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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! |
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Interview with Tara Reynolds
Reported by littlemissgenki
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Submitted 31-12-03 14:56
2003 has been a fantastic year for Tara Reynolds. After signing to Tidy in 2002 she's played at the Tidy Weekender, Magna7, Slinky and had her own Frantic event, Taratime, as well as continuing to work on her highly successful production career. This has all culminated in the awesome track 'Mercy' and New Year's sets at Heat NYE, Magna NYE, Slammin' Vinyl, Sundissential NYD and Frantic @MOS NYD. HarderFaster caught up with her before she embarks on this massive djing marathon.
HF: Hi Tara. Did you have a good Christmas?
TR: Yes, thanks, I spent it with my boyfriend and his family, so it was a nice family Christmas.
HF: At the risk of sounding like a trainspotter, I’ve been following you for the last couple of years and watched you get better and better. For those that don’t know, when did you first start djing?
TR: It was the day after New Year’s Day in ’99. I played at home for about 6 months, then played out for the first time in July ’99. In my first year I played out occasionally and at lots of house parties. I struggled a bit with my confidence at first so I didn’t really push myself. Before I sold myself to promoters I wanted to be absolutely sure I could deliver the goods so I didn't get out there and promote myself really hard until I'd reached an ability level I was happy with. I guess that’s a different approach to many djs who feel that they get better the more they played out, but it was a confidence thing while I learnt.
HF: Did you find it hard to break into the scene?
TR: I did have a bit of an advantage because I’d been with Phil for a while by then so I knew some of the promoters, but unfortunately I still had to prove myself as a dj!
HF: What was the first big party you played and how long had you been mixing at that point?
TR: The first club I played was Fevah at the Tube in Tottenham Court Road. The first really big one was U4RIA at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in September ’99. I was sh*tting myself, I was so nervous!
HF: This New Year’s you’re playing at all the big parties around the country—Magna NYE, Heat NYE, Slammin' Vinyl, Sundissential and Frantic MOS. Talk about ending a brilliant year with a bang! What’s been the highlight of 2003 for you?
TR: Playing at the Tidy Weekender, having ‘Mercy’ released on Tidy, djing at Slinky in Bournemouth and one of the most enjoyable sets I've played this year was at a little club in Shrewsbury called Hard Invasion. And of course Taratime was really special too.
HF: What are your favourite tunes from 2003?
TR: Guy McAffer’s remix of his original RAW 9 is probably my favourite track of the year. Also ‘Murder was the Bass’, Ingo and Danny Gilligan’s ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘You Know’ by Colin Barrett—definitely one of the best tunes of the year, he’s going to be massive.
HF: And what djs, producers and promoters have you rated?
TR: djs: Farley and Glazby, as they always deliver, they’re always amazing and they’re always inspirational.
Producers: Ali Wilson, Paul Maddox, Glazby and Justin Bourne.
Promoters: Frantic always put on consistently good events. Frisky in Northampton is always good fun. Hard Invasion in Shrewsbury has such a good combination of everything—a great venue and crowd—and all Tidy events, as they’re always so well run and well put together.
HF: ‘Mercy’ is a wicked track and I’ve heard it getting played recently by a lot of big names on the scene. Did you find it hard to get into production?
TR: It’s such a buzz to hear djs playing my tune! Producing wasn’t hard to get into, but a lot of djs would’ve started earlier. I waited until I learnt more about music, and had been playing almost 3 years when I did ‘Ignite’ with Steve Blake. Doing Ignite with Steve Blake was the first time I'd ever been in a studio and I think you can hear the strength of Steve's experience against my lack of it coming through in that track as it sounds a lot more like Steve than me, but everyone has to start somewhere. I think in the subsequent tracks I've done you can really hear my sound. I’m still learning now but I'm getting more and more confident each time I'm in the studio. When I go into the studio I always know the kind of sound I want to produce—hard, driving, with lots of energy.
HF: Are you working on any new material at the moment?
TR: I've just finished a remix of EnergyUK’s ‘Hackney Funk’, the remix is the hardest tune I've ever done! They asked for hard, fast, dirty hard house, so I’ve done just that and it’ll be out in March. I’ve also got a remix of SJ & Baby Doc’s ‘You Don’t Know’ due out on Tidy in February.
HF: Djing can put a lot of pressure on people, especially relationships. Have you had to make many lifestyle adjustments to focus on your music?
TR: You have to be prepared to make a lot of sacrifices. If you want to be a dj you have to put 100% in. You have to be sensible in the weekends with sleep, for example, if friends are having drinks in the weekend I usually can’t go as I need to sleep so I can play.
HF: Do you have any ambitions for 2004?
TR: I want to try and get a track out every two months, so that should be 6 tracks out next year, and I want to raise my profile. Tidy are really supporting Amber D and myself, and there’s definitely room for higher profile female djs.
HF: What are your favourite tracks to get the party started at the moment?
TR: ‘Mercy’ always works! That long build up is really intense and always gets a good reaction. Colin Barrett’s ‘Stop the Rock’ on Tidy is also good to start sets with as it’s intense so gets a good reaction from the crowd. Then there’s old favourites, like ‘Vacuum Packed’ by Eufex & JB. It’s four years old but has full on hoovers and is so good! Dropping in old favourites like that always gets a good reaction.
HF: Do you think it’s different being a women trying to break into the industry? Do you feel pressured to spend a lot of time and money on your appearance?
TR: I do because I choose to, as I think it’s important to look good. Guys aren’t judged on their appearance in the same way girls are, they can play in their jeans and t-shirt. You rarely hear people talking about how gorgeous a particular male dj is, but you get men and women talking about a woman dj's breasts or her figure or some other physical attribute. It can be an advantage because female DJs are still a novelty to some degree but you still have to prove yourself technically and musically.
Look at Frantic’s latest line-up for Timeless at Turnmills on 10 January: in the main room there’s 6 females playing, which shows a massive turnaround. In years gone by you’d be lucky if there was one female, and at Heat NYE last year there was just me and Anne Savage with 27 men! Now there’s so many girls like Lucy Fur, Caroline Banx, Lady Bianca and Amber D coming through which I think is really significant.
HF: What advice would you give other women wanting to make it in the industry?
TR: Make sure you’re good! It’s a bit of a touchy issue as you should be able to go out and wear what you like, but if you’re wearing a low cut top, people will comment. If however you back that up with good tune selection and mixing then you can pull it off. Be the best you can be and that ruins the argument that you’re only there cos of the way you look or dress as you’ve proven yourself as a dj.
HF: Do you think the scene has changed much in the last couple of years? What do you say to all the negative people who feel it’s dying? Do you think it’s dying or mutating?
TR: Definitely mutating. Changes are going to happen over time anyway, clubs open and close. Frantic is still popular, so is Logic, while others have stopped. But it hasn’t really changed as people still go out and have a good time and lose themselves for a few hours. There seems to be a few people that want it to die altogether, but so long as people want to go out and dance there’ll always be a scene.
HF: You seem to have some big gigs on every weekend. Do you ever long to have a couple of weekends off to do something completely different?
TR: Yes! I’ve turned a booking down recently actually, as I’ve just bought a house and need to devote some time to that. I’d love to do things like go away for weekends but I know its not possible because of my job. My boyfriend James works Monday—Friday so it can be difficult sometimes but we manage.
HF: What would you like to be doing in ten years from now? Would you ever return to Australia?
TR: Yes, I’ll definitely return to Australia and would love to have a nice house on the beach with a couple of kids. I wouldn’t want to continue djing, but I’ll do it for as long as I can here in the UK, then have a nice normal quiet life when I return to Australia.
HF: What trends you like to see in the scene for 2004?
TR: I’d like to see music being more varied. People tend to play the same sound if its popular. Three years ago it was all hard house which eventually became boring for clubbers, then hard trance, and now there’s a hard techy sound. I hope producers continue to make all sorts of styles of hard dance to keep things fresh. For example, DJs like Cally & Juice playing an hour of hardstyle in between hard trance and hard house, to keep things interesting and varied for the clubbers. It’s not good for anyone to hear the same style all night, so I hope that producers make different styles of music so that things don't get boring.
HF: Many thanks Tara. Good luck and best wishes in the new year. We'll be looking forward to seeing you play at MagnaNYE and MOS over new year and at other venues during 2004.
Tara Reynolds plays at HeatUK - New Year's Eve at Brixton Academy - for full details of this event Click here
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Other Features By littlemissgenki:
HeatUK (The DVD) – From The Backyard To South West Four - World Premier Preview: Interview with SnowBall Productions
Paradise City 001 Preview: From free parties in pubs to private jets—interview with Antiworld promoter Enrico Sorbello
Blatantly Brisk: interview with Paul Nineham
Paradise City 001 preview: interview with Mauro Picotto
Never Enough Maria: Interview with the Queen of Hard Dance
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Devastatin Dan Dyson on 31st Dec 2003 18:20.43
Great interview Tara[little Miss Genki]
From: Stevi D on 1st Jan 2004 07:21.05
Nice one Tara............x
From: Lucy Fur on 1st Jan 2004 09:49.40
 You are an inspiration to us all Tara
From: WEBBO on 1st Jan 2004 18:15.22
def keep it tara for 2004 ...........x
From: Hard House Hippy on 2nd Jan 2004 10:17.04
Keep 'em coming for 2004 Tara. I'm looking forward to hearing some slamming new tunes from you.
From: Camden Nurse on 5th Jan 2004 14:01.09
Keep up the good work and smiling.
From: Lee Osborne on 5th Jan 2004 15:48.38
Well Done Tara!! a great year for you!!
its all about 2004
From: Luckyfuka on 5th Jan 2004 17:59.31
nice one, exc stuff at MOS on NYD. keep it up
From: zimbolicious on 6th Jan 2004 13:02.53
We all like to see Tara bouncing and spinning some hard dirty tunes so keep them coming! Would luv to see her b2b with Miss Savages or Miss Lashes! 
Great interview!
From: Lashed-Up on 7th Jan 2004 10:20.39
Looking forward to hearing Hackney Funk, Tara has gone from Strength to Strength! - IMO - Kicking the Asses of most of the Guys!!! Yay! - Bring on the foxy chicks!!!!
Sanch: Good thinking B2B with Savage! BRING IT ON!!!!!
xx
From: Yojo - Cyberkitten on 30th Jan 2004 06:41.07
Total Star Babe - graced the decks of CyberKitten in Dec - QUALITY! Tara ROCKS it - every success for 2004 darlin' x (gr8 interview)
From: Amber D on 11th Nov 2004 17:21.20
love you lots tara see you soon. good interview! x
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