Skrufff-s First Birthday: So Far So Good
Author: Tim Colman
Friday, June 14, 2002
Fronting the syndication and business side are the weekly newsletters skrufff-E built around club and music news, plus frequently strange stories which have found favour with a diverse bunch of readers including Darren Emerson, Adam Freeland and Black Dog Productions. Each newsletter also contains 50+ links offering a weekly surf of new music, weirdness and activist info. "F**king excellent", as Judge Jules recently put it. Skrufff's man-in-Sydney Tim Colman asked the questions.
Skrufff (Tim Colman): How did you first get started in music journalism-
Jonty Adderley: "I started writing for an Italian magazine called Tuttifrutti after being inspired by Spiral Tribe to quit a boring day job in favour of doing something I enjoyed. Tuttifrutti was a pop magazine and I interviewed people from all genres, including the likes of Bob Geldof (my second ever interview), Blur and even East 17. Several months later I added a second job doing TV interviews for a satellite TV network called Superchannel and became a 'stringer', basically a freelancing London correspondent specialising in music (with dance music, particularly techno then my main areas)."
Skrufff: Before your online work who were you working for and how did this shape your approach to your own zine-
Jonty Adderley: "I helped launch Muzik magazine, being their first feature writer, and also (as far as I know) their first and last drug writer. Because Muzik was a brand new title, I was given loads of freedom and came up with such ideas as Thirst Aid, a free water in clubs campaign which worked by printing tap symbols in the listings for clubs that guaranteed to provide cold tap water. I also brought into Muzik fellow Skrufff writers Benedetta Ferraro and Camilo Rocha and together we enthusiastically promoted London's free party scene, psi-trance and a whole host of other techno related producers and scenes (though these days I'm far more into electro and house)."
Skrufff: Skrufff has been through a number of incarnations (Dancesite, Mezzmusic), how has your content changed throughout-
Jonty Adderley: "In the past, we've had commercial backers (EMI for Dancesite, Mezzanine for Mezzmusic) and while they generally let me write whatever I liked, there were more constraints than we face now. Skrufff stuff now is (I hope) more interesting and entertaining being exactly what we want to write each week. I'm also more and more interested in global politics and the role club culture plays within it, so we've definitely gone more towards subjects such as America's war on drugs and clubs."
Skrufff: What do you primarily like to focus on in terms of news and information-
Jonty Adderley: "Music and clubs first, followed by drugs, sex and stuff that makes me laugh. We're also always thinking of readers outside the UK and trying to offer a perspective that's genuinely globally based."
Skrufff: Why did you opt for a global market rather than focussing solely on Europe-
Jonty Adderley: "Because dance culture is global and I've also always had an interest in countries like Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand etc. I've travelled loads over the years, for example, living in New York for a year in the 80s and many of my friends are from different countries. Also, of course, most of our content is in English so that's dictated our activities to some extent. We're in 15 countries so far."
Skrufff: What are some of your memorable dance moments of the last ten years-
Jonty Adderley: "Some of the early Tribal Gatherings stand out, notably the German one in 1994, when hundreds of Brit DJs and ravers flew into Cologne all on the same pl Tags