Hardcore Sensation the Norths only large scale UK Hardcore event interviews SY & GAMMER

This article is about Hardcore Sensation The Long Hard Good Friday @ 53degrees in Preston (UK), Fri 10 Apr

First up is this years number one hardcore DJ
DJ GAMMER
myspace.com

Gammer aka Matt Lee has gone from strength to strength over the last 5 years featuring on nearly every credible label in the UK Hardcore scene today.
Currently Gammer is co owner of one of the most successful labels Essential platinum and owner of the more recent label Muffin music.

Whats your favourite piece of studio equipment?

My favourite piece, that's a hard question seeing as I'm mostly completely software based these days....I guess my favourite piece would still be my Virus C, its nice and wide for pretty much any kind of sound, and still has something to its synthesis engine that I felt the TI lacked

Whats your favourite moment over the last few years as a DJ and
likewise your worst

My favourite moment, I guess goes without saying, picking up best DJ of the year was a real honour for me, I'm never in this to win awards or anything like that but to be shown that level of appreciation by the people I love to play for was just....wow!

Worst moment, getting drunk whilst djing in Spain and getting kicked off the decks and out the club....not good

Why are Dougals cups of coffee so dam good?

Its that damn Nespresso machine! Its like power coffee, the caffeine levels were so high I ended up seeing a doctor as I got some gastro problems......damn good coffee!

You have been entering the word of hard dance teamed up with
Andy Whitby and his aw sum brand as Matt lee but now you are just
going with Gammer do you not think this will be confusing for
people looking for that hardcore set only to find you playing
hardance?

I went with Matt lee at first as I wanted to branch out under a new name have it separated from the Gammer name....sadly I soon realised that entering the hard dance scene under a new name earns you no notice or respect... and I guess as the two scenes aren't a million miles apart from each other I guessed that using the gammer name would help a little, as for confusing, ill be going out as Gammer aka Matt Lee so it will all cross over nicely

What piece of advise would you give to the up and coming
producer?

Always compare what your writing to a song of the same genre, its a horrid thing to do so it needs to be done
Add something unique to your songs, something that makes it stand out from all the other tracks, even if its just one little thing
Nothing happens over night, and patience and persistence is greatly rewarded!

You won best DJ this year were you surprised and how did it
feel?

It was a complete surprise, I've always loved doing what I do but even now I never class myself above anyone, and still go giddy when I'm around the piers that I spent my youth and even now look up to.

You are due to play for hardcore sensation in the main arena @
53 Degrees Preston, knowing that these guys have run some of the
biggest events in years gone by are you excited?

Indeed I am, Ive been playing for these guys since the days of elysium and the crowds were always brilliant, intimate and fun, just how i like it.

Can you give us any secret news on the world of Gammer like any
news on forthcoming Albums/Projects etc?

I could....but then it wouldn't be a secret :o

You are the master of audio manipulation how the hell did this
come around as you seem to be able to turn an apparently useless
sound into a release.

Since my early studio days I spent plenty of time messing around with simple synthesis and plugin chaining. Ive always found the best way to make unique sound is load up the black preset on a synth and just mess around with it till you get something hooky, the key to making something hooky I find is to easily be able to sing along to it. Take don't stop go, there's no real 'notes' and yet I always find that annoying squiggly sound gets stuck in your head for ages.

The bottom line, experiment

Finally Give us a run down on the life of Gammer from Monday
to Sunday.

Monday - Wake up, generally late. Receive a phone call from dougal who seems to have completely forgotten that I tried to ring him about 40 times over the weekend and then casually asks 'what time you coming over gams'. Paul tells me loads of exciting news but I'm so tired and grouchy that i just respond with a gentle grunt
Tuesday - Thursday.... Super work time, get as much done as we can
Friday....We either work in the studio casually as its a Friday and we normally have work in the evening, or we stay at home and just relax if its a really heavy weekend
Saturday....sleep in, have a takeaway...gig
Sunday....sleep in more, play games, watch TV....try to ring dougal some more...then sleep

Thanks Gams see you on the 10th of april.

Next up is the legend that is DJ sy the undisputed scratch master of UK Hardcore and co owner of Quosh records another Huge influencial record label spanning 91 releases from the last 10 years.

SY is also the man behind the highly successful THIS IS FOR THE DJ scratch vinyls used by well everyone that is into scratching.

DJ SY
quoshrecords.com
myspace.com

Your one of the longest serving artist's in UK hardcore but How
long have you actually been on the circuit for?

Since 1989!

You never seem to do H.T.I.D in the sun, we have heard some
rumors and wonder if you could "quosh" them (pun intended) is it
true that you are scared of flying?

I actually answered this in full in an interview in The Core a few months
back - no, of course I'm not scared of flying, I just hate it! Well to be
more precise, it's all the preliminaries that I can't stand (the getting to
the airport early, endless queuing, delayed flights etc etc), I actually
don't mind the flying bit, unless it's a flight over about 3 hours, then I
get soooo bored & fidgety!

Can you give a us an "insight" (pun intended) into a week in
the life of SY starting from Monday ending on a Sunday....

Monday through to Thursday I'll be in the studio from 9am 'til around 5pm,
Fridays I sleep most of the day so I'm able to stay up 'til the silly hours
on Friday night/Saturday morning, Friday & Saturday DJ-ing, Sunday chilling!

Your known for your scratching abilities as well as short bar
mixing, but how do you practice all the time for new scratch
techniques given the fact your in the studio 4 days a week.?

I haven't properly practised for years to be honest, a lot of the new little
patterns just come out of my DJ-ing at the weekends!

Quosh records is now on release 93 and if you don't mind our
say so they have all been welcome releases for the ravers and djs
out there, but is there any tracks you have made and just thought
"this is totally rubbish"?

Beautiful Stranger was a bit, ahem, shit :-)

How do you deal with the dreaded artists block?

To be honest because we work as a team, and with other musicians, that's
never really been an issue, as we bounce ideas off each other until
something concrete emerges.

You work very closely with Chris unknown and have for many
years now, whats your favourite moment with him off the top of
your head and likewise the worst one?

We promoted an event years ago locally, and spent a few nights dodging the
police in the local area putting up flyers & posters in places that we
really shouldn't have ;-) That was a right laugh. The worst moments for us
have been when distributors have gone bust on us, losing us shitloads of
money. I reckon we've suffered from this more than anyone else in the scene
because of the different styles of music (and hence different distributors)
we've been involved with.

What been your favourite moment as a DJ over the years that one
single moment where you thought to yourself "this is the right
career for me"

Winning "Best Hardcore DJ" a few years back was superb, but you know what,
it's at those gigs that happen every few months when the whole crowd's
rocking, the sound system is perfect, the DJ booth set up is spot on, and my
set's just flowing that I think "this is the shit"

your due to play at hardcore sensation the night from the
makers of vibealite and more recently bounce heaven, having played
for both of these events many times are you excited at what they
have planned as they have never used the main arena @ 53 degrees
for just hardcore before so your one of the first artists to grace
the stage?

For sure! I've done a bounce set on the main stage before, it's phat. Wicked
club and a wicked sound system, so it's gonna go off!

We imagine you get sent plenty of material from up and coming
producers what would be your advise to them?

I always simply say, be original and unique. That's the ONLY way you'll
stand out & get noticed. Take influence from other artists, but do your own
thing!

Hardcore Sensation is being held on the 10th of April @ the mighty £6.5 million pound super club 53 Degrees in Preston.

With a line up that speaks for its self and advance tickets at the insanely low price of £12.50 available by texting the word "hard" to 82500 this is not a rip off premium rate number if you receive free texts in your pay as you go or pay monthly contract then this text is FREE