Every once in a while, club land witnesses a rare occurrence…Seemingly out of nowhere bursts a new party that storms into one of the UK's most fabled venues and delivers a fresh and exciting approach that strikes a chord with clubbers from across the dance music spectrum. Party Proactive did all the above during 2006 and, with their first event of 2007 on the horizon, look set to raise the temperature once more…Saturday 24th March sees the colourful and ever so slightly bonkers party roar back to life with Party Proactive present ‘The Awakening”, a celebration of Spring rejuvenation and an invite to well and truly blow those winter blues away!

Fans of the Party Proactive events will know how much we love our international DJs so it will come as no surprise to find 3 major headliners in the form of Israel’s undisputed Queen of dance, Dali; from Greece, DJmag top 100 techno meister, Axel Karakasis; and over in T2, the talented Parisian resident DJ, Fafa Monteco. With a supporting cast of UK talent like DTPM’s Queen Maxine and Chicken Nickers wonder boy, Johnny Arthur, March 24th looks set to rock to the rafters…

Never opting for the safe bets, or the uninspired, Party proactive hand pick their DJs with the criteria resting on those that will provide an unmissable soundtrack and bring something unique to the event. With this in mind, I spent some time getting the low-down on our T2 headliner, Fafa Monteco…A name many of you might not have heard of here in London, but we promise will be ringing in your ears (or at least his deep and sexy tech house and electro beats will be) come Saturday March 24th…

So Fafa, we’re all getting rather excited about your imminent set at ‘The Awakening’, are you looking forward to coming over to London to entertain the Party Proactive faithful?

I played last year at Gallery’s birthday party and took away great memories of Turmills. I like its dark and post rave spirit. I’m very excited to come back.

How would you best describe your sound to the uninitiated?

You did it very well: Sexy tech house, deep techno and electro beats. I like to play, trippy, mental, a little bit strange, sometimes dark, but staying always sexy and groovy.

France seems to be a constant hotbed of innovation where dance music is concerned, what do you think gives France and particularly Paris its edge?

I’m not part of those French people who think that Frenchies do the things better! I can hear many times French people, but also English, German, Italian people saying that their music, their food, their football teams, their culture …. are better than the others. I don’t care about all that, and I don’t consider that France is more innovative that its neighbours. I see innovation everywhere, in London, Paris, Berlin, Sao Polo, Tel-Aviv, and Beirut! Creation and music are universal and within everyone. That’s the most important.

With the above question in mind, it seems rather at odds with the overall perception that dance music is becoming less relevant to popular culture and considered to be in decline…What’s you take on the state of dance music and club land in general?

Dance music is not in decline. For years there has been expectation and hype on dance music (especially electronic music) that have brought the spotlights on this scene and exaggerated the behaviour of major companies, labels, clubs, promoters, and artists… After years of eventful happenings, dance music has become a bona-fide culture. Kids who go to the clubs nowadays are part of a generation which doesn’t ask itself the questions about this scene and its future that older people like me asked ourselves in the 90’s, when we had to fight to make this music and cement our existence. Nowadays djs are like any artist of any scene, with its big names and its new talents. An artist is an artist, whether it is Richie Hawtin or David Bowie. Of course dance music sales represent only a small percentage compare to the global sales of music, but the scene is well here, and it’s not in decline. It has just found its cruising speed and the part of market it’s supposed to have now that the euphoria and anarchy are over.

You are the head honcho at Hypnotic Music, which artists are signed to the label?

Phonique, Martin Eyerer, Loudeast, Kiko, Yuksek, David Duriez, DJ Fex, Chris Carrier, Tom Pooks, Da Fresh… to name a few.

You also recently set up a new label with Brique Rouge’s David Duriez aptly named HY:BR, (Hypnotic Brique Rouge). With artists like Chloe Llorca, and Mazi all releasing material, you have a very credible standing…How has the label been received by both Djs and the clubbers?

David is a close friend. We have collaborated on many projects together.. More than just music, we are also big fans of video games, and maybe you don’t know but it’s been 35 years in 2007 that the first video games consoles have landed in our homes. To celebrate this birthday we decided to launch a special project which consist of giving sounds and bleeps taken from video games to our friend’s and producers and asked them to make tracks with them.
We launched a label especially for the project and we have already released 5 eps including tracks from Alexkid & Chloé, Mazi, DJ Linus, Alex Parsons, Chris Carrier, Mr Barcode, Pacman, Da Fresh, FEX, David, myself and many more.
Some of them have been huge hits like the “afterblaster” from Alexkid & Chloé.
We’ll gather together the best tracks for a cd compilation soon.

What’s planned for 2007 with regards to both Hypnotic and HY:BR?

We’ll essentially focus on our artists and incite them to produce more and collaborate between themselves to get a better exposition and help them to develop. We will also operate like a solid pool of artists and friends, and I’ll find more time for producing myself. Likewise David just launched Brique Rouge Bookings, a structure that gathers many artists from Brique Rouge, Hypnotic and HY:BR (Mike Monday, Llorca, Mazi, Hardfloor, Phil Weeks, Alex Parsons, Tommy Four Seven, David, myself, and many others) to exchange ideas and connect. Union makes for increased force! On a lighter note, as the many of us are now looking a bit bald, we have decided to launch ‘MBF’ (Music from Baldies) or ‘Mutha Fu**er Baldies’ if you prefer!! If you’re bald, send us your tracks…

You’ve remixed some incredibly diverse artists over the years, ranging from Depeche Mode to the Queen of kitsch, Shirley Bassey… Is it a case of being selective with the projects you take on, and did you get Miss Bassey’s approval (I hear she’s a hard woman to please)!

I remix only tracks that I like. As a big fan of John Barry I immediately said yes when asked to remix “Moonraker”, the theme from the James Bond movie that he composed and on which Shirley Bassey provides vocals. She liked the remix but she wasn’t really happy with the mix as she founded that her voice wasn’t high enough. The thing was that EMI couldn’t find the separate parts of the original tracks, including her voice, and I was asked to do the remix using the song as it had been released! Damn! It was difficult but I still managed to do a nice chilled down tempo mix. But I had to traffic the original song and couldn’t put the voice higher. It’s been released in France but not in England.

In Paris, you play regularly at the Mix Club and Redlight…The Parisian crowd seem to have a discerning ear and a penchant for the alternative house beats- how are UK DJs generally received over there?

Paris is like London. We have international djs every night from Monday to Sunday, and many UK djs come over here. Darren Emerson, Layo & Bushwacka, Pete Heller, Mr C, Kenny Hawkes, Mike Monday… they come several times a year and they are very much appreciated.

One thing I have noticed with regards to the French dance music scene is the emergence of two distinct camps…On one hand you have DJs like Antoine Clamaran, Laurent Wolf, Bob Sinclair, David Guetta and Philippe B pushing a much tougher, big room sound which could be heard on dance floors across the globe in 2006, and on the other, you have the more experimental underground scene of which artists like yourself, Chloe, Alexkid, and labels like Brique Rouge and Hypnotic are closely associated with… In a sense, both scenes proved to be influential in way or another during 2006. Would you agree with my take on things, and is there a sense of unity within the dance scene or are the DJs and producers uninterested in the bigger picture?

It is indeed two distinct but influential scenes. Let’s say that on one side there is the “commercial” scene, with djs playing mostly popular tracks. I don’t have the feeling there is a big unity in this camp. They are djs who produce hits to touch the masses and bask under the spotlights. Fame and money are their locomotive. [Contentious stuff…Ed]. On the other side, a much more interesting scene from an artistic point of view, with guys like Alexkid & Chloé of course, but also Llorca, Jennifer Cardini, Ivan Smaghhe, David Duriez, Shonky, Tim Paris, Djul’z, Phil Weeks, Chris Carrier, DJ Fex and many more, and this is without speaking of those who have reached the pinnacle and don’t have anything more to prove like Miss Kittin and Laurent Garnier... This scene is very creative and there is a real sense of unity between us. Most of us are friends, we see each other often, we collaborate together, we help and advice each other we hang out at the same ones parties… Labels like Brique Rouge and Hypnotic but too Crack’N Speed, Freak N’Chic, Dialect, Robotronic, Catwash, Robsoul, Poussez, Kill The DJ… are indeed closely associated. If and when fame and money come, it’s in return of our talent, creativity and integrity, but they will be the driving force. We don’t care about the spotlights and the star system! It’s the big difference between the two camps.

In 2006, you played at the infamous Berlin Love Parade. How did you find the whole experience and did the event live up to its legendary reputation?

I’ve played many parades but not the Berlin one lol! Did you smoke a joint while writing this interview? ? [Who me? Never..! –Ed]

Now we all get rather bored of answering the ‘CDs or Vinyl’ question so just for you…Music or Sex???!

I would probably choose music. But I’d for sure make infidelities to it ?

OK Fafa, thanks for talking to us, and all the remains to say is roll on March 24th! See you there…
Thanks for your Support and see ya at Party Proactive!


Here are few mixes to check out from Fafa's radio show..

http://www.hypnoticmusic.com/audio/FafaMontecoMixMay05.mp3

http://www.hypnoticmusic.com/audio/FafaMonteco6amAfterHourMix.mp3

INTERVIEW BY JACOB MOSS