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Dave Clarke on Metrosexuality & Marijuana- It's Like Drinking Wine

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Saturday, June 4, 2005
"Yes I can be partial to some Purple Haze or Siberian Tiger, though I very rarely do it. Sometimes I don't touch it for 6 months, its very mellow, like drinking wine for me."

Previously renowned as a ferociously uncompromising anti drug zealot, British techno icon Dave Clarke could certainly be described as having mellowed in recent years, not least since he's also renounced Cuban cigars and his other great passion fast cars. Just two years ago he told Mixmag "I love cars- I fucking adore cars" though since (partially) relocating to Amsterdam last year, he admits he's reassessed his priorities.

"Funnily enough, spending time in Amsterdam makes you see the car as a part time thing, it's not important," he explains. "I could have any car(s) I wanted now, but I'm not bothered, I'm really not, I just care that it is comfortable and has a great sound system, so I'll be sticking to my old merc for a long time to come." He also admits that he's no stranger to the city's fabled coffee shops whether for his own occasional smokes or when he's accompanying (British) mates in town, keen to seek out some puff. Not that his newfound tolerance extends to all drugs, he's quick to point out.

"I have always been around people that smoke, it doesn't bother me, just the people that do cocaine get right up my arse with their ego shit," he snarls. "It really makes me look down at someone when they do that stuff."

Throughout his career he's endured (or enjoyed) a fractious relationship with the media, not least for his enthusiastic willingness to slate them (us!) at any opportunity, such as in a revealing interview with an Australian site some years ago.

"Journos do my head in quite a lot, either through lack of knowledge, passion, or intelligence, and when you get all three in one package it's incredible," he told inthemix.com. "There are some good journalists in the UK, but most of them don't like me."

Though he certainly has his media detractors he also has more than enough supporters such as long term friend DJ Hell, a man with more in common than might first meet the eye.

"Lots of people have the wrong impression of him, he's a very nice guy and he's also very funny as well as being to me one of the greatest DJs and producers," Hell told Skrufff in 2002. "I really like him even as a person, we're friends and there's a lot of respect between us. When he talks to the press he talks loud and clear and a lot of people don't like that. I know what he's talking about and what he means and we always have a great time when we play and travel together."

Like Hell, Dave's also started paying more attention to his image in recent years, cheerfully slapping on Sisley make-up when he performs attracting "great reactions from girls and strange ones from insecure males', he says. He's also more than happy to admit he considers himself a metrosexual "fully in some ways though unfortunately I can slip into alpha male mode sometimes."

Chatting to Dave via email (he'd make a surprisingly good journalist if he wanted) he's also blissfully unconcerned about offending sensibilities, such as those o Fischerspooner's; the electroclash darlings he unwittingly unleashed on the world.

"That's a bitter pill sometimes," he admits. "I was playing Emerge before anyone else picked up on it and I was getting emails at the time from Fischerspooner and their singer as they were really excited.

Then 2 years later, by accident, I saw their "performance' on Top Of The Pops and immediately thought "Thank Fuck I didn't get involved after all'. They were responsible for killing electroclash in one foul swoop (with their Flock Of Seagulls gets dumped by art school kind of vibe), and they had the biggest egos I had ever come across. I still think that Emerge was a fantastic record and they still haven't even come close to that since but as for electroclash tt's just a Hoxton/Shoreditch (East London) thing; the followers call themselves trendy yet they w
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