You might not have heard of Scum Records, but the rest of DSI certainly has! The hard dance label's group currently has a whopping 2398 members and as long head honcho Ugly Dave and his colleagues keep busting out diverse, innovative slices of hard dance, breaks and electro - it looks set to continue getting bigger and bigger! Come and see what all the fuss is about as we caught up with Dave ahead of his gig at Squelcher at Hidden in London this Friday...

You’re not that ugly...why the name eh?

Haha! This question I've answered in too many interviews lol! Ok in brief... I used to box, it kept me busy for 9 years or more. I was given the name “Ugly” in the ring for various reasons! There now can we move on?! Haha!

Hmm...OK then. The first I heard of you was your awesome ‘Fallen/Breakin’ Up’ on 12 Inch Thumpers back in 2004...how long had you been producing for before it got picked up?

Hahahah the Thumpers lol, this time old question of me with the Thumpers! Yes I did have a few tracks out on the 12" Thumpers label, also Thumping Hard. These tracks they held onto for a good year before release, and they were also made another 18 months before Alan from the Thumpers even heard these tracks, so the answer to that is 3-4 years before my Thumpers work was signed I was carving out my sounds. All the releases I've had out on all the different labels and these Thumpers releases get shouts every single time, why why why?!

How do you view the current state of the hard dance scene? It’s certainly quite different to how it was 5 years ago say...

Increasing new possibilities, very exciting and yes different to how the scene was 5 years ago - not necessarily in a bad way though, we've just evolved and adapted. The music industry of all sectors have their ups and downs, it’s not a case of bailing ship when the going gets tough, you just got to knuckle down and work harder. In general though the scene is on the up. More and more new clubs and promotions are opening as well as many many new labels. We currently have 120 new members to our Scum Records DSI group every single week, new fresh clubbers constantly emerging...so yeah I’d say things are looking good at the minute.

How are you finding things with your label Scum Digital? How is the current climate for downloads?

Very tricky question to answer in short. I work with a very busy development company when I'm not making tracks, organising events etc...we have done some seriously deep research into the digital market globally. In short, else I'll be here all day, there is so much money in digital downloads its stupid! So no doubt about it it’s a very rewarding business to be in, sales are up so the music is getting out there. Obviously if you do not promote & market your label you won’t get the sales, but with a keen eye on the market, a strong promotions team you can’t go wrong on the digital market.

You’re playing for Squelcher once again at Hidden on August 31st. How did your relationship with this tasty little party begin?

Me and D4rK are very close friends and have been for toooo long haha! I first played the London party Squelcher only 5 months back. It was one of the best London parties atmosphere wise I’d been part of in years. Dropped a live set for the first half of my performance just to test the water and dear dear me haha the place seriously went off! I’m really looking forward to this next Squelcher party - D4rK Lord has really gone to town on decor for dressing up the Hidden venue. Also personally I’d say the line up in the whole venue is banging, end of!! Dave Holmes, a Fevah and Squelcher EXCLUSIVE, Riggsy battling with myself, Jon the Baptist, Kevin Energy, Vibes & Livelee, D4rK Production Showcase and too many others...ha ha ha read that line-up, this is going to be one seriously good party!

What can we expect from you on the night? You’re playing back-to-back with Riggsy right?

Well I think we all know the answer to that question! Like asking if the pope wears a silly hat, lol! For all of you who don't know, I’ll give you 3 very big clues, first one starts with a capital “F" and ends in "h", 2nd clue is it’s extremely hard and last but not least is this isn’t for the faint hearted!

Riggsy and I, as we all know, are head-deep in production whether that’s our own or other people’s, so when we play we either play live or showcase sets, so expect all new tunes and tons of freebies. We got tons of Scum Promos to give away, Scum Records latest pressed release, the Fevah 10th Birthday Albums, stickers and some new Scum Club Decor! Just you wait and see! Lol!

Have you played abroad much yet? Are there many opportunities for hard dance DJs to play across the world at the moment?

Yes there is a market for hard dance artists globally, for example we manage and promote some very popular parties in New Zealand, and soon to be in the UK *winks*. Apart from NZ and obviously Australia, places like Greece, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and many many other countries other than the UK are well into their hard dance. In fact I've played some of these countries and the vibe you get from the overseas crowds is amazing and it’s a very different buzz to what you get in the UK.

For all those techy people out there....what do you use to make your tracks on?

Fruityloops also SX3, depends what mood I'm in, also what genre. Both sequencers are both very powerful tools, but both are very different. You've got to use what suits you best not what everyone else is using, stay off bandwagons and stick to what you know best works with you. I've been using Fruity, also Cubase now for too long lol! I get a new sound out of these sequencers so these suit me just fine. I do have a play around with other sequencing packages such as Logic and Reason but always revert back to me roots which as we know is FruityLoops.

Are you very set in your ways or are you open to learning new programmes and techniques and so on?

Noooo I'm far from being set in my ways, ha ha. I use many different soft and hard synths, too many different internal plugins, as well as producing Breaks, House, Trance, Techno, Hardcore, Hardhouse, Schranz, Electro and even some Pop lol. Being open to all genres as well as all techniques is the key to good music and a good party. I've never been one to be stuck in a rut as they say, always producing new sounds and breaking boundaries is my main goal every time I enter my studio and always has been.

What have you got coming up on the production and release front? Plug yourself silly!

Ok you said it lol... Ive just had 13 tracks signed to the Fevah 10th Birthday album, a two part album exclusive to New Zealand at the minute. Fevah Records is a label we all grew up with. Getting one track signed to such a label is an accomplishment, never mind 13. Also by the time you read this Scum Records is no longer a digital only label, haha it’s pressed to 12" vinyl, yeap that’s right, Scum Records is available to buy from all good stores lol. Release 1 ‘UglyDave - The System’ with supporting remixes from Karnage & The SleezBagz.

Talking of the SleezBagz, I've got to mention this...these guys we've done some collabs with, one of me all time fave tunes next to ‘The System’ is ‘NoBodys Business’ - Breaks Trancer signed exclusively to Fevah Breaks...ha ha telling you, you need to hear this track and see what damage it causes!

As well as the Fevah UK launch Album, look out for D4rK’s production album ‘Residential Evil!’. There’s a couple of collab tracks of mine on there are well as a couple of my tracks being released on his label D4rK R3CORDS. So keep ya eyes peeled for those in the next couple of weeks! There’s loads more I could plug i.e. who we are in the studio with, name drop name drop name drop, no point as if you follow Scum & Fevah you already know what we’re doing lol! We’ve also got a few very special very large events planned which is all I’m saying at present! Keep ya eye on Scum DSI as soon all will become very very clear lol.

Check out full details of Squelcher Nation, featuring Ugly Dave, Kevin Energy, Dave Holmes and Jon The Baptist:
http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/hidden/2007/aug/31/event-131744