Charlotte Birch - bouncing all the way to Hard House Heaven
Reported by benz
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Submitted 17-05-05 01:48
It's not often we get to see the wonderful Charlotte Birch in our fair village of London town. She has been an established name in the world of hard house for a good while now, but most of her bookings seems to take her to other parts of the country, especially up North and in the Midlands, where she has achieved the status of hard house deity. Since cutting her teeth at Sundissential, she has gone on to produce dozens of excellent tracks covering all corners of hard dance, set up her own record label, and launch an incredibly successful club night all of her own. This is before we even mention all the other plans she has been concocting!
Charlotte's eclectic taste is definately one of her fortés. Her earlier productions embraced the high-octane world of bouncy hard house, where as now she has been churning out tech-infused hard house rip-roarers with the likes of Ingo, as well as uplifting hard trance with Colin Barratt, with some proper full-on techno on its way too. If her productions are anything to go by, her DJ sets should be incredibly exciting.
May 29th sees Charlotte bring her DJing skills to the massive Hard House Heaven event in London, which reads like a who's who of the hard house world. The lady in question will be battling it out in the Pure Bounce room, recalling those crazy days of when she first broke into the scene. I caught up with Ms. Birch to find out about how she got to where she is today, in advance of this rare London appearence.
Would you please introduce yourself Ms. Birch...
Where are you from and how did you get where you are today?
I live in Walsall, near Birmingham, which is great because I’m more or less central to get anywhere in the country. I would say I’ve got where I am to day with a lot of hard work, determination, skill (obviously!!!) and a large sprinkling of good luck! I hate it when people ask if being a girl had helped, however I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t think it had.
Who gave you your first break into the world of DJing?
My first break would have to be with Decadence, a club in Birmingham. It was my first residency and it took me to Ibiza to play at El Divino in my first year of playing out, which I think was 1997. However credit for my first break as a hard dance DJ would have to go to Danny and Madders at Sundissential. They have nurtured me, pushed me and involved me on more or less every project they have ever done since 1999.
You’ve brought out lots of fantastic tracks over the years...’Itchy & Scratchy’, ‘Rompa Stompa’, ‘Beat The Drums’ to name but a few...have you always been a musical person?
I wouldn’t say I personally had been a musical person, especially at school! I think I used to play the triangle!!! I really started to get into the music scene when I was 15 and started going to acid house nights. I went to my first proper rave in 1989 and then became a regular party animal until this current day! Obviously my love for the music grew in that way. I got my decks in 1996 and made my first track in 2000. From then I think I’m on about my 36th release now.
What have you got forthcoming on the production front? Your label Dropzone has been very consistent so far...
Thank you! Dropzone Records has been going really well, our next release will be our 4th and although I’ve spoken about what this release will be I’ve decided to change it, so you heard it here first. The A side is a little number by myself and Ingo called “Sight and Sound”. It's proper banging and features the Vincent Price laughing from “Thriller”. On the flip is me vs Colin Barratt, “We Got the Green” which has been going down a storm on the dancefloor. Initially the label was a platform to release my own projects however I will be taking on new material from other artists going forward and working with new people on my agency like Mark Johnson and Ali Wilson to produce collaborations. However my old partners in crime Colin Barratt and Ingo I will continue with as we work really well together.
Have you ever considered producing outside of hard dance? What other styles of music really flick your switch? (please excuse the euphemism!)
I’m really loving my techno at the moment. I am playing it out now as a second string to my bow. I’m also going to be producing it and may even add a second part to the label to allow for that genre.
May 29th sees you playing at Hard House Heaven in London. Have you played for Frantic before? Do you know what to expect from this event?
I have played for Frantic a few times before. Every time is awesome. Frantic certainly know how to throw a good party, maybe I should play more often!!! Hahaha!
This event features a ridiculously large and high quality line up for the hard house connoisseur - who will you be checking out?
To be fair I’ve only just seen the line up and wow!!!! Who isn’t playing! I think I will be checking out Ilogik’s VDJ set as I’ve heard all about it and haven’t seen it yet. Also Mark EG’s sets are always very entertaining. Then I’ll probably end up getting at it with Amber D!!!
Oo-er! You are playing in the Pure Bounce room - will it be 100% old classics or have any new bouncy production been surfacing recently?
No more bouncy production from me I’m afraid!!! I’m not totally sure what I will play yetto be honest. I’m sure I will be digging out some unbelievable blasts from the past though. Classics all the way!
Tell us about your Dropzone parties. Where, when, how, who, why?!
Dropzone the club evolved from my birthday party that I had at Studio 45 in Walsall. I must have only done about 400 invitations and 1000 people turned up! I was asked by the management to make it a regular affair and Dropzone was born. We just celebrated our 3rd birthday so it’s lasted longer than expected. We’ve had Paul Glazby, Andy Farley, Lisa Pin-Up, Amber D, Ilogik, Nick Rafferty, BK, Nick Sentience, James Lawson etc etc play for us.
We also have a funky room upstairs. Capacity is about 1200 people. Going forwards we are having one off events instead of running monthly to allow us more time to concentrate on the record label and the dj agency. I must stop thinking of projects as we’re too busy all ready!
If you could go back in time and do one thing differently, what would it have been?
My only regret in my career life is that I didn’t get my decks sooner. I also wish I had just started playing hard dance straight off as I wasted a few years playing funky house. I also wish I’d gone into glamour modelling instead of lingerie modelling. In fact I wish I knew back then what I know now!!!
Where do you get your clothes from? You’ve been seen in some pretty racy outfits in your time!
Mainly sex shops actually! I really do struggle to find outfits I like to DJ in. I talked a while ago about starting my own range but time is becoming increasing difficult. I’ve found a really nice lingerie shop near me that do corsets and bits of clubwear and I have just found a woman who makes stuff so I’m going to give her a few things I’ve designed to make. We’ll have to wait and see what they turn out like.
And finally, what’s the biggest tune in your box at the moment - excluding any of your own!
Oh so many don’t make me pick just one!!!
OD404 - Fireball 2005 rmx - Deprivation Recs.
Carl Nicholson and Matt Williams – Streamline (Equinox mix) – Elasticman
Audio Punk and Stereo Junkie – Shock Me – CDR
Colin Barratt and Charlie J – Melting Poing (Digital cowboy rmx) – Gravity Trap.
With thanks to Charlotte for the pics. 
Hard House Heaven
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On:
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Sunday 29th May 2005
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At:
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Heaven [map]
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From:
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21.00 - 06.00
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Cost:
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Limited Early Bird Tickets £14+BF SOLD OUT Standard Tickets £20+BF
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Ticket Info:
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Ticketweb
08700 600 100/ www.ticketweb.co.uk
Clubtickets (buy 5 get 1 free)
0870 246 1840/ www.clubtickets.co.uk
Frantic HQ
07949 618 035/ amanda@franticuk.com
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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HardHouseHeaven
Bank Holiday Sunday 29th May
2100-0600
Heaven
Under The Arches
Villiers Street
WC2N 6NG
Nearest Tube: Charing Cross
Summer’s just round the corner and have we got something to get you in the mood! This is Frantic's ONLY event at Heaven in 2005, and seeing as it’s our only chance to use it this year, we are filling all 5 rooms of this legendary club with an absolutely superb DJ line up. We can very proudly present two highly exciting World Exclusives: King and Queen of Bounce Andy Whitby and Lisa Pin-Up back-to-back for the very first time, and a truly groundbreaking performance from Illogik, who will be premiering his first ever VDJ set – mixing tunes and visuals simultaneously! We’ve also got the legend that is Mark EG playing for us for the first time in 6 years!
Aside from the outstanding main room line up, we’ve got a huge Pure Bounce room, a huge Vicious Circle room with an all back-to-back line-up of hard house heroes never seen on such a scale before in London, a thrilling NuBreed room with the UK’s fastest rising hard house club Cyberkitten (featuring the cream of rising talents from across the country), and of course a filthy sexy house room hosted by Kurruption, featuring the massively in-demand sleaze-merchant Tommy Four Seven! What more could a discerning hard house clubber possibly want?
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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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