Letter To The Editor – RE: Mixmag Article (Jan 15th).

[MARKEG]

As many of you may or may not know, there is a pretty major article due out in Mixmag on January 15th. Whether it’s on the front cover, we’ve yet to find out. But thankfully, I managed to obtain a copy yesterday before it’s release date and on the basis of this, I’ve decided to send the editor a letter. Your thoughts please!

To The Editor,

RE: Hardcore Article – Jan 15th 2003.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a Mixmag journalist wanting to know about ‘hardstyle’ – a form of hard trance from Italy and Holland that I’ve been playing quite a lot of recently (alongside my usual trance and techno sets). It was only after talking to him for a few minutes that I realized he was more interested in linking my sound to hardcore.

So rather concerned, I spent the afternoon e-mailing him accurate quotes about hardstyle and my general thoughts on what my music represented. Although I sometimes play alongside hardcore DJ’s at many of the hard dance nights, my sound stems from hard trance/techno and it is totally different to hardcore. Last night I received a copy of the forthcoming article and unfortunately my backside is still hurting from the force with which I fell off my seat when reading it.

The article totally sensationalizes everything within the hard dance community and places it in a neat pigeonhole called ‘hardcore’. Apparently I play ‘slow European-influenced hardcore’. So does German hard trance master Uberdruck aka DJ The Crow. Established hard house DJ’s such as Andy Farley and BK are in on the action too – all playing hardcore. The punters dress in cyber gear and attach fluro pipe cleaners to their hair. Oh yes, and we all drink Smirnoff Ice.

Now either I’ve been living under a rock for the last twenty years or everything I’ve ever tried to achieve in hard trance and techno has suddenly been cast aside and I’m now a drunk Euro-hardcore DJ who plays to a bunch of Crasher Kids. I think not. Ask anyone within the hardcore community what I play and the reaction will be simple – hard trance and techno. I do have respect for hardcore but I’ve never played it; neither have half the DJ’s in the hard dance scene. Just because DJ’s such as Andy Farley and myself sometimes play alongside DJ’s such as Hixxy and Scott Brown, it’s common knowledge that our sound is completely different to that of hardcore.

Within the article I also explain why hardcore is so popular. Strange really, because I remember being asked about hardstyle – not hardcore. The e-mail quotes I sent have been manipulated, changed and pulled apart to fit within the context of the article. In short, I’ve been savagely buggered up the back passage by a Mixmag journalist who, because he visited a new hardcore/hard trance/techno (hard dance) night for two hours and heard something other that the commercial crap that Radio 1 churns out, he thought he’d try to sell a few extra copies of his magazine by sensationalizing the hard dance scene. Events such as Neo and Slammin Vinyl are not hardcore events. They are hard dance events. And hard dance has been alive and well for at least the last five years thank you very much. Unfortunately the press has simply been too preoccupied with kissing Gatecrashers backside to notice it and now that they can finally see the clubbing public want something different, they’re sniffing around our excrement for inspiration.

And to add insult to injury, my own definition of the word ‘hardstyle’ – which was what I was led to believe was the original point of the interview and main focus of the article - is not mentioned anywhere. On the contrary, hardstyle is apparently ‘the new mutant baby of hard trance and dutch gabba.’ For me, hardstyle originates from the Belgian techno influenced hard trance that emerged last year from Italy. Gabba has very little to do with it. Besides it’s just a slightly different sounding strain of hard trance – big deal.

You know, this all proves what a mess dance music is in; when journalists such as this will clutch at any straw they come across to create a story. I used to write between 2-10 articles a month for national magazines such as Eternity, Generator, Wax (Music Editor), Mixer USA - covering a huge range of music styles and stories - but now I simply can’t see the point – especially in the current musical climate. More than ever, as soon as something slightly new or underground is discovered, it’s jumped on by snooty journo’s who want nothing more than to discover the next big thing. Even though they know nothing about it, they’ll manipulate it and turn it into something it is not to sell magazines, which is precisely what has happened here.

Mixmag, I would like to say I am disappointed in you, but then again do you really understand the implications of misrepresenting this whole new generation of clubbers/djs and promoters? The scene you’re trying to cover here is not about ‘hardcore’ or ‘hardstyle’ or ‘hard trance’ or ‘hard techno’, it’s about hard dance and I can’t believe that you’ve so blatantly missed the point. By pigeon holing a scene that musically can’t be pigeon holed, you’ve actually taken away it’s true power. Perhaps next time you send a journalist out to create a story around a forward thinking musical movement, you could at least make sure he does his research properly. It is, after all, in everyone’s best interest to make sure we’re all properly represented before the general public loose all interest in and become disillusioned with this dwindling dance music industry altogether.

Yours,


MARK EG
(DJ/Music Producer/Journalist/Music Lover)

[darkstar]

To be honest this sounds like mixmag dont really know what there talking about and like u say havnt done enough research into Hard style, Mark i have noticed on your trance reviews that the tracks on there change around the start of 2001 and started to get more harder and from then on u have been playing more and more harder style tracks. I dont think hard style is anything like Slow hardcore, hard style has it owns feelings and sound to it, i first noticed harder tracks from mauro picotto and mario piu, and i thought it sounded pretty good and more people have started to produce it. (im not sayin mauro picotto started hard style im just sayin he played some hard tracks quite awhile ago which got my attention)

Its abit like some people classing all electronic dance music as Techno which is another mistake, ive talked to alot of people who think techno is - hard house, hard trance, trance etc... which really annoys me.

If u follow the music scene and know what ur talking about then its quite clear that Hard style has nothing to do with Hardcore at all, how someone could even think it does beats me.

Mark give em a big slap

[The Teknoist.]

alot of ppl did predict mixmag doin this and fair dos u had a go at trying to do the right thing by getting 'our' points across. A lesson i reckon has been learnt by all of us now.
Mike

[djjaym]

The thing that worries me is that all theses kids who buy Mixmag etc will read this article and think its all true

Mark has the editor of mixmag replied to your email yet?

[DJ Ginge]

Mark - have to agree with pretty much everything you say on the matter.

Bar a couple of things.

They used my quote "mutant baby of hard trance and Dutch gabba" (well they spiced up what I said a little but that was my general idea).

Most of the hardstyle I've heard sounds like a mix of these 2 things (with tons of other elements thrown in too and lots of new ideas), and I've heard quite a lot of all 3 styles.


BTW - it IS the main front cover feature article.

It also is predominantly about clubbers going to NEO rather than an article about hardstyle.

It does get many points wrong (DJ Promo is allegedly a hardstyle DJ???) but what would you expect from a bunch of journalists who are specialists on Gatecrasher trance or soulful house, etc?
It is very positive however and could have a very good effect on NEO generally.

We're not going to change the music we play according to what the article says so if people come down with preconceptions that we don't fulfil they may like it even more than they thought they would and they may learn not to believe everything they read.


I really strongly have to agree about them missing the point musically though.
NEO and the night we do in Leeds - Cypher are both about playing a nice balanced range of hard dance, bringing people and scenes together.

Still, sounds like the group they followed to NEO had a wicked night out, irrespective of the article's short-fallings.

[MARKEG]

Yes Ginge - for Neo this is probably the best thing that could have happened to you. I've very pleased you've managed to get maximum press in a very short space of time. Getting people thought the doors is of upmost importance at the beginning. You're really sound people and I do so want your night to work for you.

But my problem is entirely a musical thing. And it goes deep into everything I stand for. When I know 50,000 people are going to buy Mixmag and probably four times that amount of people will read it, I get rather worried when I'm labelled a ‘slow European-influenced hardcore’ DJ. It's like someone announcing you like to shag horses when you don't and you have never even thought about it. Automatically people make a judgement. And it'll take you alot more than a few months to change people's opinions.


All I want is my music and my sound to be represented right. I've tried hard to make sure that is the case whenever I could but some things are simply out of your control. And this article has become one of those things. I wanted the 'hardstyle' name to be represented right, that's why I went out of my way to help with this article, but now it's linked with hardcore. And now, I'm linked with hardstyle, so therefore, I must play hardcore. Grrrr.......


What this article does is lumps everything from hard trance/hard house/hard techno/hardstyle etc etc into one category of 'hardcore'. It's not that I hate hardcore... I just don't play it - never have (well I used to dabble in at bit in the early 90's ie Drop Bass/Lenny D and so did most techno dj's but it was always amoungst techno). Putting me in the category of hardcore is doing me and all the other froms of hard music no favours whatsoever and all I can see is it'll make everyone's musical mission even harder.

[Ty Flipside]

I agree with most of the above to be honest. Within the hardcore sector there is a lot of confusion within the style's by artists (all you have to do is go onto USH & you will see), i mean there's:- Old Skool, New Old Skool, Gabba, Nu Style Gabba, Freeform, Breakbeat etc etc etc etc etc which p**ses me off a little bit (call me ignorant) but it all falls under the hardcore BANNER (some styles with foreign influence but we don't call it something else do we??). The music DOES need a label to which I 20000% agree, but for Mixmag to label "Hardstyle" as Hardcore IS IGNORANT to say the least, I don't play Hardstyle, but love the sound & definately agree that it SHOULD be it's own style and should have it's own name!. FFS when will mixmag get their head out of the sand and move with the times.

I aint purchased a copy of Mixmag in years (got one given lately which reviewed Bonkers Mutation not a really good review either btw) because i aint into Sundissential, Gatecrasher or any soulfull dance clubs.

Until this magazine start's getting it's information formatted properly, i aint ever gonna buy the damn thing (which is harsh i know as some Harder Dance organizations are getting small snippets at the mo apparently) but that's all we get, small snippets!

Get em told Mark, coz they obviously need all the advice they can get otherwise they'll just do the usual thing & make it up!

[baptismo]

Could this be good news though mark.......... it will keep u, and hardstyle as underground as ever... surely 'Drunk European Hardcore' hasnt got the balls to go commercial...... has it?

[DJ Ginge]

I understand your concerns Mark but I think you're more worried than you should be.

Are you now going to start playing shitty hardcore because this article says you do? - NO you're not.

Do people in the hardcore scene think you're a shitty hardcore DJ? - NO they don't.

Maybe the definition of hardcore in the UK will at last change towards something that actually sounds hard??
Maybe not, people like Hixxy still churn out what I'd have to call softcore but they brand it hardcore.
Maybe the word hardstyle is a nice bridge to get a lot of new heads into it.

Musically you've never been hardcore yet you play at more hardcore events than a lot of hardcore DJs do.
What does that say about your music?

Forget about the article - when people hear you play they're going to know that what you play is just 'damn good music' (why do you think we wanted you to be resident at NEO)?
If they have any sense they'll learn that champagne-sipping, cocaine-snorting Mixmag journos are never to be trusted.

BTW - I felt completely mis-represented in the article too but as the saying goes "any press is good press".

[Anonymous]

Well said Mark! We've already read the MixMag article and found it to be a total misconception of the truth. These guys really do have no idea of any scene outside of Gatecrasher/Cream,etc.and, truth be known, they're not interested, so don't bother.

By the way, well played at the Dance Academy,Plymouth on Boxing Day. We've been away ski-ing in Austria since, so a belated Happy New Year to you and Chrissie!

[Anonymous]

i agree with what you have put comlpetely mark.. Im my eyes it seems that at the time of you sayin, you and dirk were doing an interview for mix mag.. i remember thinkin to myself, that no matter what you said to them it would not be printed as you said it.. This has come true.. Magazines like mix mag are commercial money makin followers of sounds which have once been underground then formulated into there own commercial sound.. In my eyes they have labelled the sound as HARDCORE... And you as a drunken Euro DJ.. sorry to say this but
"SO WHAT" obviously you are probably offended by this label, but at least you know where you stand when they eventually comin knockin on your door and our sound for more inspiration for there slowly dying scene.. F**K EM.. Tell these commercialising retards to shoove it up the ass.. As its only hardcore.. This may sound silly but in a way am glad hardstyle/hardcore/OURSOUND got bad feedback.. Coz it will stop any F**kwits joining our underground sound and keep all gay ass mixmag columnists clear of it.. Good riddance!!!!

P.S. The comment about Drunk Euro house DJ... These pillocks mark would'nt know a good dj if he hit them in the face.. Take it with a pinch of salt..

P.P.S. And to whoever runs Neo.. It may of been good publicity for your supposedly UNDERGROUND club... But what will the roll on effects be for the sound of hardstyle as a whole.. Not your club?.....


:cry:

[The Teknoist.]

*By Andy Bowler*

ok I've left this one alone on all forums for some time but I just thought I'd make a few comments ...
I agree with most of what you've put mark but I'm surprised as a journalist & with years of mag experiences that you ever got pulled into this... 4 months or so ago I was contacted by mixmag (which was set up by react as a promotion for the bonkers series..) they wanted to know about this new hardcore... they had no interest in the fact that most of the uk hardcore djs (I mean happy) were still around after years the djs I mentioned being at the top of the tree: Hixxy, Sy, Brisk etc had all been around for 10 years playing hardcore...they had no interest in the facts so I pretty much gave them no other info... I didn't try & get North mentioned cos I've always been wary of mags that have no interest in the scene I'm involved in so I didn't try & mention it at all I don't want my nights associated with mixmag apart from listings...
On another point this whole hardstyle situ really p*sses me off... you state hardstyle began for you last year yet I've been playing Italian kick drum orientated hard trance for 4 years I've numerous releases on Stik that are pre 2000 & would certainly fit into the "hardstyle" category..
Things become confusing because we have completely different pigeon holes in the uk than most of the rest of europe... mention hardcore in the uk & the majority think sy... hixxy (happy hardcore) in Italy hardcore means... Randy, dboy etc etc... pretty much the same in holland you mention hardcore & they would think Neophyte, distortion etc etc
they don't have happy hardcore... so the words hardcore mean 2 completely different things... Now in Italy where it seems this "hardstyle" originates they have had confusion for sometime over what is & isn't hardcore... hence coining the slower paced collaboration of hardcore (techno) kickdrums with hard trance as hardstyle...
you also have to bear in mind that in italy they have very few categories for music so this is not really so confusing... they have house, techno, commercial, hardcore & now hardstyle.... the word hardcore in italy now relates as it should to music that would be played by the likes of producer, simon underground etc...
wheras in the uk we have more pigeon holes than pigeons to fit in them..
I can't really understand where Neo fits into all this & I find it quite amazing that mixmag have latched onto a night that was only 1 event old & was hardly breaking new ground musically... At North we've pioneered the fusion of techno, hard trance & hardcore for years yet we decided the best way to promote our nights was to work ludicrously hard doing so not trying to feed off of a mag that only a few years ago was slating hardcore music ...& seems to be doing the same thing... I'm not slating Neo for their approach obviously being on the cover of mixmag for free will have some benefit to them but to do so at the expense of a scene & djs that have been around for many many years is certainly not the way to go about it & unfortunately Mark & Uberdruck seem to be the patsys in this!!!-+

[Anonymous]

Mark, I agree with what you're saying in your response, but I have to agree with andy on this one. I used to work on a national car magazine and as you wrote for a mag as well, I'm amazed you agreed to do this cos you know as well as (and prolly better than) i do that it will be changed to suit whatever they are promoting at the time. In this case its a floundering commercial dance scene, looking for the next big thing to cash in on. Last time it was garage, although I shed no tears for the garage scene, look what they've done to it.
Mixmag are a commercial magazine. They couldnt give a **** about your scene (hardstyle) or mine (hardcore) for that matter, as long as they sell mags. To sell mags they will rape whichever scene they see fit in order to do so, and hence keep their jobs. To keep their jobs they have to go to their bosses four times a year and say "Look! We sold 250,000 mags each month, every month last year" Then their boss will be happy. Doesent matter how they do it, as long as they sell mags they will keep their jobs.
In short, If mixmag approach you and you care about your scene and the way its going, tell them to **** off!
astraboy.

[Anonymous]

30 peices of gold

Very funny
Very smart.

Dont just blame the intervewer theres a editor & a marketing team in this too.

Mix mag have wrote just what they wanted an article to strike interest in thier magazine. they will probually sell more issuses this month than the rest of ther year. You thaught you would get a free review & there's no such thing in media circles theres a price to pay one way or another. the word most talked about these last few weeks has not been just hardstyle but MixMag and what will be on the lips this month MixMag article and not Hardstyle. They even told you it would be front page to get you to fall into there trap and you fell for it. even now you dont know whats the front page Ha HA! You've been blagged and now branded. Oh well told you so.!

By the way Dirks not happy at all.

[MARKEG]

I really have said this before in quite a few posts, but the reason that I HAD to go all out and get involved in this is because when they phoned me and I gave them the least amount of details they started to mention 'hardcore' and Hixxy and Sy in the same breath as hardstyle! I had no choice. It was either sit back and have the truth distorted or get involved and present Mixmag with the facts. I simply want the music I play to be represented properly. And the press is so powerful that I wasn't about to sit back and let things be distorted...

Fact is, I've had so little control over this article because they interviewed quite a few people, that it's all gone a bit titties up on the musical side from my point of view. Usually I have such control when I'm interviewed, so I think that perhaps I made a mistake my not laying down my requirements before I even spoke to the guy from Mixmag. Oh well, you live and learn...

But on the +ve, a very, very cool point that someone mentioned above is that hardstyle has not had the focus here. Therefore it's like we've said our piece and then disappeared back into the underground. Quite cool really if that actually does happen. Who knows what'll happen now...

[The Teknoist.]

that is a fair point. As i sed previously, weve all learned from this i spose. Is the full article actualy anywhere on the web 2 read?
Mike

[Anonymous]

As the story has unfolded, with everyone on this board worrying about how OUR SOUND, will be be manipulated by the commercialising rats.. It seems to of turned out quite well for us and the underground scene.. They dont like it and am glad, could'nt be happier, ecstatic!!
They can label the sound as they want it.. as long as they dont touch it.

Doing the interview was a bit sketchy from the start, am sure mark realises this and so do we.. Neo have done well promoting themselves, not OUR MUSIC!

Am sure whatever would of been said to the columnist, would of come out different anyway.. these guys have A levels in chinese whispers..

But am happy with the outcome, all those poor crasher kids, and cream followers, wont be none the wiser as to what sound we are unleashing on the underground... They will still be hard trancin to poor old judge jules...

DIDDUMS!!!!!!


HARDSTYLE - GENRE
UNDERGROUND - OURSOUND

LET THE WORRYING BE OVER, AND START TO ENJOY WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS!!!

PEACE AND RESPECT TO MARK FOR KEEPIN THIS SCENE ALIVE FOR ME!

[DJ Ginge]

Yes we are always trying to promote ourselves but no we didn't / don't have anything to do with Mixmag.

Ask yourself this - if you'd been losing money every single month running club nights for over 2 years partially due to people like Mixmag, Radio 1 and other mass media for dance music in the UK not ever talking about your type of music, then Mixmag came to you and said they wanted to put you on the front cover of their magazine and do a big review, would you say "No, I want to carry on losing money every month for the rest of my life"?

Andy Bowler sais it was after the first event, well I'm sorry to say we (Cypher / NEO) have done 17 events actually (that's not even counting the 50 or so nights I've been involved with promoting around Manchester) and I have very rarely made money (and even then it was drum'n'bass nights). We decided to put the best line-up we've ever had on and for the first time ever the dance music press paid us some attention.

People keep on throwing accusations at us for getting them involved - it was their decision to come down, all we wanted was a listing to advertise our excellent line-up to as many people as possible.

[Louise]

I agree, Im getting really tired of rave politics but thats the way its always been. At the end of the day nothing much is going to change and the people who need to know, know the score anyway.

[MARKEG]

1st of all to Guest (aka Mick).

I spoke to Dirk 5 minutes ago and he hadn't even read the article yet. So I don't know what the hell you're on about in your post.

And saying 'haha, I told you so' is a very, very childish attitude that'll get us absolutely nowhere. Please let's be more constructive.

2ndly to Tecknoist (I hope I spelt that right!!!)

I can't really post the article on the net, as I was sent it in confidence, but here's the general jist - 3 Crasher/Sundisential kids go in search of hardcore and stumble across Neo. Becasue it's full of loads of different types of people and it's rammed, they love it. They hear Uberdruck, myself and Yoji playing. The article then talks about Slammin Vinyl and the 'brand new' music policy of putting hard house on at the event, dj's such as Andy Farley, BK etc. It talks about Storm in Coalville and how they're becoming a hardcore event. Then it ends with the three kids back at a house saying how hardcore they are.

Basically it's full of complete inaccuracies from start to finish. Musically, I've said why I'm pissed off with it and it's really all down to how they've manipulated my quotes. But thank god it doesn't focus on hardstyle. To be honest, the real inaccuracies are the way it represents the hardcore scene. I'm sure when it comes out, the hardcore scene will be up in arms about it. Neo have definitely come out the winners in this and fair play to them. To be honest, the whole article is a complete and utter joke that will serve as nothing nore than expensive toilet paper.