Hologram Hookers show it all

1. How and when did you first get into producing electronic music in general – and what motivated this commencement?
I first started producing my own tracks around 1995. I bought a Yamaha SY85 synth/workstation. I had no clue about music production but i knew i needed a sequencer and this had it all. I could record 8 tracks including drums and make complete songs and arrangements. Over the next couple of years i added more midi instruments and drum machines to my set up. My pride and joy was a Roland JP8000, a big phat virtual analog synth. I’d midi it up to the sy85 and spend hours just turning knobs and squelching up basslines. Thats stuck with me through the years… i just cant resist tweaking knobs while i have loops running.

My motivation for wanting to produce came from listening to music coming out on Warp Records, hearing the sound of Detroit techno and realizing electronic music can be beautiful, timeless and indeed soulful. I cant forget acid, personally i think acid was the first form of techno, you only have to listen to Phuture’s Acidtracks from 1986 to realize what a groundbreaking, pioneering, futuristic track this was.

2. What production aliases do you currently work under, and how would you define their separate styles?
I’ve made tracks under loads of various name over the years, but currently im recording under Hologram Hookers and girl_robot. I’d say the girl_robot tracks are a harder faster style of acid, where as my HH tracks can range from tech house, 90’s detroit sounding techno with pads and strings to straight up acid.

3. What is your current studio setup?
My current set up is the most basic i have ever worked with. Years ago i spent thousands on synth’s, drum machines and mixers etc, building a midi studio. Most of which is now gathering dust under my bed. I took a break from music production for a few years after i bought my own property and it’s only within the last 3 years i have started producing again, so currently my set up is software based. You could call me a ‘noob’ at producing with computers lol.

I’m from the old skool way of producing… spending hours trying to daisy chain synths and drum machines via midi, so when i first started using the pc to produce i went for propellerhead’s Rebirth and then Reason software. I could understand that and actually see on screen the connections at the back of synths etc, so got my head round it quite fast. I have Ableton and Cubase as well which are great for vst’s and plug in’s, but being coming from a midi based background i like the look and feel of Reason. So i gravitate to that when i switch the pc on to start producing. I use a Oxygen 8 midi controller keyboard with that and a usb mixer for dj sets.

4. How did you get involved with Afro Acid and Hypnotic Room/Elektrax Music?
DJ Pierre signed a few of my early acid tracks and released my Frequency Fetish EP on his Afro Acid label. This was within about 6 months after i started producing again. I was totally blown away at one of my heros, one the guys responsible for inventing the entire genre of acid would even listen to my tracks never mind sign and play them. Alot of younger producers from alot of different genres have no clue about dance music’s history and its roots or it’s pioneers. If it wasnt for DJ Pierre… electronic music today would sound very different. I have DJ M-Traxxx to thank for passing my tracks onto Pierre, he was Afro Acid’s A+R and thru signing that EP it got me noticed by other dj’s and producers and promoters who i have since worked with. Afro Acid is a family and im proud to be part of it.

A good friend of mine and fellow Scotsman Thomas McCluskey aka E383 had a release on Elektrax which motivated me to sent Simon/ DJ Hi Shock @ Elektrax some demos, one of which was played on Marshall Jeffersons radio show and indeed in his live dj sets. Simon liked it and suggested i send more. This resulted in the forthcoming ‘Wurx’ EP for Hypnotic Room, a sub label of Elektrax. With Simon’s network of producers he was able to get some amazing remixes done for me, some of which will be on the wurx ep and others will be released as wurx remixes. Im very happy to have this EP out on such a great label. Elektrax is a well respected label with some of the best producers releasing on it, the sister / sub labels have a wide and varied sound that crosses many genres.

5. What are your thoughts on the digital download phenomenon (positives and negatives)?
The positives are that it gives labels much less overheads in their business. So they can take more chances on what they release and also can release much more without the fear of it not selling. From an artists point of view its good that your music can get a much bigger audience and be made more accessable to alot more people from all over the world. Back in the day small labels who were pressing vinyl and cd’s needed a good distrobution deal in order to get their records into alot of shops/stores. I understand that today with digital, distribution still exists and it enables small labels to get on the most popular download sites, but small labels can easily get their music out there via digital. Digital downloads sites give artists the chance to release their music without even having a label to release it. Theres sites where you can make an account and sell your music for free, i dont see that as a bad thing. I have found some amazing tracks recently on smaller download sites which are not available on bigger sites like beatport (who in my opinion are too fussy on which labels they accept).

A lot of oldskool vinyl Dj’s still cant or wont accept vinyl is not as popular as it once was and they refuse to play digital, opting for time coded vinyl, which is fine if thats what you want to do, but i think by not embarrassing new technology and new media it can only hold you back. The same things were said when cd decks came out in the 90’s, but look how popular they became. The up and coming generation will bring the newest technology with them, things move on.

The negatives are piracy obviously! Some of today’s producers don’t make much money from their recordings but if they had been doing it 10 -15 years ago they would have been able to live well from it, that’s a sad but true fact. Not having a physical product i.e. a record or cd does take a bit of getting use to. When you care about something, your passionate about it and you collect it, you love flicking thru your 12 inch records or cd collection, you enjoy looking at cover art and track listings, all this has been lost with the ipod generation.

The real crime in downloading illegally is DJ’s who do this and play them out! That is unforgivable. In my opinion the roll of the DJ within the music industry has changed over the years, back in the day DJ’s would get promo copies of the record for free, play them out and promote them. These days the DJ’s are the people who should be buying the music and supporting the artists they play. So for a DJ to download pirated music and play it out….. that is a crime!

6. Which other artists/DJs have you played with, remixed or worked with and what’s the attraction of these particular people?
I played with DJ Pierre and Phuture303 (DJ Spank) at Inner City Acid last year. What an amazing experience! Pierre was part of Phuture when they recorded ‘acid tracks’. These guys invented the genre of acid!! Playing on the same stage as your heros is something you never forget. It’s like someone who is into guitars getting the chance to play with hendrix! They are 2 of the nicest guys you could meet, totally down to earth and i have huge respect for them. I spent a few hours setting up the equipment with DJ Spank, i got to hear a few stories about the old chicago trax records days and even an unbeleivable story about the original tb303 they used to make acid trax on, I’m a geeky 303 lover and cherished every moment. Pierre went on to rock the crowd that night pumping up the crowd with his unique brand of Afro Acid sounds which ranged from house to wildpitch to techno. Phuture’s set was so powerful the club got structural engineers in the next day to see if the building was safe!! lol

I remixed a track for Fast Eddie, another chicago acid legend, the track was by him and Steve Silk Hurley. Eddie played in glasgow a few months later and met him and his manager DJ Skip/ Shannon Syas. Skip is a real character, he is one funny guy :) Eddie was great, he’s another legend who proves he still has it and can still rock the crowd. I even got a personalised hookers rap which i recorded on my phone, im proud of that! :) There will be more things happening in the near future with HH and eddie, but i wont say to much about that just now. I’ve remixed for other producers like Plusdeep, Eight Minus Eight, Yakumo Love to name a few as well as my white label remixes. Also just remixed john barlez’s ‘a trip to the moon’ for Elektrax, i dont know if this will be released as there is about 7 remixes of this done, and all are slammin!

7. Where would you like to take your music from here?
I’m happy to just keep making the music i’d want to hear. I dont try to sound modern or new or use the latest sounds. I dont set out to make any particular style or genre, i make the track then decide which genre it fits once its finished. If i can release the best of the music i create then im happy. Although i do have plans for real live virtual hologram girls dancing on stage for my live gigs, lol joke ! I’m always nervous before playing live, not just in case i mess up, but the fact that people who haven’t heard HH before might be expecting girl dj’s or the someone like the pussycat dolls, and i turn up with a shaved head and a pair of adidas LOL.

8. How did your recording name come about? And tell us about the artwork and your logo.
I have recorded under a few diff names but when i started making my early acid stuff, i was looking for something that sounded dirty, as acid is a really dirty nasty growling sound. So i thot…. whats the dirtiest thing i know? Errr hookers? lol. Im a huge sci fi fan so i added hologram infront of hookers and it kind of worked. That led on to the concept that HH was a company to who offered clients downloads of holographic girls to the users personal holo-projector in their home. I can see this being a real possibilty in the not to distant future, or does that just show how perverted i am?? lol

I beleive artwork to be very important, im guilty of judging a book by its cover. Cover art is something that has been lost in the digital generation, there nothing more boring than ‘john smith’ who has no logo or font of his own. You see it online all the time, on myspace, facebook or soundcloud, some random name and a picture of his face, its like.. i dont give a fuck what you look like nor do i care about your real name, make an alais or band name at least! Maybe i feel this way thu my love of graphic design and art, or maybe its the digital ipod generation being used to no cover art on their non physical music products. Artwork and imagery draw people in and can be instantly recognisable and stay with you for a long time, look at pink floyds dark side of the moon, even if your not a fan you will recognise it, same with the rolling stones lips or even nirvanas nevermind artwork, it’s iconic.

The HH logo is a play on the American ’sports’ logo most major sport in the USA have a red white and blue logo, with the white part having a silhouette of what the sport is like the NBA, has a basketball player, NHL has a hockey player etc, so whats more fitting for HH than a pole-dancer!

9. A lot of techno producers refer to music released back in the 90’s. What do you think about those days and what labels did you like back then?
Without a doubt the 90’s saw the best techno ever to be released. Labels like Warp, Plus8, Planet E, Basic Channel, Tresor, Harthouse, Radikal Fear and R+S are amongst my favourites. Alot of their releases can and still do get dropped in todays sets and still sound fresh and motivational.

10. Tell us something about ‘WURX’ EP , what vibes can people expect to hear?
It’s alot different to my last ep. To me, Wurx sounds kind of detroit with loads of synths and pads. Theres 2 great remixes of wurx on the ep from Eight Minus Eight and Claudio Masso, i really like all the remixes, plus simon has about 7 more from great producers from the Elektrax family which will come out at a later date.

Destroy All Music is sort of tech house with a sci fi edge, phat bassline,robot vocoders and lush synths. A great remix from Yakumo Love takes this track into deep house territory.

Square Roots is dare i even say it, a minimal track, minimal in style but not in flavor would be more accurate, its not offbeat click clack minimal. A lot of people have told me this is their favorite on the ep. The remix comes from Andrea Festa, fresh after being remixed by the mighty ‘Hardfloor’ and Chicago legend ‘Mike Dunn’ he takes time out to work on an excellent HH remix.