Interview with Vinylgroover

Vinylgroover is one of the hotest Hard dance producers around at the moment with releases and remixes coming thick and fast on labels from Tidy to Split to BMG. With his tracks featuring in all hard dance compilations and DJs sets. With recent DJ bookings at Tranzaction, Eyecon and Goodgreef, 2004 looks set to be his year. Under the guise of Kontakt his take on the Euhritmics - Sweet Dreams is set for major release through Nu-Life and looks set to be one of the biggest Dance tracks of the year.

Charlie G caught up with the man, inbetween his heavy studio schedule ahead of his next date at Tranzaction (L2, Truro) alongside the Organ Donars.

Name: Scott
Age:28

Brief Background:
I have been dj¹ing for 12 years, starting back in the rave days at events like Fusion (where I also worked in their record shop), Dreamscape, World Dance, Helter Skelter etc. My first gig was at 14 years old at Sterns in Worthing alongside Carl Cox & Ratty, Colin Dale and Grooverider. I left school a year early to work in the local record shop, at that point was I was only being paid in records but the experience was fantastic as it taught me a lot about how the scene works & I met a lot of people, another bonus was being first to new tracks! After a few years I was doing around 6 gigs a weekend all over the uk & was also touring abroad. I decided to move on from the rave scene in 1999 as I felt it was time to move on, I was really into all the hard house & trance that was being released at the time and decided to make the progression into this scene. It was quite hard at first & a big decision to make as people were used to my old sound but as soon as I started red records & recording with Nukleuz it all fell into place pretty well. I joined the Nukleuz team at around this time & recorded tracks like "move your body, rok da house & gotta have house etc". These went down real well & I joined the Nukleuz agency which got me some great exposure. I parted company with the Nukleuz agency early this year and have been working with many more labels now as well as still playing & touring all over the world.

You have played as an old skool sets as well as a hard dance, where are you at musically and what would you now class your self as?
I would class myself as a hard dance DJ defianatly. I do play the occasional old skool set as back in 92 to 94 I loved the music that was around and wouldn¹t be doing what I am today without it. The old-skool bookings are limited though, there are only a handful of promoters I do this for and we always have a great night! Also in Ibiza I will do the occasional funky set at the bars before the main events, to be honest I¹m a complete music junkie, I love it all, the tougher edged stuff is my passion though.

How and when did you move into production?
I started writing tracks in 1993, working with sunset in Southamton and my partner Jim (the red hed) in Portsmouth. I felt it was the obvious thing to do, I was playing all these big events every week & knew what I wanted from a record. The production side of things has been as successful & as enjoyable though, the buzz is amazing when you can play your track out & the crowd loves what your doing, there is nothing qite like that feeling.

What guises do you produce under?
I have produced under many names, including bb & p with tidy & red recs, digitech, Midas, Skylab nine, Style 2 & more. One that you may be very familiar with is Kontakt which I am part of the production team for, we had a top 20 track last Year with "show me a sign" and are releasing "sweet dreams " later this year, although a bit more mainstream in sound We always put tougher vinylgroover mixes in the pot.

What have been your favourite releases and whats coming up?
I do put my all into all the productions so it is difficult to single out one or two of them. If I had to I¹d say move your body was a massive release for me as the hard dance scene really embrased the track  and started looking out for all my releases!! Everlasting & hells drums were also big records as we try not to stick to the same formular. I like the fact that when you pick up a Vinylgroover & red hed track you know we are not going to be doing the same as anyone else and its also going to be different to our last production. We try to keep everything moving forward all the time which is why I love it, we never really have a set plan for the studio, if it sounds wicked we just go with it

You seem to have releases and remixes everywhere at the moment, in record shops, dj sets and mix compilations, how has this happened so suddenly and are things really taking off for you?
The last 6 months have been amazing, BMG gave us the chance to work on a new label with them (Split records) which was amazing as we could mould a new style for this label, no rules, no particular style. So it was really just a case of getting in the studio & trying some different things and the response was fantastic. Great producers like Marco V & BK were loving it and now we have everyone from real underground clubs to Dave Pearce & Judge Jules on Radio 1 giving the tracks full support. Also clubnights like Goodgreef, Tranzaction & Eyecon etc are giving the sound total support so it¹s a good feeling knowing that clubbers all over the country are into it It wasn¹t planned to happen, we just did our own thing & wanted to make class music which was hard, uplifting & pumping!

Who would you most like to colaborate with?
I have a lot of respect for all producers that are trying to contribute to our scene, it all helps us evolve & move forward, I have been in the studio latley with Rob Tissera & Anne Savage which was awesome as they are both so into what they do and have so many good ideas. I would love to work with BK at some point (we are in the process of sorting some days out) and also Marco V.

Whats your view on Tranzaction and the clubbers?
I love Tranzaction and I think things are going from strength to strength for them. The club and crowd are really open to hear new music and the atmosphere makes it a top event to play. Its really friendly there and everyone is talking about it wherever I go. Its nice to be a part of something that¹s fresh & trying to push things in a unique direction, I cant wait to play there again!

What have you got coming up this year?
There are a lot of releases waiting to come out this year, the next big one is "midnight express" on split recs, this has been played 5 weeks in a row now on jules show and my phone has been off the hook for the release which is early August. Also "the answer " on tidy trax, Hopscotch on Split as well as "almost human". Sweet Dreams is also going to be a major release with Nu-life recs on bmg which already looks huge & is gaining support all over the world. We also have projects with Duty free/intensive & Riot records to finish too so its all go. On the dj front you will be able to catch me play at Tranzaction, Goodgreef, the Honeyclub in Brighton, Eyecon, Wales and more in the uk as well as tours abroad so hope to see you all out and avin it at all the clubs over the rest of the year!