Frantic's little sister returns to Hidden this Friday for another installment of hard dance talent touting - otherwise known as Hard Dance Showcase. This month sees a special headline appearence from Scotland's finest - Nuklearpuppy promoters and residents Phil York and Jason Cortez. We caught up with hard trance master Cortez in anticpation of this exciting prospect!

And remember to email your names for the guestlist to elvis@franticuk.net - it's totally free before midnight!

So Jason, how did your journey in dance music begin? What were you busying yourself with before you started Nuklearpuppy?

I’m a graphic designer by trade, so before finding the wonder that is dance music I was a student for 4 years. I got into DJing through my Gran’s next door neighbour who had decks and gave me a shot one afternoon. I was already buying records as I loved my clubbing and music, so taking up DJing was a natural progression.

Why and how did you start Nuklearpuppy? How has it grown over the years?

I started Nuklearpuppy in June 2001 as I was a little disheartened by the clubs that were on offer playing harder edged music. The nights were overpriced and took advantage of clubbers because there weren’t any alternatives. So I started Nuklearpuppy as a residents based night that was cheap and cheerful, but didn’t sacrifice good music for cheap entry. I didn’t see why you can have good nights that are cheap! Our opening night was a great success and ran for 6 months at our original venue before it was closed for a re-fit and we moved to a slightly bigger venue, Ego, which we still call home today. When Nuklearpuppy moved to Ego, Phil York came on board as co-promoter and the rest is history as they say…

We’ve been running nearly 7 years, had some amazing nights and hosted guests such as Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell, Marco V, Scot Project, Lisa Lashes, Anne Savage, Fergie, Misstress Barbara, BK, Nick Sentience, Phil Reynolds, Kutski, The Organ Donors, K90, Amber D… the list is endless! We’ve been lucky enough to take the brand the length and breadth of the country, seen some great places and met so many brilliant folk, long may it continue ?

What’s been the most memorable/debauched/chaotic party you guys have thrown?

I’ll be honest there are too many stories to think off and I think a lot of the stuff is illegal in certain counties… but ask around and I’m sure you’ll find someone with a story about either myself or Phil York at an event or afterparty!

Which guest DJs have caused the most damage at Nuklearpuppy?

If by damage you mean breaking things, then Gaz West destroyed a mixer, Pants and Corset broke a CDJ and Andy Pickles broke a young girls heart once…

When did you first get into production? I think ‘Such A Feeling’ on Nukleuz back in 2004 was the first we heard from you officially...

Before that myself and Phil had a couple of other tracks on Nukleuz, ‘My World’ and ‘88MPH’ both under Cortez & York. We also had a track called ‘Reality’ on Heat Vinyl and ‘Freaks’ on Recharge’…and there was the infamous ‘Bastard Child’ that we did, our first ever production!

What have you been cooking up in the studio recently? What’s been influencing you?

I’ve been so busy lately working away on so many different things. I’m getting more and more into my trance and tech-trance, with my stuff receiving airplay on Radio One from Judge Jules, as well as being supported by Fred Baker, Scot Project, Agnelli & Nelson and Mark Sherry to name but a few. I’m also working on a bucket load of hard-dance, having recently completed a remix for Tidy of the new Stimulator track. You can also catch my ‘Set U Free’ track just before Christmas on Tranzlation Records. I’ve also just done a series of collaborations with MDA & Spherical, Technikal, Gaz West and Phil Reynolds, which should all get an airing at HDS…on top of all that I’m very pleased with the tracks ‘Take Me Away(Shelter Me)’, ‘Desire’, ‘Human Evolution’, ‘Enemy Of The State’ and ‘Soul Seeka’, all of which should out very soon on my new Enervate label.

You’re playing for Frantic at their Hard Dance Showcase at Hidden in London on Friday 23rd November. When did you last play for them? How was the whole shebang?

My last gig for Frantic was a while ago now at Hard Dance Academy in Brixton, so I’m looking forward to coming back and hopefully rocking it for them ? My last gig was wicked though, playing Brixton Academy was an honour, and I was lucky to play there again at the last Hard Dance Awards, and I hope that won’t be the last….

Obviously the idea of the night is to present the hottest new talent in the hard dance scene. Who would you put in the spotlight?

There are loads of folk out there just now rocking it, and are doing a great job of focussing the spot light on themselves, so I’m gonna have to shine the light on a few Scottish based lads that wont get much attention South of the Border. Firstly a young lad that plays for me at Nuklearpuppy, Simon McLeod, a technically amazing DJ, with an ear for a tune selection and set structure… And a nice lad to boot!

Secondly William Daniel who plays for Insideout in Glasgow, his scratching is wicked and he plays a mighty fierce fusion of tech-trance and hard-dance. I have to big up some of my mates and the local Scottish talent!

How do Scottish crowds differ from English ones? Be brutal please!

Scottish crowds are noisier and less likely to care what they look like to other people, which makes for amore of a live gig type atmosphere with everyone jumping around like mad. There is no crowd better than a Scottish one, so it’s hard to compare…
English crowds are slightly more clued-up on music and production, but don’t let themselves go as much as they should, often worried about what people about them think.
When ever I play in London I think I’m usually the most drunk, messy person in the city half the time, but I don’t care ‘cos I’m having fun....but I have to say Phil Reynolds and Ben Bennet give me a run for my money!

So when I’m down I hope I’ll see some of you at the bar for a double vodka before playing some tracks and jumping about like a loon!

What are your current views on the hard dance scene as a whole right now? Healthy or in need of a kick up the arse?

I think it’s in a healthy position as there is so much going on. More clubs seem to be popping up, more young producers are making big waves...my only concern is that maybe there’s a problem with quantity rather than quality… with so much going on the standards seam to be slipping a little, with there being a greater gap between the good tracks, DJs, clubs and promoters and the not so good. Everybody and their dog is a DJ, producer, promoter or something, making it hard work to sift through the not so good to find those little gems. That taken in to consideration though, with so many people interested in breaking into the industry it means we all have to up our game to be noticed, making it better for the clubbers as better nights are put on, better tracks are made, and DJs need to be seen to be doing something different… hard dance is back baby, yeah!

Interview by Ben Gomori at Evolution99 – ben@evolution99.co.uk

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