Page 44 - Zone Magazine Issue 008

feature interview - uk
phutek
Phutek has been doing the rounds for years. From the legendary days of Trade, through Amnesia, and currently Awakenings, this DJ has been involved. Like a chameleon he has been able to blend into the current trends of great music and gained respect from peers and fans alike. Being motivated and influenced by the likes of Carl Cox and the late great Tony De Vit, it was obvious that Phutek was always waiting in the wings to take over and be the numero uno. Zone Magazine thought it was best to send in their own Techno Dj/Producer who is making waves in the techno scene at the moment to have a great chat with him. Which was fitting since DaGeneral & Moggi are currently remixing one of the great man’s productions.
Phutek as a name that has been around for a while, but for our readers give us the low down on where it all began and how the journey was started?
Hi Alan, to be honest Phutek was actually devised to drop a stereotyping to my own name from the 90's.
As you know before genre pigeon holing of today's scene, it was just 'dance music'...or at the very most House & Techno, and maybe US Garage, but looking back now with today's eyes I probably played every sound out there happening except maybe Drum & Bass.
So we surged through the end of the 90's decade a lot of artists started to get branded to a sound or 'Genre' And as my tastes in music I was making and playing were maturing
and changing rapidly, I made a decision to create an alter ego alias to support these different desires and new expressions. As it was also hard to get new promoters to book you for your new sounds, as they started to label you for your past.
Before Phutek 1994-1999 I played almost everything under my own birth name, at what I call 'the experimental era'. Music was full of everything, play back tracks from the mid 90's now and try and generalize it to today's genre culture, it is very hard to do.
Judging through today's genre labelling ...it would of been House, Trance and Techno I was playing but always of the hard edged side.
This was probably because I was lucky enough to become good friends with most of the Trade (London) And Tin Tins (Birmingham) 2 places I still say now were of the best clubs I have set foot in, in all my clubbing experience Tony De Vit, Ian M and Andy Farley especially were responsible for moulding the music tree I best liked playing in. Looking back, knowing my music these guys were IMO ahead of everyone else pushing the very best House, Techno and Trance, but outside the norm of DJ's in the more commercial branded clubs.
A lot more Belgium and German Techno and House came out their boxes, and I think this was an ingredient that made both those brands massive and never forgotten.
Out with the dance music industry what other influences would you say shaped you to who you are as an artist?
Well excluding the Dance Music industry, I would say the Main Influence for me was Depeche Mode, I do have a very broad taste in music, but none come close to Depeche Mode, they are the main heartbeat for me. Older cousins were big fans of them from when they started in the early 80's and I was always growing up to the Techno pop synths of this amazing band.
I think you will find and it is documented quite often in music press they are a big influence to quite a lot of big names in dance music.
All their early stuff way before dance music
was around even, have masses of Techno, Trance and House influence, they were miles ahead of their time, I think without them themselves even knowing it. But I bet they certainly do now there is comparisons.
Other influences were similar artists and bands alike, such as The Kraftwerk, Yazoo, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, I think you get the gist here..in my earliest years my ears were attracted and attached to strong synth influenced music. And most bands that incorporated the electronic beats. You could say I was being prep'ed for where I am right now.
The amount of top class productions coming out your studio at the moment is unbelievable, but in your opinion over the last 12months what has stood out as being your best personal achievement?
Well I would say in terms of impact and recognition from the Big DJ's, and creating more new attention to me as an artist from my peers and fans PHUTEK - ' Timerunner' Which although I made it this time last year, only just came out just before xmas. On Spartaque's IAMT label.
I passed it exclusively to Carl Cox just before Miami WMC 2015 and he smashed it out there all week at the big Ultra Party's, then went on to play it a some of the biggest festivals and clubs on the circuit through the rest of the year, such as Timewarp, (Germany), The Burning Man, (Nevada Desert), Space (Ibiza). Other than Timerunner there is a track called 9-People that I made I the Spring/Summer last year, it's not been released yet but is up soon on my label LAYER 909.
In terms of personal achievement in the studio, that is up there with the most complexed sound design and most hours spent processing person ideas into music. The main point of the track was to express what I imagined happened in someone's mind I knew that had multiple (9) Personalities. The main breakdown is pretty special, while many love it that I have shown, others find it scary. (LOL) It basically my expression of 9 different people all talking over each other at a coffee morning in someone’s head.
It also is individual sounding as a track, and I predict each person that hears it, will differ in opinion of what sound to tie in to...It defo was intended to be Techno, but I think it might be a cracking little crossover track/release. Awesome remix package with it as well,
Lisa Lashes, Urig & Dice and Zakari & Blange so far on the release. Watch out for it in Feb 2016.
How has your music tastes and production changed over the last decade as the industry has evolved?
They are changing all the time to be honest. Techno really is amazing cult to be in at the moment, I can discover new producers and fall
in love with their stuff and really hear individuality in their productions, and there have been a handful especially in the last few years, that have made me change the way I think before I sit down with my own ideas. Not in every production I do, as I do strive to keep my own individual sound, but I do take in new things I hear that excite me. One Artist that did this over last 2 years was Bart Skills, I still listen to a certain 2 podcasts of his, full of (at the time) in discovering, his unreleased Bart Skills productions.
I suppose all in all the only real change I have noticed over the last ten years is the concept in producing 'Less is more' and make sure the Less is bigger than the more before. But my ethos is simple and has never changed whatever style of music I personally make or remix, I aim each time for it 'to make people dance' and I mean dance, not toe tap, no wiggling, to lose yourself and feel a burst of excitement in yourself on that dance floor.
Awakenings date for 2016 is superb, tell us about how that came about and what else you have planned for the year on the DJ front?
All I can say at the moment is that it was maybe a mixture of a few things. I set a personal plan last year to get out and network a lot more at the biggest Techno events especially, and get my music out there to as many of the right people in Techno, and most importantly put my music in their hands.
Also a little bit of luck could of been involved maybe? With massive artists like Carl Cox and Adam Beyer (to name just a couple from many) Were playing/supporting heavily a lot of my music at the places I design most Phutek tracks for; The Big Room's, Festival Tents and Outdoor Stages. TBH I don't actually know 100% but I’m sure it helped especially when Awakenings are concerned, for example Awakenings NYE 2014 Carl played 2 of my tracks either side of midnight, which was massive to me, as a DJ if I had that gig that time of night at that size event, they would be my biggest bombs. Maybe? Maybe not? Adam also Played 'Timerunner' at his Drumcode/ Awakenings ADE party. And the day before Carl Played also at Gashoulder, Phutek - Organization as they let the fireworks off.
I think these were a couple of things that helped, but obviously I would like to think it's it is on merit of the rise of my achievements in production, as I know the Awakenings team are a very professional outfit, and are always keeping an eye on what's hot, what’s exciting and new, and I have definitely been Banging my Techno Drum in the last few years.
Also getting the gig I have had a few nice compliments from some of the people that matter and involved there via email. I suppose I will find out the full answer when I meet them at The Awakenings, Manchester gig itself, at the Victoria Warehouse on 6th February.
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