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Atomizer's Jonny Slut: The Real Godfather of Electroclash-

Author: Benedetta Ferraro
Saturday, September 14, 2002
"Transvestites feel a compulsion to dress up whereas it was never like that for me or my friends, we just did it because it looked great. I don't really do it anymore and I blame ecstasy; when we were kids we were fuelled by speed and cider."

20 years before Fischerspooner and electroclash saw men-in-makeup returning to London's clubs, punk rocker turned gender bender Jonny Slut was playing keyboards in Specimen, the in-house band at seminal Goth club The Batcave. Dressing up 24/7 in miniskirts, fishnets, liquid eyeliner and black lipstick, he helped define the era's gloriously flamboyant excess when for a few years at least, cross dressing was normal for London clubbers.

"We did it without thinking, it was just about fun and wanting to look pretty." says Jonny. "I remember going home to my parents one Christmas in a miniskirt and yellow tights and not thinking anything of it. Now I look back and think, 'God, they must have been appalled'."

Two decades on, Jonny's teamed up with former Tom Stephan collaborator Fil Jones to form electro-synth-punk duo Atomizer and recently signed to DJ Hell's Gigolo stable. The duo's debut single Hooked On Radiation has also been co-produced by Jimmy Cauty (KLF) and has been gaining plaudits at Nag Nag Nag, Jonny's new weekly club in London. Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro hooked up with him to ask the questions.


Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): You've both been in and around the music biz for years; what inspired this Atomizer project now particularly-

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "I've been doing what I do for a long time now, and I've always needed a partner to work with, up until I met Phil, which was two years ago, I've had various situations that nearly happened but didn't. That's why it was great to meet Phil, because he was totally on my wavelength…"

Skrufff: Where did you meet him-

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "I met him in a club we were both working at… a dark, seedy place called 'Substation South' in Brixton. I was DJing and he was… working as waiter in a cocktail bar…"

Skrufff: what do you think of the strength of the electroclash scene-

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "It has been quite slow at taking off in the UK, but I see it as being more a New York or European trend. It seems to be growing in momentum though, since our club (Nag Nag Nag) which we started last February, has been packed in the last couple of months and it's getting busier every week."

Skrufff: What kind of people do you get down there-

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "We get a nice cross section… quite a young crowd, glamorous types."

Skrufff: Lots of Japanese I expect…

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "No, we're just starting to get our first Japanese tourists, which is always a good sign, isn't it- I need to learn a few more words in Japanese, because the only one I know is 'kintama' which means bollocks."

Skrufff: How did you connect/ sign with DJ Hell-

Atomizer (Jonny Melton): "My old friend Adamski with whom I was in a band with years ago, recently started his own label Quasimodo, and he wanted to make a sampler CD of acts on his label and asked me if I had anything I'd like to contribute. I gave him a couple of tracks, one of which was Hooked On Radiation, and he went crazy for it. That's how I ended up signing to Gigolo."

Skrufff : Adamski was a huge rave superstar; how much did you embrace the original rave scene-

Atomizer: "Adam embraced it more than I did at the time. I was doing a band making hip hop punk rock then, doing crazy shows with mad costume changes and dances with feather dusters; that kind of thing. But we used to get so drunk and off our heads, we never really got it together. But he was always essentially a keyboard player and he started getting more interested in rave music. I was also a bit older than him and I used to be involved in a club called the Batcave, which was more my party time. My late teens and early twenties were my party years while for Adam it was the
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