On the 25th of January, clubbing comes home as two of the scene's biggest icons reunite for a night of un-rivalled hedonism on the south coast. Those two clubbing icons are Slinky and The Opera House. Some people said it wouldn't happen, but most people wished it would happen. Well that wish has come true, and not only that, there's even more to come.

We spent some time with Lee Haslam, Head of Events and Music at Slinky, to find out what the plans are for the rest of 2008 and beyond. It makes for an interesting read as he tells us about all the news on the forthcoming tours, the record label, and loads more Slinky news.

1. Hi Lee, firstly could you give us a run-down on what your role as Head of Events and Music at Slinky entails?

My role is to manage and oversee everything that the brand does event wise and as a record label. I do all the line ups for the Slinky events @ the Opera House as well as work with The Syndicate in Bristol, Stylus in Leeds & The Vaults in Dublin where we hold residencies.

It is also my role to arrange the world tour that the brand is undertaking so I am liaising with promoters worldwide, booking in tours and sorting line ups for them all and playing on a lot of them.

Currently we are looking at holding around 50 – 60 events worldwide this year both in the UK and overseas. We have tours happening in Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, Goa, India, The Philippines, Dubai, Russia, South Africa, Mauritius, Norway, Ireland, Canada, America, Brazil & hopefully some summer events in the Mediterranean.

Another avenue which I was keen to develop was a radio show for Slinky and I am happy to announce that I have just finalised a deal with Tilllate.com to launch Slinky's very own Radio Show which will be broadcast on their site as well as streamed on slinky.co.uk at a later date. The show will take place on the last Friday of every month, with the first show being on January 25th making it the perfect warm up to our return to the Opera House.

The debut show will be presented by me and will include a guest mix from John O'Callaghan, on subsequent shows Amadeus will be joining me as a presenter with each episode being packed full with interviews, competitions, guest mixes and all round good fun each month.

The show is another great way of promoting to the world what we are doing as a label and of course as an events company. We can actively promote our events and tours as well as new trance music and artists so hopefully it will build up so that every slinky follower on the planet can tune in each month to find out what is happening.

2. Slinky is returning to The Opera House, and it's fair to say that it was a little bit unexpected. Are you able to tell the Slinky clubbers how exactly this has come about and the story behind it?

I won't go into the in's and out's, Let's just say people said The Spice Girls & Take That would never get back together but they did! Things in life can always change and dreams can come true!

3. You're well known as a trance DJ, and in the past Slinky was renowned for being very trance-orientated. In recent years though, a lot of the line-ups seemed to be more hard house based. What are plans for the musical direction of the line-ups now, and what are we going to be seeing and hearing at The Opera House in 2008?

The policy for Slinky will remain to be equally focused on the music our clubbers love, I think a lot of people were concerned that it might go more hard focused but we have to play to our strengths. Slinky is very unique in that we can have the Tidy Boys on one month and then Ferry Corsten the next which is a great situation to be in. We can cater for more people and mix things up and bit from month to month keeping it fresh.

Needless to say we are aiming very high with a lot that we do. Eddie of course we have for the opener, then we have a more hard dance line up for February with the Tidy Boys, K90 Live & Amber D but then in March we are back with another big hitter in Ferry Corsten.

Later in the year we are looking to bring in Tiesto, Sander Van Doorn, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk along with people like Jules, Marcel Woods, Lisa Lashes, Marco V, Randy Katana, Sean Tyas & Richard Durand.

I am also very keen to bring in a few other names that may stand out a little more from what people would expect from Slinky to again keep things fresh and bring something new to the table but you will have to wait and see on those.

4. Of course, there's also the Yakuji Love concept that has recently been publicised as the backroom soundtrack for the Slinky dates. Is there any chance of us seeing you pulling some electro out and spinning some tunes in there?

LOL, I'll stick with my tech trance and leave that to the Mrs to play as she plays Electro under her Amber D'Amour guise. Yakuji Love though is a great and fresh concept thought of by the lovely Amadeus Mozart and Richard Skaife its one I am confident will do well. House is a huge market and to launch a fresh brand on January 25 th is very exciting.

We have Sonny Wharton playing who is a huge up and coming name in that field and is already confirmed to play all the major festivals and events this year and a name I hope we can bring in more along side acts like Dirty Inc & Hauswerks.

5. As well as the return to Bournemouth, I understand that there are also plans to hold events in Bristol, Leeds, Dublin, and even around the World. It sounds like you might be quite busy at the moment!

Yeah sorry, I mentioned all that earlier didn't I… got carried away again lol… But anyway yeah the Planet Slinky Tour is basically designed to get the name back out there. Towards 2004 Slinky's overseas exploits did drop off but the reaction from promoters has exceeded all our expectations. To say we are looking at 50 – 60 dates this year is quite a scary thought as it takes so much work to get them sorted.

A lot of the time I am working 12 – 14 hour days to get everything arranged and I am sure DJ agencies must be thinking "What the hell is going on at Slinky!" as I am constantly throwing dates at them for talent to play at which is fantastic because it is making people stand up and take notice of what we are doing. The team works very hard and I have no doubt 2008 is going to be one of Slinky's best.

6. The Slinky record label seemed to go a little bit quiet over the last few years, is this something you'll be looking to resurrect given your background as label manager for Tidy and Digital Remedy?

I think to have a label in tow is a good building block for the brand, not only for its albums, but for nurturing new talent and as a PR tool for what we do on the events. As you mention I was label manager at tidy for nine years so I know the ins and outs of how to run and label successfully and with Amadeus included in that I can see it being a winning formula for Slinky.

Amadeus does all the A & R and I manage the label day to day. Unfortunately due to our distributor going down in November, we were unable to release the labels first and much anticipated release from Lost Witness called "Dreams" but we are currently looking into getting this release digitally as soon as possible.

Moving forward I think the label may well stay an online only label as the vinyl market is so unpredictable at the minute and with more and more people buying downloads it seems the right thing to do.

Away from singles I am already in talks with a few people about getting a Slinky compilation out at some point this year. With the amount of activity we are currently doing we are already turning heads and making our presence felt and with the experience that Amo and myself have in this field, I think it will be an extra feather in our cap so to speak.

My long term plan is to link the label and events together much more cohesively and develop it where Slinky will regularly bring out compilations that are Live from our events which can then get released in the territories that we work in as well as the UK.

7. Slinky is nearly eleven years old now and has had some special nights down the years. Do you have any special memories to share?

Quite a few to be honest, I have been lucky enough to play at the Opera House 5 or 6 times in my career but the one that will always stand out for me was my debut there back in 2004. I have seldom seen an atmosphere like Slinky and the venue is just breathtaking which has made it my top place to play for quite some time now.

To look at things now and be in charge of the events and to be back playing there again on a regular basis really gives me goosebumps and I know that the show on January 25 th is going to be unmissable.. I am so excited about the future for Slinky and it's amazing to be one of the people to put it back right of the top of the tree!

8. Lastly, in just one sentence, please sum up why the clubbers should come to Slinky on the 25th of January for the Opera House Return.

The perfect two ingredients are put together for the first time in a long time, that in itself should be enough to make you wet with anticipation.

Image credits: Michael Azzopardi