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CyberKitten presents the Toolbox Tour: Nik Denton
Reported by K8-e
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Submitted 20-06-08 20:41
Nik Denton is undoubtedly one of the hard house scene’s heroes and perhaps even that is understating it. Having produced and DJed for eleven years now, Nik not only makes the tunes that keep our dancefloors pumping, he signs them to his labels and then distributes them as well. With a mantra of keeping the house in hard house, Toolbox is one of the longest standing labels in the scene and Nik’s passion and enthusiasm certainly drive that. We at CyberKitten are proud to be hosting the first event on the Toolbox tour on Friday 27 June @ Fever, Northampton. Ahead of the party, I took some time with Nik to find out more…
Nik welcome to HarderFaster. I believe you used to play the saxophone at school — firstly, were you a natural? And secondly, how did you move from that into DJing and production? I believe you started producing at 17!
Thanks for having me. It’s been a while!
Yes, I did play the saxophone as well as other instruments through my younger years. I passed grades on the sax, but my Mum and Dad sold it because we were in the middle of a recession and I wasn’t practising as much as I should have!
I always loved music though, so I guess moving into music production and DJing was a natural move. I think my love for what I was hearing at clubs like Trade and my love for music just fused together and the rest is history.
Your name is now synonymous with one of the scene’s leading hard house labels, Toolbox, but you also look after Hammerheads — for the even harder end of the scale — and Toolbox House. What’s your ethos behind each label and how did they come about?
Toolbox has always been about how I feel about hard house and putting that out on the label as a display of what I think is true to the label and its roots. It’s well documented that I like my hard stuff with some inspiration from back in the day! But I do like it hard as well. So that’s how Hammerheads came about. Hammerheads is for the more NRG-style hard stuff that isn’t suited to what we do on Toolbox.
Toolbox House came about as the hard house scene moved from the sound I liked towards the more techy/hard trance route. It meant I could write the stuff I liked and not have to put it out as hard house. It just made sense to start something new rather than take a risk with the main Toolbox label.
Toolbox House has actually moved on from the original idea and has become a popular house label that is now focused on a wide range of house styles and not just the tougher grooves.
All three labels are very distinctive and working well. I’m really pleased with how they are all going.
You’ve had releases under your Overload guise — with Paul King — and Pip and Pen for house. Are there any other aliases you use?
I’ve used Pulse Fiction for a few experimental hard house projects/remixes, but that’s it for the hard house stuff. I have produced as Glam Lovers on a few house projects though.
I tend to use my own name these days, although I do know it’s caused a bit of confusion when house DJs are looking for my work on download sites — maybe a rethink is needed!!
Do you have any plans to produce in other genres or is house / hard house your main obsession?
I currently have a list of projects and remixes that I have to get done and I think I pretty much have my hands tied for the next six months. I don’t think I would find the time to try anything new even if I wanted! I don’t think I’d want to do anything outside what I am doing anyway, I’m enjoying producing more than ever right now, so it’s just house and hard house on the menu for a good while yet..
With Toolbox V you released a raft of EPs with some of the scene’s leading lights from Justin Bourne and Defective Audio to Marc Johnson, Paul Glazby and Jon BW and I think it’s fair to say you’ve worked with some of the scene’s leading producers over the years. Who’s next on the list to get down with in the studio and what’s about to come out we can look forward to?
I’ve been extremely lucky to have worked with almost everyone I have ever dreamed of wanting to do tracks with. Although I would have obviously loved to have worked with Tony!
I think if I could do a similar project to Toolbox V I would do something totally different. Maybe drag the likes of Rachel Auburn, Kev Bird, Jon Langford, Malcolm Duffy, Babydoc and Mark Kulak back into the studio for some retro type hard house. But at the moment my goals are set on other things. I very rarely get time to do my own original tracks and that’s where I am setting my sights for the rest of the year.
As for forthcoming stuff, it’s all remixes and collaborations. I have a collaboration with Rikrom coming up on Twisted filth called ‘Brahma’ and one on Toolbox with Steve Gillen called ‘We’re All One’. Both have had an excellent response so far.
I have just been in the studio with Paul King for the first time in ages to do a remix for Tidy; we’re both really pleased with the outcome. There’s also Nik Denton remixes to come on Flashpoint, Trauma Trax, Cubed and Kung Fu Wax. My remix for Flashpoint and my ‘Meet Fu Yung’ remix for Trauma Trax are two of the best remixes I have ever done. I am really excited about them getting out and about!
You’ve recently signed CyberKitten’s very own Lucy Fur, the lovely Mr Tim Stokes and the King Prawn P.A.S. lads to Toolbox as artists — what’s captured your attention with each of them and who else should we be looking out for amongst the up and coming djs and producers?
Lucy has sent me several productions and I have always loved her stuff, but more recently she has come up with some right beasts. ‘Shake It Up’ and ‘Rattlebrain’ are by far two of my favourite tracks in recent times and I’m lucky to have signed them! I think Lucy has captured what I love in hard house and I’d be stupid not to get her on board so she can strengthen what we have already. Lucy is a hard working lady who puts an amazing amount of effort into her work, she deserves to be where she is heading on Toolbox.
Tim is one of the most passionate people I have ever met. He lives for this scene. If you ever had to endure a car journey with him, you’ll know what I am talking about. He lives and breathes hard house and you can see it in what he comes out with in the studio!
P.A.S. got my attention through their remix of Trauma’s ‘Higher’. Through talking to them I again realised that they were absolutely all about the scene and productions.
We are going to showcase all three over the coming months on a series of double albums called The Toolkit series and then I hope everyone will see the amazing qualities they have.
The next stage in Toolbox is to have defined names and producers who carry the Toolbox name in all its glory and these guys fit the bill.
As for new DJs and producers… God, there are too many to mention. Our scene is thriving with a lot of great imagination at the moment! Richard Toomz needs a massive pat on the back, as does Sam Townend and Jon BW. James Nardi always impresses me as well, although I appreciate he isn’t up and coming as such. Those working to bridge the gap between tough house and hard house are those who are doing it for me. We need that bridge built so people can cross it.
If you had to pick a Toolbox Top 3 what would be in it? Richard Toomz and Dave Owens — ‘Margherita’ (Glazby Meat Feast mix) would be my personal favourite but I think I would struggle with the other two as there are too many to choose from!
Strangely enough I would have to say the original of ‘Margherita’, I love it! Lucy’s ‘Shake It Up’ and probably the Project Mayhem remix of ‘What’s Your Excuse’. But I have to say that I think the quality on Toolbox has been getting better and better, so choosing just three means I have to leave off loads of other favourites.
In further related news you’ve just released Toolbox: The Collection 2006 – 2008 mixed by Lucy Fur and the now (sadly) retired Justin Bourne. What was the thinking behind the project?
This was Lucy’s first Toolbox project. I had signed her track and already decide to work with her on more stuff, so it was a showcase of what’s to come I guess. With Justin it was something we had arranged months before. We didn’t know it would be his farewell compilation. I’m not sure he even knew it was when we agreed he would mix it. I could have just mixed it myself, but I wanted Lucy to have something to start her residency with us and I wanted Justin to do a CD. He hadn’t done one for a while and I thought it was about time people had a glossy finished compilation with Justin’s name all over it. And they both nailed it!
As well as producing and owning record labels you are also instrumental in actually physically getting the music to the people, as you run Toolbox Distribution that looks after over 50 different vinyl labels. How did you get into that side of the business?
I was just getting disheartened by with the distributor telling me what to put out. It was my label and I wanted to be proud of what I was doing. I will be the first to say the original Toolbox releases weren’t amazing productions or groundbreaking, but they were what I wanted on my label! I think it was a mutual decision that I moved from Tuned. I decided to do it on my own so that I would be completely in control of the label’s future, so that’s how the distribution started. I then took on other labels that wanted a fresh start.
It’s a decision I’ve sometimes had to sit back and really think about! Being slap bang in the middle of labels and record shops has been really challenging at times — especially in the current climate, it’s a hard job! But I enjoy it and I am very lucky to have Ben Stevens looking after the distribution part now. I’ve become a professional downloader, accountant, email man and telephone lady, i .e.: the back end boring stuff!
With the recent demise of some key distributors and Tidy and Vicious both recently announcing they are leaving vinyl behind, what are your thoughts on the direction the scene will take over the next few years? I think it’s fair to say a lot in the scene are still very passionate about vinyl, whilst others are keen to totally embrace the digital world, be that with CD or mp3 – interesting times!?
Yes, very interesting times indeed. It would be easy for me to say vinyl is very much alive because I sell it for a living and of course I want to keep vinyl alive as much as possible. But I honestly have to say that I think the truth is that there definitely still is a market for vinyl!
Vinyl now has to be put out with a proper business plan and the labels have to accept that sales won’t be like they used to. Gone are the days when you can just press and the sales come in. But there are a core number of people that still want vinyl and until that isn’t the situation then I believe there is still a call for pressing it.
Vinyl sales have dropped off over the last few years due to people moving to digital, but to be fair the pressing plants know this and have now started to do excellent deals so that the labels aren’t taking as much risk. So it’s still affordable if done right.
Of course things can and will change, but I don’t think they’ll change dramatically any time soon. We’ve already seen the biggest drop in sales throughout 2007, but they have levelled out.
Tidy and Vicious stopping vinyl isn’t really an accurate indication that vinyl is dead, as some are saying. Both labels have built their audience with vinyl and are strong enough to take or try new directions. But I think vinyl is still an important part in building label profile as it taps into an audience that still wants that format.
Some people are definitely still passionate about vinyl. Quote me on it! LOL!
Tell me more about the Hard Heart Beat promo CD subscription service you run for DJs. What prompted you to set this up and how is the project faring in its second year?
It’s a monthly CD that includes 10 pre-release tracks before they come out later on vinyl, CD or as a download. All the tracks are hard house/dance and are from the labels that we are associated with through the distribution.
I took the idea from other genres that were doing the same. It’s a great way for DJs to get stuff before it comes out on general release.
Year two has been a challenge, as Melissa who looked after this part of the company left back in January and I have not had the time to push it as much as it should have been, but we have a loyal member base and they love it and that’s the important part. It could be bigger if I could just find the time to promote what we are doing! You can find out more and subscribe here: The Hard Heart.
I believe ‘toolbox’ was the name you used to give your record/CD wallet — so what’s currently in your toolbox and how would you describe the Nik Denton sound for those who haven’t heard you play before?
Well I think it’s safe to say that Toolbox sums up the Nik Denton sound. I sign tracks that I would play, so it’s a great indication of what you are going to get from me. I like my tracks hard, but I prefer them funkier where possible!
You are currently living in Manchester — what’s the scene like there?
Manchester has always been a city linked strongly to dance culture and it’s still buzzing. The hard scene has been all about Goodgreef and Sin:ergy over the past few years. Goodgreef are of course the masters of all styles and Sin:ergy until recently have been flying the flag for the hard dance followers. But the real hard house fans haven’t really had much to shout about, until recently.
I’ve just started a new night called Coalition with Kate Hammond from Red and our launch went amazingly well. We want Coalition to fill the void for ‘hard house’ lovers and we’re pretty confident that this will be the case. We have huge line ups planned for the rest of the year. Check out www.coalitionmanchester.com
In an interview last year you said a holiday was the one thing you needed to get sorted this year — have you managed to sort that out yet? Where is your top holiday destination?
That’s a no then lol! I had three days in Amsterdam but it wasn’t really a holiday. I’ve been looking at trying to get away in the past few days, but with Coalition, the Toolbox Tour, and a house move and being extremely busy at Toolbox HQ I’m not getting my hopes up too much.
My favourite holiday destination is Dubai, but I’ve not been for about four years and I’m told it’s starting to get more commercial. I need somewhere quaint and quiet so I can sleep all the time!
Do you have a real toolbox at home and how handy are you round the house?
I’m about as useful as a chocolate teapot when it comes to being handy around the house. I’ve never had a toolbox and never will. I’m more likely to be found with a feather duster and a pair of rubber gloves! I’m a bit anal when it comes to keeping the house clean and tidy.
What CD is in your car or on your iPod?
I’ve been listening to my new mix on the ipod and I think Natasha Beddingfield album in my car. I listen to all sorts!
You are playing at the legendary CyberKitten, the Midlands club that’s won for an unprecedented two years in a row the prestigious UK Best Small Club Award at the Hard Dance Awards. They’re hosting your Toolbox Tour which features yourself and the awesome Dave Owens and Tim Stokes. How excited are you and what have you got in store for the CK faithful?
This is the launch of the tour so I’m ultra excited! We have done a couple of album launch parties, but this is the first time we are on the road, so I’m just looking forward to getting out and speaking to people and giving them a good Toolbox going over. I know all the DJs will play their hearts out and give the crowd a night to remember. I personally just want to let my hair down (not that I have any) and play all the records I’m currently in love with. I’m excited to see what Cyberkitten is all about, I’ve heard great things!
Thanks Nik. I’m really looking forward to it!
CyberKitten presents the Toolbox Tour @ Fever, Northampton. Nik Denton, Dave Owens, Tim Stokes, Lucy Fur, Tom Parr, Kirsty-Lee James and myself (K8-e), and all for just £5 before 12:30am.
All photos copyright Red Management. Not to be reproduced without permission.
CYBERKITTEN presents TOOLBOX TOUR
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On:
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Friday 27th June 2008
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At:
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Fever [map]
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From:
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22:00 - 04:00
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Cost:
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Summer Saver! £5 until 12:30am, MOTD
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Website:
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www.cyberkitten.co.uk
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Ticket Info:
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On the door
Advance - 07849375534
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More:
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CYBERKITTEN presents TOOLBOX TOUR
Friday June 27th
10pm - 4am
Fever
Northampton
07849375534
GET READY FOR A WILD RIDE
For CK's June roar up ..
A dj/producer line up made in hard house heaven...
Whipped up with your partying pleasure in mind
THE CLUB
CyberKitten's thrilled to present the TOOLBOX TOUR with very special guests showcasing the superb talents of TOOLBOX Recordings fab head honcho and legend NIK DENTON! CK/RED hot scene queen LUCY FUR and the awesome DAVE OWENS! Stormin' hard duo K8-E vs TOM PARR, the amazing TIM STOKES an' blazing girl on the rise KIRSTY LEE JAMES (birthday set).
THE COURTYARD
The purrfect cure for your White Isle blues! DIRTYFLIRTY heats up the yard with rocking resident HAYDN HAYDN. CK's BRAD DUKE gets rude for his birthday set, PHIL ENGLAND dishing up sexy electro an' all out gorgeous groove from the luvley LUCY G ..
Luv
C.y.b.e.r.K.i.t.t.e.n xx
BEST SMALL CLUB
HARD DANCE AWARDS
2007 & 2008
www.myspace.com/cyberkittenuk
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Other Features By K8-e:
The One and Only Eddie Halliwell
PunchFunk & Geushky Presents "Let's Make Rave" with Ian Void & Chris Vaux
Cream @ Amnesia - Ibiza 2010 - Reviewed
Pure Gold: Interview with Will Gold
Turning the Corner - Interview with IAMX
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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