Anne Savage; Drinking From The Fountain Of Youth

As well as being one of the biggest names in hard house, Anne Savage nowadays doubles as a breaks DJ as well as beginning to forge significant links with Radio 1, recently filling in for Dave Pearce to present his Sunday night anthems show. She was also recently voted Loaded's 67th Sexiest female (of 100), one of the few DJs to register amidst a sea of eye candy models and talentless TV starlets.

Good looks aside though, she remains one of dance culture's friendliest and most no-nonsense individuals, her direct Northern charm reflecting the passion she continues to pour into her career.

"I've never personally never been busier," she tells Jonty Skrufff.

I'm also thoroughly enjoying it all at the moment."


Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): Your Return To Euphoria mix Cd is doing really well commercially at the moment, how do you see the state of the scene right now, you seem to be prospering personally-

Anne Savage: "Yeah, I'm rising from the ashes. I don't know, I was just chatting to my manager about this topic, specifically about Radio 1, because I've recently got a little involved with them. I believe the audiences for their dance programmes have gone up quite significantly recently, which is good, because the powers that be at Radio 1 were apparently complaining not long ago that dance music was on its way out, that people weren't listening to it anymore. But Pete Tong and Jules' show have actually gone up in numbers, perhaps because it's summer, or maybe the festivals are creating a buzz about dance music again."

Skrufff: How did the Radio 1 connection come about-

Anne Savage: "I got asked to fill in for Dave Pearce on Dance Anthems which I did several weeks ago and did the whole show myself. I was absolutely petrified but I thoroughly enjoyed it and it went down well . So they asked me to go out and play for the Radio 1 secret location party in Ibiza. But it was a logistical nightmare getting there from Benidorm, flights were delayed and then I had literally to get changed in the toilets at Heathrow airport and go down there. You know when you want to be looking your best and of course I didn't. Then I zoomed off straight after my set to get the flight so I could come back and play at the Fridge, at Twisted in London. But the flight was delayed for 5 hours, the usual story, so in total on Saturday I spent 10 hours in an airport to do a one hour set. But it was worth it , cos I think they enjoyed it. To be involved with Radio 1 is a great honour, really. I grew up listening to it."

Skrufff: stacks of name DJs seem to be ditching decks for CD mixers at the moment, where do you stand-

Anne Savage: "I love playing CDs because you make a track in a day and take it out; you can be really upfront. But if you turn up somewhere and the CD player is broken, then what you gonna' do- There's no way I would go anywhere without my vinyl, at all. I've had a few disasters with CDs. When a CD jumps it can be quite serious because it can just stop altogether, and you're left with absolute silence. Whereas at least when you're playing vinyl you can lift the needle up and move it forwards an inch. I would say I play about 75% of my set on CDs these days, but I always take a small bag of vinyl. But it's great because it doesn't weigh as much so nowadays I can take my records on the flight with me as hand luggage without them grumbling at check in."

Skrufff: How many records are you taking with you on usual trips-

Anne Savage: "No, I still take about 20, enough in case there's no CD facility at all, I can still get away with at least a two hour set."

Skrufff: You recently played in China again, was the crowd mainly ex-pats or locals-

Anne Savage: "More local people. When I played in Beijing, it was a sea of Chinese people, not going mad for the records but apparently thoroughly enjoying themselves. Making , a sweeping generalization, they seem more polite and reserved, though you wouldn't t Tags

• Skrufff