The Interview- ‘Some One Special‘ - Sid P

After much deliberation, and digestion of the hardcore flavor, it felt fitting to track down an artist of all genre’s and styles of the hardcore scene today. On the build up to the re launch of Core Addicts - Nose and Lips who better to talk to gain a proper insight into what he has been up to, and how come all of a sudden we have been seeing so much of him on microphones across the country-

I bring you today Core Addicts and nose and lips present- front man and microphone connoisseur: Mr. Sid P!



First off- good to talk to you, your name isn’t really Sid is it- so how come the name SID P?
'Always a pleasure to speak to you sir-,

D.H.D- question couldn't be answered it was to top secret! ;)

Your background within the scene, and musical history is one of the most exuberant that I have seen in a while. You have performed at many an international destination - but I would like to ask you first off about your Old Skool days!
Recently speaking your mind, about the way that the scene is conducted today and the vibe of some people, what first got you into the rave scene and in your own words what major parts of it do you think have changed? And also more importantly - WHY- have they changed like this?

' The scene really first hit me in the late nineties, with old trance nights like Ultra Vegas, Friskys and Gods Kitchen, then from there I was a proper Tidy kid through to 2003 before the hardcore scene really hit at the end of 2003-2004. These where the days when everybody (dj’s mc’s and ravers alike) where all about building a community and the scene. With all being massively proud of every positive step it took. It was this togetherness vibe that really made me want to start promoting. I reckon it’s the growing part that has now changed, I believe the hardcore scene is as big as its gonna get right now and that is possibly a little bit of the reason why its changed. Now I feel some artists and promoters our just out to make as much money and get as much from the scene as possible rather than working for the scenes best interests. '



Since becoming a promoter, you have obviously had your own fair share of the preverbal, and obviously still today get effected by this at times
. As a promoter- how do you deal with such things? Life is stressful enough without all that to deal with too!

' My day job is pretty stressful also as I am the manager of a retail outlet with a multi million pound turn over. The way I see it is, as long as I go to bed with a smile on my face ill be fine for the next day. Plus as a promoter the one thing I really respect is honesty. I.e. if a dj/ mc cant make it I would prefer them to be honest with the reasons why rather than making up some bs, no shows with bs excuses will pretty much guarantee no future bookings. I think finally people are starting to realize this or I’ve finally managed to work out just who is trust worthy and who isn’t these day lol. '



Changing the mood - you started out in the mid to late nineties. You became famous around the rave scene for wearing giant afro wigs and also cyber gear! This is a very ravey look!- How did this come about? You dress casually now- would there be any days that you’d don your old look for a night!?;)

' he he he, just speaking about those days reminds me of so many fab memories. I do still occasionally don a funny hat or two, but generally only at my own nights these days, for example at my last night I wore a elephants head hat. It all kinda came about due to me not taking drugs in them days…… for example when two people are on pills there conversations can go on for hours… so I used to wear funny things so people would chat to me and thus I made a hell of a lot of friends back in them days… what was really funny was that nobody ever believed that I didn’t do drugs at the time lol. '


At this time you were primarily raving to what was then the hard house scene. Please tell us about how you went from that sound to the rave sound of jungle/hardcore!

' It was really simple, I walked into the hardcore room at one of the early tidy weekenders and just feel in love with the sounds and the mcing. A couple of months later I was at polysexual mashdonberry and walked into the hardcore room with dj strange Dave and mc chit chat on, and I never left the room all night, after that I rarely went back to a full hard house night.
It was pretty much love at first sound lol '

Did hardcore instantly capture you ? Or was it something that you grew into whilst going out raving?

' It hit me hard and fast, from barely hearing any of it to loving it within two event!! I’ve got to say I reckon that it was from the first event I was at and hearing mc storm for the first time, I had decided that I wanted to become an mc. I was already promoting hard dance events, so that was a pretty natural transition. So I spent a while educating myself on the history etc etc of the scene and making connections and contacts and it wasn’t long till we had a night on the go.'

Referring back to the good old days again, can you share any happy memories of events and days out back then?- What really changed or moved you in a nice way!?

' There will always be 1 event that sticks in my mind… and that is I think htid 5 2004 (excuses me if I’m wrong). It was a payback party at air in Brum. Was the first hardcore event I took Becca boo too. I was really worried that the love of my life wouldn’t enjoy it… but she fell in love with it there and then just like myself and has been a great support and influence in everything I’ve done since. If she didn’t enjoy that night my life could have been so different. Two other night spring to mind which is life and energy at the Milton Keynes leisure plaza, for the pure size and that every single room had such a wicked vibe… I also think it was at these that I first found out I loved gabba and techno too. '

It was at the start of your first club nights (Insisions) down at Northampton, that you started to MC. - How did this come about? And how did it feel suddenly picking up the mic and Mcing to a crowed?

' Technically it wasn’t mcing but it was the start of it lol….. incisions was a hard dance night I ran with two hard house dj’s Simon Vegas and Craig main. As those two got to play sets I was always a little jealous and so the decision was made that I would introduce the artists before each set as I had no interest in djing. As each night went by my intros got longer and crazier. Until finally that had to practically wrestle the mic out of my hand to make me stop. This is what probably made me so comfortable with the mic in my hand and provoked me to start to write some lyrics. '


Going back a step could you tell us- how your club nights came about? What was the inspiration for you to start your own nights up?

' I started by helping some friends out on some small nights like ‘tasty fish’ and ‘rage’. Although both did ok I was always thinking that if only the promoters worked a bit harder and promoted with a game plan the nights could be so much bigger!! Because I am a natural hard worker I decided to give it a go, my self and a old friend put a one off hard house night on call Hektik which did ok and this prompted me to join forces with Simon Vegas and Craig main to create incisions. Each night we did grew that little bit bigger and by the time we closed doors we were getting 250 peps through the door each event. '

I don’t want to touch to deeply on this but could you- would you like to speak a little about Who’s Hardcore- and how this magnificent night came about and what happened?

' Some people may not believe this but I’m truly massively proud of what we created with who’s hardcore. When I say us I mean me, my partner at the time and most importantly each and every raver who got behind the night!!!. We really did have one big happy family!! I remember going to htid nye at Bristol academy and spotting over 30 different ravers there in who’s hardcore t shirts and just being so proud of each and every one of them.

What I loved about it was being able to give up and coming djs a chance to shine. Being able to help shape the future careers of some of the top djs and mcs in the scene at the moment.
With out going into to much detail, me and the guy I ran it with fell out and it got quite bitter at a point, I hope this person can look back now and see that he did and said some things that made it impossible to work with him. But I do wish him the best and have never held the grudge that some people have made out. If the night comes back I wish it all the best and hope it can get back to past glory’s. '

After breaking into the scene as a promoter and MC you have really shaken it up this year, seeing you perform from Vi Va La Hardcore to the last Tasty at Mass! - What has given you this mighty push to perform more?

' With nights like Ravers Reunited, B2T, Epidemik plus many others on top lol. It really simple, promoters seem to want me at the moment. I reckon the one big change I made is not performing drunk or off my trolley. This has really improved my performance and thus had got me a few fans along the way. also I just enjoy myself these days, maybe before I went away traveling I cared what people though of the way I preformed and thus tried to be like I thought people wanted me to be. Rather than now I mc the way I want to and just have fun. I know I’m a bit of a marmite mc, i.e. you either love me of hate me but I don’t mind that as I know I’m completely different to most mcs out there. '

Speaking of this, on your famous travels with Becca Boo, you performed at some remarkable events…
Could you tell us about-Immortals and the epic- Full Moon party in Bangkok?
And also about the booking at Hardcore Evolution…!

' The two booking in Thailand pretty much come about by chance really, by speaking to the promoters and luckily they had either heard of me or some thing that I had done previously. Both sets were to dnb which was fun as I hadn’t done a dnb set in years. The full moon party’s can attract up to 10,000 ravers to each and every event, so that was just wicked!!
The booking at hardcore evolution in Sydney oz came about from a friendship with dj weaver, I had been speaking to him for some time over the Internet and once he knew I was heading to oz he hooked me up with a set… I mc’d to dj weaver b2b dj silver (happyhardcore.com) in front of around 900 Ozzy ravers which was just amazing. From this set I was booked in Auckland New Zealand to do a freeform set but missed it by getting to Auckland a day late ooops. Even doing these set I still don’t think any body does hardcore any where near as good as us in the uk!! '


So much going on and you have only relatively just got back from your time abroad! Musically how would you say that your travels have helped and inspired you?

' Its kinda chilled me out, it allowed me time to think about what I want from the scene and from myself. It allowed me to fall back in love with hardcore and believe in it again. I like a bit more hardcore breaks type of music now , kind of like dj Luna-c etc etc. now I’m part of the scene for completely different reasons to why I was before I left. For example I don’t get smashed any more, I don’t allow any arse licking and bs and above all I believe in the up and comers rather than just the likes of Hixxy and co. '

You have recently properly teamed up with Nose and Lips crew, all very much for helping new- and up and coming talent of all shapes and forms, so apart from your good selves do you think that enough across the board is being done to help new acts?

'Defiantly not. I reckon that too many nights run just to make a profit and book the same line up over and over again. I reckon there Is a slight lack of imagination in the scene today with only nights like elation and ravers reunited trying to change this. myself and Chris smith share the same views that its not only the likes of Sy and Hixxy that can play a great set, it’s the djs like clodhopper, Paul Manx, J.B-c, Fretman, hardcore hit squad, Cruze, and Dave Skywalker that can also smash it up given the chance. '

Why do think that you get such a good result at your parties?

' Because we simply make no profit out of our nights!!! We put them on for the artists and the ravers and we charge a minimal amount to get in. plus you never know what’s going to happen at one of our nights… we have many of a surprise planned on the 12th of Dec!! so come down and join the party lol!! '

After all the crap and political B.S that you have sadly been through, would you say that you are finally feeling better about everything?

'I’m feeling great at the moment!!! I have a brilliant promotional partner who shares the same beliefs as I and a girlfriend that supports me when I get up at 4am to go flyering. I would say I went traveling just at the right time to clear the crap from my head and to come back refreshed and ready to make an impact again.'

You have worked with and do work with many a well known names on the microphone circuit , do you have any faves!?-

'The two mcs I love working with the most is mc Merlin and Mr D.H.D (no not cos your doing this interview!). these guys are ace mcs them selves and our styles just seem to match. Through mcing I have managed to build a strong friendship with both of these guys too!!
Buy my favs have got to be Marley, Smiley, Sharkey, Whizzkid, Rizla Dizla, Macca and Obie right now.'

Out of all the artist that you have already successfully helped today, who in you mind sticks out the most- who has grown and has developed to the best of their ability?
(feel free to mention more than 1 artist if you want!)

' I love to help every body and believe that I’m pretty good at spotting talent…. Djs and mcs that I was giving sets to back in there early days are great artists such as-
J.B-C, Clodhopper, Static, Enemy, Obie, Macca, to name but a few, and each and every one of these lads and lady’s are all wicked in there own right and have done them selves proud.
People at the moment who I think will be up there and playing with the big boys soon are – Paul Manx, Rizla Dizla, Farcus, Al Storm, Lyrical Groover, Cruze, Skatty and believe it or not mc Macca is a excellent dj too!! '

How are you and all in the team feeling, now the event is upon us!?

'We are really looking forward to having an event in our new venue, its been around 4 months since that last one and has been a lot of hard work to get it back up and running. To get a venue to believe in what we believe in and to be as good as it is, is just amazing. We just hope that our old crowd hasn’t forgotten about little old us lol. '

Could you let us into any plans that you have for the future- event wise, and MC vibes!

' Due to a change in job and trying to get the night back up and running I haven’t been chasing bookings as much as I should have been, so at the moment I only have 3 sets in Dec and 2 in January. Including the wicked high voltage, ballistic beats on Christams eve, plus the H.T.I.D pre parties mcing to a international dj, of whom I don’t think has been announced just yet?? Obviously my plans our to push myself more next year, get back on at nights like N.B.R, ravers reunited etc etc and concentrate on the residencies I currently have. We have some massive/ excellent line ups ready to use in the new year and cant wait to get rolling with them again.'

Can I be cheeky and ask you about any funny stories that you may have- rave related, on or off he stage, involving any one we all may know?;)

' He he he he he he h he, I really wish I could tell you about some of the things I know, but I’m afraid my lips are sealed and I surely wont be telling anybody about Chris smiths gayness (lol). Only the other day I saw brisk wrestling with Wlfee C and had my pants ripped off my body in one short Sharpe pull. '

Sadly it is that time again my friend….I would just like to take this epic opportunity in thanking you for your words and more importantly your time-

Sid P before I sign off could you please leave us with some final hardcore words of wisdom?
Of course, believe in yourself, believe in others and believe in everything that you do. If you start to doubt yourself so will others!!!!!!

' If you want to see a mc different from most come see me and if you want to see an event that is different from the rest come visit- core-addicts and nose and lips present messy Christams!!

Thank you very much bruv, luv ya and will be seeing you at an event soon!! '

Much love and respect wishing you all the very best in the future style- of your hardcore journey.

Dave Hill (MC D.H.D)

wow
DHD mate, this is an amazin interview.
and respect to Mr Sid P!!!
buds in

Nice interview fella ;)