Nu Religions James Condon - Interview

How did you go about putting together the tracklisting for the album?

When I was first asked to mix the Nu-Religion 1st Birthday album I thought putting together a list of 10 tracks would have been easy but I can assure you it’s not at all!  I went through my tune collection and made a list of all my favourites which ended up being a list of over 40! I then had to go through all the tracks again to get the list down to 15 tracks which I then emailed over to Nukleuz for them to be signed off and the licences agreed which fortunately they all were.  It was then a case of choosing the final 10 and putting them in order and getting it mixed.

Tell us about your track ‘Electrizm’ that you did with Identikal. How did the ideas for the track come about and how did the collaboration work?

I was approached by Dan from Identikal at the back end of last year and asked if I wanted to collaborate with them on a track which I thought was a wicked idea.  We then discussed who we would ask to engineer the track and decided to ask Greg Brookman who was fantastic to work with.  We took a weekend out and went down to Greg’s studio with a load of ideas and told Greg what we wanted and he put it all in place.  It was wicked fun working with Identikal and Greg and I am really pleased with the track and was over the moon when it was signed to Traffic Records.

Have you got any more studio sessions lined up?

I have got a date booked again with Greg for a collaboration with Dan from Identikal, so watch this space and expect more pounding electro tech trance!

All the tracks on the album are by UK producers. Does the European sound not tickle your fancy so much, or is it more a case that UK producers have been embracing continental sounds more in recent times?

I think that over the last 6 months a more global sound has come into the UK hard dance scene and as you say the UK producers have been embracing that sound and producing some proper floor rocking tracks.  One to look out for is Joey V his sound has hit the nail on the head with his tracks being played by such a wide selection of DJs from the electro/Tech Trance Djs like Eddie Halliwell and Sander Van Doorn to the Hard Trance DJs like Rob Tissera and Mark Sherry.  I think this is why the hard dance, electro and trance scenes are starting to merge together again and I think this will really become noticeable at the festivals this summer.

Hard dance compilations are few and far between these days. Which CDs go in your all time classics pile?

Wow that’s got me thinking! Some all time favourites would have to be the first Fergie, Lisa Lashes and Eddie Halliwell Mixmag CDs they have got some classic hard dance tracks on and are always good to dig out and get rockin’ too.

Nu Religion’s 1st Birthday is this Saturday 12th May – what have you got lined up for your set?

I have been thinking about my Nu Religion set for a while now and have decided that I am going to showcase the album by playing the exact set that you can download from iTunes - that way you can all see what the album is  and then get downloading ;O)

Did you think Nu Religion would come so far in just 1 year?

To be honest after the massive success of the first event at Hidden I had every confidence that Nu Religion would do well and I am even more confident that the next 12 months will see them go from strength to strength and I’m very proud to be their resident DJ.

Some people are saying that hard dance is dying – what do you say to them?

I would say what a load of rubbish!  Hard dance will always be around it just changes it sound.  The hard dance sound I’m playing at the moment is a mix of Electro, Hard House and Trance and creating a wicked new sound which you are hearing at Hard Dance events like Frantic and Nu-Religion and also Trance events like The Gallery.

I think clubbers are always going to want to have harder sound to dance too and as long as there are new sounds and new ideas the scene is always going to be there it just progresses and changes as time goes on.

What are your fondest and most amusing memories from Nu Religion’s events over the past 12 months?

My fondest memory has to be the Nu Religion opening night at Hidden.  It was the first time I had played a peak time set in a main room and the atmosphere was so electric!  It will be something I will always remember.  Nu Religion always seem to have a really friendly crowd, I always feel like I’m DJing to a big group of mates which is wicked!

As far as amusing memories go there are always some funny stories from the events but im not going to go into those you will need to get yourselves down to The Colosseum this Saturday and get some of your own amusing stories and memories.

See you all Saturday,

HAPPY DAYS ;O)

https://www.skiddle.com/whatson/guide.php/skiddle/London/Hidden/Nu_Religion__The_First_Birthday/88738/

 

Buy the Nu Religion LIVE Album here: 

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=251261265&s=143444

Tracklisting:


1. BB&P – Kreissage
2. Rob Tissera vs Vinylgroover – Beautiful Like You
3. Joey V - I Am God
4. Vince Nysse vs The Stereosluts (Vinylgroover & The Red Hed Remix)
5. Dark By Design & Little Gem – Dark & Wild
6. Phil York – Angels in Heaven (Technikal Remix)
7. James Condon vs Identikal – Electrizm
8. Joey V – Choppershunk (Mark Sherry Remix)
9. Kenzie & Cobain – Randomise (Charlie G Remix)
10. Matt Lee - Go