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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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Tally ho! Latex Zebra heralds another birthday
Reported by HarderFaster
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Submitted 23-10-07 17:40
It’s often been noted that the autumn months feature more new parties and more birthdays than any other month. Is it the summer season that gets people thinking I can do that, I can recreate that party vibe? Whatever the reason just getting to the first birthday is an achievement, but six years? Surely that means Latex Zebra and co must nearly be ready for the clubbing equivalent of their free bus pass!
Don’t think their past it however. Indeed they’ve pulled more dance based surprises out of the hat than granny has candles on her cake at a venue many uninformed clubbers (stupidly) turn their noses up at. But this time round they’ve decided on a more retrospective look taking in some key supporters old and new from over the years. Maybe it’s time we unwrap LZ for you, just in time for party hats and surprises galore.
HF: There’s been some changes to the Zoo team recently, care to explain what the hell happened?
LZ: Well it's all RedCaT's fault. If he hadn't gone and got himself some high powered job in New York then everything would be less confusing. OK, we're not really bitter about him going, though when he told us the news we felt like someone had chopped one of our limbs off (I'll let you decide which one). He wanted us to carry on in his absence, and so did we, but we needed to think about not replacing him, but maintaining the numbers. Matt Dahl had played for us loads, supported us even more and was kind of like a resident in reserve so he was the obvious choice to step in and fill the gap. After a month of doing a lot more of the behind the scenes stuff myself I realised I couldn't actually cope. I have a hectic day job which has become more so recently limiting my time to do stuff. I do chuckle though as I'm doing this at work right now.
Knowing this we had a chat and looked at bringing someone else onboard that could not only DJ but could help support the event on the level that RedCaT did. Jim Wild was the obvious choice given that he’s been friends with RedCaT for yonks and that he knows us all well.
So the team is now - Myself, B.S.E, Jim Wild, Markus Buhmann and Matt Dahl. RedCaT is still very much involved, though in a more limited capacity and is playing at our 6th Birthday.
It’s been widely publicised on HF that another Zoology has popped up. Will you be sharing bears, otters, pandas, the like?
Yeah, what's all that about? Zoology is a weird enough name for an event as it is so two people coming up with it seems strange. It's also a bit weird in these days of the internet that people don't do a few searches to see what is out there already. I've dropped the promoters a line and haven't heard anything back. If they ignore us or refuse to change it we'll have to take it from there. I'm too old to be getting into fights about something like this but at the same time I would actually like some kind of response from them.
You’ve had time for the 5 clubs in 1 concept to bed in, how do you think it’s going and what made you decide to do that?
The decision came about to try and freshen things up and to also let people know what they where in for. It has worked well. In all honesty the trance events seem to be the best ones though techno and classics are a close second. We've struggled on the house side as it is something unusual at the 414 and even with a lot of promotion you still get people asking when it's going to get harder. As it is though it has worked and continues to do so and there are plans for a couple of special events next year like Zoology psy trance and Zoology breaks.
Is this concept any better than having the music progress from one genre to another over the course of the night?
I think so. Whilst it was great being a multi genre event you did marginalize the crowd when a style they didn't like came on. Given the ups and downs of numbers and people going outside for a ciggie and the effect it has on the floor, changing genre throughout the night is a lot more risky. Just to completely contradict myself though the 6th Birthday will be a bit of everything as for big events we like to showcase the DJs as individuals.
The 414 has undergone a bit of a transformation what do you think of it and when are the canapés being served?
Canapés? That's Alumni's selling point!
It's great isn't it? For years people have bemoaned about the 414 being a shit hole, which I always thought was a little unfair. It might have been a bit dingy but in all the time we've been there it has never been a dirty club. Now it looks beautiful. Downstairs is quite similar apart from the new lights and the flowery decor on the ceiling. Upstairs though is extremely comfortable and a great place to chill. Can you believe though, now people complain it's not dark enough upstairs!
What other changes are planned for the venue?
No idea. They recently installed 2 X Pioneer CDJ1000 MK3's which can't have been cheap so we wont be demanding a 40 colour changing mega death beam laser just yet.
I hear a rumour that the toilets will be getting a major refurbishment in the not to distant future. Other than that, I tend to find out when the clubbers do.
What key things over the last year has helped or hindered Zoology do you think?
The loss of a lot of regulars. People grow up, settle down and don't want to come out as often, even once a month. It's a lot harder to get newer people in, though we do get very good word of mouth. The smoking ban has had an effect on the dance floor if not overall numbers. To be honest apart from September and October which where both a bit quiet we've had our most consistently busy year ever.
It’s been over two years since HF interviewed you by yourself so your certainly older, but are you wiser?
Wiser?! If anything it has just given me more time to eradicate brain cells not increase them. I still get excited before a party and I'm still disappointed if things go wrong. I still make mistakes and I still have moments of erm, I'm not going to say genius. I have moments. I think everyone involved in Zoo has learned stuff over the years.
There seems to have been a rash of DJ sprogs over the past year. Ever thought of starting a baby zoo with your daughter as resident?
This should be a warning to those who fill their water bottles from the taps. Clearly there is something in there making us all super virile. We're all getting to that age where having kids are a good idea or getting trapped by groupies who knobble the condoms. Even DJs grow up occasionally.
Kira could have a great career in dance music ahead of her. She loves bouncing about to a bit of trance and the minute a set of head phones go on she asks if you're now a DJ. She also does a great 303 impression. Wamp Wamp!
How do you think have you kept going for so long, indeed doing more events than ever, when so many others have fallen by the wayside?
Passion and doing it for the right reasons. We're not in it for the money and, as I mentioned above, we all get excited in the build up to an event and we keep on booking line ups that people enjoy. Even if occasionally they are just full of our mates.
If someone is interviewing me or us in the build up to our 10th Birthday then we'll have achieved something special.
We’d better get working on the questions now then!
Photos courtesy of the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission
Zoology's 6th Birthday
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On:
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Friday 2nd November 2007
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At:
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CLUB 414 [map]
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From:
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10pm till 6am
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Cost:
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£8 Paying Guestlist
£10 On The Door
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Website:
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www.vinylzoo.com
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More:
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Six years old. Blimey. Yes, that time approaches again, another year another Birthday. We've always tried to celebrate our Birthdays in style. Dressing the club to the hilt, providing all manner of goodies for all those attend and of course a cracking line up of DJing talent.
Last year for the the big 5 we had the chart topping talents of Altern-8 and anyone there will know how much they kicked arse.
This year we wanted to try something different again and wanted to get in a few DJs that have supported us over the years and also bring back out most highly praised guest this year. We also have a rather nice surprise for Zoo regulars as well.
So first up returning to us after the mammoth Zoology Trance in March is Adam White. Adam, as you should all know, plays the World over and has mixed a Euphoria Album and has a regular show on the Ministry of Sound Radio. He also runs the extremely popular Emadodic label and is one of few DJs who has a girlfriend more famous than him.
We can't wait to have him back.
Next up is a chap who was has been coming to Zoology as long as I can remember. Whose debut set rocked the 414 to its core, despite the poor lad being sick with Flu. Now Promoter and resident of his own Paradoxx event, we bring you Darren B. Darren will hopefully (I'm still waiting for a confirmation) be giving us a more lighter paced set than you'll be used to for him.
Finally, our surprise... RedCaT our wandering minstrel of a resident returns to Zoo for our Birthday. Now living in New York he has just booked his flight and returns for a few days to show us all what we're missing.
As usual you'll have regular residents B.S.E, Markus Buhmann, Matt Dahl, myself and new boy Jim Wild.
Expect gifts, expecting strangeness, expect... To have a bloody good time.
Help us get old disgracefully and we'll help you ache the following Saturday.
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Other Features By HarderFaster:
HarderFaster Awards 2016 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2014 - The results are in!
Lashes, Dimples and the Brighton Music Conference
HarderFaster Awards 2013 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2012 - The results are in!
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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and still going strong 
I will do my best to pop around for an hour or two 
