I met Steve about a year ago and was impressed when he played me ‘Paradox’, a tune he’d been working on with Craig Main and Riggsy. A CD of his material followed and I was totally hooked! As well as being a thoroughly nice guy this bloke makes some seriously phat tunage spanning a variety of different sounds from techy to filthy to uplifting. I was so distraught I couldn’t play his unreleased material in my sets I started saving for a cd deck. I caught up with Steve to find out what’s been going on in his world.

Firstly let’s clear up the name change. You are definitely now Steve Gillen for dj’ing and production work — so what happened to the old Stevie G?

Ha! Yeah it’s something that I had to think long and hard about doing. It certainly wasn’t an easy decision that I took lightly. About the same sort of time I started making progress within the scene and getting regular bookings, another dj with the same name started doing the same thing, with the main difference being the styles of music we play. He is a trance dj. It was starting to cause some confusion so I decided to take the plunge and start using my own name Steve Gillen. I’m happy with the decision and feel it works out best for all concerned! I’m going use my own name for all dj bookings and all future releases (although I’m still Stevie G on Harder Faster — just to confuse things!

You’ve been into dj’ing for about 5 years now and when you started mixing you played hardcore. How did you end up playing hard house? Was there a turning moment when you decided this was the genre for you?

Ah yeah the good old days of hardcore. I first discovered dance music through hardcore.

Although I don’t play it these days, I will always have a certain respect and so many fond memories of the scene back then. It is where I have come from and I won’t forget that. I still draw musical influence from my background, and you can hear it a fair bit in some of the tracks.

I was taken along to my first ever rave — Helter Skelter — by my best mate and was hooked on hard dance music from that point forward. The thing is, my taste has evolved quite considerably over the years. When I first got into hardcore it was the vocal stuff I liked. Over time, this changed and my preference went into the harder end of the spectrum and this is when I started dabbling in hard house. It was not something I jumped head first into. There was a long period where I was unsure which direction I wanted to take things. However, the more I started going out clubbing to hard house & NRG, the more I discovered I was starting to prefer it. The genre has a broader range of producers, which in turn meant a more diverse range of music. I think the turning point for me was going to a night called Progress in Derby @ the Gatehouse (I think it was the Gatehouse, the venue was a converted bank). I didn’t know anyone on the line up at the time. That night I saw Karim play for the first time and it truly blew me away. His style had so much power, energy and impact, the perfect combination. That set had such an influence on my taste and style. The guy is a true inspiration. NRG all the way!!

New Year’s Eve saw your CyberKitten residency announced and well and truly cemented with a blinder of a set following on from legend Andy Farley (at LIFE in Milton Keynes). What was going through your mind that night? Was that the biggest gig you had played to date?

LOL!! Yeah what a night that turned out to be! That night has to be the highlight of my career so far for a couple of reasons. I got my residency for CyberKitten that night, prior to that I had been booked to play on a fairly regular basis for them over the course of 2004. Working alongside with the promoters Yojo and Colin and the rest of the CK crew has been a fantastic experience. The relentless energy and commitment shown by CK’s promoters is tops and their vision’s exciting and unique. I have the utmost respect for CyberKitten as a promotion, so being made a resident was a dream come true!

The LIFE event was presented by ‘HELTER SKELTER’, so to get a chance to play for the night that first got me into dance music was so exciting and very surreal. It’s really fun how things work out in your life sometimes. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason. Another Brucey Bonus that night was that the whole thing was being hosted in our home city of Milton Keynes. This meant that so many of our local clubbers, supporters and good mates where there to party. To play a set for that crowd was a truly amazing feeling. Getting the opportunity to come and play the biggest set of my life after a star like Andy Farley was excellent and somewhat daunting. To say I wasn’t nervous would be lying! But that set taught me a lot and was a massive mile stone in my career.

This year has been a bit of a whirlwind as well hasn’t it? CyberKitten have gone on tour bringing their unique brand of mayhem (and troupe of loyal clubbers) to BBtB in Birmingham, WildChild, Bedlam and X-Static events @ the Fridge, plus the recent hosting of the mighty NuBreed room at Hard House Heaven for Frantic. They’ve finally settled in at their new home at the Empire in Milton Keynes. Have you had a defining moment this year that’s stood out?

It has been excellent fun going out on tour with CyberKitten across the country. We have had the opportunity to play for some of the leading promotions around, along side some of top players in the scene. It has taught me a great deal and been a real eye opening experience. It’s also been a complete blast to be honest! The defining moment for me had to be the home coming party in our new home @ The Empire. The turn out was amazing. CyberKitten’s really built up a loyal following of crazy clubbers. What more can you ask for, getting to play a set of your favourite music to a home crowd of up for it party people?

Let’s talk about your production work. You’ve got a track coming out at the end of June with Craig Main and Riggsy on Twisted Traxx called ‘Paradox’ and a string of belters (www.discogs.com/artist/steve+gillen & www.discogs.com/artist/stevie+g) fast building up behind you. The majority of your work has been with Fidget head-man Barry Diston. How did you get involved with Fidget? What do you both bring to the table when you make a tune?

Ah it all seems so long ago now yet it only happened about 2 years ago! I had heard of the promotion Fidget (Midlands’ Sunday morning afterparty club) from a few mates and seen it advertised on various flyers. Keen as always to get a set, I contacted Barry via email and sent him through a demo. On the basis of that I got booked to play a warm up set at the following month’s event. From playing there I got to meet a lot of the other Fidget djs including promoter Barry) and the regulars. The set went well and a string of other ones followed from there. On New Year’s Day, 1st Jan 2004, I was made Fidget resident which I was over the moon about.

From playing alongside Barry and hearing some of the tracks he was making, I developed an interest in production. I have made the majority of my tracks with Barry at his Fidget Studios in Coventry. I highly recommend his services as an engineer; he has such a talent for music. We are quite different in our general styles, Barry being more on the uplifting tip, and myself darker driven NRG. I think this combination of tastes fuse well in our production, and give quite a unique sound.

What sort of sound can we expect from a Steve Gillen track then?

Production wise, I try and vary my style a bit to keep things interesting. It is very easy to fall into the trap of knocking out tunes that all sound the same. I strive not to let that happen. This is the main reason why I work with a number of different people for collaborations and different engineers. I work with people like Dan Dyson and Kam-Pain for darker nastier tunes. These tend to be the harder end of the spectrum and appeal to a very specific niche in the scene. I have done two tracks with this duo, the first one ‘Hells Paradise’ and more recently ‘Here Is Punishment’. Both have been signed up and released on Passion Records. They are by far the hardest tracks I’ve made.

Another very talented engineer that is starting to get the recognition he deserves is Riggsy. I’ve worked with him on two different tracks. The first was ‘Unleash The Fury’ and that was made with my long term friend Simon Vegas. This was both of our first ever release which came out on Redemption last year. This set the benchmark for things to come in the future. The second track I did with Riggsy was a collaboration with another talented dj Craig Main. The outcome of that little project was the tune you mentioned earlier, ‘Paradox’, on Twisted Traxx. We did this track quite some time ago but it's due for full release this month with a hard as nails remix by Twisted Traxx bosses Space Sentinelz. The sound created with Riggsy is still hard NRG but with greater depth and a more uplifting feel and, as I mentioned earlier, the sound created by myself and Barry is quite unique, a hard house/NRG cross over that has plenty of drive yet keeps that uplifting edge.

Set wise….

Ah well... that really depends on the time of night I’m playing to be honest. I do like to keep things tough and driving, but not so over the top that it batters the crowd into submission! I like to build my set starting off tough and building things up from there. I would say my sets are a combination of the styles of tracks I make, sometimes with a bouncy edge, other times outright filthy. I mix it up a bit to keep things interesting.

So have you been in the studio recently? What have we got to look forward to?

Yeah I’ve just finished off two new tracks recently. The first one is with Brad Duke. We have done a track called ‘I’ve Seen Things’. I’m very pleased with this, a stomping hard houser, with plenty of welly. The second track is called ‘Reach Out’ made with the queen of filth and CyberKitten co-rezzie Lucy Fur. This was her first production effort and she certainly hasn’t disappointed. We are both very pleased with the finished result of this monster! I’m confident it will be signed up soon enough.

Who would you like to do a track with and why?

That is a very difficult question to answer believe it or not. I think given the choice out of anyone, I would have to say Ian M. I have so much respect for this guy as a dj and producer. He’s got such a wealth of experience and knowledge. He doesn’t just bang out the tunes for the sake of it, just to be in the latest batch of releases. But when he does release a track people sit up and take notice. Listen to his track ‘Dreamer’ on Tidy. It came out years ago, and still cuts it with the best of them these days, sounding as fresh as the day it was made.

What’s in your box? Top 3 tunes you won’t leave home without please:

1. Glazby — ‘Kick It’. I’ve played this in nearly every set since I got a copy 2 years ago! It never fails to go off big time. I hear that the main man Glazby has done a 2005 rework of the track too due out on Vicious Circle later in the year. How good is that?! Can’t wait to hear it. I’m also very impressed with the Paul Janes remix of it, and would happily sell my left leg for a copy (you heard the man people, anyone want a left leg? )

2. Lab 4 — ‘Candyman’. The original mix of the tune is such an anthem and quite unlike anything else I have ever heard.

3. D6 — ‘Red Pill’. A monster tune, I have started so many sets with this bad boy. When it kicks in the place always explodes. It’ s innovative and still sounds fresh.

What do you think makes a good B2B?

The ability to adapt to the person you are playing with mainly. A true back to back I think is one on, one off. Tune for tune. This makes it a proper head to head set and will allow things to develop as the set progresses. If every tune put on is done with a view to bettering the last things really take off. I think b2b sets always work well if the people try and bounce of each other. When solo it is sometime difficult to constantly interactive with the crowd. But a b2b set gives both people the perfect opportunity to get more involved with the crowd while the other is playing.

Which djs do you tip for success?

Out of more established ones I think Lucy Fur and Cally Gage will really come into their own over the next 12 months. Both are developing strong followings and I can see big things happening for them both. Out of the more recent up and comings I would have to put my money on CyberKitten’s very own HyperVixen. She’s such a natural talent behind the decks and a driving enthusiasm for what she does, and has such diversity in her style. HyperVixen is proving more and more that she is a force to be reckoned with.

And finally a few quick fire questions…

Favourite non-hard dance tune?

Green Day — ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’. Such a great tune. I want this played at my funeral.

Takeaway or home cooked food?

I’m a big fan of takeaway food to be honest, Chinese & Mexican being the favourites, although you can’t beat a good home cooked meal either.

Favourite movie?

I’m a big fan of horror movies mainly. Although the best film I have seen in a long while has to be ‘The Butterfly Effect’. That film really did make me think and illustrated perfectly that everything that you do in your life, no matter how insignificant, has a knock on effect. Every action has a consequence. Always worth bearing in mind….

Cats or dogs?

Neither. Am not a big fan of animals to be honest. Cats are OK although I couldn’t eat a whole one.

And finally your favourite words of wisdom?

Anything is possible if you try hard enough. But life ain’t going to hand you it on a plate. You will need to work hard for it.

Also you will meet lots of people in your life time, but true friends are hard to come by. They are the ones that will always be there for you, no matter what.

Well a big thanks to Steve for re-introducing the phrase ‘Brucey Bonus’ to my vocabulary. It’s been missing too long. Seriously though, I’m pretty excited about what’s to come for this young man. ‘This Filth’ & ‘In My Sleep’ with Barry and the as yet unsigned ‘Call it What U Will’ (with Miss XS) have all featured heavily in my recent sets. I’m looking forward to hearing the tunes with Lucy and Brad and getting my copy of ‘Paradox’ — I’m sure they too will become regular plays. His productions are a breath of fresh air to the scene and his sets the stuff legends will be made of. Check him and his tunage out, he’s definitely one to watch.

You can catch Steve Gillen at: Cyberkitten @ The Empire, Milton Keynes - Saturday 6th August