Frantic Amanda

With help from Frantic, we at ClubTheWorld were able to catch up with man of Hard dance himself BK to ask him a few questions after his busy tour of Ireland. How have you enjoyed the Lashed UK & Ireland tour so far? What have the highlights been? Have there been any downfalls? The tour has reached all of my expectations so far. The line-ups for each party have been absolutely tremendous and the clubbers have given such a positive response whenever I played. The launch party at Heaven in London was rather impressive with the fireworks inside the club and all. I really appreciate it when a real effort has been made to put on a real show around a terrific line-up. Do you see a difference between the crowds outside of London and the ones in the capital? The clubbers who come to Lashed events throughout the country are similar, from the same age group. They're always up for it and really know how to party. But in general in London, if it's not a Lashed night, I've noticed that the crowds are usually older. At Get Lashed The Anniversary, you will be playing a techno set, what can we expect to hear from you there? Is it something you would like to do more often? Yes I'd like to do it more often. But techno is not a recent addition to my sets unlike people tend to think. Me and Andy Farley have been playing it since we started. We come from a different school than all the other hard dance Ds; at Trade we were very much influenced by the techy sound and enjoyed playing it there. Dave Angel will be headlining the techno room, what do you think of this artist? He is absolutely fantastic, he's a techno legend. I have so much respect for him and feel much honoured to play alongside him in the techno room at Lashed The Anniversary, I'm really looking forward to it. We know you're a fan of three hour sets, could you imagine playing 8 hour sets like techno DJs such as Laurent Garnier? I already played a 5 hour set at Trade once, but it wasn't planned. The DJ after me couldn't make it so I had to carry on, and I was only given 10 minutes notice! But I really enjoyed it. I thought the second half of my set was better than the first one actually because I chucked in some more alternative stuff I wouldn't have played in my set. Would you consider taking on board techno artists on your new label Riot! Recordings? Once again, techno has always been a part of what I play so I am definitely open to any good techno music for Riot!. It's becoming more and more accepted in the hard dance world which is really positive. I don't want Riot! Recordings to aspire to one specific type of music policy; I want to go outside the usual parameters and have whatever we like. Can we expect any releases from you in the near future and on Riot! Recordings? Yes I will be releasing a track I've done with Dave The Drummer in January on Riot! Recordings. You've been asked to do a monthly show every Thursday between 4-6pm on www.ministryofsound.com, how do feel about that? It's something I've always wanted to get into, so I'm really happy and excited about it. I'll be able to play tracks that sometimes I can't play in clubs, more alternative stuff and vary the genres. It opens the musical spectrum. When's the next Riot! party? What can we expect there? The next will be our big Christmas party, X-mess on 19th December 2004. Seeing the success of our last parties, I think it's going to be rammed. The line-up is rather impressive for this one: me and Ed will be playing in the main room, so will Adam from LAB4, Anne Savage and a very special secret guest. In the bar room we'll have the Sharp Boys, Tom Real, an exclusive breaks set by Anne Savage and many more. What are you doing for Xmas and what's on your Father Xmas list? I usually spend it at home with my family but this time I've paid for my mum to go and see my sister who lives in the States. So I should be celebrating it on a boat of the Thames with about 10 friends. Which DJ would you like to see dressed up as Santa at Lashed? JFK! What's your favourite Xmas carol? Who would you chose to do a remix of it? Jingle Bells remixed by The Prodigy just for the hell of it! Finally, tell us a cracker joke What do you call a deer with no eyes? No eye deer. We at ClubTheWorld would like to thank Ben for taking the time to answer these few questions & to wish him well with future, many thanks