Technikal - My Year In Hard Dance

What's been your biggest achievement of the year?

Winning the best UK hard dance producer award again at the last Hard Dance Awards was a massive personal achievement for me. In an ever changing hard scene, it is an honour to be able to bring home an award on the strengths of the traditional hard house based sound. I have also just been made the new official Storm resident, which is a massive deal as Storm is one of the biggest remaining hard house club nights in the UK. Also releasing my first compilation Techtonik (of which the follow up Techtonik 2 has just been released) which received hard album of the month in Mixmag with a 5 out of 5 review. It's been another busy year but no less exciting and with more Technikal music being written than I can remember!

What moments will you never forget?

The Tidy Weekender Reunion at the start of the year was a very memorable gig, as it really did capture the feel, atmosphere and scale of the previous events. Also I'll never forget this year as being the year I found all my vinyl from my early production days, my entire history, totally destroyed and mouldy in the garage!

Who's been your favourite newcomer of the year?

I have the pleasure of working with loads of new producers and upcoming talent in my studio tuition / engineering days, but some of the lads that have impressed me most over the past year have been J.T Stanhope, Mikey O Hare, Cut-Up, Ant Reynolds, and NG Rezonance.

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

Gammer has put out some wicked hard dance this year, not as much as I wish but it's still great to have him write the odd track here and now as his ideas are so fresh and innovative.

What's been your favourite label of the year?

Defiance again has put out a lot of great music this year. Also N-Gaged Recordings definately deserves a mention.

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

Cally Gage & Gammer - Breakneck Bastard. When I first heard it I was adamant it was my favourite hard dance track of the past five years, and I still agree. It's the perfect harmony of nice breakdowns and gritty energy.

What's been your favourite event of the year?

Hard House Heaven was absolutely brilliant and if we could capture that atmosphere every week I'd be a happy man.

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

Earlier this year I played at the Storm Returns to the 90s set. I'd been initially booked to play a 90's hard dance set but I was only a kid in the 90's, so music back then to me was all about the charty club stuff I'd hear at the disco. I wanted to do a set that could have been down the local Sportsman club when I was 9. The sight of the Emporium main room doing the Cotton Eyed Joe dance is something I'll never forget!

What do you have planned for the next year?

Start pushing ahead with Techtonik 2 which will be out next week (time of doing this interview!), start mixing another new compilation for Masif, then touring Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Korea, and hopefully Canada again! As well as continuing the management and releases of Technikal Recordings which will hopefully hit it's 100th release next year.

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