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Dave Clarke

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May 30th 2004 is a good day for Dave Clarke. At the Pink Pop Festival in Holland, the buzz of anticipation in the air before Clarkes live set is tangible; 8000 people rammed into the tent, twice as many as Starsailor pull for their show in the same slot. Clarke himself, beset with nerves and wearing, appropriately enough, a Dont Suck Corporate Cock tee-shirt, finally hits the stage to tumultuous applause. Technos man-in-black simply gets down to business with crunching versions of tracks from his latest album, Devils Advocate, alongside riveting takes on his seminal Red EPs. The crowd noise only grows throughout his performance, rising to a piercing calling sound at its peak. Afterwards, despite the presence of N.E.R.D., Lenny Kravitz and many other more traditional live acts on the bill, its Dave Clarkes performance that local radio stations vote the best of the festival.
Five singles into Devils Advocate, Dave Clarkes biggest buzz is playing live. Sure, hes the techno DJ with the hip hop cross-fader action, the man whos just as likely to play electro, booty bass or even Skinny Puppy, as straightforward four-to-the-floor, but its his live shows to over 150,000 people over the last year that are his current crowning achievement. A truly international DJ for whom a month might take in Japan, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as his most avid fan-bases in Belgium and Holland, hes now eager to deliver live across the globe. Hes done it for John Peel on BBC Radio One, hes done it for a mental 25,000 strong crowd in Brazil, and there will even be a live album out by the end of the year.
Id like to let it feedback, or set the keyboard on fire with lighter fluid, says Clarke keen to bring the same mischievous punk spirit to his live performances that he brought to Devils Advocate. “The heart and soul of that record, and the heart and soul of all the music Ive ever loved is darkness and attitude,” he ventures. Hence the flinty hip hop, filthy electro and bass-heavy post-punk that is wound around techno and house throughout. “I was about nine years old when The Ruts and The Damned were about and I got the records. Theyre still references for me now. Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned is still one of my favourite albums of all time. And I loved the way Bauhaus was gothy cool, not over-goth. I was very into that.”

The gothy cool of Bauhauss Shes In Parties is the basis for a stand-out single from the album with vocal assistance from Berlins favourite daughters, Chicks On Speed. “Its a new song, written around the hook Shes In Parties,” says Dave. “And we had a great time recording it.” Clarke first met the Chicks seven years ago at the infamous Ultraschall club. “We had a few drunken nights out with DJ Hell and Upstart, drinking Cognac and bourbon, going to 80s soul clubs and playing chess. It sounds terribly communistic, doesnt it?”
Clarke has also pulled Chicago house lynchpin DJ Rush into the record, on the jack-track blastin opener Way Of Life. “Its a statement of intent,” he says. “Id got so fucked off with people ripping of my Red stabs that I thought Id rip myself off one last time (Clarkes Red 1, 2 and 3 provide three of dance musics most recognisable anthems). Rush came over, gave me two hours of vocals which I cut and pasted into a single song.” He also corralled politicised indie hip hopper Mr Lif onto the record. “I saw him at the ICA and thought he was great. He comes from the heart.” Lifs track, a screeching, slo-mo story of death and resurrection titled Blue On Blue highlights Clarkes hip hop roots and moves the record further away from the house and techno hes best known for. Theres even a reggae track, hidden away at the end, inspired by a fortuitous meeting in Londons equipment mecca, Funky Junk. “I was talking to the guy behind the counter, saying that the only reggae I could relate to was Mad Professor because its so precise but really laid-back. He was like Have you met him? Hes standing right behind you.

Devils Advocate was released on Brightons Skint Records, to which Clarke signed at Hove Dog Track in a celebratory ceremony that involved him presenting the prize at a greyhound race called The Dave Clarke Inaugural Techno Dash. It was all very light-hearted but, in reality, marked the end of a frustrating period for Clarke. He had previously been signed to Deconstruction who released his Archive One album in 1996, a tasty long-player similarly unconcerned with sticking to a pure techno agenda, but the deal ended in a legal twilight zone which put Clarkes recording career on hold. Where others would have given up or pandered to London media whims, Clarke did what he does best and knuckled down to DJing, building up the international reputation that stands him in good stead today.
In 2001, Clarke reminded all and sundry how far ahead of the game he was with the World Service compilation, featuring a still unbeaten new-school electro tracklisting - Hacker, Fischerspooner and Adult were all present and correct, some time before trendy London caught on. “There were loads of compilations that came out, six, twelve, even eighteen months later, all with a very similar tracklisting. It pissed me off. At that time, there was so much exciting music coming out and it wasnt being serviced by DJs or radio or the press.” Obviously, the record-buying public agreed and they sold 70,000 copies.

Clarke is very much his own man now. He may have a reputation for cigars and cars, indeed, hes probably the only techno DJ with a humidor at home who also owns a double-glazed Mercedes S500, “for hacking up and down on motorways” as well as a brightly coloured Honda NSX. But its all rather irrelevant when you see him on stage behind his kit, enthusiasm bubbling over as one of his patent techno-laced crowd-movers shakes the building and everyone in it. Clarke has come a long way from the youngster living on £5 a day in Brighton, loving electronic music and wondering how hed ever make a living. These days hes a headlining DJ at Glastonbury and playing live at Creamfields but, much more importantly, he retains the same pure passion for music that has kept him going through the tough times and that so many have lost.