With a Unique Re-Release, Dave Clarke Celebrates 30 Years of Landmark Techno Music
As one of techno’s longest-running and most-respected DJ/artists, Dave Clarke has earned plenty of accolades over the years. Ever since he released the first of his three Red series EPs in 1994 and his Archive One album in 1996, genre-lovers have held him in high esteem.
Indeed, powerful tracks from those releases, like “Southside,” “No-One’s Driving,” “Wisdom to the Wise,” “Thunder” and others, have inspired techno jocks for more than three decades now. Perhaps most famously, the late BBC legend John Peel dubbed Clarke “The Baron of Techno,” still one of electronic music’s best handles.
Unfortunately, due to difficulties with Bush, one of the releases’ original labels, that hugely influential collection of music wasn’t available physically or digitally (including streaming) for more than 20 years. Second-hand copies were fetching big bucks, but original versions of the music were hard to find.
However, after “a decade of legalities,” Clarke and crew eventually retained the rights to the music and have made it all available to consumers and DJs alike. And as 30 years passed from the original Red release, Clarke teamed with Skint Records for a proper digital release and a special-edition box set of both the Red series and Archive One. It includes remastered original versions and bonus remixes (from Surgeon, Umek, Chemical Brothers, Robert Hood and more) in a one-time pressing, exclusive six-vinyl set slipcase box with a 16-page booklet authored by Clarke.
As he was preparing for his annual Dave Clarke Presents party on Oct. 18 during Amsterdam Dance Event, we caught up with the U.K.-born/Netherlands-based DJ/producer, 56, to discuss this unique project and more.
DJ LIFE: Legalities aside for the moment, what was the experience of putting together this 30th anniversary project like for you? As an artist revisiting his work and commenting on it with a 16-page booklet, what did you take from the entire process?
Dave Clarke: That sometimes time gives good perspective, when I made the music I hoped, but never expected, to make a career out of this. So, to revisit makes you think back to those shaky times, and now the word “techno” is bandied about by many who have no understanding or care. So, to release now feels like a bookmark, or more precisely two book ends. It gives a great perspective of how slow time can be, but at macro level how fast it was, too. My manager really should get a mention as I had put this behind me, all the negativity of trying to get my music back was compartmentalized, but thankfully he kept trying, and I really appreciate that and here we are now, and I’m once again incredibly proud of that album.
DJ LIFE: And it seems like the legal end of it was no picnic. Was there anything to learn from that experience? Any advice to other DJ/artists in a similar situation?
Clarke: If someone seeks attention by negative actions, just take it out your life, so I did; but also, seeing the perseverance of my manager made me realize that to delegate with trust can be a beautiful thing, too.
DJ LIFE: In the package, you’ve got quite a lineup of great remixes from terrific remixers with this project. The DJ Sneak [“Southside”] and Umek [“Wisdom to the Wise”] efforts really caught my ear. What was the process there?
Clarke: All the new remixes came by the artists themselves. They arrived over the years into my inbox, more as versions to play out, but when the project was reaching fruition it made perfect sense to include them. It really is an honor having your music gifted back to you in a remix by producers you respect.
DJ LIFE: In electronic music, a sound from 30 years ago can seem dated, or it can be a sound that’s gets revisited and enjoyed by the current generation. For me, a couple tracks brought me back to a time with some very particular sounds of the day – like “Thunder” – but others seemed to have a more timeless quality – like “Wisdom to the Wise.” Listening to these and the other original tracks all these years later, how did they strike you? Which ones go over best with audiences today?
Clarke: For me, they sound so very different to the techno that is being made today. The genre definitely changed through accessible production and software, but these tracks sound raw and a bit runaway with energy, plus Matt Colton’s remastering skills help them take advantage of modern sound systems. “Thunder” still is my favorite, though.
DJ LIFE: Dave Clarke Presents, your event business, seems to have been a great enterprise for you and its event has been playing ADE’s Friday night at Melkweg for years now. Not only do many of us look forward to your set in the main room, but you always bring a great group of other DJs to the party. How long has it been going on at Melkweg? What does that night, a prime spot during ADE week with so many visitors in town, mean to you?
Clarke: This will be the 19th year – hard to comprehend actually. I was “offered” to switch to another location that finally did events at ADE after many years of no interest, but I wanted to stay at Melkweg for many reasons, namely its rock-n-roll heritage. Ironically, I played my second-ever Dutch gig here to support Archive One in 1995 or 1996. It didn’t work well at all, but now 19 years of it “working” makes me smile. I am always proud to do this event and support young talent, as well as those that stayed the course and true. I started when techno was a “hard sell” during ADE, and now when “techno” is not techno I still do it. I also have to thank all the different teams I have worked with over the years.
DJ LIFE: Can you name your three favorite nightclubs, living or dead, and tell us why?
Clarke: Sativa in Edinburgh, Scotland, then RedBox in Dublin, Ireland, and also Fabric in London. They are/were just real.
DJ LIFE: From your perspective, how has techno and its club scene evolved from the time of this project’s original release?
Clarke: It has lost the plot. Everyone does “techno” and every party is “techno,” but almost all of it is not techno, only about making money. They lost counter-culture. They screwed its good name in turn for profit. It is mass-produced, mass-consumed utter shite. Respect to those that have kept it real – The Surgeons, The Luke Slaters. The ones that sucked and caressed minimal’s stinking balls started the rot, and it went downhill from there.
DJ LIFE: I last saw you play in the U.S. at the Detroit Movement festival a several years ago, but your visits to the U.S. have been few in recent times. Why?
Clarke: Bad drunken drivers, 30-percent tax receipts not forthcoming, other shady shit. It is a shame, as some gigs were great, including that Movement Festival. But, for me, it didn’t make sense anymore, especially by how commercial it all became… darn shame, as without the U.S., specifically Chicago, we would have no scene at all.
DJ LIFE: I really liked the “Charcoal Eyes” single with the late Mark Lanegan from a few years ago. It was quite a mixture – a tough, dark track matched with a voice like no other. Where did the idea of that unique collab come from? How do you remember that process with him?
Clarke: Mark, what a gentle man – spelt like that on purpose – such a talent, so lovely to be around, so real. This was the first time I truly wrote lyrics, the first time my heart was in my mouth when waiting for a reaction. He phoned up and told me he loved my lyrics. We just really hit it off. I miss him a lot, his talent and voice were unique.
DJ LIFE: What was your first musical memory as a kid? Was there a song, a performance or a moment that really knocked you out and drew your lasting attention?
Clarke: Ram Jam’s “Black Betty,” Gustav Holst’s The Planets, mucking around with tape machines and vinyl. It all started when I was 8, and I was hooked immediately.
DJ LIFE: In interviews and from asides you’ve made during ADE sessions you’ve moderated, you always seem to touch on the joys you’ve found with British punk and post-punk music, which isn’t something I hear much from other jocks. How have bands like The Damned inspired you and informed what you do as a DJ/artist?
Clarke: The Damned are still around – that says enough, right? Pure passion and integrity. This stuff opened my eyes in tonality and politics. I will always be grateful for that. Also the “do-it-yourself” attitude that was proliferated from punk/new wave and hip hop made you feel you could affect change through music.
DJ LIFE: How did you first get into DJing? Was there a DJ that inspired you?
Clarke: Kool DJ Herc – when I saw that, I knew where I had to be. Weirdly enough, Kenny Everett – he was wacky, but very clever with tape techniques. Of course, John Peel and Mike Allen. Then, in clubland, DJ Shem – first time I saw in the same physical space as me a DJ that could truly rock a pair of decks. I started “DJing” in my imagination at the age of 8 or 9 with a mono record deck and a tape machine.
DJ LIFE: What’s your DJ-gear evolution been like? What did you start with? What are you using now in the DJ booth?
Clarke: Mobile disco stuff, bouncy little record player with belt drives and tiny vari-speed. But that was after trying to use hi-fi decks, the Technics from 1987 to 2004. Then it was Technics “CDJs” with moving platters [SL-DZ1200s], then Denon 12-inch moving platters – I helped in the design process for Denon for a few years, going to Japan, etc. Then, it was Pioneer DJ CDJs. First mixer would be a RadioShack battery-powered unit borrowed from a chemistry teacher, then lots of other mixers, like those from Citronic. Then it was Pioneer DJ DJM-500 all the way to the DJM-A9 today. I started using Serato round 2005. I stopped using it in clubs around 2020, but still use it for radio, and USB sticks.
DJ LIFE: Is there another technical development you’d like to see for DJs, something that hasn’t yet been realized?
Clarke: Yes, a talent filter, not an Instagram filter.
DJ LIFE: What’s next for you? What do we have to look forward to?
Clarke: My photography exhibition opens soon at The Leica Gallery in Amsterdam. It is called “In The Shatter Light” and it will be open throughout ADE.
