Simon Eve is the complete hard-dance all rounder. He combines DJing with producing his own tracks, remixing, running a record label (Recharge), managing some of the biggest DJs on the scene via the ‘Most Wanted’ agency and being a proper music journo (in DJ Magazine). Not only that, he is equally at home with tech-trance (such as at Recoverworld, and working with people like Scott Mac) as he is banging it out with the hardest of the hard (including at both Captain Tinrib’s ‘Fish’ and ‘I love VC’). He cut his DJ teeth at Pete Wardman’s Sherbert club-night, has appeared at the biggest underground dance parties (including the massive Dance Valley in Holland) and has played alongside all the most influential figures in underground dance music, including Tony de Vit and John ‘00’ Fleming. On the EVE ;o) of his first ever appearance at the heavyweight INSEKT stage @ Antiworld 07.07.07, the Summer’s biggest festival of underground music, we sent Nutter to plague him with questions…

INSEKT at Antiworld is a fascinating combination. You have a long association with Antiworld, but it’s your debut at INSEKT. Can you tell us about your connection with Antiworld, and then why you wanted to play on the INSEKT stage. What will you bring to this massive event?

I first got involved with Antiworld when label manager for the Recover label. Antiworld and Recover joined forces to create the Recoverworld events and the rest, as they say, is history. Obviously it's great to be a part of the biggest Antiworld event to date as part of the mightily impressive INSEKT line-up and I look forward to dropping some big tunes on the day!

There is at least one previous INSEKT connection you have, though, isn’t there. I hear that you and INSEKT’s Marc Johnson ‘F**ked up’. Would you care to comment?

Ha ha! Yes, but the result was good! Marc gave me a copy of his new 'F**ked up' tune fresh from the studio and it was so good I snapped it up to my Recharge label straight away. A big underground hard house tune that still gets requests today.

Thanks, that clears things up. I think you re-mixed that track too, didn’t you…
Moving on - How would you describe your musical style? Or should it be styles (plural) in your case?

It would definitely be more than one style as I love many forms of dance music. But under my Simon Eve name I'll play the harder side of cutting edge dance, whether it be hard house, tech trance, whatever…

You once described yourself to me as a ‘musical chameleon’. Does this mean you are some kind of multi-coloured lizard, eating INSEKTs for breakfast with its retractable tongue, while also banging out a few tunes here and there? Or something else?

Don't feed me after midnight otherwise I turn into a lizard?! Lol! Nah, it just means there are different guises for my music. For example, I also produce house and electro under a different name…

We can perhaps see this chameleon-like quality in your ability consistently to blend in with the current leading edge of hard house. In 2005 you had a hit with ‘Timeline’. (You know the one folks, ‘How do you define time…?’ Find it on ‘Hard Dance Republic Vol 2’), an extremely catchy rumbling rock’n’roller that slotted well into many a set. And this year you have released ‘Control freak’ with DMF. Phwoarrrr!! Eh? This track is fast n hard, and will undoubtedly be played by other INSEKT DJs if you don’t! Can you say a bit about what you were aiming for with this great track?

With each track I just aim to achieve something different and (hopefully) better than the previous. 'Control Freak' was DMF and myself going back to our hard house roots and slamming it out a bit for a full-on number. It seemed to do the trick!

In your guise as label boss, you’ve also clearly got your ear to the ground to catch that Zeitgeist as it whizzes past. Recharge has just released what is turning out to be one of the top hard house hits of the year, Defective Audio’s ‘Hold it now’. This was rightly celebrated in Guffy’s review in ‘MixMag’ as being ‘good old fashioned dirty hard house’. But, to these ears at least, there is also a hint of funky techno in there. Whatever, I bet you are very pleased to have this track on your label (you remixed it too). Can you tell us something about it – how it came about, what you like about it?

Nobody would argue that Defective Audio is one of the best producers in hard dance, but 'Hold it now' just stood out from the crowd even by his high standards. For me it's all about the groove. It's infectious and hypnotic while being hard as nails. Much like the big hard house tunes from yesteryear, but with a very fresh 2007 sound.

One more question on your re-mixing activities: I see you are about to have a go at the Chris Hampshire and John Weatherley classic ‘Breathless’. There have already been a number of very fine remixes of this wonderful track (TDV, Glaz, Pants ‘n’ Corset). I wondered which of these you liked best? Will you be going right back to the original for your own version?

For me there's no beating the Tony De Vit remix. It may be nearly 10 years old but it's one of the best hard dance tunes ever made and still sounds awesome today. When I sat down to remix this I thought it pointless trying to better the TDV classic, so I put a completely different spin on things and did a 'Recoverworld' tech trance remix instead, similar in style to the tunes I've made with Scott Mac.

TDV – good choice! :o)
I also see you’ve just released ‘The World’s Greatest Hard Dance’ CD on Resist Music (Don’t hide your light under a bushel there, will you ;o) One of the things of interest about this triple ‘best of’ album is that one whole CD is devoted to fresh new ‘future anthems’. I guess your choice of these tells us something about how you see the scene developing over the next 12 months or so. So can you say something about your choice and about your vision of the immediate future of hard dance?

I tried to be as objective as possible with my track selection, so hopefully the mix contains the best of hard house, hard trance and even a sprinkling of hardstyle. The hard dance scene has come in for some negative press with some saying there's a lack of quality of new tunes coming through. But it's these same people who started to pigeon-hole harder dance music into all these different sub-categories a few years back. Sure, there won't be 10 amazing new tunes released every week in every little sub-genre. But across the scene as a whole, hard house, hard trance, techno, psy etc. I think things are still going strong. You'll hear that for yourself at 07.07.07 across the various sound stages!

Developing this point, we obviously want to know who you see as the future heroes of the scene. Who are the up-coming writer-producers of hard dance that you tip for the top? And who of these young pretenders do you particularly like to listen to?

There's definitely some good new producers coming through. The likes of Vandall, Chris Comben, Rodi Style and Ryan Blair have all impressed me over the past 12 months. Also, while they're not exactly newcomers, Technikal and Pierre Pienaar have taken a step with their productions of late - I'd place them both in the A list elite now. Nice work lads!

Ok, thanks. Finally some questions about you personally…

Being involved in the music scene in so many ways, I expect you don’t have much time for anything else. Do you have any hobbies you’d like to tell us about?

I'm into my football in a big way, both watching and playing. Trevor McLachlan, Ian Betts, Shaf De Bass and the Section 2 boys Craig Paxton and Mad Paul are amongst the other DJs in our five-a-side matches.

I’ve heard that you also have a strong interest in DIY.

Having spent a year renovating my flat I never want to do any DIY again!

Last but not least, since you have your fingers in so many pies, the punters will definitely want me to ask you what your favourite pie is? Shepherds pie? Pork pie……?
Cream pie?!

Thanks for your patience, Simon! We’ll see you at 07.07.07

Read more about Simon at: http://www.myspace.com/djsimoneve

This interview text digitally edited by Nutter of the INSEKT swarm. Thanks to Durty Den for tunes.