On 13th September 2006 many hard dance fans around the world were devastated when Lab4 announced they were calling it a day, their final South Coast performance being at the mighty CONTACT on South Parade Pier.

As an entity Lab4 really pioneered the “live performance” within our scene and continually pushed the boundaries with the shows they delivered never standing still. Lab4 won ‘Best Live Act’ awards across the globe during their time together and clocked up over 60 releases in total including 4 double albums as well as 6 other compilations of previously unreleased material and live sets.

But all good things come to an end and after 15 years together they decided to call it a day as a duo and set off to focus on their solo projects.

Adam has been djing regularly and has mixed part of the most recent Frantic 11 album which includes his very own 'Pure Disco Shit (that got it's first test drive on a dance floor in the CONTACT arena at Overload at the Fort earlier this year) and he just headlined at the massive Hard House Academy in October with his new live A+D+A+M Lab4 show.

Lez hae been working closely with BIG djing at their events with their BIG Dance Island Reunion immenent and he’s also been on a tour of Tokyo as well this year! Production wise he’s been in the studio with BIG Ben and Proteus and has an album due to come out soon too.

Both have separate musical ventures outside of hard dance and both have played regularly for CONTACT both in the band and also as djs since Lab4 but now, for the first time in 2 years, Adam Newman and Lez Elston will be reunited on stage for an exclusive New Years performance. There’s certainly a lot to catch up on...

Firstly from a hard dance music perspective you are now both djing seperately as Adam Lab4 and DJ-X LAB4 (amongst other solo ventures)– for those who perhaps haven’t caught you play yet or who don’t know what to expect let’s spend a few questions on the djing side of things.

From reading your biogs I can see you both got into the scene through being in rock/goth/alternate bands, meeting in MAD in 1990 then forming Lab4 together. You are obviously both musically oriented but I’m interested in when the djing came about during that time – was there a specific moment you decided to get behind the decks?

Adam: I got into Djing in 1998/99 when financially we were having a hard time with Lab4. The distributor who had our first album went under just before we were due to get paid and while we were regularly filling the Fridge to double capacity every 6 weeks or so, I was having to sell my equipment to pay my rent which really sucked! We considered focusing more on our music production work but because it tends to come in fits and starts (whatever they are? lol!) I decided to get into Djing as an extra source of income should we decide to stop gigging with Lab4.

Lez: I had a pair of 1210s knocking around, probably since about 2000/2001. I kind of messed around on them but never really got into it that much. I always prefered writing and programing to be quite honest. Then I remember watching a really early James Zabelia set, he was using a couple of Pioneer CDJs and all of a sudden I got all excited about mixing. Some of stuff he was pulling out was really interesting. Plus the fact you can write a track that day, whack it on CD then go to a club a test it out. Magic. You don’t have to mess around spending £30 on a dubplate that will last for 20 plays then self destruct. I’ve played a few sets off vinyl but to me the sound of cd is far better. The levels are way up. The sound is clearer and bigger and you can pitch it into the next dimension. Every purist will hate me now, ha!!

So how would you describe your dj sound, which artists and labels are featuring heavily in your sets at the moment?

Lez: I like it hard, but it has to have a bounce to it, I don’t like hard for the sake of it. It has to be well produced and be a good balanced mix. About 80% of the set is my own stuff. Other artists I play tend to vary, Hellraiser, Uberdruck, Blutonium, Zany tend to be my staple diet. If I’m playing somewhere I know likes a harder sound then those badboys do the trick. If it's somewhere that’s more techy then I’ll go for Ted Baker, Remo Con etc… maybe play some older classics like some Guy McAffer, KEK Detonator, Sulphurex mix it up a bit. One good trick is repitching some harder edged electro tunes on Ableton and overdriving them so they sound a bit more edgy, that can work really well. I did the opposite recently and pitched down a Spor tune to fit it in the set from 176 bpm to 155 bpm. I find repitching with software as opposed to the Master Tempo function gives you a smoother result, doesn’t sound too wibbly.

Adam: If I am Djing Hard Dance, I guess it’s really similar to my side of the Lab4 sound. For most of the last year I have actually mostly been using my own tunes when I play. Other tunes that I have been playing recently are either from 1994-96 that I have just updated or bootlegged a little to bring them up to date or the odd industrial tunes that I have dropped into Ableton and tweaked a little for the dance floor.

Do you ever get any requests for Lab4 classics during a set, would you oblige?

Adam: Always for Requiem, often The Witch and Candyman and I will always play them if I have them with me.

Lez: Oh yeah!! I love dropping one in every now and then. I played the Bang Bar in Basingstoke the other week and blasted Concept Of Love for the encore. I’m doing a Lab4 Classics set this coming weekend at the Dance Island reunion. I’ve just started going through the request emails now and getting it together. I’m looking forward to it!

In fact have you ever had any strange requests since you have been djing (it’a amazing what djs get asked for so I always like to ask this – someone once asked me if I could play something “more spiritual”!)?

Lez: Yep! Oasis - Wonderwall. Scissor Sisters, can’t remember what track they wanted.. I couldn’t understand what they were saying. And Guns and Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine

Adam: At a Lab4 gig in Brighton once, we got asked if we could play some Oasis in the middle of our set!

I know you are both involved in other musical projects Adam with your Techno Industrialist project “The Judas Coven” and “The Horizontal Instrument” and also and Lez with “Overlord of the Underground” and “Carbonized” for starters. Fill me in on what you have been getting up to in these ventures – presumably these were the kinds of things Lab4 left you little time for?

Adam: Yes, Lab4 took up every minute of every day and would have easily carried on to do so, it was a bit of an entity in it’s own right. For me the big thing about the Lab4 shows was trying to connect with the people on the dance floor and after smashing keyboards, climbing speaker stacks and stage diving I felt the only way to connect with an audience further was lyrically and then to actually sing to them so I wanted to see if I could get back into songwriting again after almost fifteen years of writing only instrumental stuff.

Both projects happened at about the same time but ‘Judas’ got to go out and play first! I am planning to start gigging with The Horizontal Instrument later in 2009 as soon as all the final mixes for the first album are finished.

I have also recently been invited to talk in a few colleges and universities which is turning out to be good fun and quite inspiring. It scared the hell out of me first, having to talk in front of fifty students is far more terrifying than playing to thousands! I’m starting to get used to it now though and it’s great to see sparks of excitement grow into formed ideas from the students during the workshops that I have been doing.

Lez: My priority is the DJ-X album Reload, that's due out next spring. I’ve been working on it even before Lab4 split up. I was going to do a double but decided to got for a single album instead. I’ve decided to do really unique packaging, everybody that’s seen the prototype has spurted over it. LOL!

I’m also compiling and mixing Cyberdog 5 due out in early 2009, it's going to be mainly Hard Style and Harder Tech Trance.

The latter part of this year has been unreal. Everything is now starting to fall into place. It's taken ages but I think it will be worth it. I’ve just signed major publishing deal with 23rd Precinct & Notting Hill Music. 23rd Precinct have taken the Hard Dance and the M11 Electro stuff and Notting Hill have taken the Overlords project mainly. The reason I’m so excited about this is they work with sound to picture, placing music for films. This is something I’ve always been into in a big way. Their recent placements have been CSI Miami, Halloween and The Sopranos to name a tiny few. When I told Si my vocalist he almost passed out and pissed himself with shock. It was classic. Their aim is to get the DJ-X Stuff out then try and get the Overlords project signed with a good indie lable like XL or someone similar.

The M11 stuff is myself and Ben from Big & Dance Island. We’ve had a track played on Kiss FM quite a bit called “Go Insane”, Gaz West (Dark By Design) has just done a piano house mix of it. It's cool because its out of our comfort zones - 130bpm Electro House.

So tell us what’s been happening with your solo dance productions? Adam I believe you are about to start work on a follow up to your artist album “Drink Me” released on your own Test Recordings label earlier this year, plus you have a live album due and Les as you said your album “Reload” is imminent and it includes a tune with my chum from Harderfaster Steve Milton?

Adam: Most of this year I have been out playing live which has been good fun, after only Djing on the Hard Dance scene through 2007 I really missed doing the live stuff. Even though it’s a lot more work, it’s what I’ve done all my life. I played at the massive (20,000) Ground Zero in Holland in the summer and also the high point of the year for me was Brixton Academy for Frantic's Hard House Academy 8 in October. The follow up to ‘Drink Me’ will probably be ready closer to summer 2009 due to me working on The Horizontal Instrument, but the Live album which was recorded at Brixton Academy (and includes two of the requested and sought after cheeky bootlegs from my set) has just gone into production and will be available in December from my website. I am really excited about this release as it really captures the whole energy of my music, the crowd and the entire event which for me is the whole story – the music is just part of it.

Lez: Yep! Kind of see my answer above really. I was over Steve’s place a while back having beer frenzy and going through some records and he got his original Captin Scarlet record out and we put on and thought… ewwoohh that’s good… think that might have to be worked on. So yes then we wrote Captain Black. I’m getting the vocals redone as I don’t cherish the thought of being sued by Gerry Anderson.

Obviously working on solo material must have been quite liberating but also fairly strange after so long together – how did you approach the development of your own personal sound post Lab4? Did you ever feel there was an expectation about how it should sound or did you allow yourself creative freedom?

Lez: We kind of only ever wrote a handful of tracks together really. No more than about fifteen or so, so it wasn’t such a giant step. There is a huge expectation! I’ve always strongly considered the Lab4 sound to be that of an originator not an imitator. I can never see the point of ripping something off. The amount of people who say they put Lab4 on for a bit of musical inspiration is unreal. It sounds bullshit and that kind of comment is great but makes me feel a bit uneasy, I’ve never taken compliments well. I’d much rather bury my head in Logic or Pro Tools and just get on with it.

Adam: With regards to The Judas Coven and The Horizontal Instrument I just went into the studio and did whatever I wanted. Even just having the freedom to work at any tempo on any given day (rather than 150 bpm ish) was very inspiring. Some tunes ended up as ‘Judas’ tunes and some as ‘THI’ tunes. If I was angry or in a bad mood I wrote Judas lyrics and if I was in any other mood I worked on THI lyrics.

I wrote ‘DRINK ME’ because I couldn’t find any new tunes that I really loved for my DJ sets so I started writing Hard Dance again for the first time in 2 years and the whole album just came out in about 6 weeks. It’s a bit rough and ready here and there (I find overly polished productions a little sterile) but I went back to my original mind set from the early days of Lab4. I did often find myself thinking ‘Hmmm, what would Les do here’ which was always a help and I think added some details here and there that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise..

Did you find being able to trial tunes more quickly in your dj sets changed the production process for you at all?

Adam: No... I fell back into the same method of working which is pretty quick but then involves listening to the tune over and over again and eventually I hear where a tunes should go or what needs lengthening or shortening etc. It’s very rare that by the time I set it free on the dance floor I decide to change anything else.

Lez: Oh god yeah, I love it, I actually set myself goals of trying to write a track in time for playing it out at the weekend. I did that with the Robot Noize remix I did. Started it on the Wednesday and played it out at CONTACT on the Friday. I think it’s the quickest remix I ever did!

I’m writing with Sam from Nightbreed at the moment and its taken us four weeks to build an Amen loop, ha ha!! Some things just happen like that.

How have you found djing vs having to play pre-programmed shows of solely your own material? What are the pros and cons from both sides for you personally?

Lez: For sheer ease of work the DJing angle is the winner. Turning up with a wallet of CDs and your headphones, that’s it. Arriving an hour or so before and being able to leave whenever you want afterwards! The Live PA thing is completely and utterly diametrically opposed to every point mentioned above. I remember one gig folding the leads up at the end of the night and realizing my hands were covered in someone else’s puke - utterly foul. I don’t think the majority of people had a clue how much hard work is involved in putting on a show like Lab4, especially towards the last few years when lazers and lights and everything else started to get introduced into the show.

Adam: It’s very different as the level of concentration and what you are thinking about is all very different. To be honest, if I am really tired I prefer to DJ but mostly I prefer to do live show as it gives me something to do from when I get up (I spend all day pacing when I have a DJ set!) But also, as I said most of this year I have been Djing mostly my own tunes, so not much difference there. For a gig like Brixton Academy though Djing would never have even come close to playing live. There is something so much more intense about sharing all your own music live with such a large crowd.

I see you sold off the Lab4 kit on ebay so presumably you’ve both been making some solo studio purchases in the last few years – what’s been your favorite purchase and why?

Adam: The thing that makes me most happy actually is Ableton Live 7 and my laptop. I love the fact that I can take my studio anywhere in my hand luggage now. We are getting the stage where computing power is exceeding that needed for music software and plugins (within reason!). I find Live 7 so inspiring to work on whether it’s song based stuff or dance floor. It’s more like a massive sampler with massive sequencing capabilities than just a DAW / Live program.

Lez: God I could go on all night now! I love gear...complete geek. My Mac G5 with 4GB Ram and 1TB of sound library. All the Native Instruments Plugins. Hardware = My Roland JP8000, that is possibly THE best synth ever made by human kind. All the anthems were written using that. Candyman, Requiem, Reformation 2, Perfect Drug. I’ve got an Andromeda A6 which is as fat as fuck. An Access Virus which I don’t like a lot. A Waldorf Wave XT which is well quirky but really cool for the right tune. I might sell my Virus and get a Metasonix Wretch, it's got got some kind of ultra saturator circuitry, I had a go on one at a music fair and its pure evil.

I’ve got a mate who’s a serious programer and we’re thinking of trying to build a plugin for the Universal Binary platform. Like a Distortion Saturator with a RingModulator incorporated in it. We’re going to call it “The Omen” I’ll do the graphics and he can do the rest - LOL!

Proteus is obviously someone you are very close too in the scene.

Lez you’ve been in the studio with him this year creating “Full Metal Jacket” and are set to go in again?

Lez: Most likely at some point. That was another quick session, two days and it was finished. Amazing really considering how much we drank, it took me a week to recover after that!

Adam you’ve actually played drums on stage for him last year – how did that come about and was it a one off?

Adam: I’ve done it a few times now. Proteus is one of my best friends (also the Best Man at my wedding in December!) and the first time the idea came up while we were very drunk and running round my house playing air guitar to Bruce Springsteen. I love it but it always takes me a month of rehearsing 3 hours a day and usually £100 of drums sticks! It’s not like playing in a band where you get to change tempos and have a breather in between songs – it’s an hour solid of 160 bpm+ Still great fun though and I can’t wait to do it again some time.

You’ve toured the world and have fans across the globe, how do you find the scene differs in other countries and do you have a favorite place to play?

Adam: I don’t think I have a favourite country. The most different would be Japan but there also something very ‘dream like’ about being on tour in Japan that while it’s amazing, you almost don’t know if it’s all totally real! I think I would still have to say that Brixton Academy would be my favorite gig in the world.

Lez: Japan is always a great place to visit, especially for musicians. Its like you’ve died and woken up in this Techno Nirvana. Most places we played were really cool. America is a bit odd. I think the west coast would be really cool though, I’m meant to be playing in LA soon - can’t wait.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen on your travels?

Lez: God, dunno... I can’t remember! There was some strange stuff every now and then, especially when you’ve got severe jet lag kicking in and nothing makes any sense anymore.

I did fall down a small rock face in Australia and split my arm open - that looked funny? NOT. :)

You aren’t known for holding back when you have an opinion so what are your thoughts on where the dance scene is in 2008 given your unique experiences over the years as artists, producers, performers, label owners and event organizers?

Adam: There are elements in all styles of music that I notice and get inspired by, even music that I hate. I think that whenever one specific style takes over a scene, the scene is in danger of becoming stagnant and boring. I think that the Hard Dance scene has suffered from a lack of inspiration over the last couple of years and that maybe Hardstyle becoming so prominent on the mainstream Hard Dance scene maybe had the effect of thinning the crowds a little. I have nothing against Hardstyle but it is hard and dark throughout with a relatively small amount of ‘uplift’ or ‘euphoria’ which I believe a big busy dance floor always needs. I saw the same happen with Hard House (I think it’s now called ‘Bounce’) around 2002/03 when every DJ’s set could have all come from the same record box and every tune from the same producer.

The whole ‘Hard Dance’ label was quite inspiring when that happened as it really was such a broad description of what was ‘acceptable’ to play. Having said that the whole music industry is going through a very strange time of reinvention at the moment and I am still trying to find my way and new ‘business model’.

Lez: I find that there’s far too much politics within the scene, it can have a huge negative effect. I’m pleased I had a year and a half out of the flow to concentrate on building my other projects, it can get in your face too much. There are a few people outside of Lab4 I’d like to see destroyed who did their utmost to end my career, if I ever see them in public it won’t be pretty. They will go nameless for now, Stupid dumb f++kers.

On a more positive note my fave artists at the moment are Spor, and Evol Intent. Its sick stuff and it pushes the boundaries. Every now and then you get a new name/genre crop up that’s hailed as the next best thing - then you listen to it and go 'ooohh is that it???!!! nuffin much different there then'. With Spor and Evol Intent its about as far out there while still maintaining some sanity. Its cutting edge. I’d love to drop something like that just for a few minutes, it would take heads off - I haven’t got the balls at the moment. Going that extreme is a bit dangerous - he he!!!

Being regular performers at CONTACT both as Lab4 and as solo artists what are the best things about CONTACT for you?

Lez: CONTACT likes eetttt Harrrdddd innit???? I was utterly cacking it first time I dj’d for you. I loved the Fort party. Then being back at the Pier was quite emotional as well after 2 years.

Adam: The venues are always great, the sound systems always massive, the lasers always powerful and we (Lab4) and I have always had really up for crowds there!

And so onto our world exclusive! It’s certainly newsworthy that you will be performing on the same stage 2 years to the day after you put Lab4 to bed! I’m sure this isn’t the first time you have been asked in the last 2 years, did Matt just wear you down (he said he’s asked a few times lol) or did you just feel the timing was right?

Adam: For me timing wise I think after fifteen year of working together, two years has just been enough time to start feeling that I have comfortably found myself as a musician and also to have found myself just on a day to day basis as just 'Adam' having been in bands pretty much solidly all my life. The offer /request came in and I felt like I was cool with it if Les was up for it to...

Lez: It's not the first time we’ve been asked, but it’s the first time we’ve said yes…

Adam you will be performing your live show and Lez you will be showing us your skills on the wheels of steel – what can the CONTACT crew expect from you?

Lez: 'Skills on the wheels of steel' ah haaa! Sounds like a cue for a heavy metal song, bit of Saxon there. Wheels of plasctic and flashing lights more like. I’ve got some new noize all cue’d up and ready to go. A couple of mates who are just starting to produce some awesome stuff have sent some real filth over. I’ve got a new remix of Requiem I’m working on too, Cyberdog asked me to do an exclusive 2009 reworking of it for the compilation. If I get that done in time I’ll be chuffered. Its called Requiem “Hearts Of Darkness Reworking”.

Adam: I’m excited as this is my first chance to play a live set at CONTACT. I will start working on my set over the next few weeks but I think I’m going to work some of my Hard House Academy 8 show into the set if I can. It's a slightly smaller stage but I’ll start working on what will translate.

Finally what are your plans for 2009 and will you be making any new years resolutions?

Adam: I have an Australian tour in the pipeline which I’m pretty excited about and will also be back in Holland more often through 2009 – already confirmed for Ground Zero again in July. I am also going to be finishing my THI album and hopefully taking that out on the road.

Lez:
Get Rich.
Have a face lift.
Play golf with Jimmy Tarbuck... in that order.
Stop talking crap.

Thanks guys. It was a pleasure catching up with you, CONTACT New Years Eve is certainly going to be a corker!



For more info on the boys check out the following links:

www.adamlab4.com // www.djxlab4.com - Coming soon!

www.myspace.com/adamlab4 // www.myspace.com/djxlab4

www.myspace.com/thehorizontalinstrument
www.myspace.com/adamlacroixmusic
www.myspace.com/thejudascoven

www.myspace.com/overlordsoftheunderground
Overlords on Youtube