Rich:)e Rich: All Hands On Deck a Feature by Phip (Phip Murray) Rich:)e Rich, co-producer of the Apollo festival and DJ extraordinaire, chats about electronic music, the bad press raves get and whether you need strong muscles in your fingers to be a DJ. Rich:)e Rich (submitted by Phip.) photo by lizzie (submitted by Phip.) Apollo Festival (whoo hoo!) Sydney: Feb 7th Melbourne: Feb 14th (submitted by Phip.) How did you start DJ-ing? I got a mix at a friendís birthday when I was 17 and thought, ëcool, this is funí. I was always into music, from New Order to The Cure as well as stuff like INXS. I then got heavily into alternative ëmodí type shit and early electronic stuff like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michelle Jarre, etc... Is it tricky to be a DJ? Do you have to build up muscles in your fingers? No! My fingers are fine thanks! You work in many aspects of dance music (ie as a producer, DJ, etc): what are the areas you work in and do you have a preference for the kind of work you do? I produce parties, DJ, run a label and publishing company and soon will produce music. Who is the original Richie Rich and why is it a name that suits? Well, I used to love the comic and a friend used to call me it ó they kind of just dumped it on me. So I was young (18) and started using it only to find a few more popped up!!! Has techno/electronic music changed from being one of many underground subcultures to one of the dominant music forms of this generation? Definately a dominant music form. It's electronic and its possibilities are endless. You can only do so much with drums, a guitar, vocals, etc...Electronic music is only limited by your imagination! How has the electronic music landscape changed over the last few years? It's got deeper. Technology is getting better, therefore the music production is becoming easier and faster. Music is getting better. The only problem that occurs now in electronic ó and all forms of music ó is that people are running out of ideas. Only the imaginative and creative people will make it. Underworld are good, Leftfield are good but bands like The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy will soon need to change their sound, it's getting stale. Those influential bands need to make the moves as they are mainstream and dominate the sounds of the culture. They need to keep moving with the times or they'll be 1000 big-beat techno bands all trying to clatter up the charts. In mainstream media, techno culture is continually written off as a drug oriented, Anna Wood killing, good for nuthiní, criminal-ish environment. Does the bad press raves get in conservative forums frustrate you? Fucking oath! This scene is exploding. People in high postions are scared. It's getting crazy with more and more people jumping onto the rave, party, techno culture bandwagon which is cool but, with that, comes aggrivation from the authorities. How many people got hurt in brawls at Homebake? How many kids get squashed at indie rock concerts from moshing? Fuck it, leave us alone. For Australia to have maybe 5-10 deaths over 7 years of 1000 events and a total of around 500,000 individuals participating over the last 7 years in Australia, I think we're doing okay. Criminals. Try the nightclubs brothers and sisters! Try the politicians and big businessmen like Holmes AíCourt and those dudes. They're the criminals. Oh, and don't forget the Police like the ones that murdered the ex-prostitute in the alley-way in Darlinghurst just before she was about to put them away. I hate the media and their attitude to shit like that. Whatís happening in the techno scene that excites you? Patrick Lindsey, Underworld and Orbital. They are what excite me. They give me drive to go on. The other main reason is the people and attitudes of the public. In the techno (not club) scene, they are friendly, warm and open to new ideas. The attitudes are slowly changing though. The influx of people is getting so fast, the education process of the culture is not keeping up with the influx. Therefore, raves like Cox, Emerson and Cook in Melbourne on NYE are bringing in the wrong people too fast. These people are forgetting the reasons why they are here. They should be here for the music, not to pick up chicks and take drugs. This is what may scare people off and could inevitably destroy what was once a great scene. The majors like Mushroom are moving in, under the guidance of no one. Yeah, with Apollo we teamed up with Coppel, but at least people who've been doing the shit (ie Hardware, Gemmco) for 10 years have a say and, more importantly, control of what direction to take it in. How it's promoted, who to, etc... Are you interested in the associated cyber imagery of techno, or have you seen enough glitter and silver to last a lifetime? Seen enough. But it's good. The effort people go to is great. How does Australia compare with techno culture overseas? Strong. It's still relatively underground and untouched. That's why people overseas like it. It is getting commercial now. Places like Redheads with 10 commercial acts in 5 weeks are killing it, really. What is Hardware and why did you set it up? It about techno music. I set it up to rock the planet and push our sound (and to create enough work in the environment ó I love to pay the bills). Is techno male oriented and, if so, why are there not more chicks on decks? No, girls rock too. Kelli Hand is good. Monika Cruise in Germany, etc. It's becoming more and more a both sexes affair. Is the ëApolloí festival the ëBig Day Outí of electronic music? Yeah, but better produced. Not just a big stage and a few smaller rooms with stages and sound. We've got decor and environments to create. Not sheds, but tents. Real festival vibe coming, you better believe it baby !!! This kind of event (ëApolloí) is unprecedented in Australia, how will festival culture change techno culture? Is this event exciting for you as another transformation of techno culture? This is the next step. We're just proud to be part of it for the next few years to come. Many other techno promoters are trying to stop us and they see it as a threat but fuck ëem. We did it first and we will suceed. It is what is needed for this scene to grow stronger and stay exciting. The clubs and promoters all doing tours now are just downright unproductive and are making the whole thing stale. How would you classify the work you do as a DJ? Keep pushing new sounds. Make people happy and have a good time. Would you ever release a Kylie Minogue masterpiece (aka Stock, Aiken and Waterman) to rake in the big money and live richly ever after? No fucking way. Kylie is hot but her music sucks, although she is good for Australia and for female pop. She is a bit of a legend you see. Young people are often dismissed by political and cultural bigwigs as apathetic, slacker, dole-bludging whippersnappers. In your experience is youth culture stagnating or is stuff going on? Stuff is going on. But so much shit is wrong with the planet at the moment. The new kids are looking and saying ëwhat the fuck is going on here !?!?!?í. Internet, global warming, el-nino, paying for university degrees, stock market crashes, single parents, heroin problems, parking tickets @ $100, Sydney burning down, etc... So, ëcause all this shitís happening, kids don't know if they want to be a stockbroker, activist or a DJ. So more people are deferring, travelling, etc. Stuff is going on, look at Apollo for instance. Are DJís like rockstars now? Rather than just being the dude with the decks are you the spunkrat that everybody wants to meet? Kind of. I went to the Moonlight cinema last night with 3 friends and the guys and girls behind us (like, 15 of them) went, ëHey isnít that Richie Rich? Isnít that Patrick Lindsey?í. Yeah, it's getting like that but I think not for me. The DJ is like you and me but people just think ëperformer, party, god, DJ is god!í That's crap. What do you think of the Spice Girls? Would you like to be a Spice Girl? I think the Spice Girls are the best marketing package ever. I would love to be a Spice Girl. Travelling everywhere, being paid a fortune and almost rooting whoever you want to. For a year that would be good but, in the end, I think I would hate it. Has anyone ever asked you to play Khe San or Celine Dion (substitute crap track) in the middle of a techno set? No thank god. Who do you admire musically? New Order. Public Enemy. The Cure (Robert Smith!!!). Van Halen. Underworld. Orbital. Inner City. If you were not producing/playing music what would you be doing? Writing computer programs. Robbing corporate companies of all their money via the internet and phone lines. Hacking to death Australia secuirty systems like ASIO. What do you love about your involvement with techno? Music, music, music. And people, I've met some awesome, genuine people. If you could invite three people (fictional, cartoon, living or dead) for dinner who would they be and who would you definitely not invite? Kate Moss, Lizzie Murray (my flatmate and bestest friend) and Martin Luther King. What do you hope for in the next few years? Actually, kids. I love them. After I travel in the next 2 years, I want kids. Maybe in 5 years time. I want to have kids then ëcause I don't want to be 50 and have 10 year old kids, you know. When theyíre 10, I want to be no older than 40 so I can do shit. Take them camping, riding, surfing, etc... rich:)e Created on Mon, 26 Jan 1998 and last modified on Wed, 28 Jan 1998.

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