Never mind about Cupid’s bow because Nu-Religion have got one Savage arrow descending down to the Mass nightclub for their Valentines Day Ball!

Few artists can claim to have done or have achieved as much as Anne Savage has over the last 15 years; right from her early days of working at the Eastern Bloc record store in Burnley; to playing alongside Carl Cox at residencies at the Arc club and Vague in Leeds; there after, going on to being firmly established on the international circuit and playing for just about every major festival and brand going.

But Anne is so much more than being a figure behind the decks: she has racked up a long list of productions; has mixed a plethora of high selling CD compilations and has become famous for her TV appearances and presenting work. Not only has Anne been one of the longest serving Hard Dance acts, but she has also managed to carve out another highly successful career within the Breaks scene under her Dumb Blonde moniker.

So to find out how she’ll be adding all that spice to Nu-Religion presents: the Valentines Day Ball, on the 9th of February, we put Anne in the hot seat…….

Anne, Nu-Religion presents the Valentines Day Ball is looking like a very special night indeed. It’s also at a time of year when the night life scene tends to seriously get going again. What are you most looking forward to about it?

I’m looking forward to it being a great night – the atmosphere should be awesome because like you say, everyone has been broke and staying in for most of January and feeling miserable so here’s to everyone feeling frisky!!

There is quite a variety of music on offer that night: such as Hardstyle from Cally and Juice, ‘chunky’ Hard House and the more euphoric side of things coming courtesy of Rob Tissera and Lisa Pin-Up. What is your view on the wide spectrum there?

When a relatively underground sound such as hard dance gets split up into sub genres it gets dangerous as far as nights and numbers through the door go. To keep the scene alive I think it’s important to have all kinds of hard dance played in one night.

The Mass nightclub is a very unique and underground venue. The main room dance floor is very distinct as it’s a round shaped pit. Do you enjoy playing at venues that are a bit more off the mainstream?

Ask any dj that question and I’m sure we’d all agree, yes! The Mass is awesome I love the atmosphere there for sure.

These days, you play several different genres of music, but what do you feel you can really add to the night with your harder sounds?

Well being into different music is really time consuming if you want to stay ahead in the game, I take it seriously though and have been sourcing some new music to play, there’s some great stuff out there at the moment that I’m sure will rock it for the Valentine’s Ball.

It’s been a very difficult past couple of years for Hard Dance, but Nu-Religion have managed to thrive; going from relatively small parties @ Hidden, to much larger events like this one, whilst managing to attract a very good crowd. Why do you feel they’ve flourished?

You’re right it is a really tough time; some dance publications seem determined to write it off. It’s important that the scene leaders adapt and change and do new things keeping it fresh. I think that hard dance as a sound has changed tremendously over the past 8 years –it’s even people who were once into the hard dance who slag it off when they move on and get into ‘house” but what gets overlooked is that there is an army of young djs and young people just getting into the scene with a slightly different angle on it. As long as people are into electronic music there will always be people who want a tougher, faster sound. Nu-religion has flourished because it’s the genuine article!

Growing up, you were from a very large family with a lot of musical influences around you and at one point you were bang in to Northern Soul. You also hung out quite a bit at the legendary Hacienda. What particularly attracted you to both and how did they influence you?

Yeah I’ve got a few older brothers and sisters who I looked up to and they were each into a different scene. My eldest sister used to hang out with The Damned and The Clash, she used to arrange gigs for bands and bought and sold rare and imported punk/new wave records. That rubbed off on me, I loved the whole music and image thing. I used to nick her clothes and stuff! My other sister was going to Northern Soul all-nighters, and when she started going to the Hacienda she would let me come along if I did her ironing. I saw New Order there and that’s how I got into them.

You tour alongside Lisa Lashes where you both play B2B, for every event, kicked off in Ibiza of this year and is due to finish in Miami of 2008. Can you give us a rundown of how that has been going for you?

Yeah brilliant, it’s been great, sell out shows everywhere.

You’ve recently released a double A sider alongside Vinylgroover that consists of two tracks “Dot com” and “Dot co dot you kay”. What can we expect from those tracks and where can we get them from?

They are on a similar tip to “The Pod” if people are familiar with that, the official follow up. On a phatt groove, loads of percussion and a great hook. Available at trackitdown.net.

You’ve also re-mixed an album alongside Mark EG and Force called ‘Hard Fast and Furious’. Can you give us an insight in to what was involved in that project?

Well the concept was one CD with Hard – Me, Fast -Marg EG and Force - Furious progressing with the bpms on each CD. When the label received the masters mine was faster than Mark’s so I ended up being Fast not Hard!

Pioneer (who are now Anne’s official sponsor) asked you to showcase their cutting edge VJ technology at the last Hard Dance awards at Brixton Academy. Can you tell us how that went for you?

Really good, I have all the visuals made for each track made especially which is both expensive and time consuming. On the night it was amazing, Brixton Academy is an awesome venue. Some people didn’t realise that I was VJing because it wasn’t announced which was disappointing, but I was really happy with it.

You put a lot of effort in to getting to grips with the technology before hand and you can’t have had much time to do that. How much of a challenge was that for you?

Well Pioneer were very good in that they took me to the headquarters for some intense training and I had the equipment 2 weeks before the event to practice. I also had lessons on how to use the djm800 properly which were invaluable.

You had quite an unusual booking when the British High Commission asked you to perform a set at a museum in order to showcase British musical talent. What were your thoughts when you find out about that one?

I was honoured! How many people get to dj for their country?! I was quite nervous at the time, about meeting the officials but they were all really nice and interesting people to meet.

Another event which was a bit off the beaten track was when you played at the Formula One party in Kula Lumpar. How did you have to tailor your set for that?

Well I’ve done it twice now. They are very glamorous events and I was treated like a princess. Music wise they loved anything large and anthemic but were pretty much mad for anything.

The ‘Dumb Blonde’ project has been going for quite a while now, where you mainly play Breaks. Can you ever see the ‘Dumb Blonde’ side of things fully taking over?

Well last year it kind of moved away from just breaks to playing ’band dj sets’ which I really enjoyed. I played alongside Kasabian and Bloc Party at Judgement Sunday and Eddy Temple Morris’s ‘Dance Rocks’ night in Ibiza, which gave me a chance to show my ability to mix live music and underground house. My remix of ‘Dancefloor’ by The Holloway’s is frequently requested on Eddy’s XFM show so I’m going to concentrate on making some more Dumb Blonde tracks and see where that takes me.

I hate to go in to the ‘female DJ thing’, but as women are a lot more emphatic than men, and are far better at reading peoples body language, do you think that you’ve got an advantage over your male peers when it comes to reading the crowd when you are playing at an event?

I agree that women tend to be more emphatic than men and yes, that must help read a crowd but most female djs that I know have a male attitude to life as far as succeeding and being determined and I think that is what gives them an edge.

What some people don’t realise is the vast amount of work that goes on behind the scenes as a DJ, such as: hunting down music, re-editing, preparing for sets etc. In any one given week, how much time do you spend on things like that?

There aren’t enough hours in the day, what with MySpace, Facebook, website maintenance, listening and sourcing tracks, practicing (as I like to call it!) in fact from the minute I wake up at around 7.30am, once I’ve taken my dog for a walk I am working till I go to bed around midnight, with small breaks for food and coffee!! It really is a lot of work, especially with all the different genres I play now and tracks that have to be done. I must love it though to still be at it as much after all this time.

Sadly, only a very small percentage of today’s ‘wannabee’ DJ’s will go on to make it big. Why do you think it is, that some succeed, where as many don’t and what do you feel a lot of them do wrong when trying to establish them selves?

Times are changing so much and never before have young people had so much of an opportunity to make a go of it themselves with MySpace and Facebook. It used to be that you would send a promoter a CD and hope he listened to it, now you can reach the people who are into the music directly and build your fan base up like that, then promoters won’t be able to ignore it if you’ve got a following.

So what else is in store for Anne Savage? And what else does she have planned for 2008?

Well I’m working on my summer events right now, Ibiza of course, and lots more tracks, a new website where you can download all my stuff annesavage.net/djanneesavage.com a new album with some live stuff I’m working on.

And finally, if you believe in the philosophers, the DJ today, is the equivalent of the modern day Shaman! So what tracks of yours are going to get every body whipped up in to a magical spell, come Nu-Religion presents: the Valentines Ball?

I saw what you did there, I like it. Ok well I’ll be playing some of the tracks I’ve done with Lashes, Red Admiral and Alone plus lots of stuff I’ve been sourcing especially. I can’t wait!!

Remember to catch one of Hard Dance’s leading ladies, Anne Savage, performing at Nu-Religion presents: the Valentines Day Ball, on Saturday 9th February @ The Mass nightclub, Brixton, London!

Feature by Greg Lynn
©Greg Lynn 2007