The master and the apprentice: Steve Hill and Technikal are arguably the two biggest producers in hard dance, shifiting thousands of units of every release and continuously striving to evolve the sound of hard dance as we know it. Hence the prospect of these two dons going back-to-back for Nu Religion's 1st Birthday on May 12th is rather exciting. We sent a carrier pigeon to Australia to let Steve Hill know we wanted some words, and went and bundled Technikal into the back of Transit van. We managed to get both of them online at the same time for some good old-fashioned banter.

Right you two layabouts! What has been going on in your respective worlds recently?

SH: Not a lot. Alf and I have just finished writing 8 new tracks plus on the side I've just mixed Masif Hard Trance Anthems with Alex Kidd, written 17 tracks with 5 different producers, signed 3 new acts, and played over 30 events and toured 5 countries in 2007 already!!

T: Not a lot indeed! As Steve said we got a fair few tracks written when I popped over to Australia last month … and that’s not counting the material I’ve done before I went. I’ve also finished a couple of new collaborations with Trevor McLachlan and Phil Reynolds which are really pushing the futuristic hard trance sound. I’m all over them!

DJ wise I’ve done an Australian tour, played Transmission at Alexandra Palace for Hardcore Heaven, Innovate vs Logic, a few Goodgreefs, Storms, and some wicked parties in London. It’s all go!

We see you are playing together at Nu Religion’s massive 1st Birthday celebrations on 12th May at the splendid Colosseum in London. When was the last time you played together and what was the result?

SH: We played together at The Family (Brisbane) in early March. We hadn't gone back-to-back together for over a year before that. It was good fun as our record boxes hadn't held hands in a while so it was an enjoyable seamless mash up of a lot of different styles of new and classic Hard Trance.

T >> Family was awesome, a real fun night. Playing together to a crowd in Australia though is very different to playing a crowd in London – both have their advantages! I think the last time before that was when we played together for HeatUK at the SW4 afterparty a couple of years ago at The Fridge - and it went off bigtime. A repeat performance of that night and I’ll be happy as Larry.

Have either of you had many experiences playing or partying in the venue? It kind of went off the radar for a few years until its recent refurbishment...

T >> It’s funny because I don’t think me or Steve have ever been to the Colloseum. However Matt and Mark (MDA & Spherical) have told me it’s a sick venue now, and a real good place to hold an event. Bring it!

A Steve Hill vs Technikal album – a pipe dream or a real possibility?

SH>> We've been planning this album for so long now it's not funny. We've made over 20 productions together over the past few years. Just when we think it's time to mix them down we decide to write another track to put on there; then another; then another. One day we'll draw the line in the sand and it'll come out...by that stage it'll be a 10 CD set.

T >> Haha! So true. I think we started drawing up plans for this album in my old bedroom at my Mum’s house! That feels like a life ago now … we do tend to keep writing new stuff that completely overshadows our older material though so we’re making sure that every track we put onto it will stand the test of time in terms of production.

How would you describe your fellow sparring partner in 5 words?

SH>> Living legend I totally respect.

T >> Lean, mean, pretzel machine. Bosh!

What’s your best story from your time touring and DJing together?

T >> I bet Steve’s going to say something about Warp Brothers tickets…

SH>> I wish I could say. Ask Alf about giving Warp Brothers tickets away in Adelaide.

T >> There you go! I’m afraid that’s one for the closet haha.

Steve – what’s going on in the Australian dance music scene at the moment? Any exciting developments that you’ve been taking notice of?

SH>> The clubbing landscape in Australia is forever changing; much like in the UK which I find refreshing. New DJs, new styles, new heroes. No matter where you are you have to be totally aware of what is happening to be on top of what is going on and to be successful. Australia is still into European Hard Trance over the UK style but there are a few more people championing the UK sound than there was last year so stay tuned. Tech Trance is also big, NRG is making a comeback in certain areas and Hardstyle is starting to die a death.

T >> I’m not so clued up as Steve, but I know the UK sound is starting to get championed a lot more in the Sydney scene by a lot of the local DJs which can only be a good thing!

What’s the most exciting piece of music you recently heard? How did it make you feel?

SH >> I'm a sucker for a wicked idea in a record not just well produced records.

There are some fantastic analogue influenced Hard Trance records out there that sound great on a big sound system. Artists like Walt really push the envelope which I like.

I have to say though, honestly, my favourite record right now is one Technikal and I made called 'Welcome To My World'...breakbeats, Trance, Euro-influenced, soaring riffs...all in one 8 minute journey! I still listen to it and go “how on earth did we write that?”!

T >> I like to listen to a lot of music outside of hard trance, as I hear it so much. I really like to unwind by putting on some seriously fat hardcore. The most exciting track I’ve heard recently is Gammer’s new track “Bust” for Muffin Music. It’s fierce as hell, and also works really well in a hard dance set (at -7%)! Steve, I’ll have to play you it, I think you’ll like it.

Unwind to hardcore? You are a warped boy! Steve – what’s this Masif NRG Soundsystem thang we are hearing rumours of at the moment? How is it going to differ from other hard dance live shows?

SH>> Sydney is the home of bounce. It's fast making a comeback here. We launched Masif NRG last month; had over 2000 people show up and turned away hundreds. What we're working on for the next show we do is an Ableton Live set with three live vocalists, 2 dancers and an MC plus pyrotechnics, video screens and a programmed light show. We're headlining the Horden Pavilion in Sydney (capacity 6,000) later in the year for the live show but we'll road test a dumbed down version at the home of Masif NRG; UN (in Sydney) first. It'll be a one off stage show with an obscene budget filmed for a DVD release.

And finally Technikal, I’ve seen some recent pics of you playing at Innovate vs Logic. Are you in fact turning into Phil Reynolds?

T>> Musically or physically? I hope not the latter, I’m 10 years younger than him! Hahaha. Go on Phil! See you all at Nu-Religion ?

Steve Hill and Technikal play back-to-back at Nu Religion's 1st Birthday at The Colosseum in London on Saturday 12th May. Keep your eyes peeled for their very special 20 minute megamix! Full event listing here:

http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/london/the-colosseum/2007/may/12/event-89628