Cally & Juice - My Year In Hard Dance

What's been your biggest achievement of the year?

This year we were lucky enough to play Dance Valley for the first time. Not only that but we were at the top of the billing along with Showtek and got to play the set just before them at peak time. There must have been 7,000 people at least in the arena, with almost no space to move. It was an honour and a privilege as we know our style does differ somewhat from the European hardstyle known out there, so to get this billing amongst so many great names is something we won’t forget. Our other memorable achievement was getting to perform our first live set at Frantic’s massive Hard House Academy, at Brixton Academy, London. In hindsight it was a very bold move, to make this our first performance of this set, but we put months of hard work into it and it paid off. In fact due to the feedback we got we went on to perform this set another 2 times by the end of the year.

What moments will you never forget?

Our most unforgettable moments this year have to be Dance Valley (as mentioned above), and Escape Into The Park 2009 where this year we hosted our own Bionic arena. This is Wales’ answer to Global Gathering and is set in Singleton Park, a national country park, which provides a perfect landscape for such an event. Add to that the amazing weather that we had this year and you have the perfect day. Every year we are always highly appreciative of everyone that packs our arena, so much so you couldn’t get another person in there. As it’s in our home land we know so many people who go there, people who regularly attend our events, and then there’s those who don’t go out so often, but all make it to this spectacular event. Every year this is one of our highlights and this year was no exception. Needless to say we can’t wait for next year.

Who's been your favourite newcomer of the year?

Abyss & Judge, Da Tweekaz, and Phil Ty.

Who's been the artist of the year for you?

Without doubt Activator, Technoboy, Showtek, Headhunterz and all those who’ve pushed their sound towards the more traditional sounding hardstyle and away from the jumpstyle sound.

What's been your favourite label of the year?

Since the decline of the vinyl format releases have definitely lost their identity to a certain extent. These days we get many tracks sent upfront, which arrive as an mp3 without any artwork, just an artist name and title. I couldn’t begin to tell you half of the labels most of my tunes are associated with. This is a shame as on vinyl the label, artwork, and graphics were all a big part of every release. Even many white labels arrived in a branded sleeve from the label. This is definitely another reason to miss vinyl as a major format.

What do you think has been the best track of the year?

I guess the track we’ve played this year that has had the biggest reaction every time we’ve played it without exception has to be Showtek’s Too Late/Apologise. These guys have been on fire this year and this is one track that does the damage everywhere. As for our own productions that would have to be ‘I’ve Become’ which samples Linkin Park’s ‘Numb’. This track has been absolutely massive for us with rave reviews including a 5-star money shot review in DJ Mag, and also our unreleased ‘Control Alt Delete’ (not to be confused with the Walt track of the same name), which was the first time we wrote an original piece that included live vocals and guitars. This was the track that inspired us to do the live set this year.

What's been your favourite event of the year?

Escape Into The Park, Dance Valley and Slammin Vinyl’s Westfest.

What's the funniest thing that's happened to you?

On a recent visit to Phoenix, Arizona after our gig we ended up at a house party, well more like mansion party the house was so huge. Many of our friends were there (from previous visits), and the temperature was soaring and the booze flowing. As we wanted to remember this special occasion we decided not to get too hammered and paced it well...that was until the end. As we were leaving Mr Juice decided to pick up the biggest bottle of vodka you ever did see, and neck what was remaining down in one. There must have been about 15 shots worth in there. As I said this is when we were leaving, so during our drive back to our friend’s apartment Mr Juice was telling a story, which became more confusing as it went along. Then on arrival he needed to be carried from the car to our friend’s apartment! This may not sound the worst thing to many of you, but those who know Mr Juice will know he’s normally the one to keep us all in order, so to let his guard down like this was a very funny moment indeed!

What do you have planned for the next year?

This year has been a fantastic year for us in the studio, learning more this year than we’ve probably learnt in all the years we’ve been producing, and incorporating live elements into our productions. Many of the releases we’ve written are due for imminent release, and so we’re about to start on the next lot to be released later this year. We’ve very excited about pushing levels of production and also musical boundaries. Also this year we plan to develop our live set. It’s not something that we’ll do often, but we intend to pick a few select events to perform it at this year.

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