John Truelove aka Lectrolux: Still Got the Love

Throughout dance culture's15 years of relentless global expansion, a hardcore army of independently minded, usually hedonistic individualists first invented then nurtured and sustained the "underground", a parallel clubland universe to the superclubs and major labels of magazine land. Maintaining (broadly) acid house's original values of doing it yourself and maintaining faith that the music will do the rest, the scene has developed into a global network of small businesses, sole traders and chancers that's largely self sufficient and self sustaining, for the many thousands still living the life.

John Truelove, original acid house raver, occasional pop star and former frontman of the much respected Truelove Collective, is one such individual, who remains both a champion and shining example of how to live your life through raving.

Twice scoring major pop hits with his seminal production of Candi Staton's U Got The Love he used the funds to set up and sustain Truelove Collective, a 14 member stable of labels that itself helped spawn many of today's hard dance genres (whether trance, hard house or the sound track sound to London's still massive squat party street culture; acid tekno).

Recently scaling back his label promotion activities ('the Collective took over my
life') he still manages Stay up Forever's Chris Liberator and star producer Henry Cullen a.k.a. D.A.V.E. The Drummer though is about to embark on a new chapter of his life: performing live as Lectrolux.

Skrufff's Jonty Adderley caught up with him at his Camden offices this week as he prepared to tour Australia.


Skrufff: You're better known as a DJ than for your Lectrolux productions, why have you decided to become a live performer now-

John Truelove: "I'd always maintained that I considered live techno as an oxymoron (a contradiction in terms) but over the year seeing others doing it, people like D.A.V.E The Drummer, Guy McAfeer and Laurie Immersion, made me change my opinion. They disproved my theory brilliantly. The watershed moment happened at a massive gig I went to in South Africa with Rachel (his old girlfriend Rachel Auburn) Orbital and Leftfield, who were all playing inside a massive sports stadium, with 18,000 people. Leftfield and Orbital were good, with big stage setups and screens but they somehow didn't seem to connect with the audience. Then Rachel came on and tore the place apart.

She was playing on a stage at the other end and it was almost like reggae soundclash. Her stage was massive, she asked me for help to fill up the space on the stage so I grabbed the microphone and did just a little bit of MCing (talking over the microphone), and jumping around. That was when I decided. The feeling of raising my hands and seeing 17,000 pairs of hands going up in the air was amazing- I remember thinking Fucking Hell, what a buzz! I'd done that DJ thing of standing behind decks playing records but I can connect more like that, also by playing my own material."

Skrufff: What kind of live shows are you planning for Australia then-

John Truelove: "I've kept the show minimal and streamlined, in terms of how much equipment I'm taking to keep it economically feasible. My ultimate goal is to build a crew up and start touring though initially it'll be two big screens on stage plus me and my equipment. That's all. I've also got a special jumpsuit with lasers built into it. Everything's fairly basic initially but I'm really excited about the shows. When you're DJing you're usually playing new material virtually every week, so records often stay in the set for just three or four weeks. With this show, I've got my repertoire which I've already been working on for 6 years and I'm able to refine it and keep on refining it."

Skrufff: You're also making records now with leading Sydney DJ Pee Wee Ferris, how did this whole connection with Australia come about-

John Truelove: "It started in 1998 when I was DJing out there, I loved the place. I Tags

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