Heavyweight hard house club night INSEKT seems to embody the best of both worlds of clubbing. On the one hand, here is a club night with a very distinctive specialized musical policy: proper underground hard house, with the emphasis on fresh new music - no cheese or overplayed classics here! It’s the kind of night that leaves the musical purist without complaint and begging for more. On the other hand, an INSEKT party has a mass appeal to the wider clubbing population – it’s as friendly, luvdup, colourful, visual and sensual as a rave! The music may be dark and uncompromisingly hard, but it is also bright, smiley and totally energizing. And the crowd, the INSEKT swarm, are grinning raving cyber scruffy mad up-for-it clubbers, young and old, who ram the club because they just know that INSEKT is just the best night for DANCING in the scene today.

Top DJ-producers Marc Johnson (Flashpoint Records, Tripoli Trax), James Nardi (Killer Hurts, Aftermath) and Chris Comben (Combat Records, Tripoli Trax) are the three men who triple-handedly promote INSEKT as well as play on the night. They celebrate the third birthday of the night in big style on September 7th by debuting at hard dance superclub Heaven. The line-up is about as big as it gets: not only 2007 resident and DJ of the year Karim, but also the Dark Destroyer and Vicious Circle supremo Paul Glazby, and a unique b2b between clubber’s favourite Justin Bourne and the top producer of the genre Dom Sweeten aka Defective Audio – PLUS Nik Denton, DFQ, Tom Parr and the INSEKT boys themselves! Nutter caught up with Marc, James and Chris to ask what presents they’d like for their birthday…

Let’s talk about the nature of the INSEKT beast in general first of all… The past three years are a success story: you’ve grown from small crowds at Fire to mass appeal at the Fridge and now superclub Heaven beckons. What’s the secret of this success?

Marc: Hard work and believing in what you do is the main thing. I’d also say we like to think a lot with regards to how we put on a event and don’t just look at what others are doing then duplicating it a few months/years later.

James: Yeah, it has been hard at times. When our partners have dropped out and we almost stopped running for example, but we held together well & we made it through those times to where we are today. As Marc said, we haven't really taken any notice of what other promotions are doing. We are all very actively involved in the scene with our labels & productions so we are in a fortunate position to be able to see what or who is happening or going to be big months in advance. If someone is starting to make waves, then we will be the first to see this.

Chris: I agree with what the lads. I honestly think it’s the quality of the DJs. I’m not knocking any other nights as they’re obviously there for a reason, but with INSEKT the line-ups have always been really high. A mate of the promoter doesn’t get a set at INSEKT, even the warm-up is given to someone that’s put something into the scene - be it through tracks, labels, promotion or energy in keeping it alive.
It would be easy to give it to someone that says they’d sell 50 tickets if you give them a set, but that would be cheating the public I think. Ultimately the party was born out of the scene, but now, personally, I see it as an important part of the scene as well. As all the biggest hard house parties are.

So what is special about INSEKT party nights compared to other comparable club nights?

Marc: For me it’s always been the music, we are all actively making tracks and book those who do the same so we’ve always been proud that you can come to INSEKT and see Glazby or Dom playing all their own tracks as opposed to another DJ playing a set full of Glazby or Dom tunes, it’s also been quite important for us to stay true to what we are into and not take the easy way out by booking DJs we wouldn’t normally or are just not into (regardless of popularity) just so we get get a few extra numbers in.

James: The main focus has to be for the music. It's a hard house purist’s musical wet dream in my opinion. lol Also since the big move to the Fridge we have put a lot of extra effort into the production. Clubbers always come away from the event saying how amazing the stage looked, the extra lighting, the giant screens everywhere. We will be continuing this at Heaven too.

Chris: I think the most important thing we did when we moved to the Fridge, apart from bring the same quality line-ups (and increasing the number of DJs) was to spend on the venue itself. A lot of parties at the time were just turning up, switching the lights off and starting. We actually took the time and money to make sure The Fridge looked like the sort of place you could go on a journey in.

What do you see as the main achievements of INSEKT in the last year?

Marc: Conquering the Fridge. The place has seen a lot of promotions take it on and fail; we shit ourselves when we first booked it but the four parties all did very well there. (Regardless of the problems the place has had we always had good events there and transformed the place.) January’s event was the busiest there since the Frantic days of old so that was a big achievement.

James: I'd also say the Fridge. Despite the negative press it's got over the past couple of years, we still managed to have four massive events there without any trouble at all. We have also tapped into a new younger generation of clubber, which has helped breathe new life into the hard house scene. They may have not been that keen on coming to Fire, but since the move to The Fridge we have seen so many new young faces. Hopefully the move to Heaven for the Birthday will see another new influx of young ravers.

Chris: Yeah, clearly it’s the step up from a small monthly run club night, to a big classic venue and still maintaining the ethos of INSEKT. It’s also been a year in which we’ve tried to increase the general awareness of INSEKT. With t-shirts now on sale, which have been more popular that we’d imagined, and also the new digital record label (INSEKT Sonar) giving people a chance to purchase many of the tracks that get played on the night.

One thing I notice is that you’re holding the INSEKT parties only four times this year. Can you say something about why you keep the parties exclusive like this?

Marc: We had INSEKT monthly when we where at Fire and felt that the effort was being wasted because it was always there so people took it for granted. It makes it more of a event this way and people look forward to their fix a little more because there is longer to wait until the next time.

James: The last thing we want is INSEKT to become stale. Although I think there will be more then 4 parties next year. ;)

Hmm.. even more wet dreams then! ;o)

Chris: It’s also a lot of hard work, when you want to promote the next INSEKT it’s important that the line-up is fresh and not just following the crowd. As Marc says when it’s monthly people can easily skip it for the next one; having fewer parties makes each one special, something to look forward too.

There seems to be no compromise in ensuring that the top names in underground hard house regularly play the INSEKT parties: Glazby, Andy Farley, Defective Audio, Karim, Justin Bourne. Steve Thomas… you can’t get any bigger than that in the scene! Can you say something about why and how you manage to do this?

Marc: We are quite strict with ourselves and book the DJs that we can afford within our party budget; to get the very best you have to pay for them. If we can’t afford them then we don’t book them, it’s pretty simple really.

James: For me, if you want quality then you have to pay for it. We never hold back & scrimp on a line up.

Chris: It’s crucial to INSEKT that the line-ups reflect the scene, past, present and future. I think we spend more than most on DJs, but at the same time it’s a very fine balance.

So how can you continue to keep INSEKT underground and exclusive and yet popular at the same time?

Marc: I’m not really fussed if it stays underground, I’d be happy to see it more mainstream and popular to be honest.

James: I think hard house will always pretty much stay underground, but I've found the more well-known & respected the venue & the more professional the promotional campaign the more people you are going to appeal to.

Chris: I’m with Marc in a way; it would be nice to have more people interested in the scene; at the moment it’s very very tight, as we all know. The more people we can attract to INSEKT will hopefully help push the scene on.

One of the distinctive features of an INSEKT party night is that the DJs are also the music makers. But what do you say to the argument that producing a great track in a studio is a very different skill than playing out to a crowd?

Marc: It’s a tricky one really. You can get some producers who will write the most intricate tracks which is beautiful to listen to but it will stop a dance floor dead in its tracks. I think if you are a good DJ and pay attention while you are playing then you’ll have a good idea of what will work in a track.

James: I'd say almost all the producers we have booked as DJs have done a sound job. The two jobs tend to go hand in hand these days & once you have mastered one of them, mastering the other doesn't seem too difficult.

Chris: The usual route is for DJs to move into track creation, but with software engineering having taken over from the old days of hardware it means quite a few people do it in reverse. As such it’s sometimes an issue trying to book people that make them as they may well not be able to DJ. But as Jim says there’s a good chance a producer can DJ, and if they can’t it won’t take them too long to pick it up. Mind you, if they’re crap, they’ll not get booked again :)

Let’s talk about the upcoming party on September 7th now…. At your second birthday (at the Fridge, back in October 2006) you gave us lots of nice presents (a special mix CD plus some FlashPoint vinyl). What birthday presents would you each like from us the punters this year?

Marc: A bucket load of Pepsi please, John

James: Haha.. I'd like to see some of the older faces make an appearance for the 3rd birthday. I know a lot of them don't tend to go out very often these days, but it would be good to get the old timers back on the dance floor with our new breed.

Chris: I’m with Jim, the more people the better, lets make it a party to remember, Heaven’s certainly the place to do it too! But if anyone wants to get me anything in celebration I’ll not say no ;)

It’s a stunning line up you have planned for us. Perhaps the most eye-catching set is a b2b between the clubber’s favourite Justin Bourne and the man universally recognized in the industry as the supreme producer, Dom Sweeten (aka Defective Audio). I expect you are delighted to have booked such an exclusive.

Marc: We are very pleased to put this on as both complement each other sound-wise. Back-to-backs are amazing when they are put together properly and this will be one of those match-ups. Justin’s pushed Dom’s sound for as long as I can remember and Dom’s pushed Justin at the start of his career releasing ‘Drop the Dime’ and ‘Time is up’ so I imagine it will be surreal for both of them.

James: Oh yeah, I can't wait for their set. They have both been in the studio together quite a bit recently so they'll have loads of upfrontage!!

Chris: They both respect each other and they’ve worked together so often I’m sure they’ve got the same feel for the music. Back-to-backs can easily go wrong, but I’m pretty sure these two will rock it big time!

Can you tell us what other special treats you have planned for the punters at the birthday party?

Marc: If we tell you then it won’t be a surprise; the whole night is going to be a fitting present we hope.

James: Well it's our first time at Heaven so we will be working closely with the club & our production team making the place look out of this world.

Chris: Track-wise it’s going to be a stormer as well. I’ve got a couple more tracks for Combat being done this month, including my remix of Nik Denton’s ‘Who The Hell’. We’ll also have the next few Tripoli releases ready to unleash as well; its going to be a first for most of these tracks and I can’t wait.

Fantastic!... Anything that holding the night at Heaven is going to add to the INSEKT party experience and enhance the pleasure for the INSEKT swarm?

Marc: It’s gonna feel different as it’s a change of venue so hopefully it’ll have a special and new feel about it (oh and they sell burgers and chips in Heaven which is never bad).

James: Hehe... go Homer!! Lol.. Heaven is an amazing venue. I've always loved the place & thought holding an INSEKT event there would never happen. The place is nice & clean, has awesome sound & a massive bar.

Chris: Its certainly got class about it, personally I think Heaven and the Fridge are on a par, both fantastic iconic clubs. Its great to be able to list it as a venue for INSEKT, we’ll just have to see how it all progresses. Also I understand Heaven’s owned by the Virgin Media Group, so I’m hoping old Dickie Branson pops down for dance. Always wanted to meet him!

Chips! Now you’re talking! :o) … Now some questions about each of you as DJs, producers and promoters… Those who’ve seen you play out and heard your music will know that each of you is just as capable of end-of-night full-on nails as a good groovy warm-up set. But you each have your own styles. How would you say your different styles complement each other over an INSEKT club night?

Marc: We all own different flavours of hard house and can all play accordingly (Chris can play a mean closing set like he did a few times at Fuel.) but I guess we all prefer playing a certain way if we’ve given the chance. It works well as the preferred sounds progress from each other.

James: I've been into hard house pretty much from day one, so my record collection is massive. I love my groove & funk just as much as my evil synths & big basslines. We are all very adaptable.

Chris: Certainly so, personally I quite like playing earlier, for a start I’m not tired ;) but I love to be able to play the funky Combat tracks, leaving Marc and James to go for the bigger tracks. But they’re both so adaptable that we can really shake it up if we fancy it.

Some DJs plan out their sets meticulously before the night; others make it up as they go along in response to what the crowd’s like on the night. Which type are you?

Marc: I like to have a idea of the first couple of tracks and then go from there (although that usually changes depending on what I’m left with). It’s a lot easier for me because 90% of the time I play most of the new FlashPoint material or my own tracks when I play out, ‘most’ DJs are respectful and don’t play what’s new on the label or my new ones before I play so while I don’t plan sets I have a pretty good idea of what I’m gonna spin.

James: I tend to know what new tunes I want to play, but don't really have a set order of anything. I have a habit of piecing tunes together in my head, working out what basslines go with each other & just tend to make it up as I go along. lol

Chris: I’m easy me :) Like Jim I’ll have a few tracks I want to play to hear out on a big system, but generally I’ll just pick them as I go depending on how the crowd is reacting.

What about your future plans and ambitions. As well as running the best hard house night in the known universe, you each have musical careers outside of INSEKT. Can you tell me what you each hope to achieve personally over the coming months?

Marc: I’ve just persuaded Tarik (my old boss at Tripoli Trax) to let me bring the label back and take it over on a more full time basis (as opposed to just being the A&R man like last time). I asked Chris if he’d like to be involved so between us we’ll be busy working on getting that up to speed… Jupe and myself have got a lot on the go with FlashPoint so things are due to get hectic again but it’s all good. I also hope to work on a few Flashpoint/Tripoli tour nights, after the Flashpoint party at Storm went off with a bang so that’s a goal for next few months. (Any interested promoters give us a shout.)

James: I've just returned from my third tour of Australia & New Zealand, which is always a lot of fun. The scene out there is mental. Especially in Zealand! My next visit is already being planned so I can't wait for that! I have just put out the third release on my Killer Hurts Recordings label so that should be in all good record shops now…. I have also recently moved house & i have just set up my new studio in a separate room at home, so expect a increase in tracks coming from me over the coming months.

Chris: I’m kicking on with Combat, signing a few tracks and also making more; hopefully Combat will start to get a bigger following and really come on in 2008. Really excited about working on Tripoli as well, it’s going to be great to get the old dog moving again! The Tripoli tour nights should be good as well; hopefully Tripoli coming back can give the scene a big lift and entice more clubbers to the fold.

Now about your particular roles in the INSEKT ‘family’…. Marc, you’re known to be the one with most of the musical connections and experience in the music industry. You are perhaps the father-figure of Team INSEKT: the original founding member, and therefore the one that perhaps most resembles Homer Simpson, lazing about on the couch as much as possible, drinking beer, watching TV and getting fat. Is that a fair description of your role?

Marc: Hahah that’s actually spot on.

Chris, you’re known as the man responsible for much of the INSEKT image: the logo, videos, and merchandise design. You’re also known as the quiet one and, as the last member to join, the baby of the team. You’re therefore like Maggie Simpson, a dribbling infant who needs her nappy changing by the others on a regular basis. Is that a fair description, would you say?

Chris: I’m certainly quiet like Maggie! As long as I’m not Ralf I suppose I’m happy, although there’s always room for Spider Pig on my team if he gets bored of walking on the ceiling :)

James, you’ve been called the PR king of Team INSEKT, and the one perhaps most responsible for successfully communicating the pleasures of INSEKT parties to the wider clubbing public. In terms of the INSEKT family, you must surely be the Bart Simpson figure, a mischievous, delinquent youth who will do a moonie at any available opportunity. Is that a good description of your role?

James: Haha.. love it! Yeah, that could be about right, John.

If you were all Big Brother contestants, who would win and why?

Marc: It wouldn’t be me, I’d be out by week two for pissing everyone off, probably James as all the girls (or guys) will go squishy over him

James: Oh god. I like to watch the show, but i would hate to be in it. I couldn't think of anything worse. If i did happen to find myself in there I'd take all the housemates INSEKT t-shirts & the vest tops for the girlies. ;)

Chris: Can’t stand the whole thing. No chance of me winning as I’m far too boring, I’m told I’m nice as well, I can’t believe that would help me win it.

Finally give me one word or phrase which best sums up the INSEKT party experience for the punters coming to see you on September 7th.

Marc: Explosive !!!!!

James: Dynamite!!

Chris: Whimsical

INSEKT-tastic!... Thanks, boys! Looking forward to the party of the year on September 7th!

This interview text digitally mastered by Nutter of the INSEKT swarm. Thanks to Team INSEKT for three years of intense musical pleasure and fun :o)

INSEKT links:
www.Insekt.co.uk
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/clubinsekt
DSI Group: http://www.dontstayin.com/parties/insekt
Facebook Group for the INSEKT SWARM: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2409668460