Techno DJ Dave Clarke
November 22nd, 2010
Bio: Techno DJ Dave Clarke
Educated at Brighton College, Clarke ran away from home at the age of 16 after his parents split up. He was only on the streets for a short stint till a friend offered him temporary accommodation. It has been said that one thing that kept him going was his love of music, initially hip hop and post-punk (The Damned are a favourite of his to this day) and the money from his job in a shoe shop. With this intense addiction to music Dave soon got himself behind the turntables at Toppers (a smll brighton based club). The night became increasingly popular. From then on Clarke gained popularity, getting club invites from round the world playing his blend of funky peaktime rave-techno.
In the late 80s Dave used to write reviews for a few UK magazines, namely Mixmag Update, Generator & ID. and was the first to review Aphex Twin he also made sure that artists whom he respected at that time would get coverage.
In the 1990s he began producing and releasing music using the name “Hardcore”. which, due to strange rules on duration for singles, became a UK number one dance album.This project was subsequently licensed to Belgium label R&S, enabling Clarke to be one of the first UK-based artists to record in the R&S studio in Gent and get signed by the label. After this he recorded under various guises, including Graphite and Fly by Wire, but in 1993 he dropped these names and recorded only under Dave Clarke. Recognition of Daves talent came in 1994 when a series of EPs with the collective name of Red and his debut album Archive One received great recognition, as they were seen as being innovative and genre mashing, which was uncommon at the time. After the success of the Red series, John Peel gave Clarke his well known moniker “The Baron of Techno” (probably derived from The Red Baron), which stuck with him ever since.
His sense of rhythm and DJ skills have earned him more respect than most DJ–producers. He has a longstanding relationship with visceral, intense Techno, and he is considered one of the innovators of the genre He’s an especially big fan of the Detroit Techno / Electro sound, focusing on mechanical pulse and underlying funk. Clarke has an interesting DJ style of endlessly cutting and scratching during his predominantly funky, dark, electro-inspired Techno Music sets. Occasionally even playing purely electro sets.
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