!! Ha ha!

JN: Well we can pretty much promise more of the same plus new things thrown in. We will soon be releasing a line of INSEKT merchandise, starting with boys’ t-shirts and girls’ sexy vest tops in different colours. These are limited and will be on sale at the next INSEKT!

Looking for ward to it! Thanks Marc and James, and see you on March 3rd at the Fridge for another monster!
:o)