Page 62 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

It happened also a few years ago with DJ Meme who put us on his guest list for his party. We couldn’t make it as we got caught up somewhere else when we caught up with him the next day he was incandescent saying “I put you on the guestlist and you never came” things were never the same after that. Thing is Oded is a dear friend of mine and I felt bad I had let him down. I stayed for a few hours sheepishly checking out Steven and DJ Mimmo who absolutely rocked the shop. Ron Carroll came on to DJ and was amazing. I had promised myself an early night and still avoiding the wrath of Oded I decided to split about 1am. My good friend Jamie Lewis has his Purple Music party in Club NL kicking off around midnight. Le Baron had heard it was a roadblock and they weren’t letting people in. Suited me to be honest as I was so tired. There was however a rumour that had circulated since Weds that Brian Tappert would make “come out of retirement” move and DJ after many years of refusing to get back on the ones and twos. This was promptly quashed as PR stunt however and I remembered a Grant Nelson party that had similar rumours in 2013 that came to nothing.
Le Baron said he would head down and he sent me a message to say I was on the guestlist. Since the club was close to the hotel and I had the bike, I decided since I had pissed Oded off beyond belief I had better not trample all over Jamie Lewis as well. I arrived down to NL where I joined Richard Earshaw and Dave Doyle in the waiting queue (we pulled the I’m on the guestlist card out) and as one or two vacated the club we were let in.
There he was. Spinning the music. The whole club heaving. The sound system pumping, like he never went away. Brian Tappert. He had only just started. To think I wasn’t even going to go! All thoughts of exhaustion left me and I got on that floor and lost it like I was 23 all over again. Brian’s set was off the hook and the crowd went crazy. Jamie Lewis was gushing Purple Music T Shirts ( which I managed to catch) and Roog from Hardsoul came on after that and kept things at boiling point. Mike Scot went back to back with Miss Sugaware and when he dropped the Soulmagic version of I Get Deep (our big track on Deeptown from ADE) the night was complete. I looked at my watch it was 6am! So much for an early night.
Saturday
Really licking my wounds from last night up at slightly later time of 10.30 (yay 4 hours sleep this time) and I have so many interviews to do today and tonight. Voice is shot and body isn’t
far behind. Still I down the pre workout and head to the gym for a heavy session which strangely does pick me up (although I did think I would keel!) then off for another one of those amazing cold press juices. I bump into Husky and we decide to do our interview on the fly while we shop juice. It’s quirky and I think it’ll sound pretty cool, just chatting as we shop. I later got home to discover I had left the mic off for the whole thing. Gutted. The rain isn’t too bad today- spiting on and off but it is quite cold.
So I make my way into the Dylan Hotel for a coffee. The Dylan is popular meeting point for industry types and you never know who you would meet. I was hanging out and my friend Louis Bisang one of the owners of Club Bellevue in Zurich taps me on the shoulder. Louis is a great guy and he has kindly let me play his amazing club and bars in Zurich over the years, we catch up and he was at the Defected Party so I get a full report as I thaw out.
It’s my last night tonight and I am heading to Richard’s (Earnshaw) iCulture Party and Husky’s Bobbin Head one. If you could clone yourself into 4 people it would be a massive help but you can’t be everywhere at once. I decided to head into the Felix and meet Oded for a coffee to again try and make amends for missing his party. I also want to meet with Will Kinsella from RTE Pulse and PYG to chat on mic about his ADE experiences from a Techno point of view. Oded and Will get introduced and a possibility for Oded to bring his live show to Ireland is discussed. Maybe it was divine appointment.
I’m about to leave my bike back ( I only rented it for 4 days) and I get word from Brian Tappert that he is in the Dylan Hotel beside me and would I like to come for coffee and do an interview. Brian has been so busy each ADE I have been at with his Traxsource commitments that he has never had time to chat to me for the show. I jumped at the chance of course and to hell with bringing the bike back. We have coffee and chat about his historic set last night at the Purple Music party, what’s involved for Traxsource at ADE, STEMS technology and much more, It’s a great piece and if it was the only interview I had have gotten at ADE I would have been happy.
I cycled back to the hotel and spruced up for the final night’s parties. Firstly cycling down to 3 Sisters Pub, which is massively unsuitable as a venue for electronic music both aesthetically and acoustically. It’s like a pub in Emmerdale Farm. I want to catch AM2PM live and record it for the show and also to interview John Khan and Darryl D’Bonneau about their album. Then it’s off to meet up with Full Intention as promised at No
129 where I played on Wednesday. Mike & Jon are two of the nicest guys in the business and it was 15 years ago when we last chatted for the radio. It’s a long overdue catch up and a great interview. Schmoozed for a bit having a boogie to The Checkup. Then round the corner to iCulture for my final fling.
Great to say my goodbyes to all the crew I have been hanging out with and I got time for one final chat on mic with Tracy Hamlin about her projects. I was hoping to make more of it but after my 6am marathon the night before I bowed out at 2am.
Sunday
I was smart enough to book a late afternoon flight so it gave me a few hours after my 11am check out to do a little shopping and pick up some clothing. I always like to get a sweatshirt if I am away and I picked up one in Sam Friday’s near the Felix. Since it’ll most likely be another year till I am back I took the opportunity to get a last cold pressed juice and while I had the time some more Pancakes. Train to the airport in nice time.
Of course the main reason I was at the ADE was to do interviews for the Digital Groove and make a show out of them. We chat to our guests and let them pick the music. I was blown away having been nominated for a PPI Radio award this year for the ADE show 2014, so I had to raise the bar. My final task was to get the Air Hostess on the flight to do a “special “ tannoy announcement for the show opener .
I waited til everyone had left the plane when we landed. They must have thought I was a terrorist. Sheepishly I explained the show and what I wanted done and she kindly obliged with me recording the “landing” tannoy of “ladies and gentlemen welcome to Amsterdam where the local time is 9pm, for the next two hours you are listening to The Digital Groove ADE special 2015” – the cherry on top! DONE
I’d love to say I fell into bed when I arrived in Wicklow, but no I had to get straight into EDITING for the show to air Monday (the following night). It was well worth it. Till 2016 ADE comes around I’m done.
Listen to the ADE 2015 Digital Groove Specials Part 1 - http://tinyurl.com/dgade151
Part 2 - http://tinyurl.com/dgade152 Pics courtesy of Niall
Redmond and Club NL
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