Holland's Pako & Frederico- England Is The Most Important Country For Music

"It's the heart of all dance music, the scene is so much bigger there. You also take the whole going out thing so much more seriously in England. I don't think there's anybody in England under 30 who doesn't go out clubbing every Saturday."

Speaking over the telephone from his studio in Den Haag (The Hague) Dutch progressive house producer Frederico is clear about why he sees the UK as his spiritual home.

"Dance music's not taken so seriously here, there are less clubs."

Taking Frederico and his production partner very seriously are English progressive trance label Global Underground who release their new single Beatus Possessor this Monday, with a remix provided by Argentina's Hernan Cattaneo. Also taking the duo seriously are DJs including John Digweed and Sasha, who first bigged up the duo when he featured their 1995 work Magic Shop on his breakthrough compilation Northern Exposure.

Skrufff: Beatus Possessor has already been heavily tipped by DJs such as Jogn Digweed, were you thinking of specific DJs when you were making the track-

Frederico: "Not really, we were just making a tune. We finished it April last year then Global Underground came over last May and picked it up. We always make the tracks with the dance floor in mind but never with a particular DJ rather just for ourselves for when we're playing out. We're also aiming at dancefloors at 3am on a Saturday night."

Skrufff: Are you both DJs-

Frederico: "We do live gigs together but I'm the only one of us who plays out as a DJ. I DJ in Holland and also maintain a residency at the Fuse club in Belgium, which is now a monthly. Though the club is well known for techno it has two floors with the upstairs one being more of a tech-house room."

Skrufff: I understand the pair of you met in France…

Frederico: "We didn't actually meet there, we met in our home town of Arnhem, our home town in Holland back then, which is the city of the film A Bridge Too Far. Then I had a gig with DJ Remy in France, Pako came down with me and we spent a couple of days playing around in a studio at the house where we were staying and came up with our first track together. The track was called Vauvemage, it's a misspelling of the town where we were staying. Remy remembered the spelling incorrectly."

Skrufff: Is it right that you previously worked for Arnhem's local council-

Frederico: "Yes, for a while, though we didn't met there. Pako did a couple of months while I lasted a couple of weeks. He was at the City Hall while I worked in a different office and were 18 at the time."

Skrufff: Were you both going out raving at the time-

Frederico: "Heavily. Back then in Holland they used to mix up all the styles with everything from early jungle and drum and base to house but back then a lot of the jungle was considered house. We Are E for example, was considered a big house record. You'd also hear garage, techno and early progressive, all in the same night but everyone thought of it all as house. We also used to go to little clubs in posh places where you'd also hear the same variety of records, with everything always mixed up. That was also the first summer that I tasted dope (marijuana) which also made that summer special (chuckling). Good memories."

Skrufff: American authorities are fiercely anti drugs while Holland has had very enlightened drug laws for years, how did you colleagues at the council view dope back then-

Frederico: "People are relaxed about dope, there are shops everywhere. Wherever I go there are always the same percentage of people smoking, it's just that in other countries it's harder to find. I don't think more people smoke here, in fact, usually I see more people smoking in other countries. Pako's just back from Canada where he found some coffee shops too. There are also shops in Switzerland. When we play in other countries, usually the audience is much more doped up."

Skrufff: You've been making a living from music for many years, ho Tags

• pako
• frederico