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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! | | Goa based party animal and artist extraordinaire Nirmal talks punk concerts, metal sculptures, flying and rippin' it up on a High Tide! | | DJ Wired talks to us about the Rise of the Hope and parties, ahead of his upcoming set at Tribal Village on 14th January 2022! |
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Andy Farley — From Tandy to Turnmills via The End this Sunday!
Reported by Ed Real
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Submitted 24-10-05 14:14
If there’s anyone in the scene who needs no introduction then this is he. A DJ for two decades and someone who can still fill the main arena of any party with an energy and enthusiasm that transcends sheer audio alone, Andy Farley is the don.
He’s spent the last 12 months building up his Air Miles collection and now he’s ready to touch down at Riot! on Sunday 30th October to unleash the whirlwind that has been christened Farleytime! Bring it on…
You've been DJing for nearly 20 years now — how did you get started and what equipment did you get started on?
Basically it started as a hobby. I had quite a large record collection, and when I started going out to clubs in 1987, I was blown away by the music and hearing tunes mixed together. I borrowed a friend’s mobile set up and had a go at mixing at home, but of course there was no pitch control so it wasn’t particularly easy. I had a big collection of 60s soul & R&B 7” singles from my days as a Mod, so I sold them for a ridiculously low price to buy my first set of decks. I bought a pair of Citronic decks with a knob that you turned to alter the pitch, and a mixer from Tandy!
After this huge amount of time on the wheels of steel do you ever get bored? What's your motivation?
Not really, I think expanding my musical taste and knowledge keeps me going, and there’s so much exciting new music coming out all the time that it’s impossible to get bored. I always love playing out to a crowd and meeting people so that’s a great motivation. I’ve always said to myself that when I get bored and start to see it as a drag going to work, then that will be the time to stop.
You started playing in clubs alongside Tony De Vit — what sort of parties were these and what are your memories of those days?
That was way back in 1989 at The Nightingale in Birmingham. It was a gay club, and up until then the music had been a mixture of house and hi-nrg. Tony got into the techno sound coming from Belgium in 1990, and changed his music over to that. A lot of the club’s members found the music a bit extreme so they opened a second room where I played lighter house and hi-nrg, and then after Tony moved on to bigger things I took over the main room, playing mostly vocal house and the big house tunes of the time. It was great fun and really good experience, as it gave me good practice in using monitor speakers instead of mixing in the headphones and was a great learning experience. It was from there that I was offered a residency at Tin Tin’s playing more underground house music and developing my sound into what it is today.
After such a long time buying records you must have loads!? Where do you keep them and are they in order?
I’ve got one or two!! Probably around 20000 or more. I’ve got loads of 70s disco, as well as 80s pop & hi-nrg as well as house, techno, hard house and trance. I keep them in my house, and had my garage reworked so that I can use it as a storage room, and two rooms in the house hold the rest. I also have a lock up full of promos that I am trying to get round to sorting through to sell off what I don’t need! They are mostly in order, though when pulling out oldies for special nights or classics sets, they’re not as organized as they were!
You've just put together the first in a series of compilations called 'DJ Update' on the seminal DMC organisations own label — what's it all about?
It’s basically a series of regular albums highlighting the best upfront hard dance that is around at the time. I’m very excited about the album as I’ve been given free reign to pick the tracks that I want to use. It contains a mixture of techno and hard dance music covering the spectrum of what I play. I’ve programmed the mix to be constantly building from 142bpm at the beginning to 156bpm at the end!
How have things been going at Blue towers? You've got Blue Cubed Records and Blue Events — what’s the ethos behind them and what can we expect to see and hear in the future?
It’s been a really hectic year so far. I’ve been back and forwards to Ibiza, as well as the States, Australia & New Zealand, Malta & Canada.
Label wise I didn’t put any releases out over the summer, mainly because I wasn’t around much, but also because it’s a quieter time for sales. The next release is lined up for release in November by El Durangoz called ‘Techno Assault’, which is a Dom Sweeten produced track under a new project name. It’s been going down really well wherever I’ve played it, and it’s also featured on the album. There are forthcoming tracks from Captain Tinrib & Dave Randall, Tim Clewz, as well as tracks from Colin Barratt & Ingo and myself.
The concept behind the label was for me to experiment with my sound as well as put out tracks from other artists whom I am into.
The idea behind Blue was for me to be able to play pure techno and show people another side to what I do. We’ve got the first birthday coming up on 26th November at Turnmills, and a longer night now from 10pm till 10am so that is going to be very exciting. There’s a great line up too with Surgeon & Regis, Trevor Rockliffe, Baby Ford, Terry Mitchell, Glimpse, Ioana & Pagano. The house room is going to be hosted by Work and has an amazing line up with Future Shock, the very talented and lovely Nickelle, Audiofly & Steve Nevets. I’m hoping that the number of events will increase next year too, so watch this space!
It's been a while since we saw you spin in London. I understand that you've spent most of the year on tour overseas — what exotic climes have you visited and what's the scene been like?
I’ve been to Australia twice this year, and am out again for a tour over the Christmas & New Year period. The gigs have been amazing, especially the Two Tribes tour that I did in March. I’ve also been to San Francisco & LA, which were excellent, Calgary that was rocking (but very cold having flown straight there from a holiday in Malaysia in January!). I also did 6 dates at Tidy vs Extreme in Ibiza, which was amazing, every gig just went off. I also did a beach party in Malta playing techno and a Trade tour in Wexford, Ireland, which was superb — Ireland being one of my favourite places to play. I’m also off to Dubai in December.
The 30th October is our annual Halloween Spooktacular. What can we expect you to be wearing?
I haven’t thought about it yet, though I will (hopefully) be sporting a nice bronze suntan as I’m meeting up with Tara Reynolds for a week in Koh Samui just before!!
Andy Farley joins Vinylgroover, Ed Real and Oliver Lang at Riot! Halloween Spectacular on 30th October. www.riotinlondon.com
To listen to some of Andy Farley’s biggest hits visit:
http://www.trackitdown.net/search.php?searchType=keyword&searchWhat=artist&searchValue=Andy+Farley&searchButton.x=32&searchButton.y=8
Hardhouse Update on DMC Recordings is out on CD in record shops now.
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Other Features By Ed Real:
Dr Duzzit I presume?
Hard Dance Awards preview: meet the regional heroes who keep the UK pumping!
Bang Face: the neo-rave revolution will not be televised!
100% my first time
My first time
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Roll on this weekend!! 
