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Larry Tee: The King of New York (Electroclash)

Author: Jonty Adderley
Saturday, November 16, 2002
After 15 years of promoting clubs and living and almost dying in New York's subterranean club culture, Larry Tee has finally climbed to the top of the city's nightlife tree. Journeying through the city's darkest recesses, his path embraced drag queens, drug addiction, ketamine and killers, including a close friendship with notorious club chief Michael Alig, currently serving 10-20 years in a US prison for murdering and dismembering a fellow club kid.

"Michael still writes to me from jail sometimes, he hasn't changed at all," says Larry, speaking to Skrufff's Jonty Adderley in a recent chat in London's Great Eastern Hotel.

"He was the one who put me to work when I first came to New York. I started Disco 2000 with him."

While Alig serves out his sentence for killing Angel Melendez, Larry runs the city's annual electroclash event, promotes clubs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and produces top girl duo WIT (Whatever It Takes) while still finding time to run a Narcotics Anonymous group, after quitting drugs, principally ketamine in 1997.

"I was doing K every day for over two years though nowadays I run NA meetings and one of the reasons is because I remember when I couldn't imagine life had anything to offer except drug friends, drug dealers and drug drama," he recalls.

"Now my life is so rich and that's why I run the meetings because a lot of people know me from clubland and they feel comforted by seeing a fool like me running a meeting, but having a sense of humour and obviously enjoying their life."


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): What was the original idea behind your girl group WIT-

Larry Tee: "The girls emerged out of something I felt the electroclash scene needed. My idea was to use them as a Trojan horse to introduce more avant-garde acts: avant garde, progressive, performance art, political, sexually aggressive acts. That was my idea, to take some of the sounds and spirit of electroclash and put it in a context that could be pop. The action is in electroclash right now and I wanted the scene to grow bigger."

Skrufff: How did you find the girls-

Larry Tee: "Melissa approached me with an idea about doing a girl group called Whatever It Takes which is a play on the ambition of girl groups, and their motto was that they didn't want to let integrity get in the way of their careers. That immediately connected with my vibe. I'd previously been doing a girl group with two of Melissa's sisters from Chicks on Speed and the beauty of the two (though they're both beautiful,' he adds) wound up living with Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, so that band went down the drain. So just as I was licking my wounds, Melissa came along to do one song for the electroclash festival. And they just exploded.

A lot of the groups there, like Peaches and Chicks On Speed, had really long sets and aggro sexuality and here comes these girls with a cute, almost cheerleader-esque choreography doing one song and the place went mad. It was full of scenesters too, not just kids, Of course, you could expect a gay crowd to love the girls, because they're so camp, but everybody loved them. So we decided to get on it."

Skrufff: How else are you setting them apart from the other electro acts-

Larry Tee: "The girls have no attitude or pretension and that was another thing that I felt was missing with some of the other bands. I love the rock & roll attitude of DJ Hell and Miss Kittin and Crossover and Adult but they all insulted their audiences, criticising people for dressing up in leg warmers and 80s gear, that kind of thing. There's been all this negativity coming from great artists who didn't need to go there. The girls don't want to be anything other than what they promise to be, which is fun. There's no pretension of anything though they are complex girls, they're not your average girl group girls."

Skrufff: How does the New York electro scene compare to London-

Larry Tee: "London's scene is pretty solid whereas
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