Gentlemen callers

Low, although you might not be aware, the forthcoming Visitor album, Passing Through, on Dublin’s D1 records is a tiny bit of a landmark. Why? Because it’s the first significant “reversal of traffic” that hotpress can think of – the first time an established dance act has opted to release an album on an Irish label rather than the other way around. But how did this mini-revolution take place?

“It’s going back a few years,” says Mark Broom – one half of Visitor alongside Dave Hill. “I was over in Dublin for a gig and promoter said we should hook up, so I called up to Eamonn’s (Doyle, D1 mainman). And Rob Rowland and some more of the D1 boys were there, and we started working on a track that day. And we just sort of took it from there really. The thing I like about D1 is that Eamonn is so on the level – when he does something he gets seriously into it… with the record distribution, now the label and his production. He’s old school really – and he really just loves the music. They’re good guys – and it’s an honour to have the album on the label. And it was difficult to have to follow David Donohoe’s one (First Course In Hygiene) – that was a great album.”

Broom has long been established as one of the more senior figures on the “serious” techno scene. He’s been producing and DJing since 1989 and now runs the excellent Pure Plastic label. He also produces tough techno under the alias Rue East amongst others, all made from his UXB HQ in London. How does the Visitor gear differ from the more abrasive club gear?

“We do different stuff for D1 – it’s deeper, more… pure, I suppose. It’s more Detroit-based stuff, because that’s what Eamonn and D1 are about. With the Rue East stuff that I make, that’s more club based, because I work as a DJ, I play out and I like all that kind of stuff. But this one, we sort of gave it more, used drum machines instead of samples. We used more strings… made it more organic… more like proper music really!” he chuckles.

It might seem a bit odd to hear someone who’s equally comfortable making the rough and the smooth saying something like ‘proper’ music, but there’s a definite depth and warmth to this Visitor release – something that’s lacking in a good deal of today’s techno albums. Indeed, the artist album is generally eschewed in favour of the mix CD. “I’d agree,” offers Mark. “I don’t go into record shops all that much any more because I’m lucky enough to get some stuff from friends and the like, but there probably isn’t as much of it about as there used to be – like the Black Dog, Stasis and all that. But it’s got a timeless quality to it – it’s just seems to be pure to me.”

Given the fact that he moves between both, where does his heart lie – the club tracks or the deeper gear? “Bang in the middle!” comes the immediate answer. “You know, as I said I DJ, and I really enjoy all the tougher stuff – Regis, Surgeon, Mark Broom that sort of thing. But then I also love all the UR, the D1… and I’m happy being halfway inbetween.”

Incidentally, Broom and Hill will be making their live Visitor debut in Ireland as part of Eamonn’s Dublin Electronic Arts Festival – DEAF for short – which is pencilled in for the end of August. Alongside Visitor, there’s a wealth of Irish and soon-to-be-announced international acts playing all over the city. Anyway, back to the programme. Broom and Hill have been working together for quite a while now – how did the two meet up?

“Me and Dave used to work together in a ‘normal job’,” he laughs. “Then he left and he had a studio. Around the same time I started working with Ed and Andy (late of seminal techno act Black Dog and now Plaid) and we started working in one of his studios. The he suggested that we work together and sort of took it from there.”

What is the working relationship between the pair like? “We work really well together really. It’s pretty much 50/50 really – we sort of divide up the work. Seeing as I’m the DJ, I’ll sometimes come in and say, ‘Let’s try this bassline or those strings’ – but it works both ways at the same time. I do some stuff under my own name too so I have to know my way around the studio.”

Alongside this hectic production duties (and parenting skills), Broom juggles a hefty DJ schedule. He plays all over Europe, but his most popular port of call is Spain. “They really like the tougher techno over there, so that’s where the majority of my gigs are these days.”

Does he find it odd that the UK – despite the fact that it produces some of the best techno in the world has very little in the way of a thriving scene to speak about? “Yeah, it’s kind of odd. Looking at London, there’s the monthly Lost parties, Brenda Russell and Jim Masters’ Base night and the odd night at Fabric and that’s about it. But I think the thing about all the bigger clubs with all the superstar DJs and all that is that they actually play a good deal of techno, techno that’s made in the UK but people don’t really realise it. It just doesn’t get the coverage – because ‘techno’ has always been a dirty word really. But I’m not that bothered – techno can be many different things; the banging Swedish stuff, the leftfield German stuff… whatever. It’ll always be cutting edge, that’s the important thing.”