BK: Trade's Hardest (Straight) Baby

"I'm a straight guy who's so into music that I ended up going to Trade every week for four years because of the music. In that respect dance music has power but ultimately a club is a disco, isn't it- It's a place to go and have fun."

As Nukleuz Records best known and most prolific of producers Ben Keane (aka BK) is unsurprisingly one of the most successful and popular players in hard dance. Responsible for creating literally hundreds of the tracks that tear up dancefloors of the calibre of Sundissential and Fabric, he's also now one of the scenes top producers, playing no less than 8 different clubs on New Years Eve. So it's fitting that while the first seven were all primarily under 21 dominated straight events, he concluded his night with a set at Trade, London's best known gay club which abandoned weekly nights last November, after 12 years of regular events. As well as DJing at the last weekly, BK also attended the whole night.

"It was an absolutely brilliant night, probably one of the best Trade's I've ever been to," he told Skrufff's Jonty Adderley.

"It was open from 4am on the Sunday morning to six o'clock in the evening and we (BK and Andy Farley) were there from the beginning to the very end. We were virtually the last people to be kicked out."

BK's also recently been collaborating in the studio with Trade's latest leading resident DJ, the highly charismatic Emma EJ Doubell, and the pair's production appears on his latest record Collaborations, which comes out on January 6 on Nukleuz (alongside another co-production with Andy Farley). With EJ being the number one DJ on London's lesbian scene, it's a clear sign of the boundary breaking potential that hard dance music still retains.


Skrufff: Nukleuz has had a hugely successful 2002, how are you perceiving the state of the UK and world club culture-

BK: "It's difficult for me to judge because I'm a little bit in my own bubble, I produce my own music, release it and hope that it does well rather than thinking about music in general. The good thing going on is that there seems to be a lot more openness towards different styles of music, with lots of styles blending together. You don't have to be hard house or trance only anymore. Hopefully that's a step forward."

Skrufff: You're releasing countless tracks all the time, do you ever struggle for ideas or find yourself repeating yourself-

BK: "It moves in fads and that's why it's good to try and make a bit of techno or trance sometimes, to try something new and fresh. Sometimes you find a sound or a theme that becomes identified with you, which you feel you can run with for a while and develop it to its limit over three or four tracks."

Skrufff: You're talked in the past about Trade being a big influence on you, did you go the closing party-

BK: "I played at it, Andy Farley and I did two and a half hours back to back at ten in the morning. It was absolutely brilliant, probably one of the best Trade's I've ever been to. It was very sad though, the last record had to be done ten times altogether, so the club stayed open for an extra 90 minutes than it was planned. It was open from 4am on the Sunday morning to six o'clock in the evening so it was over 12 hours. We were there from the beginning to the very end, we were virtually the last people to be kicked out (chuckling)."

Skrufff: Trade ran for 12 years before closing, and had a predominantly gay, now older crowd, what do you make of that club's closure-

BK: "Well there are some new places starting up, myself and Andy have just started a night called Release which is once a month at the Viaduct which is turning out to attract an older mixed (ie gay/straight) crowd, just because of the music policy we have there. It starts off with tough house, going on to tech-house, techno, everything, progressing through the night in a similar way to how Trade used to do it though not with their musical format at all. You don't walk into the club and h Tags

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