D-Railed’s Danny Lee puts the questions to Garbo ahead of his first set as resident for D-Railed! And we ask him to let it all out (not like that again though! Haha) in this no-holds barred interview.

Good day to you Garbo, we’ll start lightly. How are you? And what’s new in your world at the moment?

Hi, I’m very tired right now haha so look out for a little grumpiness. I’ve been working hard on some projects recently, but all is going well.

There’s definitely a few things been going on recently, and as you know it’s all in the public eye these days. But most importantly from your point of view is your recent career move. It’s over half a year now since you left Storm, do you miss it?

Of course I miss Storm, it was 4 years of my life, Storm is and will be a huge part of me. I learnt a lot from working there and I am eternally grateful for that. But what I miss more than anything about Storm is without a shadow of a doubt the clubbers and the people that attend Storm.
It’s just a real shame that things have turned sour to the extent that I’m not even allowed in the club now, haha.

Tidy is well renowned throughout the country for its music and events, there definitely has been a downturn in the industry in every aspect of it, from music sales to event attendees. Tidy is part of a larger business, and has to make money, I know of many future plans but how long in your opinion is there left in the countries hard dance industry for a huge name like tidy to continue on both fronts?

It’s time for change, real change!

I’m probably the most outspoken hard dance promoter when it comes to this, which I believe is a good thing, especially being associated with a huge brand like tidy where my idea’s and views are not what would traditionally be seen as tidy-esq. But it’s time we got serious about our scene and start making steps for the good of it so the future can be a lot more brighter than what it is. I think we need to embrace the European sound, and let music evolve.

…And what can we expect from you and tidy in the near and distant future?

Well I am going to be launching a brand new bi-monthly night at Air in Birmingham with tidy, so it’s all very exciting because it’s such a great venue and location and Birmingham clubbers always seem really up for it, real party animals. And to be honest I’m relishing the chance to be promoting at a large legendry venue again in the midlands. So the launch on bank holiday Sunday 30th August is going to be fantastic!

You’re recent tidy line-ups have been interesting, you seem keen to vary the headliners, and incorporate a more European feel, is this getting a response from the clubbers?

Yeah I think they have been getting a good response, we can’t ignore the waves that European sound has been making in UK of late, I just hope to represent a little of that in the line ups I have been putting together recently. It’s huge across the continent and not only that it allows us to make the line ups start looking fresh again with a big European headliner, I think people are tired of seeing the same old UK names headlining clubs nights in the UK.

The music is not always my own personal preference, but then there’s lots of UK DJs that I book that aren’t. But I just aim to reflect what is becoming an ever more popular sound here and to try and cater for that audience, some would even say I could be far more bolder with this, but at the moment its a case of trying to ease it in amongst more familiar DJs people expect at the events that I put on.

Club politics! Two words that have been flying around a lot recently, they have always existed and always will do, and I’m sure they were in the strictest of need in your years at Storm, but they were not always in view of the general public and were kept behind the scenes to some extent! Where did it all go wrong and who or what is to blame?

I think a decline in dance music is to blame and promoters are now having to work twice as hard to get people through the doors in these tough economic times is probably why they are becoming public all to often now. With the market considerably smaller than what it was 5 – 10 years ago clubs and promoters are working incredibly hard to attract clubbers to their clubs and nights, be it blocking DJs, or stopping nights doing events in a certain area or what ever. Hands up, I am just as guilty for doing this as the next promoter. Gone are the days when there would be 3 nights on in Leicestershire on a Friday and 5 on a Saturday and every event would be rammed and this was week in week out. It’s just a real shame that it gets made public sometimes, as I suspect most clubbers don’t really care and just want a good night out to spend there hard earned cash, but that’s were the problem lies because as a business if your investing thousands of pounds into a night you want people coming to your club and spending their cash at your event, so promoters go to great lengths to knock potential competition out of the water, but still providing the best clubbing experience possible.

More on Storm; You made a bold uncharacteristic public statement when you were relieved of you residency in April. You were, and probably still are very upset about the whole thing. But could Storm move forward as a brand with you still in the background, especially as its whole identity had been brought up with you as the main front man and your name was well known alongside Storm’s? The tidy event in Loughborough was definitely an instigator but surely that wasn’t the only reason!

From what I understand and have been told from Storm/The Emporium the Tidy event in Loughborough was the only reason. Of course I’m still very upset about the whole situation, the double standards involved is what has pissed me off more than anything.

I was also pretty pissed off that after putting Storm on the map and making it one of the strongest nights in the Midlands my last set was a warm up set on the Birthday, so I feel I never really got to say goodbye to the people that came on the Storm journey with me and made it the night it was as sad as that might sound ha!

It’s a good point you make though whether Storm could move forward as brand with me still there as a resident and a different promotions team in place... That’s not for me to answer, I think only time and events will tell.

From your time at Storm, what are your fondest memories, and what do you miss the most?

I think my best fondest moment in the 5 years I have been involved in some capacity with Storm was the time I had to put on an event in December that unfortunately clashed with Polysexual vs. Sundissential down the road. I was really worried about going head to head but it was just unavoidable and not viable for the club to put a night on. So we put Storms ‘Big Christmas Disco’ on and me and Daley played our first 6 hour set b2b, we really thought we would be lucky if had 150 people through the door. But the legendry Storm faithful didn’t let us down and 500 turned up, we both dressed up as Father Christmas and were chucking out crackers and lollies while we had snow machines blowing from the lighting rig hahaha.

Oh and we had Paul Maddox in suite and tie hosting a Christmas Karaoke in the white room which turned out to be hugely popular, we really cheesed up the white room with a black cloth with the little white lights, pure 70’s style hahaha. Good times!!

You have a knack for spotting talent, and you are very stringent on who plays at your events. You saw Scott Fo-Shaw as a raw talent for the future of the scene. And did you not help champion Rodi Style? Who is shining through at the minute, DJ and Production wise, through the eyes of Garbo?

I thought it was time Storm came up with a concept that gave Nu talent an opportunity and stage to play, but at the same time I didn’t want it to be a ‘Storm’ event, just associated, as I still believe that part of Storm’s success was making it a prestigious event playing in the main room of The Emporium, even the big names would be lucky if they got more than two bookings a year out of me, so it made it really special to play in the main room, so I didn’t want to water down that idea by having 10 up and coming DJs playing at a full on Storm night without that sounding too snobby. But I wanted to give something back and give them experience of playing at such a large club, so we came up with a night called ‘Next Generation’ and that’s where I first met Scott Fo-Shaw, and honestly after the first time I saw him I spoke with Daley and we said if ever we make another Storm resident then it has to be him, and we did! Scott has since been let go by Storm too now, so I will continue to support him at my new night at Air, Tidy Midlands, by making him a resident there alongside ex Storm resident Paul Glazby and myself.
As for Rodi Style, it’s true I was the first promoter in the UK to book him. But Rodi sells himself, a real talent and superb DJ. His technical abilities amaze me every time I see him, which reminds me I really should book him more!!

Garbo the DJ has also been in transition, some might use the word “Bandwagon” What would you say to that? And what’s at the forefront of your CD wallet at the moment?

Hahaha I wouldn’t say anything to it, I have changed ‘my style’ so many times that it’s not new to me. I started playing trance, then techno, then dark days of playing bounce crept in, then hard house, now I would say I’m playing very much tech influenced music again, whether its trance / tech trance or tech dance. I love producers like Scott Atrill & Guy Mearns. But I tend to play to suite the night, if I get booked for harder night it tends to be more tech dance, but given the choice it’s very much trance / tech trance now.

July’s D-Railed will be your first set as resident; you’ve played at Rapture a few times in the past. I know you’ve enjoyed your sets there every time. Why D-Railed? And what do you like the most about playing at Rapture?

It’s the attitude of D-Railed that I really grew a lot of affection for. The people that go all want to be there and really have a good time, there’s a great family feel to it. The promoters have got it absolutely spot on, it’s full credit to Danny & Sam for what an amazing job they do with such a little budget, so for me it’s a great honour to be considered part of that team. Rapture is such a good small venue too, it really reminds me of Legends in Northampton where Frisky used to be and that holds so many great memories for me as it was there where I found my real love for dance music.

Finally. This is something everyone seems to be asking. The next Atomik weekender line-up is as strong, if not stronger than any of the past tidy weekenders, and they’ve ditched their original style, and gone for more of a tried and trusted approach. Is this the nail in the coffin for the actual tidy weekender? And is there any rumours you wish to put to bed?

The line up for the next Atomik weekender does look very strong, and I’m sure it will be a good weekend for clubbers. I don’t think it’s the final nail in the coffin for the tidy weekender.

I think the one rumour I would like to put to bed is that people automatically think that because of my association with tidy I hate the tidy boys, but that could not be further from the truth. I have great admiration and respect for what they do, and for a very long time have been one of my favourite hard house DJs, that was proved from the amount of times I used to book them at Storm, they were very inspirational to me as a DJ as they are such great entertainers, and don’t think there will ever be a duo like them.

You can catch Garbo playing his first set as resident for D-Railed – Friday 10th July @ Rapture, Loughborough

Also LIMITED EDITION D-RAILED MIX SERIES PART 10 MIXED BY GARBO WILL BE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO THIS EVENT

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