Danny Gee, real name Daniel Griffiths aged 22 is known for his Dj skills, has also turned his skills to music production. I caught up with Danny Gee to find out more about him.
K – How did it all start?
D.G. I started Djing five years ago whilst working in a record shop. Because I had good access to records, I thought it would be a good idea to start.
K – Where have you played?
I started off at the Grasshopper at Westerham in Kent where I was resident for two years. There I played funk and Hip-Hop up until the Acid House explosion. Then I went to Subteraina in Labrooke Grove and was there For nearly two years. There I played a mixture of tunes. I also did a lot of one offs in and around London. At the moment I have got a resident slot at Club Labrynth in the House room which is just fine for me, because I can spend more time in the studio.
K – Your first release ‘Fire when Ready – G double E and ‘Narrow minds – Genaside II’, people say that those two records were responsible for the change in the style of Rave Music. Would you agree?
D.G. “Fire when Ready’ was recorded in November 1989 and ‘Narrow Minds’ shortly after. I wouldn’t say that these tunes were the cause of change, but they were original records for their time. If it gave a new direction for music to go then I glad that we had something to do with it. If we didn’t do it then someone else would have.
K – Since your early releases, your music has changed. Was this change on purpose or was it a natural progression?
D.G. I think it was a natural progression. The Hardcore scene was taking a turn for the worse, so our sound became more of a house sound. That’s where I think the happier vibe is. And as a Dj I never played hardcore, I’ve always played house so it was only a matter of course before I went into that sound.
K – Have you done any remixes in your musical career?
D.G. Yes I have done two. First of all there was the remix of the Prodigy tune ‘Horns of Jericho’ and secondly The Moody Boys ‘King of the funky Zulu’ even though we didn’t get a credit for it. But I am always willing to do others.
K – You’ve released records under various acts, why have you done this?
D.G. The main reason for this was so we didn’t have to limit ourselves to one act. By having different names, it meant that we wouldn’t have to stick to the same formula all the time. Because of the different names we could release what we wanted.
K – You’ve recently started a new label called ‘Swarm Records’. Tell me more about it.
D.G. Well we started Swarm basically because we would have complete control over our music. We found that when we took our tunes to other labels, we didn’t really have a say. So the only way to stop it was to do it ourselves.
K – Have you released anything under the Swarm Label yet?
D.G. Yes, the first single ‘Love to Fell – Eventide’ was released a little while ago and is doing well. We have a new promo on the streets called “Within A Dream – Shikasta’ which also is doing well. We also have other tunes in the pipe line.
K – Do you see yourself in competiton with other house labels?
D.G. There is competiton amongst labels, but we want to be know as a different kind of label. We don’t want to limit ourselves to just house music. If we feel something is worth putting out, then we will.
K – Finally, the question which is asked of everyone. Where do you see yourself in years to come?
D.G. On a beach in Barbados, but seriously I hope to see the label well established, But what it really comes down to is if I’m still in the Music Business then I be more that happy.
Danny Gee seems to Know what he is about. Whether as a Dj or a Music producer one thing is for sure he will – go a long way.
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Rabbit City & Edge Records present Warehouse London, Saturday 24th April 1993
Wax City Records, 306-308 London Road, Croydon
Lucky Spin Records, 121 Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW3
Labrynth Friday Night Wild, 12 Dalston Lane, London E8
Double Dipped & Every Picture Tells A Story, 12 Dalston Lane, London E8
De Underground Records, 18 Sebert Road, London E7
Vinyl Mania, 214 Northfields Avenue, London W13
Happy Days Productions – Rapido @ The Warehouse, 134 Curtain Road, London EC2A
Pyramid Promotions / Innersense – Every Saturday @ Lazerdrome, 267 Rye Lane, London SE15
Sunday Bollox @ Club Labrynth, 12 Dalston Lane, London E8
Universe are becoming well known for their wicked parties. They have an attention to detail and care for their customers, which is unique amongst dance. party organisers, who are often nowadays just greedy rip-off merchants.
I talked to Paul, the guy whose ideas go towards making the parties happen.
CH — How did Universe come about?
PS — Basically Universe consists of a partnership between three people – Roger, Roy and myself. Rob and I used to organise warehouse parties, and we were amongst the first people in the rave
scene to hook up with the hippy convoy. Around 1989 though, it got to the stage where illegal warehouse parties were getting out of hand. We were getting 700-800 people coming along, even if we kept it right underground. Eventually Rob and I just got very frustrated that we couldn’t put on the type of productions we wanted to. Then we met Roger and Universe was born.
CH — How many parties have you put on so far?
PS — Five. This year we’re planning one a month through the summer, which will all be in the South-West. In July we’ll be doing our first party in America, in San Francisco.
CH — So is there alot of interest in Universe, from abroad?
PS — Yeah, there certainly is. We’ve heard from a guy at Harthouse records in Germany, that more party people are coming to Tribal Gathering than are going to the May Day festival in Cologne, on the same night. A lot of European dance record companies are coming over, and MTV Europe will be there. The party is going to be broadcast a week later, even though they’re going to pretend it’s live. There is alot of media interest in this party. We’re opening it up a lot more to the media on this one. Although we’re allowing cameras on site at this party, generally our policy is not to talk to any media outside the specialist dance media, because they don’t report it in a sympathetic way. They’re bound to focus more on the drugs side, because they don’t understand the scene.
CH – Do you get alot of attention from the media then?
PS — We’ve never gone out and sought the attention. We don’t feel like we need it. Every party we’ve ever done has sold out, largely by word of mouth. We actually print up far few flyers than any other organisation, and we’re very selective about where they’re distributed. We try to be selective about who knows about our parties. That helps the atmosphere. Also because we don’t rip people off once they’ve been to one, they want to come back to the next one. It means it creates a for more friendly vibe on site, because people kinow each other. We don’t need to go out convincing loads of new people to come to our parties, because we’ve ripped off all the old people.
CH — Have you ever had any trouble at one of your parties?
PS — In the parties that we’ve done in the past the only thing that has ruined for anyone there, is that at the last party there were a few muggings. I’ve since discovered that a rival rave promoter had actually arranged for that, to try and blacken our name. This time around we’re instituting a lot of new things to stamp that out.
CH — When is the album out?
PS — World Techno Tribe will be out on 26th April to coincide with Tribal Gathering. We’ve worked on it with Rising High records, and if it sells well we’ll be setting up our own recording studio, and pushing new talent. Anyone we fool is good.
CH — I think your “Party with a Purpose” programme ts brilliant, can you explain more about it?
PS — This is not something we’re just doing for this party, it’s an ongoing committment. We’re going to be buying up land, planting trees and leaving them to grow into woodland. Obviously then nobody can use the land for anything else. When it is all up and running we’ll be showing journalists around, just to prove that we’re not lying. The thinking behind it, is that it’s alright just coming along and having a good night, but we warit a little bit more than that. What Universe is doing, as well as putting on good parties, is starting to change the attitude of the police and the council authorities by proving that there is an organisation worth them dealing with. One that can have parties reasonably, and are aware of the health and safety implications — because it’s the reason we don’t use the workings has been discredited by gangsters and cowboys. I don’t mind using the word rave in America, because it has different connotations there.
By doing a scheme like this, we’re showing the authorities that there is some thing more to what we do.
Lucky Spin Records
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