Ed Real on Superstar DJs & the Next Generation: I Want Their Jobs

"The people who know their game and are really tuned in to what's going on will continue to do very well," says 24 year old Nukleuz A&R man and upcoming superstar DJ Ed Real. 'But the fact is; a lot of the DJs being paid extortionate amounts of money are old enough to be clubbers' parents and I don't know if they're providing them with exactly what they want."

Believing that he knows exactly what clubbers want has transformed Ed from being a 16 year old kid getting turned on by Spiral Tribe free raves into one of the leading lights in today's hard house scene, which despite much media protest remains hugely popular throughout the world. Chatting to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley after returning from a DJ date in former war zone Bosnia, he sounded both cheerful and remarkably confident.


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): How was Bosnia-

Ed Real: "I came away with a very positive impression of what's going on over there. Obviously the country's whole infrastructure is, er, 'not in the best state' is the best way to describe it, though the people themselves seemed much on a par with our own clubbing standards. In other words the bars were nice, the clubs were good and the people were well dressed. There was obviously a subconscious sense that things weren't quite right but having gone there with no preconceptions I was generally impressed."

Skrufff: Did you get the impression that they'd been at war until fairly recently-

Ed Real: "Not really, because the part of Bosnia that we were in had been fairly sheltered from the war so it looked like any southern European town. I'm a little bit sceptical about whether the gigs we did actually brought people together from across the communities because the area we were in was a strong enclave of one of the ethnic groups. I think it would have been very doubtful that we'd have been drawing both Bosnian Serbs and Moslems in the same club because I don't think there were any Bosnian Serbs left in the area. As an exercise to give the kids a taste of what we're used to, ie clubbing and partying, which is ingrained in British youth culture and most youth cultures in the developed world, it was worthwhile. So as an exercise to go out there and try and give the young people something positive, it was very successful."

Skrufff: Lisa Lashes says in the latest issue of DJ magazine that she thinks hard house is becoming more intelligent, with producers cross-breeding it with other styles', would you agree with that-

Ed Real: "Lisa Lashes said that- Someone must have written it for her (laughing).. she's the last DJ to be talking about intelligent music. Of course that's happening. The reason I still like dance music ten years after I first stepped foot in a club and started experiencing the rave scene is because it's evolved. The fact that dance producers aren't tied down to an instrument like a guitar means they have the ability to take the music wherever they so desire. It's common sense that any type of electronic music is going to fuse and evolve in conjunction with other sub genres. After having had three or four years of a very successful life, hard house has to move on, it if doesn't, then it's fucked."

Ed Real: A quote of yours from Muzik has recently been popping up over the net in which you talk about today's clubbers 'not being content with being spoon-fed pop-trance by DJs old enough to be their Dad' …

Ed Real: " (roaring with laughter), "Yeah, yeah, exactly. The music that we produce and play in 2002 contains many different elements including hard house, techno and trance but it always has a bite and has a sting in its tail. That's what we do best and that's what the kids like. The people that we're playing to want tunes with more substance. It can have a lyric an a melody but it's got to have substance."

Skrufff: By substance do you mean it's got to be hard-

Ed Real: "It's got to be pumping, I wouldn't necessarily say 'hard'".

Skrufff: That quote also talks about Tags

• ed real