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808
State
The seminal
electronic act
reveals a political
side to rave
culture
By Dan Grunebaum
Movies have been
made and books
w r i t t e n a b o u t
legendary Manchester
club The
Hacienda and the dance music revolution
that swirled around it. If any
one track can be said to encapsulate
the electronic side of the northern
English city’s creative ferment in the
1980s, high on the list would be 808
State’s “Pacific State.” Created by the
trio of Graham Massey, Martin Price
and Gerald Simpson, the song’s contrast
of coldly mechanical drums
with warm synth and sax lines set
the template for many an acid house
anthem to come.
“The best memory for me is having
it played as the last tune of the
night at the Hacienda at the height of
afrojack
Producing and remixing for the likes of Beyonce and David
Guetta, Dutch producer Afrojack is one of the EDM scene’s
latest superstars.
Less than three years
ago, you were almost
unknown outside of
Holland. Surely, there
must be moments when
it’s hard to take in? If someone told
me this three years ago, I would be
laughing at them. But everybody likes
my tracks so that feels really good.
And I still like doing this so I’m going
to do this as long as I live.
How much do you feel you owe
to your 2010 breakthrough smash
“Take Over Control”? A lot. I knew it
was a good track and it was going to
be big, but I could never have guessed
it was going to be this good! I owe a lot
to this song.
You’re renowned for your tireless
work schedule. Does your
agenda never wear you out? Never.
Bookings are good to have people listen
to new tracks that I just finished
in the airplane while going there. So
08 • download our podcast at • podcast.metropolis.co.jp
the madness,” Massey recalls ahead
of his set at the upcoming Hacienda
Oiso Festival south of Tokyo. “It felt
like scoring a goal at a cup final. I have
not become bored playing that tune.”
Massey says the unique confluence
of musical influences in
Manchester at the time provided the
basis for a legacy that continues to
shape pop music a generation later.
“As a teenager we would go to rock
discos in Manchester, they played
quite a mix of music… Led Zeppelin
next to David Bowie, Gong next to
Kraftwerk. Reggae, prog, soul and
punk all mixed together at times.
The music culture in Manchester was
diverse—much like its population.”
The Hacienda—chronicled in the
film 24 Hour Party People—is remembered
for an adventurous approach
I can see if people like the song or not.
I use the people to check if the track
is good, or if I have to throw it away or
change something.
Over the last couple of years
you’ve gone from working with
David Guetta to remixing Madonna.
Do you see your musical tastes continuing
to expand, or do you feel
like you want to focus on narrower
musical spaces in the future? I don’t
know. When people ask me to remix a
song, I only do it when I like the song.
And there are a lot of different music
genres that I like.
Your Japanese fans are hotly
anticipating your return to a
region whose dance scene has been
stunned by the ubiquitous “Gangnam
Style.” Is there any truth in
the rumor that Psy may feature in
one of your upcoming projects?
I don’t know. I made a remix already
of Gangnam Style but I don’t know if
that arced from the austere ’80s
postpunk of New Order to the ’90s
hedonism of the Happy Mondays—
but Massey fills out a richer picture,
informed by the sociopolitical currents
of the era.
“The ’80s were a time of disempowerment
for young people in
Manchester,” he notes. “There was
a divide in the UK. On the one hand
some people were riding a wave of
affluence in London, [on the other]
the politics of Prime Minister Margret
Thatcher was not at all popular in
Manchester. There was an anti-establishment
atmosphere that fueled the
new nightclub and music scene—a
‘do it yourself’ culture arose out of a
need for expression.”
Massey provides a perspective at
odds with the image of narcissistic
I’m really going to work with him. But
you never know.
Is there anything different about
playing in Asia compared to Europe
and North America? Everybody
is crazy during parties. But in Asia
they are almost always crazier than
in Europe and North America. They
don’t stop screaming and yelling.
You’ve been working with some
absolutely huge superstars recently,
such as Beyonce, Chris Brown and
David Guetta. Is there ever any added
pressure producing tracks for artists
who can’t seem to get any bigger?
euphoria seeking with which rave
culture has often been written off.
“Martin was inspiring in his determination
for change,” he says of
his 808 partner, who ran key Manchester
record shop Eastern Bloc,
around which the group formed in
1987.
“He saw the dance music revolution
as a political thing, therefore
it was important to draw the dividing
lines from the old culture to the
new. Guitar bands were out. Using
the new technology was a stance for
change, being armed with a sampler
was very much about starting a
new page. We had more in common
with Detroit than London. Joining
an internationalism of the dance
floor was a rejection of colloquialism
that had chained us.”
Yeah of course, but I want to give the
people a lot of different variations of
music genres and give the artists I’m
working with a new audience and
great new songs! It’s really great to
work with them as well. You don’t meet
Chris Brown or Beyonce everyday.
You weren’t born when the original
Hacienda nightclub opened its
doors in Manchester in 1982. Do you
know much about the Madchester
scene? I don’t know a lot about the
Hacienda. I knew it was very important
and that it changed the music
landscape.