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Disco Brothers: Don't Call Us Hard House

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Sunday, February 15, 2004
"We've NEVER played hard house. We've played some of the name hard house clubs, places like Sundissential and Frantic, but we've never played hard house in those clubs.

As well as being adamant about not playing hard house, Mark Wilson stresses that despite their name they don't disco either though he admits he makes exceptions on odd occasions.

"We're getting to that stage where all our mates are getting married, so we can get a bit of Abba out if necessary," he says.

"Though the best disco record I've got though is Europe's Final Countdown, that's the one that wins the gold stars."

Weddings, funerals and bar mitzvah's aside, the Disco Brothers' musical passion has always been for techno and trance, both as DJs and increasingly producers and their enthusiasm has just brought them a deal with Dutch trance uber-producer/DJ Armin Van Buuren.

"We've always wanted to be based with a European label just because as DJs we've always played a European sound and we've always been inspired by European producers for our music," says Mark.


Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): You were previously signed to Nukleuz Records, what were the mechanics of leaving Nukleuz and joining Captivating Sounds-

Disco Brothers: "We did three singles on Nukleuz then for our new record we sent a copy to Armin saying 'it's available for worldwide licensing, we'd like to hear your feedback' and he came straight back with a three single deal. Which is great, because now we're on a roster with the likes of Signum, Mike and Pulstar."

Skrufff: Did you know already Armin personally-

Disco Brothers: "Yeah, because I used to work at Nukleuz for three years, so I'd been dealing with him at radio level, I'm also a radio plugger. The relationship was already in place, we had a conversation and he basically wanted us for his label, which is great."

Skrufff: You started DJing ten years ago, how did you begin-

Disco Brothers: "We came through from doing parties in Kent with our own sound system, we were part of Aphrodisiacs and Spiral Tribe in the early 90s. Then we moved down to Bristol and started our own club night called Aubergine and ran that for four years. During that time we were booking the likes of Mauro Picotto, Dave Clarke, Marc Et Claude and everything evolved from there onto us making the national circuit, playing for the likes of Sundissential and Slinky. It's been a gradual process of building our name."

Skrufff: What was your connection with Spiral Tribe-

Disco Brothers: "Our association with them was more through the Aphrodisiac parties we did in Kent, which we did in association with Spiral Tribe. My physics teacher at school used to run all the free parties in Kent which was how we first became involved in that whole scene. That's where our roots are- outdoor parties. We did some in Brixton too and we also used to go to places like Club UK in Wandsworth, Final Frontier and also Lost in London. So we were always into the techno vibe. I remember Final Frontier always being brilliant, with a great vibe. Whereas could you see the likes of Laurent Garnier, Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin on the same night- That'd be unheard of now."

Skrufff: You were 16 and 17 at that time, did raving change your life-

Disco Brothers: "I've always been into music since I was 5 or 6 then I'd listen to pirate radio when the rave thing happened in '89 and '90. Then when I was old enough to get in to clubs, say 15 or 16, I went and yeah, it did change my view on life. You get very enthusiastic about the euphoria of the music and the evenings and get stuck right in."

Skrufff: Did you continue studying through that period-

Disco Brothers: "Both Tim and I went to university in Bristol and we did the club night as part of that. I then worked for Nukleuz and I'm now based at Size 9 doing national and radio plugging for the likes of Radio 1, Kiss, Capital and Galaxy so I'm always in the dance sce
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