Chris Finke is a man of many hats. Be it a DJ, producer, promoter, label owner, radio show host... he's done it all. With his new split EP on Luke Slater's Mote Evolver, with Bas Mooy, arriving in the shops yesterday we caught up with him for a good old chinwag.
1) How has the start of 2012 been for you?
Really good so far thanks. I moved into a new studio in January which has been extremely productive, plus I've been doing some great gigs and meeting some really funny and interesting people along the way so I can't complain at all.
2) So how did the Mote Evolver release come about?
I noticed that Luke had been playing some of my tracks, so I sent him 3 new ones for his sets and he got back to me and asked if he could put 2 of them out. I thought about it long and hard for about 1.4 seconds and of course said yes. I'm friends with Bas Mooy (the other artist on the Parallel release), so it's good to be sharing it with him. Musically my tracks on it are pretty different, 'Sleep When You're Dead' is a peak time techno monster and 'Euphemism' is a dark, groovier kind of thing. I love them both and they do the same in the clubs so I'm very pleased they are out on such a wicked label.
3) You've DJ'd all over the world, run parties and labels, released records performed in DMC Championships. Is there anything you've not done but you're still looking to achieve?
Yeah I suppose putting it like that, the CV looks kind of cool, but my next step, and something I'm really passionate about, is to get into radio again properly. I used to be a local radio DJ (which is a story for another day!) and then went onto present The Split Radio Show with Ben Sims for 4 years which quickly turned into somewhat of an institution, and I really miss the presenting side of things. I can't say too much now but I am returning to radio very soon with quite a high profile show, so it'll be fun.
4) Musically where would you say you are right now?
Musically both and a DJ and a Producer I couldn't be happier at the minute. I'm sick of the boring droney techno sound which (in my opinion) has gone the same way as the "minimal" thing did in 2007/8, too many people essentially all making the same record and copying each other. There is so much amazing music around but you have to dig deeper to find it and go that extra mile. When I play I've always been really versatile and I play as much bass / other stuff as I do techno now as some of it's more "techno" than a lot of techno these days. I play a lot of my own edits of things. I'm really on it in the studio now, and I'm all over the place with what I'm making which is good for the soul and good for my DJ sets!
5) Birmingham has a rich history of techno, is the scene still as lively as it's always been?
Musically it's very strong with loads of up and coming prodcers across all genres, but with actual club nights it's a bit strange. There are so many people into dance music but a very small percentage of them actually go out to the clubs aside from the big DnB or Dubstep events or for DJs like Annie Mac who always does well there. To give you some stats, the last Atomic Jam party sold out with well over 3000 people and just under 25% of them were from the Midlands. The majority of them came from in and around London and "The North". There are some wicked nights with breakthrough artists which just aren't supported which is sad. I think promoters need to work together more to make it stronger instead of all chasing the same thing as it doesn't work these days. Oh, and people always think I'm from Birmingham as I'm resident at Atomic Jam but I'm actually not!
6) January saw the last ever Atomic Jam party at The Q Club, how was it?
Absolutely astonishing night. Ot was the last party ever in that amazing venue and we rocked it till 7:30am. The crowd were on fire right up till the end and it was an honour to play the last set for the finale. The Que Club is hands down the best big venue in the UK for dance music and it's now gone forever. It's not quite the same but you can watch it all as it happened on Be-At.tv here with sets from Speedy J, Dave Clarke, Marcel Fengler, Ben Sims and my end of the night techno classics set.
7) And to finish, what does the rest of 2012 have in store for you?
Gig wise, I've got some exciting things coming up. I'm back in Japan in October, and going to the US in September both of which should be wicked. Aside from the Mote Evolver record, I've got EPs coming out soon on Hidden Records, EarToGround and Gynoid Audio, plus remixes for Mark Broom, Orlando Voorn, DJ3000, Dave Tarrida, Chris Page and just finishing another three EPs of various stuff which I'll be looking for homes for. I've also started a really interesting collaboration with Tom Diccico wich has started off pretty explosively, so excited about where that is going to go. I've also just recorded an Electronic Explorations mix which I'm really excited about, and I've just been signed by Elastic Artists to handle my bookings so looking forward to working with them. Oh, and Atomic Jam is going to be back in a new venue as well.....
The Parallel Series 3 is out in the shops now so go buy it. Check out the samples from the soundcloud player below
Mote029 :: Parallel Series 3 :: Bas Mooy + Chris Finke by Mote-Evolver
More information on Chris can be found on his Facebook Fan Page, you can follow him on Twitter or check out his music on his Soundcloud Page. For bookings please contact his agent Danny@ElasticArtists.net
Happy to read there's going to be another atomic jam :-)
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