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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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Big… Bigger… MASSIVE
Reported by Frani Heyns
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Submitted 12-05-08 23:29
Some things are simply meant to be. In 2002 three chance meetings between a man and woman in three different countries led to the birth of MASSIVE. And after only one week, they were already signing big names to their books. It was the start of an empire that breathed life into the trance scene at the time and helped many DJs over the years to deliver groundbreaking work and performances around the world.
Today MASSIVE is like a well-rooted tree with branches in just about every discipline of the dance industry. Apart from an impressive artists’ list, they are also responsible for thumping radio sets on www.danceradio.gr and will soon launch MTTV – an exclusive television broadcast with a mix of interviews, live gigs, videos and parties in Ibiza. They have just secured a great distribution channel in Germany for their record label and a long list of new releases will see the light in May this year.
Jeanne
MASSIVE is a not-for-profit organisation that is fuelled by their burning passion for music. They pride themselves on good relationships with DJs and promoters all over the world, and most importantly, add a new dimension to the ever-changing face of the dance scene. I caught up with Jeanne, one of the founders and a lady who is proudly sailing MASSIVE’s ship in the waters of the usually male-dominated industry.
MASSIVE was born out of a chance meeting in 2002 and has since entered just about every discipline in the dance industry – including artist management, promoting, club nights and much more. Tell us more about your history and where do you position yourself today?
The phrase, “We should stop meeting like this” became rather overused. Luckily these chance meetings resulted in the birth of MASSIVE and not one of us having the other arrested for stalking. I knew the UK and German dance scene well and learnt the trade on my own, from scratch. DJs are great at suggestions, but not hanging around training you. In my first year, I was booking for DuMonde and Cosmic Gate and started promoting. I guess MASSIVE’s position is unique – based on good relationships with our DJs and we are a great team.
Those involved from the beginning are almost like family or as we say the unholy trinity of trance. Being in a way backroom with bookings and videos has given MASSIVE a strong position to become more front end with the label and radio station in the last year. We’re also starting to promote club nights again.
A lot of people have milked the dance industry for money. Yet MASSIVE is a not-for-profit organisation and fully supports two charities. What is your reasoning behind this and do you think it influences your position in the industry at all?
All industries are money driven, music especially so. For every DJ or promoter that says I’m in it for the love of the music, there is another one simply chasing the money and fame. With regards to dance and charity, in the past we have been left behind by the rock industry, which has always mobilised quickly to do events for a crisis. Dance has put on its fair share of events, but I think there is a growing awareness in the dance industry to show more involvement in charitable causes recently, like Dance Aid for example.
For me it’s a combination of reasons. MASSIVE always showed support for several causes. I became seriously ill in 2005 and when I returned to work, I realised that I was getting a second chance at the best job in the world. I also had the opportunity to give something back and to make the label non-profit, was a way to do that.
You have a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2008. Tell us more.
MASSIVE will be returning to promote in London after three years of being away from the scene. On 20 June we will be at Hidden – bringing you our MASSIVE Trax Radio residents, Dominik De Leon and JBF, who will make his London debut. There’ll also be a strong line-up which will be announced soon. We are also planning a mini tour in Australia to escape the wet European summer.
Jay Frog
MASSIVE Trax Radio is another branch of your organisation. Give us the run-down and what can people expect from the show?
Massive did an exclusive deal with danceradio.gr – one of the best and fastest emerging internet dance stations right now. The guys behind it are totally enthusiastic and dedicated. We initially started with the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month in January. Dominik De Leon and Jay Frog (alternatively) present the show with every third slot dedicated to JBF trance classics. So far we have had guest slots from the likes of Cosmic Gate, Ali Wilson, Lee Haslam and Mike Koglin. This month we are introducing Driven presented by Jonnix from trance.nu, which will have all the hot new tracks and a fresh talent guest mix. We like to think of it as your warm-up set for your Saturday night out. Two hours of great trance, tech with a smattering of electro from Jay and should you already be out – there’s a repeat on Sunday to soothe your hangover over Sunday lunch.
You are launching MASSIVE Trax TV in May. How did you get involved in television and what exactly will you guys be doing?
TV in a way evolves from me being an ex journalist/photographer and our video work. Currently dance is overwhelmed with internet radio stations - almost to the point of burn out.
Music TV brings in a new dimension. Mainstream satellite and cable seriously neglect certain dance genres at the moment. If you want hip hop, R‘n’B, pop or cheesy commercial a la Clubland, you are fine. But try searching for a decent trance TV station! We hope to bring something alternative to this. Massive Trax TV or MTTV (I’m expecting the law suit for that one) will be a mix of interviews, live gigs, videos, with specials from Ibiza. We will be testing it first on dancetv – a spin-off of danceradio.gr. We’re also looking into the possibility of working with clubtown.tv with the idea of extending to cable and satellite.
The list goes on and on. MASSIVE Media is responsible for video shoots and post production. Tell us more about this venture and who have you worked with so far?
It started with a semi pro Canon camera to do small promos for MASSIVE DJs. Then things got bigger and we filmed Dumonde for Slam FM in Holland, the RTL Summer Show and Vision Parade in Germany. We also did WMC and shot the IDMA awards. It’s hard work, but great fun. Post production with a quick turn around can lead to healthy amounts of hair being pulled out. My dream is to do our first music video – any takers give us a shout!
May 2008 will see a healthy list of releases from MASSIVE Trax. Tell us more.
We’ve just secured a great new distribution for our label. And we’ve been lucky enough get endorsements for our tracks from Armin, Jules, Sander, Ferry… most of the great and good from the word go. May will see the release of Samsara Revisited by Dave Holmes, with extremely strong remixes - including one by Ali Wilson, who we are very honoured to have working with us. We also have De Leon and Gemein mixes. We also see the full run out of Massive Trax Hard, Rob Andy’s White Clouds and the first solo single from JamX – The Future. We have sold several tracks, like DuMonde’s last ever single to America, as well as compilations to Australia and New Zealand. So it’s looking bright!
Dominik DeLeon
Your roots stretch across the globe and you’re still entering new markets. You have strong relations in Hamburg, Miami, London and Ibiza. There’s also talk of strengthening ties with Japanese and Asian countries.
I guess our strongest roots are with Hamburg and London right now, and Ibiza is always close too. At one point I lived there all year, winters on the white isle is a very different experience to summer. It’s great to see Ibiza launching their challenge to WMC this year which will extend the season and benefit the island.
With regards to Asia, we have had several of our DJs out there recently. Jay Stone is on his way back again for another residency next month. Japan shows great support for DJs. Asia is a great market and very important to be involved with although not always easy to break into. We expect to see an expansion from Dubai to India to Malaysia.
Steve Morley’s ‘Crossroads’ featuring JBF’s Angels and Devils mix is about to see a re-lease with new remixes from two Australian producers. Australia and New Zealand have recently been added to your fast-growing network. How would you describe these markets and do you see a lot of future collaborations with DJs and producers from down under?
Anyone in the London club scene will know the strong support of Australian’s and New Zealander’s. Best not to forget the South African’s either! Australia and New Zealander’s are still the strongholds of trance and hard trance. MASSIVE has now added an Adelaide office, and a proposed mini tour of Australia with Dominik De Leon, JTB/Chuck E and JBF this summer is getting a great response from local promoters and DJs. So we’ll definitely be seeing many more collaborations with talent from down under.
MASSIVE Trax blends new and vibrant talent with established artists. Your booking agency reflects both well-known DJs/producers and future heroes. Tell us more.
I’d like to think we are getting the blend right, mixing the elder statesmen of trance such as Dominik and JamX, formerly DuMonde, and Steve Morley together with artists that are very fresh or producers who may not necessarily be that well-known in the UK.
We’ve just taken on three new artists: Miles Gorfy who is back on the scene and needs no introduction to the HarderFaster crew; ReOrder from Prague and Fast Distance from France/Belgium who has already released tracks on Monster, Bonsai and Baroque.
You are passionate about trance and it has always been your initial focus. However, you’re now planning to add more genres to your label. What can we expect?
The DJs I work with say: “Cut her head off and it will have trance stamped inside like a stick of rock.” I say: “Cut my head off and it will just leave a bloody mess on the carpet.” The next will be electro with MASSIVE in the House. Love it or loathe it, it seems to be here for a while. We are also planning to make room for tech electro that has lately been fusing with trance.
We’re also launching a sub label to create a platform for the harder side of trance. For me JTB and Chuck E capture the great days of hard dance without going hard style. That is how I want Massive Trax Hard to be.
MASSIVE also has a magazine with news, reviews, mixes and good gossip. Who are your contributors and where can we get hold of it?
We’re starting the Massive Trax Magazine in June, initially on our website www.massivemusicgroup.com. The idea is to have a mixture of the in-depth interviews and features of i-DJ, but with some of the fun we saw in Mixmag back in the days. I frequently hear that people struggle to get their tracks reviewed or featured, so our intention is to make the review process easy and open. All people will have a chance to hear about new up-and-coming artists – not only the established ones. We want to be extremely proactive and are looking for contributors as we speak. Anyone who wants to be involved - writers, artists, reviewers, photographers – just drop us a mail.
Say I’m a budding producer with one or two wicked tracks sitting in my bedroom studio (I wish). Is there a way of getting my demo to you and what is your policy on finding new talent?
I think a lot of people do have two good tracks in their bedroom and often never get round to sending them. New talent comes to us in surprising ways – from a basement act in Ibiza to signing a track from a guy producing in his bedroom in Norfolk this week.
Anyone interested can send us a link to their demo or mix at demos@massivemusicgroup.com or via MySpace at www.myspace.com/massive007. Or even better: do both so we are guaranteed to get them. We do listen and we are happy to help.
My advice is never to be afraid of approaching a label or promoter. Without the talent out there, we can’t exist.
Photos courtesy of MASSIVE. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Massive
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On:
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Friday 20th June 2008
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At:
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Hidden [map]
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From:
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22.00-6.00
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Cost:
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£10 EB £12 advance £15 on door
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More:
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MASSIVE TRAX BRINGS YOU A TOP INTERNATIONAL LINE UP FOR TWO GREAT CAUSES :
Supported by some of the best trance Djs in Europe Massive Presents a Breast Cancer fundraiser Plus in response to the cyclone disaster Beats for Burma
LIVE IT: BREATHE IT: TASTE IT: FEEL IT: HEAR IT : PURE TRANCE:
Tickets available all usual outlets: EB and VIP packages available at events@massive musicgroup.com
We ask you while you are waiting for our great event to please support any of the international aid agencies that are waiting clearance to enter Burma
Unicef.org
Oxfam.org.uk
Oxam.de
Redcross.org
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Flyer:
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Region:
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London
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Music:
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Trance. Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Hard House. Tech House. Electro.
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DJ's:
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Lange
JON O BIR
Mike Koglin
Ali Wilson
DE LEON ( fka DUMONDE)
JBF
JAY FROG (kontor)
Ed Real
Steve Morley B2B with Jessica B
STEVE ALLEN AND Dj Ben Alonzi
Miles Gorfy (Harder Faster)
JAY STONE ( Ministry of Sound/Pacha)
Dj Erc (Resident Trance Generation)
Ajay and Rob O.T.T ( Diablo Traxx)
RUTH COOPER
MATT OAKEY
REORDER (Danceradio.gr)
GARETH WAX (Percussion)
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Other Features By Frani Heyns:
Finding the passion with Ben Alonzi
Put your hands in the air for Glyn Waters
Shifting gears with Corderoy
Perfectly Adam White
Getting Crafty with Sly One: Part 2
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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