Love Muzik vs Freeformation is just over a week away! Blimey! Billy "Daniel" Bunter and Sharkey will be revisiting the golden era of trancecore during their set at the event - a musical movement which they pioneered and would later evolve to what is know generally known as freeform. What's that all about I hear you ask? Over the lads to explain...

Billy "Daniel" Bunter

So – how did Trancecore begin? What was hardcore music sounding like back then?

Hardcore at the time was very fairground-sounding about 1996, and I wasn’t totally in to it. Myself and Rob Vanden were on our way to a gig in Switzerland and we got talking about how interesting it would be to make some music at hardcore speed and production but with trance elements. “Now” that doesn’t sound that radical but “then” it was very experimental. The first track we did in that style was called ‘Sky Dive’ (If my memory serves me correctly).

Who helped to influence the sound of trancecore then?

The main people was my self, Rob Vanden, D’zyne and Austin Reynolds under the GBT/Bang The Future guise. Sharkey and his Bonkers crew, Ramos, Supreme and UFO, the Stage 1 crew, and a number of others (sorry if I have missed anyone off, we are talking 10 years ago here!)

What were people’s initial reactions to the music? Was it an instant hit or not really?

There was mixed reactions. From my side I hated the tag Trancekor, but that’s what the media decided to tag us. Because it had the word “trance” in the title a lot of the Trance purists were furious. For me personally looking back, it was a great 18 month period in my career. I got to mix lots of great albums, was in the press a lot and headlined lots of gigs playing the sound. For me musically it was a natural progression, but I know a lot of people who was in to my sound from 2 years previous weren’t totally feeling it, but then there was lots of people who was discovering the sound and getting right in to it.

What did the critics have to say about it?

For a year period, I think it was cool for journalists to do Trancekor features, it seemed for a period they was bang on it. DJ Mag, Dream, Wax, M8, 2 The Kor, MixMag, Eternity...there was always interviews with our camp or Sharkey’s or Ramos & Supreme. Record reviewers lapped it up. There was also a feature on BPM TV if my memory serves correct. The critics were in to it, which was all good from an exposure point of view.

Your label GBT was the bastion of the sound. Which tracks are you particularly looking forward to digging out for your special set at Love Muzik vs Freeformation?

I always love dropping ‘Bodyslam’, that was the cross over anthem. People still ask me what the words say. Fury – ‘Desensitise’, that was a heavy tune. Stu J & UFO – ‘Resin 8’, that was the blue print for freeform and Code 28 – Feel my desire, I think that was my favourite from the whole era.

When did you move on from trancecore? What happened?

I would like to point out in my 17 years of DJing every thing has been a natural progression, a musical journey. Not once have I woke up and thought “I’m gonna be this style today” or “I don’t like this style any more” it’s always merged in to the next sound. With Trancekor I was finding I was getting booked at places like Sunny Side Up, Pendragon, Eat Your Words, Country Club, Infamous many of the original Nrg/Trance clubs around ‘96/’97 and I was finding I was building up to the Trance Kor with Choci, Baby Doc, Untidy Dubs, Tony De Vit etc so the hard house/NRG sound was really starting to influence me. Many of the Trade DJs were playing my music at clubs and I was playing a lot of their music at raves. Same with the NRG/trance DJs like Choci/Mark EG & Marc Sinclair. It was a very exciting time musically and lots of styles were merging together. One of the albums I released I called ‘The Future of Hard Dance’. I never intended it to be a word used to describe a genre, just a title for an album with a concept. I’m not a follower of the latest trends and genre titles, I’m a music lover, and go where my music takes me!

Sharkey

You used to be associated with the happiest of happy hardcore before trancecore came along. When and where did you first hear this sub-genre of ‘ardcore?

In those days I never really DJed the real ballady happy stuff. My early DJ sets were comprised of breakbeats and old skool (nu skool at the time!) pianos – stuff like Impact Records, Kniteforce, anything breakbeaty. That’s what the hardcore sound was down South, whilst the Scottish stuff was all the banging kick drum bouncy techno sound which I was loving also as it was just raw, pure and banging. Me and Druid also got on the go with some really ravey stuff – the whole Rhythm Station sound. Then me and Hixxy got into the studio and made a big kick drum track influenced by those distorted kick drums but with a big happy twist, ‘Toytown’ – which just exploded, one of the first first big kick drum hardcore tracks made South of the border. But as of my second record ‘Revolutions’ in ‘96, it was always a bit deeper than the more happy hardcore stuff. ‘Revolutions’ was based on a Mozart piece sped up to hardcore speed so it wasn’t your standard hardcore vocal track. Not saying there wasn’t a place for that as I’m loving my vocals now and always have done...but at the time there was a massive need for something a bit different. There were a few people doing more underground different hardcore but it was in the minority – Ramos, Bunter and me. That was it, really.

Was it like finding your calling when you heard it? Did it “click” in your brain?

It wasn’t something that existed at that point – I just wanted to write something that was slightly different at that time and I think Daniel was the same.
It was hard work at that time – crowds wanted the happy stuff, so you could never really push things to far down the experimental route. It was only really in ‘97/’98 when we started getting recognised for pushing something different although I’ll always remember playing at Helter Skelter in ‘96 and watching the whole crowd just go nutz to every record I played. It really felt like there was a time and a place for hardcore with a difference.

So how did you and your colleagues help to make the genre evolve into what we now know as freeform?

As ever, I’ve always thought freeform as more the way you play it than a genre in itself.
Freeform is anything you want it to be, it’s just a name for hardcore that doesn’t stick to formulas and dares to be different. That was the problem with the trancecore name is that it made people think of trance, and trance alone, but if you look at tracks like ‘Bodyslam’ by Bang The Future and my track ‘Awakening’, it had all sorts of influences. How could you call a hardcore track with a ragga chant or a rock guitar as trancecore? To me that never really made sense, its all just hardcore, freeform’s just the way you play it. By leaving it open, you give producers the freedom to do their own thing with their creativity.

Did you feel that playing and producing this distinct style of hardcore separated you somewhat from the mainstream side of the genre?

Yeah at times… of course it did. But we were just making what came from inside. The scene needed that different side, it was all too one dimensional, all too happy. It needed that texture, those different sides, to give it that personality. Not everything wanted to rave out to happy stuff all the time, there are different emotions you can feel in a rave and freeform was about bringing them all out and giving them a place in the scene,

How would you define freeform to someone who had no clue what you were on about?

I wouldn’t. Don’t bother putting any constrictions in their head – there’s so much variety out there right now that they can find their own favourite sound

What memories will your Trancecore set at Love Muzik vs Freeformation bring back?

A key era in my life, it kind of shaped the ten years of my life – a lot of my best friends and my way of life have been shaped by that period. Moments like that Helter Skelter back in ‘96 always stick out. I remember playing tracks like ‘Encounters’ by Marc Smith. It was a set that had everything, a beginning, a middle and an end, Tazzmania at Hastings Pier back in 1996 was wicked too, where I first met Kevin (Energy). We’ve all come along way together and still trying to keep things mixed and different in raveland – hardcore can be so many different things, if producers are open to experimenting and ravers are openminded.