GIG ()N THE GREEN
TALL PAUL
Smirnoff Experience Dance Tent and Gig On The Green after-party at Archaos, Sat 25 Aug.
Sitting by the pool in Ibiza, mobile clamped to one ear, you wouldn’t think Tall Paul would be too enthusiastic about paying a visit to a large damp tent in Scotland. You’d be wrong.
‘I genuinely like playing in Scotland. My career started up there and in Ireland quicker than it did in places like London,’ he says. ‘I find I usually go down really well, especially in Glasgow and I like playing the festivals as well - people go to these places with the same kind of attitude they have when they’re going clubbing. But you don’t have to dance 24/7 cause there’s hip hop and rock going on as well, so you can get a taste of both worlds.’
Paul Newman cut his teeth DJing at his dad’s disco, which doesn’t sound all that impressive until you learn that his dad’s disco was London venue Turnmills. He got involved in pirate radio at the same time, before getting his big break in
1990 when he became a resident at the now legendary gay night Trade. Since then, the lanky lad has played at the likes of The Gallery, Godskitchen, Cream and Gatecrasher and has been producing records since 1992’s tough, funky ‘Love Rush’. It was Hooj Choons’ Red Jerry who, after the two had collaborated on Rock Da House, gave him the nickname Tall Paul, in
reference to his 6ft 6in frame.
His most recent release, the trancey ‘Precious Heart’, sampled INXS’s ‘Never Tear Us Apart’. ‘I don’t know if Hutchence would have liked it. I think my version is a good, well-executed track - I wanted to use the vocal ‘cos it’s just so atmospheric. And a lot of
l IVI' Fl t-CTRO
THE MAGNIFICENTS Elastik at The 13th Note, Glasgow, Wed 22 Aug.
The record lahel is German. The sound lfilthy new-wave synth-rock aided by a prehistoric heathoxr is inextricath German. You'll find the record in the rack titled 'Furo-Electro'. yet careful examination of the sleeve reveals that The Magnificents are not the latest Munich underground sensations hut hail from the rather less Teutonic city of Edinhurgh. Scotland.
Allegedly put together in a ‘lahor‘atory in Saint Trope/ . . . I mean Monte Carlo'. Casey Miller. Stephen McGregor'. Drew McFadyen and Tommy Stewart make up the art-rock terrorists in the making comho who name John Carpenter. Sex Pistols and Peaches amongst their Inspirations. the tracks that make up their dehut 12 inch. ‘Kids Now'. found their way to Munich imprint Erkrankung Durch Musigue. home of such tongue~in» cheek electro outfits as Queen of Japan and Hong Kong Counterfeit. and lahel hoss Mooner. himself a rnemher of the infamous 7omhie Nation, demanded he he allowed to release them. No douht much to the envy of Glasgow's electro set. the I'dinhurgh-Munich express was declared open.
30 THE LIST "5 7ft Ala; 97;?
Reach for the skies
the kids wouldn’t have heard of INXS so to bring it into the charts is quite an achievement.’
Since Trade, Paul has erred towards the harder end of the dance spectrum, but whatever you do, don’t call him a hard house DJ. ‘When I was doing Trade,’ he says, ‘everyone was like, “What do you play?”, and people - journos love putting labels on things -
started calling it hard house. But what’s called hard
house now, the stuff Lisa Lashes and Fergie play is different to that, it’s harder, and you get stuff like those Hoover noises, which thankfully seem to have come and gone. What I play is a mixture really. I guess it’s just Tall Paul music.’ (James Smart)
All aboard the Edinburgh-Munich express
Listening to The Magnificents. one hundred million snippets of influence expose themselves. hut few stay around long enough to he caught. The hasic recipe invokes late lE)/’()s Rough Trade. Joy Division. Josef K and even early Numan, mixed with the contemporary techno smu‘. of Peaches. Jeans Team and Add N to X. This crosspollination could easily he construed as the formula of a 'maga/ine hand', hut taking The Magnificents iahem . . . imagnificent live reputation into consideration. Judgement should he reserved until the "in-theflesh' experience.
Casey Miller promises the live show wrll contain evenything from "a huge pile of analogue weapons and sound canons'. to a touch of ‘ritual sacrifice' and inevitahly, ‘taking control of people's minds With noise.' With this manipulation of the audience in mind.| ask of the hand's mission statement. "World domination.’ replies Miller much to nohody's surprise. tempered guickly however hy his admission that he's 'iust stealing things from other people.‘ And therein lies why you will like this hand: musical ll‘.£l§][)l(3S they may he. hut they always have the intuition to steal only the hest hits. (Steven Clark)
clubs@list.co.uk
cruB Ntw.‘ SUB CLUB UPDATE
The Suh Cluh is set to move to MAS in Septemher' as delays to the repairs on the much-missed Jamaica Street venue continue. This is. needless to say. had news for the Suh faithful still pining for their old haunt. hut the cluh's management are optimistic ahout the coming months.
‘It was the operation to put steel piles into the foundations that was causing all the delays.' explains Suh Cluh head honcho Mike ()i'ieve. 'hut that hold up is hehind us now so real progress is heing made. We're now at the stage of finalising our plans for the interior. which puts us on schedule for re opening at the turn of the year. ideally hefor'e Christmas'
lhis is. of course. the latest in a long run of dates set for there launch since the cluh's closure after a fire demolished the adjacent huilding last Novemher. Grieve admits at this stage that the timescale is provisional (hedging hets heing the most sensihle course of action). hut it seems cluhhers can now rest ; ssui'ed that the refui'hisliments are hack on track.
In the meantime. the tr'aiisformation of MAS into the latest Suhstitute Venue is well underway. 'lhe soundsystein at MAS is great' (‘irieve says with enthuaism. ‘and the general amhience lends itself to our nights. We're currently going in there to look at how to stamp our identity on it. and we're really confident ahout this move after the success we had at Planet Peach. If anything, MAS is more of a hlank canvas for us hecause it's so understated which will make it easier for us to Suh ify il.‘
The dates for your diary are Sat 1 Sep. when Suhculture returns. and Sun 9 Sep. when ()ptimo transfers from Planet Peach. 'We decided to move hoth nights to MAS en in; sse." (‘trIeve says. ‘hecause the next move will he hack to Jamaica Street.'
(Jack Mottr‘aim