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Interview with Guy McCaffer (aka Geezer)
Reported by Olly Perris
/
Submitted 01-09-03 22:48
Been out to a major hard house club at any point in time over the past year? You're bound to have heard the cheesy, 80's girly kareoke anthem "Get Fresh At The Weekend" by Mel n Kim transformed into a rampant, techno monster. With its combination of hard drums, ear-splitting filters and one dirty attitude, Raw 9 because undoubtedly the biggest techno crossover tune of 2002, with copies selling out worldwide. With the remix disc now selling like hot cakes as well, and support from all the leading hard dance DJs, Raw 9 became the catalyst for the introduction of techno influences into UK hard dance music. The man responsible for this genre-changing tune is Guy McCaffer, also known on the techno circle as Geezer. Guy has been pushing his unique, punky sound of London techno for many years as well as pioneering the London acid techno sound and the illegal rave scene. Owing to Guy's success, he has been booked for a very special one-off LIVE PA at the biggest hard house night in London, Riot! This is certainly not going to be an event to be missed at all, as Guy is 100% live - he doesn't just stand behind a DAT machine and throw his arms up in the air whilst pretending to play a keyboard! The madness takes place on the 14th September at The End, London, WC1. Miss this and you're only gonna be sorry!!With this in mind, I recently managed to catch up with Guy to ask him about his past, his outlook on the integration of techno into the hard dance scene, and how the infamous Raw 9 came to light:
Olly: Hiya Guy, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview before your big set at Riot! It must feel perhaps a little bit strange to be asked to play at a hard house night, coming from an almost strictly techno background. For those people who perhaps don't know about your background within the techno scene, give me a brief rundown of your history and how you got into the scene.
Guy McCaffer: I've been in various bands and involved in the music scene for years before techno was around. Then coming from the Punk Squat scene, it was a natural progression to get into techno.
Olly: Techno music, especially throughout the London scene thrived on the free party culture and the illegal rave scene. Were you involved with these in any way and how do you feel about these?
Guy McCaffer: Find an empty building on a saturday night, break in, set up and 'ave it!!!!
Olly: Your tunes with Choci are also classics within the techno circle and have also branched out into other genres as well, with a lot of DJs from the hard trance/hard house scene picking up on them especially. Was this intended, or was the music made purely as music for anyone who liked it?
Guy McCaffer: No intention at all, just make the music I like. If people like the music and play it, then thats great obviously, but the intention is just to make music I like and nothing else!
Olly: You're perhaps best known for your energetic live PA's and your productions under the name of Geezer. How did you get into producing and who was influential to your earlier work?
Guy McCaffer: I've always been able to use a studio since my band days and obviously it just all progressed from then on. My early influences were, Hardfloor, Phuture, Doug Lazy and Bam Bam, all big names from when I first started to produce techno.
Olly: So now we move onto the inevitable! Raw 9! Certainly the tune which helped the techno sound explode onto the hard dance scene back in 2002 and has inspired lots of people to try to re-create the same sort of sound. The RAW series has always been associated with the new punky, rougher sound of techno which we've seen a lot more of throughout 2003. How did RAW 9 come about and was it something which was perhaps just a pisstake which caught on?
Guy McCaffer: I've had the idea for RAW 9 for ages...after all thats what kids do at the weekend! It wasn't really supposed to be a piss-take as such, just an idea which I had which was converted into a track!
Olly: Raw 9 certainly received a huge number of DJs playing it, including Radio 1 airplay from Judge Jules and Fergie. Many techno DJs spoke out about this, feeling that techno was a more elitist, deeper kind of music which mainstream radio listeners wouldn't be able to understand. They felt that it would be killing the sound and the meaning of the music by giving it national airplay. What is your take on this? How did you feel knowing Raw 9 had been given national airplay?
Guy McCaffer: Great! I hope Pete Wardman don't hear about it!!! Obviously it's just great for the sound and any airplay is going to be a good thing to help more people get into it.
Olly: It must have also helped sales with the record label as well, as the tune was in huge demand and sold out everywhere. It also helped people to perhaps get into the techno sound more, with other labels such as Hydraulix & Cluster also enjoying a lot more play by a more diverse selection of DJs. as the techno scene been influenced by this in any way? Have you changed your productions to suit this new rise in demand?
Guy McCaffer: I've not changed my productions at all, like I said i'm just making the music I like. It's not just me though as the other guys such as DAVE The Drummer & Ant etc need a mention too! We're all making the same music and the new attention is a good thing obviously!
Olly: RAW, Hydraulix and other larger techno labels were picked up by larger distributors after the demise of Infectious last year. This has meant that the music has now become widely avaliable in mainstream shops such as HMV or Virgin. Obviously this increases accessibility but purists argue that this could destroy the music's credibility. How do you feel about mainstream shops selling your records alongside the likes of Scooter?
Guy McCaffer: I just want to get the music out to everyone at all ages, and im selling records alongside the like of Barbara Strisand as well!! Which is obviously a very good thing! At the end of the day its not about the views of the so-called purists, its only about me making music which I enjoy and if it sells in HMV, so be it!
Olly: The techno scene and the hard house scene are perhaps now closer than ever, which has meant that people such as yourself are beginning to appear more in hard house line-ups in clubs. However it's been put forward by some people that hard house promoters are too scared to book techno DJ's yet will continue to enforce or advise that their music is played in the clubs. Has your DJing/PA schedule been affected by this? Have you had more gigs at hard house nights similar to your upcoming one at Riot?
Guy McCaffer: No! I'm still skint! It's good that Riot have given me the opportunity to play and hopefully it will open the door for a lot more techno producers to be allowed to play. Oou should have the people that make the music playing! like D.A.V.E the Drummer, Chris Liberator and ANT etc.
Olly: Riot! is one of the most exciting club events in the UK right now, winning the coverted Number One slot in Mixmag and drawing a knowledgable and up for it crowd from all over the country, what special suprises have you got in store for us on the 14th? You must be excited to play on the legendary Thunder Ridge sound system?
Guy McCaffer: Yeah obviously to get an opportunity like this is fantastic, and the sound system hopefully will be put to the maximum test! As for the surprises...I'm going to do a magic show!
Olly: Finally Guy, where do you see the London Techno scene moving towards in the future? Will the influence of the support from the hard house DJs and possibly even the mainstream perhaps begin to move it in a new direction?
Guy McCaffer: No way, the influence from the mainstream will definately never change the sound at all, at the end of the day "PUNK IS FUNK!"
Don't forget you can catch Guy playing 100% live at Riot!, The End in London, WC1 on the 14th September 2003. Make sure you prepare yourselves for something extremely exciting!!
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Other Features By Olly Perris:
Addiction @ Hidden preview: interview with Sean Tyas
Interview with Ian H & Matt B of Momentum
Interview with Pierre Pienaar aka P.H.A.T.T.
From a young gun to an industry lion: Heat/HF Xmas Payback(2back) Party preview with Spencer Freeland
Party techno, party music, party animal! The lowdown on hard dance’s newest prodigy, Jamie Taylor
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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