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TECHNO FOUNDER KEVIN SAUNDERSON
Vapour, Arches, Glasgow, 2 Mar.
evin Saunderson is, for some reason, less of a household name than his old
school chums Derrick May and Juan Atkins, but the trio pretty much invented the Detroit branch of house and techno. The way Saunderson tells it, there wasn’t a eureka moment or a masterplan: ‘We ran out of records!’ he says, ‘We were all DJing, playing Prince, New Order, Depeche Mode, Parliament/Funkadelic, Kraftwerk - that kind of thing, plus the electronic records coming from the West Coast, and there just weren’t the records out there that we were wanting to play, so we had to figure out how to make records ourselves so we had something to DJ with. Then once I’d figured out how to do it, I just couldn’t stop.’
He’s not kidding. From 1985 on, Saunderson knocked out release after release initially as the commercially-minded Inner City (‘that’s me feeling upbeat, making a happy sound with vocals, with a spiritual vibe’) and more recently as E-Dancer (‘that’s just me being dark and moody, very underground, very true to how I feel a record should
be’), not to mention outings as Tronik House, The Reese
Project and EsRay.
These days, Saunderson’s main concern is his label, KMS, showcased at this month’s Vapour. Like his first forays into production, Saunderson’s approach was one of have-a-go DIY, born of necessity. ‘I started up the
‘There ust weren’t the records out there t at we were wanting to lay, so we had to figure out how 0 make records ourselves.’
label in 1985, and the main reason was to release my own music, control those releases, do what I want to do,’ he says, ‘That was my first, initial reason: I didn’t want to have other people passing judgement on something I believed in, or to have other people
C&W SPECIAL RAWHIDE Club Java, Edinburgh, Sat 10 Mar.
‘i‘. *v
Well hello cowboy
Joint inventor of the Detroit branch of techno
deciding whether something should be released or not
- if I’ve made a song, it should be out! My main goal
now is to develop the label and develop artists here in the city of Detroit. I just don’t have the same energy to make so many records, and I think it’s my time to concentrate on some of the new acts and help the new acts gain recognition.’
At Vapour, the KMS roster will be represented by Saunderson himself, The Closer and The Mind Gap. ‘These are two of the more recent signings,’ Saunderson explains, ‘The Mind Gap have been around
for a while, they’ve been involved with the Inner city and
Listen up y‘all. Trouble‘s been brewin' down at that eaSy listening showcase that goes by the name of Vegas. Some fired-up yOLinguns have been re-questing some of that fine music known as country and western and the organisers just ain't standing for it. Thankfully. fans of less inbred music WI“ be saved from a showdown though. 'cause Bronco Billy aka The Vegas Kid has located a guiet roadhouse on the outskirts on town where. for one night only. c0untry mUSic will ride again.
As The Kid explains: 'A lot of the requests we get at Vegas are for country stuff and we don't particularly want to see it take over at Vegas because there are so many other styles we want to play. There's definitely a demand there to do something as a one-off in a country and western manner so that's why we thought of Rawhide'
Peter Kay '3 Phoenix Nights had a part to play too. and it was after seeing episodes of the Channel 4 comedy series that the promoters of Vegas decided that if somethings worth doing.
E-dancer live shows for years now and they’re finally finding their niche. It’s a pretty funky, techno-driven niche, and they have a very visual show. The Closer has a more tribal sound, but still very deep - a good combination.’ (Jack Mottram)
it's worth dOing right. For this reason the Rawhide spectacular Will not only feature rootin‘ tootin' ClaSSICS from traditional country stars like Johnny Cash. Kenny Rogers and Glen Campbell but it WI” also incorporate the cowboys favourite recreational pastimes. These Will include the obligatory Bucking Bronco Rodeo complete with newfangled inflatable mats so's none of you cowboys and cowgirls get hurt. while budding gunslingers can try their luck in the Rawhide Fastest Draw Competion. The latter will be run by Pip Hodges of the Linlithgow-based Buffalo Mountain Productions; a man who. according to The Kid. is ‘Mr country 8 western as far as the Central Belt goes'.
With all this laid on. frequenters of the night need only make sure they dress the part. Woe betide anyone who's not dressed for cattle rustling or gunslinging because The Kid has been known to shoot a man just to watch him die and we don't want things turning ugly down Leith way. now do we?
(Catherine Bromley)
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til ASGUU SUl’l li‘til llli Inside Out will ht:- launching; (ill l‘klll‘illllltjll residency as from Sativdaiy ,il Mann lhit; will ht: a monthly went at the liquid Room and the launch \i‘.’l|l leatiiw \Jll(lg)f* Jules. Fergie. Lisa 1 ()lltl. Sister Bliss. John 'tlh‘ Fleming and ()l (;()lll:;(‘, those remdents of (Tllflllit‘ Simon H»; and Alan Belshav:
AS PART of an ongoing promotion offered by Honeycomb Entertainments and The List, a pair of guest list places will be offered in this column for the most in-demand nights at Edinburgh’s Honeycomb. The first two names out of the hat to respond to the following question will be given two guest list places for the opening of IT on Saturday 10 March featuring Danny Rampling and Steve Lawler. The question is: ‘What year did the old Honeycomb open?’ and you should send your answers to duncan@honeycomb- ents.com before Wednesday 7 March.
TIMO MAAS Will be appearing as a special guest on the Red Not Bed club t0ur that kicks off later this month. The List has two pairs of VIP tickets to give away for the launch event to take place in coHaboration ‘Hllll local trance and techno night Sublime at the Venue. Edinburgh on Friday 16 March. Simply send us an e-mail (including y0ur name and contact detailsi to the above address before Wednesday 14 March and those tickets coiild be yours.
l~15 Mar 20’)? THE LIST 85