Alex Silverfish: Squat, Parties, Safety & The Real Power Of Techno

"I'll be affiliated to techno until the day I die because it's a form of shamanism, it's a music that's associated with the ancient beat of the drums that were played by our ancestors. It's a magic ritual."

After a decade spent pioneering and helping develop London's underground techno party scene, Italian born promoter/ DJ/ producer Alex Silverfish is amply qualified to talk about techno. Initially co-running a Silverfish shop/ club in Charing Cross Road with Eukatech chiefs Hans and Nils Hess and others, he's gone on to host 287 Silverfish events across London, more recently co-producing warehouse-style joint events with Aphex Twin's Rephlex Records.

Sitting in his East London council flat, he's as eager to pass on his knowledge about squat party safety ("You need to be safety conscious because tragedies can happen in a matter of seconds.") as he is about spirituality ("When I play techno to people I feel an energy coming out of spine and passing into the crowd, then coming back through the head.")

Chatting to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley he's also impressively optimistic about techno's true potential.

"Magic things and real healing can happen through techno," he says.


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): What exactly is Silverfish right now-

Alex Silverfish: "It's still a collective of people with many people involved, though right now there's no central location for the collective, the only things that survive are the label, the spirit and the parties. It's almost about a way of life. We're trying to export our vibe and move on towards performing at other peoples' parties and that's what we've been doing recently. We're still running the Silverfish parties though not as often as we used to. Aztec and I especially have been playing lots of other parties from Eurobeat 2000 to Analog City and all the techno parties in London, except Lost. We\re trying to give out our vibes to the people; that's the main mission at the moment."

Skrufff: how do you see London's techno scene right now-

Alex Silverfish: "London's techno scene has become a little dormant in recent times so it's been hard for everybody to maintain their profile here. Most of the older generation of techno DJs are playing abroad, often in Germany, for example. Tim Taylor from Missile moved to Spain recently and has started playing and producing his records from there. Some DJs have moved to France while others are still living here but making their living from travelling the world, in places like Brazil and Colombia where techno is taking off at the moment."

Skrufff: Do you still feel actively connected to techno-

Alex Silverfish: "Yes I do and I'll be affiliated to techno until the day I die because it's a form of shamanism, it's a music that's associated with the ancient beat of the drums that were played by our ancestors. It's a magic ritual. Dancing to the rhythmic sound of the drums all night is something that men have been doing for millions of years and in those rituals there are lots of processes happening such as energy sharing between the DJ and the crowd. Magic things and real healing can happen through techno."

Skrufff: What do you mean by magic-

Alex Silverfish: "When I play techno to people I feel an energy coming out of spine and passing into the crowd, then coming back through the head. If you play good music to people you receive a vibe in exchange and it's a formidable sensation. This sensation is really what I still play for, rather than the money for glory. That's why I still play for free in lots of underground techno parties."

Skrufff: What's your assessment of today's underground/ squat party techno scene-

Alex Silverfish: "The underground techno scene is becoming too drug orientated. We used to go to Spiral Tribe or Mutoid Waste parties ten years ago where drugs were present but as an element rather than being the whole thing, and they were different drugs, with different people in a different time. There was Tags

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