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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - 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 |
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Wid & Ben's rollercoaster to London
Reported by Scott C
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Submitted 22-02-05 01:02
The last year and a half has been quite a rollercoaster for these two young lads from the midlands. Dj and production duo Wid&Ben have been pushing some seriously high quality hard trance and hard house on the likes of Tidy Trax, Tidy 2, Submatic, Kompression and Monster Tunes, Extreme Euphoria, Tidy's Resonate compilation and more recently the forthcoming Tidy Addict album. All this in the space of a year - not a bad start! Emerging as a dj double act, they recently destroyed the main room at Tidy Weekender 6 and have played at various other big nights up and down the UK. 2005 is certainly looking positive as they approach their 3rd release on Tidy, 'Fight Yourself'. With the duo starting to creep into southern shores, it seems like a good time to catch up with them for a natter...
You seem to have quite a busy looking schedule ahead of yourselves. What are you most looking forward to? And don't say the flight attendants...
Ben - 2005 is looking to be a busy one! We've been in the studio practically non stop in 2004 working on solo, collaboration and remix projects. We've just been re-booked for another Tidy event in mid 2005, so really, really looking forward to that again! And definitely looking forward to making our mark on the capital. We just recently played Twisted at the Fridge and have a few more dates, including Frantic/Hard House Heaven in May.
Wid- Also looking forward to some dates we're working on a bit further afield. We've just had our tour confirmed for Australia and New Zealand in September and are really looking forward to getting back into the studio again after the new year break. We're getting a bit of a desire to make some filthy, skuddy tracks + we're working on some rather cool ideas on how to take our DJ sets to the next level.... watch this space!!!!
With 2004 out of the way, you must have some real highlights from the past year?
Wid- Been asked this question quite a lot recently, and I always give the same answer. The biggest highlight had to be playing at Tidy Weekender 6, such an awesome sight seeing a few thousand people going nuts to tunes we made and were playing
Ben - Gotta agree, thus far playing the Tidy Weekender was absolutely amazing. It's an event we've been to since it started and have always aspired to actually getting up there and ripping up one of the arenas!
After collaborating with Shaun M on 'Man's Machine' have you any plans to hook up with any other names in the hard dance world?
Ben - We're trying not to keep the collabs to a minimum in 2005. Wid has hideously bad breath and the studio can get quite cramped. But in all seriousness we've just done a track with Shaun M which seems to be going down pretty well. But the big daddy is a track we've just nailed with Andy Whitby. It's called 'The Virus' and is a big big hard trancer. Its not signed yet, but we're gonna start sending out some demos soon.
Wid - I'd love to do a track with Ingo soon, he's a lovely young man with good taste in shoes.
Ben, You used to have a skinhead, what possessed you to grow hair?
A. I just wanted to be like my idol Lee Haslam... he's my hero.
Where do you see your dj and Production style evolving in the next few years?
Ben - With regards to djing, as Wid mentioned earlier, we've got something very very special lined up for our dj sets this year. So hopefully start taking things to the next level with that. Production wise, I guess we'll keep doing what we enjoy. We've generally done very melodic stuff so far. We've definitely got some ideas for some slightly tougher stuff in 2005 too.
Wid- It's all a big secret!
What's in store for Galaxy listeners when you join the Tidy Boys on their show?
Ben- We've only done one other radio show in the UK. But that wasn't quite as big as galaxy. Bit nerve racking I guess, but should be good. Looking forward to airing some of our new material too.
Are there any other nu breed djs/producers that people should be looking out for?
Ben- Too many really! For proper trance, I've just recently found out about a young lad called Seventh Heaven. Was given a copy of his album and was properly blown away. So I reckon he's definitely one to watch! Lee Pasch! He's an absolute genius in the studio and wicked dj.
Kernzy & Klemenza are also gonna be big this year I hope. They've been around for a while now and really deserve a bit of recognition, cracking djs!
And last but not least, gotta be Greg Brookman for production, his stuff is insane!!! Dinner jacket wearing crazy man!
Wid- LOL... Greg Brookman, heard so many stories about the bloke he's nigh on legendary in my mind!
What's your favorite song from 2004?
Wid&Ben- Tough one. One we've definitely hammered the life out of is Pienaar & Bamford - The Theme From Global Panic. I suppose also one of our favorites to do this year also is our remix of Ratty - Sunrise. One of my our all time favourite tunes, so remixing it was absolutely amazing!
Can you give us your current top 10 tracks?
Ben - We'll give a top 11 just to be awkward.
1.Wid&Ben meet Andy Whitby - The Virus
2.Ratty - Sunrise (Wid&Ben Rmx) - Monster Tunes
3.Wid&Ben - Fight Yourself - Tidy
4.Hi Freq1c&Mark Austin - Distatic - CDR
5.Wid&Ben vs. Shaun M - Man's Machine
6.Champion Burns - Emergency - Trilpoli
7.Edison Factor vs. Phil Reynolds - The Shout - Edison Factor
8.Kernzy&Klemenza - Ear Drums Pop (Wid&Ben Rmx) - Submatic
9.Mark Grey - So Powerful (Tara Reynolds Rmx) - Short Circuit
10.Turbulance System - Osaris - Riot
11.Matt EJ - Fine Night - CDR
In your own words, what can people expect from a Wid&Ben set?
Wid- Music wise, we do generally try to mix it up a bit. There's definitely no set formula. We do play a lot of hard uplifting trance, but we do generally play some tougher stuff towards to the end of our sets and some techy stuff. Best to keep people on their toes!
We do try to put all our energy into our sets! You can definitely look forward to a very animated performance!!
Ben - You can also look forward to seeing Wid's techno haircut.
Working alongside so many hard dance names, who do you look to for inspiration?
Ben- Inspiration. I suppose we've always taken some inspiration from the overlord that is Scot Project. We've always tried to maintain some happy medium between the music we used to love and cane a few years ago and the stuff we play now. We have generally always had an uplifting sound to our sets.
A few years back we used to play a lot of stuff by Shokk, Scot Project, Flutlicht and Hennes and Cold etc etc. So I think you can hear tiny bits of that in our tracks now. Working with other people is always wicked though, you definitely get some new ideas etc. Working with Whitby was definitely hilarious. He's a funny lad. Although it was difficult sometimes, if light hits his head at a certain angle the white flash can be completely blinding. Was very annoying when your trying to sequence percussion.
Did you guys make any new year's resolutions?
Ben - I suppose the first one is to really get on top of our djing now and start pushing that a lot more. Wid could definitely do with brushing his teeth once in a while. Maybe we could sort some more collaborations that way.
Last but not least, with dates in London and way way across the water are there any other places you guys are looking to make yourselves heard?
Ben - We definitely wanna show the people down south what we have to offer. We're playing Frantic in May and also Divine@Deep Blue in March so really looking forward to that! Some of the parties down in London look incredible! Australia and New Zealand is also top of the list, we'll be out there back end of 2005. Absolutely cannot wait!
Wid - We'd also really love to get the opportunity to play Tidy Magna. We've not missed one of those events yet and they are absolutely amazing (nudge nudge,wink wink)!
Is there anywhere people can catch up with where your playing etc?
Ben- Yep, www.widandben.co.uk!
Tidy Weekender photographs courtesy of Paul Underhill – www.paul-Underhill.com
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Other Features By Scott C:
When Timez are Hard… interview with Phil York
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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Never seen you guys play out but hearing many good things! Good interview too. 
