On Friday December 22nd, at London Superclub Heaven, the massive Polysexual South vs Twisted Heavenly Xmas Ball swings into action.

With some of the biggest DJs you could possibly cram into one venue, this is going to be an absolutely stunning affair. The best of the capital’s clubbers will descend upon four rooms for some of the finest hard dance you could ever imagine. Rob Tissera, BK, Lisa Pin-Up, Cally Gage, Ed Real and more are lined-up on the wheels of steel to provide you with complete and utter musical satisfaction.

Included on this stellar list are two of the scene’s brightest rising stars, Andy T and Olly Perris. They’ll be taking their place up in the Star Bar alongside Phil Reynolds, Kevin Energy, Mike Koglin, Marc French and Trevor McLachlan. But before they roar through their record collections for their highly anticipated back to back set, we sat them down face and face and let them loose on each other… in the strictly literary sense of course!!

Ollie asks Andy

So I feel I know you pretty well now, after working with you to establish Addiction Digital and after listening to your countless rants that I’m not working hard enough. But I still don’t know your background… so how did you get into this crazy cat hard dance scene in the first place?

Haha, well I had my first ever clubbing experience at a place local to me in Windsor called Mirage, or the ‘House of Windsor'. I was only 15 at the time but that didn’t stop the bouncers from letting me in, and as soon as I entered for the first time, I lost all interest in Hip Hop and swiftly fell in love with House and Dance Music. They regularly had nights from promotions such as Miss Moneypenny’s and with DJs like Jon of the pleased Wimmen, Danny Rampling and John OO Fleming it was a pretty good place to start off. Mirage closed down when I was about 17 so I made my first ever trip up to London with some friends to Freedom at Bagleys, where I could be found almost every Saturday night from then on for well over a year. I was in complete awe over DJs like Ariel, The Sandmen and of course the lovely Lisa Pin-Up. Peach @ Camden Palace was also a regular haunt of mine and I spent many a messy Friday night there too!

What was the first tune which really made you think “yep, this sound is for me” and when did you hear it? Can you remember how you felt?

Well back in the days of Mirage it would have to be Sandy B ‘Make the World go Round’. It’s the first true dance track I can ever remember hearing in a club and I remember that bassline just completely taking over my body and launching myself round the club like a loon. Bringing us a bit more up to date I think it has to be Guyver ‘Serious Sound’. I remember getting a Tidy promo CD at Global Gathering and driving home in the car playing it over and over and over again. For me this was the birth of Hard Dance, and particularly the UK Hard Trance sound that I love so much today. Energetic, driving, extremely euphoric and uplifting, for me nothing else even comes close.

What convinced you to invest hard earned cash in a pair of decks? Do you only DJ for the fame, or do you for some bizarre reason think it might make girls find you attractive?

Well it was actually a bit of luck. I went round a mate’s house and he took me into this room full of electrical equipment. He said it was all for sale and if I wanted anything to let him know. The first thing I said was how much for the 1210s! I’d always wanted a pair but knew how much they cost to buy so had never really thought about it seriously. When he offered them to me for £250 for the pair they were out the door and in my car before he could even think about changing his mind. I got a free, basic mixer from a mate who worked at DMC Records and the rest is history. As for the fame and the girls, well I never thought I’ve ever get to venture out of my bedroom, and certainly wouldn’t think of myself as famous. I’ve had a few thongs thrown at me in my time mind, but then again who hasn’t? well… apart from your good self of course Olly ;) (who more often than not gets showered in crusty men’s boxer shorts).

As we all know, you pioneered the Addiction club night which has now become one of the most formidable brands in London. What got you into the idea of event promotion, and what do you feel your personal strengths are?

Well I’ve been to many parties in London over the years and when we started Addiction in September 2004 there seemed to be a major lack of quality in dance music events. I suppose I just knew that I could do better and wanted to start a promotion, but start small, and build it bit by bit instead of just throwing a big wad of cash at something and expecting it to be the next big thing as so many promoters especially back then seem to do. As for my promotional strengths? Well the internet plays a massive part in club promotion these days and whilst I’m still learning every time I do an event I’ve managed to build up a very comprehensive database of websites, and a understanding of not only how each one works, but also how they can be used to help push the brand. I also love creative writing, and would like to think that our PR is always original, whilst being well positioned and well presented. We all have our weaknesses too. It’s no secret that I’m not the best at planning budgets, and love to spend too much money in the name of a good party but it’s all a learning curve and something that I’m getting better at as we move forward.

Addiction has gone from being a Thursday free party to a major floor filling party in a matter of months. What has been the key to its success? Where do you see it going in the next couple of years?

Well I’ve always wanted to do a party on the Moon! Imagine how awesome it would be partying with no gravity, and an endless supply of cheese! But seriously you’ll just have to watch this space. Our first event of 2007 is scheduled for the beginning of February at a venue that I’ve always loved and wanted to host and full details will be announced very soon. Like everyone else I’ve got plenty of ideas and plans for the future, but it’d spoil the surprise if I let everything out now. I will say that I’d definitely like to take the brand out of London. Although its by far the clubbing capital of the country, there’s some much nicer venues, with equally as fantastic promotions all over the nation.

Addiction Digital has now become one of the leading labels in the Hard Dance scene. What do you think has made it so successful? Did you ever imagine yourself at the helm of a leading label?

The label is something that we are all very proud of. It simply took off from day one and has continued to grow with support from almost every major player in the scene and with our releases constantly dominating the download charts. I think the major factors in its success can be contributed to three things… The high quality of artist’s and material on the label, being the first digital-only Hard Trance label in this new generation of digital DJs and finally a lot of hard work backed by good solid promotion. It’s not something that I ever thought I’d be involved with but when you hear one of your labels tracks being played out it really is something else. Seeing the Fridge’s dance floor packed with just under 900 punters at our second birthday in September all going nuts to Alf Bamford’s ‘Overdrive’ is something that I will never forget.

So me & you are playing b2b at Polysexual vs Twisted, two very fine parties I might add. Clearly, there is the possibility that I will make you look like the shameful amateur that you are. How do you intend to try to compete with me?

Haha, this is all based on the assumption that your head won’t take up all the room in the booth and I’ll actually be able to get in to play. Seriously Olly you are far more the superior DJ to me in every respect and I could never even begin to compete with you. Of course I play better music though so its all swings and roundabouts ;)

Do you have any surprises in store to try and botch up my mixing? I know you, Taylor, I’m onto you…

Lol will I really have to try that hard? ;) I was actually thinking about bringing my cat with me in my record bag. For those of you unaware of Olly’s allergies it will reduce him to a snivelling, teary eyed mess in a matter of minutes, giving me the chance to step up and dazzle you all with my technical wizardry and mad turntablist skills. She’s also quite partial to a bit of Hard Dance and as far as I’m aware hasn’t been to Heaven yet.

In all seriousness, which tunes do you have ready to rock and roll at the party and is there anything you’re absolutely bursting to play?

Well we’ve got some absolute crackers coming out on Addiction Digital in early 2007 that I’ll be dying to drop including one of my own new productions featuring the lovely Miss Jennie Rix called ‘Time to Shine’. There’s also some really great new stuff out there from Airspace and Brad Thatcher, Ian Betts and Nick Rowland and a couple of cheeky remixes including Ashley James’s and my own remix of Blank & Jones timeless classic ‘Cream’ and my personal remake of my trademark tune Orion ‘Rush’ (which I’m actually bouncing around to right now!). I get so many tracks these days it’s hard to say what I’ll be playing in over a week’s time, so just head to the Star Bar for 12am sharp to find out! I’m also playing the after party @ Hidden the next morning so you can expect two completely different sets from me. Who knows I may even dig out some older, harder stuff that hasn’t been played in a while for the morning.

Finally, please tell us how you managed to bag such a gorgeous girlfriend. It’s really baffled all of us for many years. You bastard.

Haha, she’ll love you for that! Franky is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, we’ve been together for almost 5yrs now, but I guess you’d have to ask her why she’s put up with me for so long. It was definitely love at 1st sight though for both of us.

Andy asks Olly

So I guess following recent press attention from Mixmag, you think you’re a bit of a big star. For those who don’t know, tell us about it. We know you love to show off.

Ha! Well yeah, this last month has actually been very cool indeed I must say!! I’ve been included in an upcoming Mixmag Future Heroes of Hard Dance feature alongside various other DJs and producers, which is an absolute honour! To be involved in something as prestigious as that is just incredible, and I still don’t quite believe they picked the right bloke! I think the magazine comes out in February so if you’re interested, it’ll be a good read I hope!!

Bastard. Anyhow, for those who don’t know anything about you, which I presume is most, tell us a bit about yourself.

Well, I’m Olly Perris and I’m a 22 yr old originally from Southampton but now living in the lovely smog-filled London. I recently graduated from Southampton Uni with a degree in History, which I have put to great use as I’m now working… in the music industry! I have a pet name for each one of my boxer shorts, at weekends I love to call myself Barbara, and I have a fifteen inch penis. Around.

How did you get into DJ’ing and what on earth got you into playing Hard Dance?

Well, dance music has always been a passion of mine since hearing Sash!’s dance anthem ‘Ecuador’ in a youth club at the age of 12 (true story!). After that, at the age of 14 I got into listening to Judge Jules’ legendary Radio 1 shows and was totally transfixed by the way he mixed the tunes together – so much so that I instantly began copying my CD collection and used software mixing programs to try to do the same, with little success. I eventually got a pair of decks when I was 16, and much to the disgust of my parents and neighbours, practised pretty much 24/7. I got into Hard Dance through talking to a guy called Chris Hutchinson on ICQ (remember that, net people!) and he played me a sample of Tony De Vit’s ‘Are You All Ready?’ and Andy Farley’s ‘Bring It Back’ and from then I was completely hooked, and have been so ever since!

You’ve made some fairly tragic records in the past, which have been utter rubbish. Except that Kokane one, that was alright I guess. Why on earth did you decide to inflict musical torture upon the world?

I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere! I first began making records when I was 16, but they weren’t too hot. I just kept plugging away though and had a minor amount of success with small labels until I began working with a guy called Ashley Sinclair, a then 24yr old from Southend. We arsed around remixing each others records for a while until he played me a half-finished track which became ‘The Venue’. I helped him finish it, and we were so unbelievably lucky to get the DJ support of Andy Farley on it after sending him a random CD in the post. Andy then passed the track onto BK & Ed Real who called us to sign it. It was the most incredible experience in the world, and one which I am so, so grateful for. Me & Ash collaborated on a few projects and since I’ve worked with Alf Bamford & Mike Harris and have released several solo tracks/remixes. I’ve been so lucky with it all really, and I’m so in debt and grateful for all the support I’ve had in the last 5 years – it has been absolutely amazing.

You’ve also played over in Australia, you lucky sod. Why didn’t they lynch you at customs when they saw you with a record bag?

Watch it Taylor, I’m after you. I was approached by the awesome Global Panic promotion which in Aus is the equivalent of Frantic and is ran by Brendan Ewin and the rather famous Steve Hill. After six months of planning and going slightly mental due to excess happiness about it, I flew out there and it was just amazing. I played three superb gigs in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney and met some incredible people. The clubbers in Aus really love their music, and it was such a pleasure to be involved in something so great. It really was an absolute dream come true.

So we’re playing back to back next week at Polysexual & Twisted. You’re known for making these dodgy re-edits you litter your set with these days. Any nasty surprises this time around?

Well, actually, yes. I’ve just finished a bootleg of a very well known hard-dance anthem with a very well known, er, not hard dance anthem. It may work, it may be the audio equivalent of a Greek tragedy, you’ll just have to be there and see if I panic and mix out too quickly!!! In all seriousness, I love making bootlegs for my sets. I do a lot of re-editing to tracks, not because I think it makes them better or anything like that, but because it’s nice to put your own stamp on something and often I’ll add in extra synth lines/percussion or well known samples just to try to help me engage with the crowd a bit more, particularly if the tune is quite unknown and needs some familiarity to it to get the good reactions. I’m sure you’ll cope with it though Andy!

That aside, do you have any fresh tracks which you’re dying to play?

Well you’ve already mentioned the superb track from Brad Thatcher & Airspace which is really rocking it, but I’ve also got some great new material on Traffic and, of course, the new Addiction Digital tracks which I’m really pleased to say have already been going down a storm with many of the leading DJs, so hopefully they’ll do the trick nicely at Heaven. But apart from that I never know what I’m going to play anyway as I always make a plan and then completely ignore it, or fluff it up!!

You work at Trackitdown alongside Ed Real and BK as official tea boy. Do you do anything else there?

Ha! Working at Trackitdown has been really, really great. There are 7 of us who work full time and our office environment is absolutely great. The company at the moment is really firing on all cylinders after seeing a 400% increase this year alone in sales and with many things in the pipeline, we’re sure it’ll very soon be your number one stop for MP3s, if it isn’t already of course! ;) It’s a really great place to work and although I make more tea than is necessary, I also get to deal with the worlds biggest and best record labels in an industry which I absolutely adore.

Finally, what does 2007 have in store for you and where do you want to be this time next year?

2007 is shaping up to be really great. I’ve had such a wild 2006 with graduating, my degree & dissertation, moving to London, starting a job, running a record label and somewhere in between trying to lead a social life, so hopefully things may calm down although in all honesty I don’t really want them to! I have some really great gigs lined up already for the new year and I’m just looking forward to whatever life throws at me. Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, so totally bring it on I say!!!