Digging through the vaults for Timeless with hard house hero Matt Pickup
Reported by benz
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Submitted 10-01-06 15:59
Hailing from Blackburn (somewhere ‘oop north’ I'm told), Matt Pickup is the one man filth-wave that has been repeatedly devastating London’s filthier dancefloors over the last year with his irresistible hard house stylings. His track selection is always impeccable, and his mixing is as tight as you can get. He’s also full of energy and charisma behind the decks — just one look at him performing lets you know that he’s enjoying the experience as much as anyone in the crowd is. If you like your house hard, fast and filthy, Matt Pickup is a must.
Matt’s first break in London came when he sent one of his ludicrously hard and fast demos to Frantic, which landed him an ultra-prestigious set in the Foyer at Hard House Academy. After the immense success of this set, many more followed, alongside his already healthy stream of gigs in the North of England. Now with his UFC project he’s more prominent than ever and he plans to keep things that way. I got to know Matt a little better ahead of his classic filth set at Timeless on January 28th, and found out that he really is as hardcore as the music he plays...
So Matt, take us back. When was the first time you remember really loving music?
I’ve always loved music, it makes the world go round, but I started loving the filthier side of music about 7 years ago at Insomniacz in Sheffield. It was there I found hard house was not just a love — but hard house was a passion!
When did you discover dance music? Did you always have a penchant for the darker, harder side of electronic music or was it a gradual transition to the dark side?
I first discovered the dance scene when I left school but back then I was big into trance. I used to go regularly to Gatecrasher when it was weekly to see DJs like Talla 2XLC, Airwave and M.I.KE (Push). I slowly started getting into the harder music by going to afterparties after ‘crasher and they were mainly playing harder music. Over the years my musical persuasion has just got harder and harder and faster and faster until I gave in to the powers of the dark side!
At what point did you realise you wanted to be a DJ?
I got the bug really when I first got in to the dance scene watching other DJs at nights I went too and I thought, “I’ll have a do at that”, so I got some decks and did some serious practicing.
Were you always playing hard house or did you almost go down another path?
When I first got into the scene and I got my first decks I bought records of all different types of music, pretty much anything I liked. Slower trancier records was the general theme to what I was buying, but when I thought I was good enough to send demos out to promoters and get chance to play out I was playing at lot more dirtier sound. I do like a lot of different sounds in the dance scene but as people can see from my sets and the style I play I love energetic music so really it was only ever going to be hard house!
It looks like things have been going very well for you over the last 6 months. The first time I and most of us Londoners saw you play was at Hard House Academy back in February 2005. Were you well known before this gig or did this really kick-start things for you?
2005 was a great year for me in respect to getting recognition within the scene. I first played for Frantic at Hard House Academy in the Foyer in February of last year and since then I have been booked regularly. Frantic have helped me immensely down south and being a northern-based DJ it was just what I needed. It has really given me a boost. Up north I had been playing out for 2 years before I got my chance of London so I am quite well known up north. I have played for most of the smaller nights and the more established ones too, like Goodgreef, Insomniacz, Housewives Choice, Cyberkitten and Parlez-vous, where I am resident. I am also resident at Relentless in Macclesfield, Ground Zero in Stoke and Early Doors in Manchester.
How do you feel when you see people talking about you on message boards, or when randoms come up to you and tell you how much they enjoyed your set? Does it feel weird to have this minor level of fame as such?
It was all a bit weird but exciting at first seeing my name on flyers and posters. Weird to see my name amongst DJs I looked up to and exciting to be doing something that you love. Seeing people talking about me on message boards and when randoms come up to me and tell me they enjoyed my set means so much to me because I work so hard and put a lot of time and effort into my DJing — it’s good to see you are doing things right !
Tell us about your United Filth Coalition project…
WWW.U-F-C.CO.UK
United Filth Coalition (UFC) is a digital download website to help promote up and coming producers.
Myself and Stuart M realised there was a gap in the market for a platform to showcase new talent in the dance scene. Knowing how hard it is for producers to be noticed and get that all-important break we started a site offering tracks of all different types of dance music from unsigned producers. Since our launch in late September ‘05 we have had a lot of interest because unlike other digital download sites, we sell tracks directly from the up and coming producer so the tracks are unsigned new material that you can’t get anywhere else. We also have forthcoming on UFC back catalogues of signed label material that you can’t get on vinyl any more from big labels such as Vicious Circle. Through UFC, we showcase some of our own productions to exclusive to the site with our first two records ‘House Rockin’ and ‘Digital Warfare’ available for download now. On the site as well there is a studio section where we can get you in touch with some of the best up and coming producers to engineer your own tracks. In the future with UFC we will be adding to the site interactivity bringing you discussion forums, DJ pages/charts, club reviews, event listings and much much more! Watch this space!
Which UFC producers have been getting you particularly excited?
Since we started the site we have found a lot of really good producers, but there are two that have really stuck out for me. They are Digital Kid and Jon BW. Digital Kid has his very unique style of driving techno percussion with really exciting hard riffs. Jon BW has a lot harder filthier sound with lots of quirky stabs and fills. Both really good producers and ones to watch over the coming years.
You will be touching down in London again for Timeless on January 28th at Renaissance Rooms for a night of classic hard house anthems. How have you found your London sets compared to your sets up north? Do you find the experience to be particularly different or not?
I have found London musically to be totally different to up north. I’ve found hard house in London to be a larger genre with a lot more different harder styles coming under the same bracket. I have found that a lot of the music that is played in clubs in London I’ve not heard before and vice versa. In London nu energy and psy trance music is becoming quite big where as up north it’s far and few between. In the North generally the hard house clubs play the filthier end of music, where as I have found in the South the music policies are a lot more broader with a lot more different styles under one roof.
When playing classics sets do you always stick to the filth, or can we expect some bounce from you for instance?
In my opinion filth is what it’s all about, so stick to what you know! You can guarantee me to play some of the most meaningful and influential tracks that I have have come across over the years. Which will defiantly be driving, full of energy and bosh filled fun!
When did a distinctly filthy sound start to emerge in hard house? Who paved the way for this new movement?
The filthier dirtier sounds have started to emerge in hard house over the 3 or 4 years. People play hard house faster now these days — the earlier hard house sounds where a lot more slower and a lot more basic than the hard sounds we hear today. Introduction of dirty driving dark synths in tracks and the ever present rough hoovers have made hard house harder! People like Paul Glazby, Andy Farley, Ian M, Karim have been around in the hard house scene for a few years now and have all pioneered their own filthier style in the hard house scene!
The Renaissance Rooms have not been used for hard house events before, so we will have the pleasure of exploring a new venue. Which venues have you instantly loved from the second you walked in there?
Parlez Vous @ The Mill, Bradford — the first time I played there I could not believe that parties still went on like that, I loved it from moment I walked in. It’s a disused mill turned into a club, split on two levels. It manages to capture the old skool rave style with a proper good mix of people, good atmosphere and banging sound system. They have monthly guests with Ben Stevens, Caroline Banx, and Andy Whitby as residents. And luckily enough I have just become new resident.
What about little ‘filthy’ venues? Which are your favourite clubs on a more underground tip?
I do love Twist @ Factory. It is the sort of venue you expect for hard house. Subway City, Birmingham, does exactly what it says on the tin… it’s an underground subway quality filthy venue with really loud system and quality lasers!
And finally Matt, are you hardcore? Prove it…
Well the week before Christmas I had a bit of a marathon weekend. On the Thursday I worked a 12 hour shift at work then played in Leeds @ Stinkey’s Peep House for the 4Clubbers Christmas party, 3 till 4, then drove home to Blackburn 80 miles away. Friday I worked a 12 hour shift again, 10 till 10pm, then drove to London 4 hours drive to play at Summit @ Hidden 4–5am. I stopped at my mate’s in London Friday night so not much sleep! Then on the Saturday played 5.45pm till 6.45pm at the HarderFaster payback @ Turnmills back-to-back with Cally Gage then after that went to Insekt @ Fire till 5am then drove to Blackpool to drop Andy Rise off (4 hour drive) and eventually got home to Blackburn at 10am Sunday morning! Knackered.
Bloody hell… I guess you are then!
Photos thanks to Benz and Matt.
Timeless
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On:
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Saturday 28th January 2006
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At:
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Renaissance Rooms [map]
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From:
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2100 - 0600
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Cost:
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£14/17/20
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Website:
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www.franticuk.net
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Ticket Info:
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Frantic HQ 07949 618 035/ amanda@franticuk.com (No Booking Fee/ Group Discount of 1 FREE for Every 5 you buy!)
Ticketweb: 08700 600 100 / www.ticketweb.co.uk
Clubtickets: 0870 246 1840 / www.clubtickets.co.uk (Group Discount of 1 FREE for Every 5 you buy!)
Vince Coach/Tickets in the Midlands 07835 626 226
4Clubbers www.4clubbers-shop.net / 0870 0423 581
Never Enough Maria 07813 684 399
Cyberdog Camden Markets 0207 482 2842
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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After the last Timeless we realised that 2 rooms wasn't enough for the
UK's No 1 Hard House and Hard Trance Classics event! This time we are going bigger and better with London's newest multi-arena, purpose built venue! We are the FIRST Hard House and Hard Trance promotion to use the massive and truly exciting Renaissance Rooms in Vauxhall!
The people behind the award winning Heaven in Charing Cross, home to HardHouseHeaven, Wildchild and many more have taken over the Renaissance Rooms. They are spending a small fortune in making this into the Capital's most exciting new venue in years! Set just 5 minutes walk from Vauxhall tube this is going to be the venue that Hard House clubbers love in 2006! With 3 wicked arenas giving ample room to dance, loads of seating, toilets and bars and brand new Funktion One Sound in every Arena this is a very welcome addition to the clubbing capital of Europe.
Talking to the thousands of clubbers that attended Frantic's sell out events in 2005, we now know that you would like dedicated arenas for Hard House and for Hard Trance. We aim to please; so for the first time in the History of Harder clubbing Frantic will be breaking new ground at Timeless by having a glittering Main Room as well as the finest Hard House and Hard Trance DJs in their own committed arenas! This means if you love Hard House you can listen to classic after classic of Hard House all night long. If you love Hard Trance you can dance all night to anthem after anthem of the World's biggest ever Hard Trance tracks!
Whatever you think about Harder dance music, Timeless will now be the place where all tastes and loves of all things hard are catered for in the UK's biggest ever celebration of the music we all love and the scene we all live for. Timeless in 2006 will continue Frantic's never-ending ambition to put on the biggest SHOW in the whole UK club scene. We will be totally transforming this scintillating new venue into a WONDERLAND! Only Frantic will be giving you £320,000 of Lights, Funktion One Sound in every Arena, Lasers, Decor, Pyrotechnics and our biggest ever visuals display. No Frantic night is ever ordinary. We want every event to be truly SPECIAL. It’s not like going to a club you can go to on any old weekend. Timeless only happens 3 times a year and uses different venues every time. This Timeless is the result of weeks of planning to put on a show that will leave you literally begging for more!
We have thought long and hard about how we can make the MUSIC at this first headline grabbing Timeless of 2006 the best ever! Where better to start than with the headline act? Over the years we have all heard about classic tracks and Timeless anthems, but in the last 10 years few albums have taken on quite the legendary status of 'Lab4 Live at Samsara'. This is the album that broke the biggest Live Act in Hard House and Trance and made them a worldwide phenomenon. It sums up the all or nothing, harder, faster and tougher qualities that made us all fall in love with the music in the first place! For ONE NIGHT ONLY Lab 4 will perform this album in its entirety as the ULTIMATE Timeless experience. See you down the front for the
biggest rush of your clubbing life!
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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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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1.gif)
you know that weekend was the best 
GO MATT GO at Timeless 
xx
and looking forward to having you down!