Nick Warren

You can tell when Nick Warren is playing his Dj set. The music is arousing and the crowd goes crazy. That’s the perfect combination for a perfect party, isn’t it? Nick Warren is well-known for his eight albums released in the Global Underground series and as a member of the duo Way Out West. He is head of A&R for the progressive house and breaks record label Hope Recordings.

In 1988, Nick Warren began DJing in Bristol, playing mainly reggae and indie music until house music became more popular in the UK. By the early 1990s, Warren had become one of the more popular DJs in Bristol, performing regularly at the superclub Vision and DJing for Massive Attack.

While working at a record store in 1994, Nick Warren met producer Jody Wisternoff and the two decided to work together. Their first collaboration was on the track "Paradise is the Sound" which they released under the artist name Sub-Version 3. Their next two releases were issued under the name Echo, with Way Out West being the name of their remix project. The duo soon adopted the name for their act and signed a deal with Deconstruction Records.

In the mid 1990s, Nick Warren began a residency at Liverpool dance club Cream. In 1997, Warren was given the opportunity to mix the second entry in the still young Global Underground series. The album, “Global Underground 003: Prague”, is a live set of Warren's from Prague. Although labeled as 003, this was actually only the second release on the Global Underground label. This began a relationship with Global Underground which led to Warren creating seven additional mix albums for the series, including “Global Underground 008: Brazil”, “Global Underground 011: Budapest”, “Global Underground 018: Amsterdam”, “Global Underground 024: Reykjavík”, “Global Underground 028: Shanghai”, “Global Underground 030: Paris”, and “Global Underground 035: Lima”. Warren stated that he feels comfortable working with Global Underground due to an underlying trust between himself and the label.

In December 2000, Way Out West was dropped by Deconstruction, which had since been bought by BMG, as the label felt that Way Out West's album would not do well commercially. Way Out West then signed a three-album contract with Distinctive Records, turning down offers from other labels such as Bedrock. Their first album on Distinctive was Intensify, which featured the singles "The Fall", "Intensify", and "Mindcircus". "The Fall" used lyrics taken from the Cole Porter song "Autumn Leaves" and "Mindcircus" features vocals written by Imogen Heap. For the next Way Out West album, Don't Look Now (2004), Warren and Wisternoff brought in vocalist Omi and drummer Damon Reece. As of early 2007, Way Out West had begun work on new material. Warren made this possible because he is now head A&R of Hope Recordings, the label in which their last single "Spaceman" was released in 2008. In 2008, Global Underground released Warren's next compilation, “Global Underground 035: Lima”. Before this album, Warren had sold over 110,000 compilations in the Global Underground series in the UK alone.

Way Out West's fourth album, titled "We Love Machine," was released on October 6, 2009. The song "Only Love" featuring Jonathan Mendelsohn on vocals was the first single off the album, released August 31, 2009. Also in 2010, Nick released on Bedrock Recordings, with the track In Search Of Silver and he began his Soundgarden show on Frisky Radio, a bi-monthly venture in which Nick plays a wide range of different sets on this popular station.

2011 marked Hope Recordings' 100th release, taken on by none other than Nick Warren himself. The track was titled “Buenos Aires” as Nick feels a special connection with the city, having played there on several occasions. “Travelling to Buenos Aires for a gig has always been revitalizing as I love the place and its people”, often states. Hope Recordings' next release was by Tom Glass, titled 'Naive' for which Nick did his own 'Psycehdelic Wheel' Remix. In November 2011, Nick released another solo single, Rumbletump, on Hernan Cattaneo's Sudbeat label.

Have a taste of Way Out West...

And of Nick Warren himself....


 

Dave Seaman

There aren’t many artists who’ve sound tracked the birth of dance music and are still leading its development more than two decades later. There are even less who have gifted both the club and pop scenes with unforgettable musical moments that get talked about in hushed tones years after their creation. Dave Seaman is one of the few.

Whether it’s one of his spine-tingling Global Underground or Renaissance CDs that’s still burning a hole in your stereo years after its purchase, or the perfect pop of Kylie’s ‘Confide In Me’ that he co wrote, produced and remixed, there’s very few with their heart in electronic music who haven’t had a Dave Seaman ‘moment’.

It’s a commonality that everyone from clubbers at Creamfields, to the biggest recording artists on the planet share. Having devoted almost every weekend over the last 15 years to moving dancefloors from Ibiza to Iceland, Seaman has played the world’s most recognised festivals and clubs in more than 70 countries throughout his career, while still lending his production nous to the music industry’s A List. Along with crafting beats for Ms Minogue, Take That and Pet Shop Boys have enlisted his studio expertise, with everyone from U2, to Michael Jackson, Alanis Morissette, David Bowie and New Order having received a Seaman re-rub.With massive discography of more than 60 releases and 30 remixes, his productions have gone on to feature on more than 80 other titles, released all over the globe.

Turning  back to when Seaman was eight years old and it’s difficult to imagine anyone wanting to devote their life to music quite as much as the Leeds-born lad. While others indulged in pipe dreams of becoming an English Premier League star or following Neil Armstrong into space, Seaman knew he was destined for a life full of beats and rhythm.

By the early ‘80s, the music obsessive was spinning records at his high school disco and earning his pocket money playing weddings and birthday parties. He knew how to talk-the-talk, too. In 1987 the amateur DJ and DMC member won a trip to New York to attend the New Music Seminar. The trip ultimately led him to land the editor’s role at Mixmag, a position he’d hold for the next three years as he shaped the magazine into being the undisputed clubber’s bible it is today.

Seaman played his first bona-fide professional DJ gig at the legendary Shellys in Stoke in 1990, stroking vinyl alongside a couple of emerging talents by the name of Sasha and Laurent Garnier. Acid house was blooming and Seaman’s boundless enthusiasm and creative spirit was petrol in its tank. Teaming up with producer and friend Steve Anderson, the duo recorded as Brothers In Rhythm, birthing the seminal rave anthem ‘Such A Good Feeling’ which became a UK Top 20 hit, while also issuing the landmark ‘Mixmag Live Volume’ 1 with Carl Cox in 1991.

Seaman’s unrelenting desire to propel music at all levels saw him kickstart the Stress Records imprint through DMC, showcasing tunes by some of the finest talent in dance music for more than a decade. Artists including Sasha, Danny Tenaglia, John Digweed and Groove Armada’s Andy Cato all released smoking club cuts on the label, with many crediting it as acting as a global digital advertising promotion for their careers.

Today, Seaman’s passion to exhibit boundary-breaking talent is as strong as ever. Via his independent label Audio Therapy, his inspired A&R has helped nurture some of the finest groove-merchants in dance music. The label’s roster speaks for itself, with Popof, Timo Mass, Pig & Dan, Wally Lopez, Mihalis Safras, Pirupa & Pigi and Robert Babicz all contributing tracks and remixes recently.

Without a doubt, his relationship with Renaissance is one of the most renowned in dance music, with Seaman having contributed 10 mixes to the revered series. 30 years away from that initial boyhood dream, the places and people may have changed, but Seaman’s passion hasn’t. As busy as ever, he still continues to create. Whether it’s through his own productions or his growing list of revered compilations, you know Seaman’s always on the frontline of electronic house music!

Coachella

Coachella is a three-day annual music festival held at the Empire Polo Club in California by Goldenvoice. The event features many genres of music as well as large sculptural art. It started in 1999 and about 25000 people attended the event, supporting headlining acts of The Chemical Brothers, Jurassic 5, DJ Shadow, and Underworld. The event went smoothly, with the biggest complaint being the blistering heat. The Coachella Music Festival has a desert setting with daytime temperatures frequently rising to over 38 °C. The festival enjoys little cloud cover or shade. The temperature drops drastically after sunset.


















After 2002, Coachella began to generate large-scale interest, and the 2003 festival drew the largest crowd yet. The 2004 event, featuring Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, and a number of other major bands, was the event's first sellout, with 50000 tickets sold for each Saturday and Sunday.

In 2003, Coachella started to include tent camping as an option for staying at the festival. The campground site is on an adjacent polo field next to the venue grounds. At 2007 festival, it was reported that camping attendance was in upwards of 17000. 2010 festival introduced many new features to camping such as re-entry from the campsite to the festival grounds, parking your car next to your tent and a limited number of recreational vehicle camping spots.

















Coachella tries to reduce its carbon footprint on the environment every year, which involves not just employees but also attendees. The festival highly promotes carpooling for its attendees, which include rewards for people who participate. Attendees who choose to carpool with four or more people in one car and have the word "carpoolchella" displayed somewhere on their car have a chance to be selected by a secret spotter to win VIP tickets/pass for life for everyone in the car. Therefore, as you can see, you can have this great opportunity for lifetime VIP pass only by carpooling and helping the environment, no matter if you own a priceless BMW or a sweat old Ford. Just help them to help you.



Now as regarding on how much fun you will have there, just have a look...

Dance Events

 

The fast growth of House Music industry gave birth to many dance events in many countries. The leading countries were England, United States and Ibiza. People were asking for big events and many DJs playing in the same stage all night long. This need was quickly covered by the first dance events all around the world where people travelled far from their origins to experience the true party feeling and vibe.

There was also a major help from many big brands in creating the whole events and advertising it worldwide, like Coca-Cola, Adidas, BMW, Nike, Pepsi and many others. This helped the producers of the shows to overcome all the financial costs which were forbidding at that time and led to greater stages, better sound equipment and bigger DJs line-up. The terraces were enormous and each time the parties grew bigger and bigger.

The whole industry flourished in no time and it became a quite profitable and entertaining job to setup and organize Dance Events. Apart from the Dance Clubs people’s “thirst” for this music, made them follow the DJs wherever they performed and became loyal supporters.

The lights, the sound and the show itself made the crowd more demanding year by year. Side by side with the discography companies DJs found themselves with great profits and glory in very short time.

I will later analyze each event separately and tell you the best hints and tips as far how to enjoy and have a good time in such an event. Be prepared and “stay tuned”.

House Music – The Establishment

House Music did not take long to be established. From Kraftwerk and “The Belleville Three”,  (Juan Atkins - Derrick May – Kevin Saunderson) to Daft Punk and Paul Oakenfold ,it was just a matter of few years to have this great impact in the dance scene. Starting from US and breaking through the whole world, it was originally played in warehouses or other large empty places and the events were called “raves”.

The first in Europe who embraced this music were the major UK dance clubs like The Hacienda (largely funded by New Order), Ministry Of Sound, Fabric, Cream and many others. On its first steps, House Music was considered “underground” and only for the worthiest that could really feel its energy. 

Following UK’ s path, Ibiza took its part in turning the whole House Music scene from “underground” to “glamorous”. Huge dance clubs and spectacular events made thousands of people to hear it, dance with it and therefore love it. It was no sooner than early 90s that almost every UK club had its “little brother” in this Balearic island. All the top DJs were gathering every summer to give the ultimate show and be worshipped by the frenzy crowd.

It is fair to admit that a quite important factor that made this kind of music to have such a vast growth was the drug that went along with House Music. As every music has its drug, House Music was largely accompanied by Ecstasy. It was a golden era for the drug dealers worldwide who could easily push their product and promise “harmless euphoria” and “non-stop dancing”. Many teens took it just to keep on dancing all through the night and only when going out to party and were so called “Saturday Users”. Because of its low after effect and the sense of warmthness it offered, it was originally called the “Love Drug”. Nevertheless many people argue with that, supporting that this music revolution would have taken place with or without the drug.

As years go by, there is a great evolution in the means and the equipment used to play this music. Starting with the first Dj decks and mixers, we have now come to a point where everyone can give it a try from his laptop with the appropriate software.

In my opinion, the best way to feel the energy of the music and the pulse of the crowd would be to attend in such an event. For those who still have second thoughts, see for yourselves…