Evolutionary Executioner

Disarming and enthusiastic on the phone, even as we experience the technical difficulties associated with dodgy overseas lines, Andy John Clarke could be mistaken for any regular geezer hailing from Essex as he talks about the chilly UK weather and his desire to escape it. It's a Friday morning in December and he's in his home studio working on a demo for the evening's gig, part of Ram Records' 20th birthday celebrations, which will see a spate of parties held across England culminating in a hectic 12-hour take over of London's iconic home of dance music, Fabric nightclub.

“The fact that we're 20 years old is incredible and the fact that the scene is that old is also amazing,” he muses. “Scenes come and go but one thing with ours is that it's lasted through the peaks and troughs. I put that down to the fact that drum 'n' bass is one of the most unique dance genres. Tempo-wise it's unique; the energy, the vibe – there's nothing quite like it. Drum 'n' bass cannot be assimilated and, as I said, scenes come and go and tempo-wise they end up converging; that's the natural growth of music. But with drum 'n' bass, we've remained out there on our own. People that come to a drum 'n' bass rave or stumble across it at a festival for the first time find it hard not to get hooked and if they do, they become very, very passionate about it.”

Being passionate is something 'The Executioner' – as he has been dubbed for his elaborate mixing skills – is well acquainted with, having co-founded Ram Records at the tender age of 15 on a budget of £1000. Back then, hardcore was king and some fans may be surprised to know his first solo release wasn't  drum 'n' bass but an old skool EP entitled Sour Mash.

“When we started Ram there wasn't a drum 'n' bass or jungle scene so we've kind of grown and morphed along with the its various changes. Along the way we've picked up some fantastic artists, and being able to push them and their sounds has helped mould the scene and take it in certain directions. The beautiful thing is that if you get committed and keep focused and you're as passionate about it as we are, every year brings up a highlight of its own, so I look back on the past with fondness, but I'm always one for looking forward,” he says with acumen.

As such, just one week out from finishing high school, Andy C launched Ram Records, the name coming from his Aries astrology sign with the logo being drawn in felt tip pen by his older sister Sarah. “To be brutally honest I'd just left school and I had no idea what I was doing. I'd just been making tunes and the concept of starting a label seemed a million miles away to where my head was at. When you're young you have these preconceived ideas that to start a record label you need all these things and have all these grandiose ideas of what it entails, but the reality is that it was fairly simple. Basically after my exams I'd borrowed some money and at the end of July I'd just come back from a nice holiday overseas where we'd been letting our hair down. I still wasn't old enough to get into clubs,” he reminisces.

“My sister drew the logo and we sent it off in an A4 cardboard envelope to the label printers and sent the masters off (Sour Mash EP) in some gaffa tape to be cut to record and that was how it all started. When those sold that was money back and a deposit to make more; it was a revelation. But because of being under age, I didn't actually hear that first record out at a party for another year when I got into a rave and just heard somebody playing it randomly.”

Andy attributes much of his early success to pirate radio and a chance meeting with Scott Bourne, aka Red One and co-founder of Ram, through a work experience placement in his final year of schooling in a bank, of all places. The slightly older Scott ran a rave called Imagination in London and after endlessly mailing out demo cassettes luck struck as he was invited to play at Elevation, with residencies at legendary raves such as Telepathy to follow. And as jungle emerged from hardcore, Andy C became the name to watch out for.

“The beautiful thing in the UK at the time was pirate radio, which was transmitting all the time so I lived and breathed the scene via that because you would hear the music and adverts about raves that were going on and shout outs. So me and my mates would get together and have our own party to it, you know. The first rave I went to was one of Red One's. I wasn't old enough but I could get into the party because I'd met him doing work experience in a bank for three weeks. I randomly got the bank posting through school, and on the first day they asked me to show Scott – who worked at a different branch – around the building and we got chatting about music and it turned out he was working on a pirate radio station and was a DJ and I was amazed. He was throwing a party three weeks later so I told him that I made tunes, and we bonded a bit more and he asked me if I'd like to go to the pirate radio show, which of course I did. I was really excited.”

Ram has gone on to become one of the most powerful brands in dance music, launching the careers of big names such as Shimon, Calyx & TeeBee, Sub Focus, Chase & Status and Moving Fusion, in the process making an indelible mark on what we know as d 'n' b. Not bad for a 15-year-old from Essex.

STARK RAVING MAD

You're a family man and probably one of the busiest touring DJs around; do you get much time to party or is it all business?

I don't go out raving but I'm always in the raves. I do enjoy DJing, especially when I go overseas – which I do a lot of, sometimes every week – and when you're there you turn up to the party before your set and enjoy the DJ before and hang out a bit after. So I'm always at a rave.

You and Ram are forever getting voted number one in virtually every drum 'n' bass awards in existence. What do you attribute your success to?

I just love what I do, so before the show tonight I'm going to go into the studio and mix for a few hours and I get new tunes every week and love to learn how to better my set. We've been taking on more people onto the label recently and the success is just down to the hunger of everybody involved.

Your Nightlife series is legendary. When can we expect the next instalment?
There are so many great DJs at the moment that I could literally do a five CD drum 'n' bass set... watch this space. To be honest with you, at the moment I'm really enjoying the studio work and making tunes, so I'm concentrating on that.

January 25 is known in Perth as Australia Day and Andy C night. How do you feel about your long standing gig at Metros?

It's my favourite gig of the year at the start of the year. It's on the next level, such a buzz. It's sick! Every time I come out and walk out on stage, the hairs stand up on the back up of my neck – you just look up at the crowd and the way they are going off in the balconies and it's such a buzz.

Andy C & MC GQ will be playing the following dates:

Friday 25 January - Metro City, Perth WA
Sunday 27 Januray - The Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW