Nik Denton talks to us about 8 years of Hard house and what he has in-store for us in the next coming months.

He also talks about the fast approaching Coalition/ Toolbox Trilogy event in manchester.

You started Toolbox Eight years ago. How did that come about?
I met a guy called Jay Cox who had been impressed with the work I had been doing with Paul King and wanted to work on some tracks together. So when we had a sound we were happy with we decided to launch our own label to release our own works… So Toolbox was born.

It’s a highly competitive industry, what elements contribute to Toolbox being one of the most popular labels around?
Thank you. Well I think its down to consistency: I like to think people know what they are going to get with Toolbox. I’ve been behind all the decisions for 8 years, so it’s been a consistent journey. I’ve been there from day one so I guess I know what works for the label and what doesn’t.

Toolbox has an impressive back catalogue. What would you say has been your best achievement to date.
I would probably say simply just surviving. It’s a hard industry at the best of times and as the years go by it gets harder because less people want to pay for records and everyone has access to engineers more freely, so everyone wants to write records instead of play them. Catalogue wise I think having the reputation and trust to release massive classics like “Hooked”, “Save the day”, “It’s my beat”, “Fantastic” and “Kick it in” is a great achievement.

Your website www.toolboxmusicshop.com has had something
of a makeover, tell us more about that.
I decided last year that our HARD HEART branding needed a change. The shop having a makeover was mainly about losing the hard heart branding ready for a new era of Toolbox.

It’s been brightened up and we have new logos etc. We plan to build on the stores functions over the coming months and sell our own MP3s exclusively for a period before they hit other sites. It’s just the first step in a number of changes which will polish up Toolbox and its brand image. www.toolboxmusic.co.uk will be the next site to be re-launched with a brand new look. Its all exciting stuff.

How do you plan to move Toolbox forward?
In the current climate it’s hard to make plans and stick to them. But through strengthening the brand image and looking at widening what we offer in terms of product, Toolbox has a bright future. We’ll certainly be looking at more CD projects and more events in the coming months. We’ll be concentrating on building the names that are connected to the label too. IE: Lucy Fur, Tim Stokes, PAS and Rich Resonate.

As part of your product offering, you have a series of releases under the Toolkit banner. Please tell me more about the series.
Toolkit is our new bi monthly CD that comes with a mixed and unmixed disc. We originally started a subscribed CD back in Jan 2007, which was of course the Hard Heart Beats series. It lasted 2 years and was very successful. Toolkit has replaced Hard Heart Beats and it’s been unbelievably successful.

Concept wise each disc is presented by one of our trusted official artists, who mix one of the discs and present a few of their own studio productions on their own unmixed Toolkit. These feature along side a selection of other tracks/remixes. Each Toolkit includes 10 brand new Toolbox releases.

Coalition presents.. TOOLBOX TRILOGY. Awesome line up by the way! Tell me more about the event.
Toolbox’ popularity has grown to a level that it feels like the right time to throw some fully blown Toolbox parties: Taking Toolbox to the next level the trilogy will be an on going calendar event each year and as the name suggests will come in 3 parts. Coalition built with great momentum last year and linking the event and Toolbox for the Trilogy means we start with some strong foundations.

The first event of the 2009 Trilogy is on May 03rd @ Alter Ego in Manchester and features Andy Farley, Myself, Lucy Fur, Adam M, Tim Stokes, Munkjack, Karl Davis, Pierce Rooney, Little Miss Natalie, Ross Homson, Scott Foshaw and Jojo.

The Venue is Alter Ego in Manchester. Tell me more.
Coalition was previously at Audio/Spirit but it wasn’t a purpose built nightclub. Alter Ego is and it’s going to suit us perfectly. It has two rooms and is quite quirky. I have wanted to do events there for ages, so I well pleased Toolbox Trilogy is going to be held there.

You are a prolific producer and accomplished DJ. How did you get into DJing in the first place?
I used to go clubbing and listen to Paul King and Chris B in my local club and go to Trade every weekend. Listening to the trade DJs, and Paul just made me want to have a go. So I did. My first gig was at the same club as Paul and Chris, so it started off well.

London Hard House Party Maestros Twist have just announced you as their latest big name resident, how did that come about?
Steve heard me play at Trade last year and was impressed, so then asked me to guest at Twist. Following that he asked me if Id like to get more involved and become resident. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me to get to London every month and play to the London crowd. Twist is really pushing things fwd in London and its going to be a pleasure to be there for the journey. I can’t wait to get down there at the end of April. Look out for TWIST UP NORTH very soon too. Something Im really looking fwd to.

When did you start producing? Describe your style…
I’ve been producing hard house for 11 years now. I guess my style is a mixture of funky and driving. It’s always got a bit of a swing to it. I just write stuff that I like and thankfully it seems to go down well. The old “Trade sound” has been a massive influence and still is today.

It’s no secret that you are a big fan of trade, the mother ship of all things hard house. What does Trade mean to you?
It’s been the biggest influence in who I am as an artist. It’s moulded me and is therefore rooted deep into everything I do. I’ve been playing for trade for 3 years now and still can’t believe it when I do. It means everything to me.

Many consider the spiritual home of Trade to be Turnmills, Now that Turnmills has closed do you think Trade will survive?
Turnmills will always be the spiritual home to the Trade but they cleverly evolved last year with a new sound and the 18th Birthday was AMAZING. The Arches was accepted as a new venue that suited what Trade was doing, proving Trade has legs to run with after Turnmills. I’m not sure where Trade will go from now, but it will survive. It’s the matriarch of gay clubbing that will refuse to move from its position as the leader.

The Hard House scene seems to be on the up and attracting a new generation of clubbers. How do you envisage the scene evolving over the next few years?
I agree. There seems to be a new injection of life in it and I think this is partly down to increased variety of productions coming out of studios. Its great to have people like Paul Janes, Tidy DJs and Jimmy Dean doing really funky stuff. For a while it all became very tunnel vision: Everything was the same. It’s moving on and winning over new crowds and I really think the acceptance of warm up tracks has been vital in the shift. This has to carry on for Hard House to keep growing and winning over new audiences. But we don’t want to get stick into a loop with the funky stuff either.

You’ve just released your first solo EP on Toolbox in 8 years. Why has it taken so long was it worth the wait?
Of course it was worth the wait. I’ve wanted to do something special for a while and the plan was for me to release 20 brand new tracks as double A side vinyls from TB061 – TB070. But vinyl sales have slowed right down and it would take ages for the tracks to come out. So Nuts and Bolts was a way to get some tracks out ahead of my toolkit later this year! Its taken 8 years cause I’ve always been busy doing other things. But it wont be another 8 years til the next one. More like 8 months.

What’s next for Nik Denton?
Nik Denton has been very busy in the studio. So you can expect a lot of remixes and productions hitting the streets soon. I’ve been working on remixes for Combat, Carbon, Deprivation and will soon be starting work on remixes for Vicious and Fireball. There is also remixes about to hit on Flashpoint and Kung Fu Wax. They are two of my favourite remixes to date. On flashpoint its Garbo – Get Down (Nik Denton “Get Up” Remix) and on Kung Fu Wax there is my “Retro Trade Mix” of Pistol Packing.

I’ve also been in the studio with Scott Foshaw, Lucy Fur and Ross Homson working on collaborations for various forthcoming projects. Next is to start work on new tracks for my toolkit and putting together a new Denton project that I’m really excited about, but that’s something that wont be common knowledge until towards the end of the summer. I’ve certainly got my hands full for the foreseeable future. But I wouldn’t have it any other way…

NIK DENTON presents NUTS AND BOLTS IS OUT NOW ON TOOLBOX. AVAILABLE FROM toolboxmusicshop.com

TICKETS FOR TOOLBOX TRILOGY CAN BE PURCHASED FROM Coalition Presents: TOOLBOX TRILOGY 2009 Part 1 // moreonthedoor.com toolboxmusicshop.com , TICKETLINE.COM

Coalition Presents: TOOLBOX TRILOGY 2009 Part 1

Wicked read from the scenes busiest man. Roll on Toolbox Trilogy on 3rd May :)

Great read

Top man!