Ed Real Interview for Frenzy - hard house in Bournemouth1st of March 2007 - interview copyright of Frenzy Ed Real is one of the chief protagonists of the hard dance scene and is involved from everything from clubnights, the Hard Dance Awards, record labels, and mp3 download websites. But above all, he is a Frenzy gueststar having played for us at the Opera House, Bournemouth Pier, and Club Destiny to name a few. Check out what he has to say... 1. We know that you’re quite heavily involved with the annual Hard Dance Awards, not only behind the scenes, but also as the presenter. How did they go for you personally and are there any embarrassing incidents to report on either from yourself, or other high profile members of the hard dance community!? The event went extremely well on the night and was the showcase for the scene that we wanted to achieve. Nobody else is doing standalone hard dance events on this scale anymore and we proved that there’s still plenty of people who love the scene enough to make it go with a bang! All the DJ’s and other key players who helped put this all together did so knowing that it was going to be a massive advert for our movement so we’re all really proud of our achievement this year and look forward to the next!
2. Anyone who has met you will immediately know about your passion for all things hard which has culminated in you putting your efforts into the Hard Dance Awards. You must have noticed that there has been some negativity on certain Internet forums from a small amount of people stating that they think the awards are fixed, that the awards are biased towards certain DJs and management agencies, and the exercise is a back-slapping exercise. What do you have to say in response to these people and their views given all the time you’ve personally afforded to the event? These people know that they aren’t getting awards so they think that it’s better to ruin something this positive rather than enjoy the celebration of the scene that’s the underlying reason behind the whole project. It’s poisonous and a couple of people who once had respect have shown their true colours. Sad as that is... 3. Of all the Frenzy guests down the years, you’re the one who’s been invited back more than anyone else to our nomadic parties from the Opera House on a Boxing Day, to a lock-in at Club Destiny and a party on the pier (plus a couple more I think)… so you’re doing something right for us! What have been your impressions of the Bournemouth crowd and scene when you’ve come down? I love playing at positive parties! It can be Bournemouth or Bahrain, as long as the beats are tough and the crowd enthusiastic then it ticks my boxes... I’m easy to please!
4. There’s a tape back doing the rounds from when you played at the last ever Club Destiny night for Frenzy before the venue closed its doors for the very last time. Rumour has it that there’s some enthusiastic MC’ing over your mixing by Doctor Evil from Storm Trax. Have you ever felt the need to do any MC’ing yourself? I hosted the Hard Dance Awards ceremony and have no qualms about getting on the mike to spread the love if necessary. Sometimes it makes the vibe ramp up a notch and that’s the aim of the game! 5. You’ve run your own clubnights for years including the hugely successful Riot. Do you actually get the time to enjoy your own night once it’s on, or are you a huge bag of nerves until it’s finished? Anyone who's had the pleasure of me bumping into them on the dancefloor at Brixton Academy will know that I’m probably having more fun than anyone else at the rave. The main reason for promoting a party is to enjoy it! 6. You’re playing for Frenzy at The Old Firestation on the 17th of March as part of a hardcore event where we're hosting the hard house room. The hardcore scene seems to be making a revival at the moment so are you ever tempted to dig your old records out and play a hardcore set? Once again, I play old skool sets every couple of months at parties around the UK. I don’t need any encouragement to rinse out the old skool and drum and bass.
7. Everytime you’ve played Frenzy before you’ve usually managed to mix up a load of classics blended with some new tracks, and sometimes some different styles... so it’s quite different everytime! Do you have anything planned for the 17th or should we wait and see what’s in store? The beauty of my chaotic performances is that nothing is planned! The more enthusiastic the crowd the more madcap the performance. I love vibing off the dancefloor and they usually offer more than enough encouragement. 8. What has happened to Nukleuz Records since you and BK left? It used to be anthem after anthem being released every week but certainly isn’t like that nowadays. How does it make you feel to see the direction the label’s in now? I don’t work there so I don’t know what’s happened. I know that they are selling tonnes of happy hardcore so still going strong from what I can see and good luck to them. It’d be a shame if Nukleuz struggled as they’re the backbone of the UK scene and we all need them and their ilk.
9. You run an mp3 distribution website. The digital revolution has certainly meant more and more producers can get their sound out there, but at the same time has meant a lot of low standard productions are being sold as it’s now so easy to do so. Do you guys let any label distribute through your website irrespective of quality or is there a degree of quality control when it comes to who releases via your store? We have a level of quality control that’s dictated by content managers such as Olly Perris who runs our hard dance section. With 3000 new tracks a week released on the site its impossible to vet every one - a label might be releasing the next summer smash hit as their next single so you can’t always predict what to support. At www.trackitdown.net we have an extensive ‘featured tracks’ section which is what the customer is presented with upon arrival. This is a filter alongside the Top 10s and the ‘My Favourites’ which allows the customer to pinpoint exactly what is suitable for them. 10. On your website you’re described as the Planet’s Biggest Party Animal! Surely you’re not all about partying though? Tell us the most boring or uninteresting thing about Ed Real… any dull hobbies we should be aware of? Well apart from running www.trackitdown.net, Riot! Recordings, Fakt Recordings, DJ'ing all over the world and having a little party now and again there really isn’t much time left for anything else! That’s Monday to Sunday all wrapped up...
11. I’m sure you’ve been asked this so many times, but it’s a tradition to ask it in a Frenzy interview... what are your top five tracks of all time? And as we always get bored of saying, they don’t have to be hard dance. Here are 5 random favourite tracks off the top of my head;
12. Another question we sometimes like to ask is who is the most famous person you’ve ever met? To give you some indication of the grade you might need to make, Chris C claims to have gone to an afterparty at Elton John’s house, and at the opposite end of the scale Charlotte Birch is friends with daytime chatshow host Jeremy Kyle (so they both tell Frenzy)... can you do better or worse? My girlfriend is best mates with James Blunt and we’ll be seeing him soon. Does that count?
13. It would be rude not to let you promote your up and coming schedule with DJ’ing and production so is there anything you want to tell the Bournemouth massive about your plans for the rest of the year? Raving raving and more raving! www.riotinlondon.com and www.trackitdown.net are the places to watch for my manoeuvres! Lock up your daughters! Ed Real will next be playing for Frenzy on the 17th of March 2007 at the Old Firestation in Bournemouth so check our forthcoming events for more information.
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