One of the few DJ/producers to successfully straddle the hard dance/hardcore, Nu Energy Collective trooper K-Complex is widely recognised as one of the most talented tunesmiths in the game. We caught up with him as he prepares to return to Frantic for their FREE Chemistry party this Friday 25th May at Hidden in London...

You usually collaborate with other artists, only occasionally doing solo tracks. Do you prefer working with other people to just doing bits by yourself?

I love working with other artists, it’s always great to have someone to vibe with in the studio...other people always bring fresh ideas and angles!

Speaking of which – who would be your dream collaborator?

Right now I’d love to do a track with MDA & Spherical, I’ve been a fan of there stuff for a while, it’s in the pipeline actually...

The Nu Energy Collective have been taking a bit of break recently from the live circuit. Why the break? What’s gwarnin’?

Last year we totally cained it, we had up to two shows a weekend and although we always spend at least two days putting each one together we felt like we were over doing it, so we decided to take a few months out and work on some fresh tunes and ideas. We’ve got some corkers up our sleeves at the moment!

The whole digital download thang has obviously opened the market up to anyone with a computer and some cracked software – meaning more so than before, there’s a lot of weak shit out there. What would be your best piece of advice to aspiring bedroom producers?

Aspire to be different!! I hear a lot of demo tracks that are pretty much clones of other tracks, as well as tunes that seem to have been made purely for the sake of making a tune rather than making something stand-out and special! My main gripe with the whole MP3 download site thing is the total lack of quality control on them. I wade though hours of very poor quality tracks before I find anything I’d buy!!

How was the Hardcore Weekender? Tell us some good stories please!

My head still aches from that one...lets just say the NEC crew were on top form. I seem to remember spending much of Saturday night in an army helmet, aviator sunglasses and carrying an oversized toy gun...

What’s the best track you’ve heard recently? What made it stand out?

I think it’s got to be Greg Brookman and Kevin Energy’s “Execute”. The sounds they’ve used in it are all so classy, a definite collision of two great producers there.

You’re making a long overdue return to Frantic for their Chemistry party at Hidden on Friday 25th May. What are your memories of the last time you played for them – the 9th birthday I believe?
That one was a great party, (I remember you at the front having it my set actually). I ended up staying ‘til the last tune and grooving ‘til way past my bed time!

Have you been making much hard dance recently? Have you got some exclusive goodies lined up for the Frantic mahoosive?

Oh yes tons! I’ve got some brand new premium quality bootlegs to give a good airing as well as a few new tracks I’ve made with Audiofreak and Hoopz too!

I see there’s a fellow ginger on the line-up...Mr. Greg Brookman. I heard you too “got busy” in the studio together?

Yep we sure did! We were getting ready for our back to back non-stop PA extravaganza at Transmission last month and decided that we should write a track especially for it. The result was “Stimulant”, a genre hopping twisted slammer to be sure!

And finally – plug time! What releases have you got coming up?

Loads of stuff at the moment, I’ve got a few tracks coming out on the Elevate 2 album (mixed by Phil York and Kevin Energy) released 28th May as well as my own hardcore mix CD with Arkitech on the Freefomation album, and of course there’s releases that I’ve worked coming out weekly on available on our website!


Check out the full line-up for Chemistry and details on how to get free entry here:
http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/hidden/2007/may/25/event-118108