Technikal - My Year In Hard Dance

What's been your biggest achievement of the year?

Finally finishing and releasing my artist album 'Klubbed Together'. It was the accumulation of a years worth of work, incorporating loads of different sounds and styles. It came out exactly how I wanted, really demonstrating the different influences I'd taken from working with each of the album guests. And I'm still playing a lot of the tracks from the album in my sets now!

What moments will you never forget?

Seeing 'Klubbed Together' on the shelves for the first time in HMV was a crazy moment. It was the moment it dawned on me that the project was finished and I'd given it all I could! Other brilliant moments have been touring Australia again, mine and Steve Hill's back 2 back set at Frantic's 12th Birthday and mixing the Tidy International compilation with Steve.

Who's been your favourite newcomer of the year?

There's been a few guys who have impressed me this year. Klubfiller has totally come into his own, I love his new sound and he is an impeccable DJ. Iridium's production is pretty much spot on now, he's been very good for a while now but I think he's mastered the art of the engineering side of things now. His big anthem is on it's way, I can feel it! I'd also have to give a mention to Trevor Dans and Shock Force - both fast becoming experts in their fields.

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

For my sixth year running I'd still have to say that MDA & Spherical are without a doubt my favourite hard dance artists. With Matt Lee (Gammer) very close - if only he made more hard dance! All of these guys are immensely inventive and inspirational for me, they do things in their tracks that frustrate me that I never thought of it first!

What's been your favourite label of the year?

Well I'd have to mention (of course) Masif & Technikal Recordings as these are the labels which make up most of my sets, but that's the boring answer. I've been really impressed with the music coming from AWsum, Tidy and Defiance.

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

My favourite track this year has been John O Callaghan - Find Yourself (Klubfiller Remix). It gave me goosebumps the first time I heard Stevie drop it. I also loved Tom Parr - Missing You (Matt Lee Remix). I'm very fond of the faster hardcore Gammer Remix. It is, in my opinion, the perfect hardcore track - so a hard dance version was always going to be huge appreciated here!

What's been your favourite event of the year?

There's been so many great events this year, but I particularly enjoyed Westfest, Frantic 12, Storm vs AWsum vs Riot, and the HDS parties have been immense fun too. It's less about the scale of events for me these days, I just love a good vibe and crowd who are totally up for the music!

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

So many funny things have happened this year, but the stupidest would have to be falling off the main stage at the Slinky Festival in New Zealand at the beginning of the year, in front of around 2000 clubbers. I'd just come on stage, going through my records to work out what to play first, and an MC had come on and announced that I was going to be coming on in five minutes, and gave me a huge big up. I'd looked at the time as I realised I could do with a quick toilet trip as I had a two hour set, so ran over to security on the main stage and asked if I had time to pop to the loo quickly. After being told to be quick, I stepped onto what I thought was the next step down on the stage, but totally misjudged it and stepped onto nothing but a seven foot drop. Halfway down I realised what had happened so just kind of rolled into a ball. I think I may have knocked myself out for a couple of seconds as I remember coming to and then realised my arm was totally screwed! Of course, in that situation it's always best to calmly try palm it off so I tried to get back up... having fallen down the wrong side of the stage - then trying to lift myself back up on stage and putting all my weight on my arm which was buggered. So down I went again, this time smacking my chin on the stage! Security then helped me back up, I never ended up going to the toilet and staggered up onto the decks and played a 2 hour set! My arm had this massive blood blister on it, and I looked a mess ... luckily I could still mix somehow and the set was great fun!

What do you have planned for the next year?

I'm going to be working on a new batch of original Technikal tracks and remixes for an exciting but top secret new recording venture. Also to continue working on my hardcore project 'Technikore' (Raverbaby); and my vocal dance project 'Immerze' (All Around The World) with other members Nathalie Bason and Lucy Palmer. All three projects are really heating up at the moment so it's important not to take any fingers off any pulses!

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