2022 is set to be a big year for Slam and SOMA Records.
The legendary Glasgow DJs have a pretty full diary. Next month, they'll back in the 'cave of rave' that is The Slam Tent, at Hopetoun House on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Not long after, at the start of the summer, they'll oversee what will no doubt be another banging edition of the Riverside Festival on the banks of the Clyde.
And, of course, the next 12 months will be a little bit busier than the last two years. The nighttime industry was obviously hit hard during the pandemic, forcing DJs to temporarily hang up their headphones as clubs were shut down.
Thankfully, duo Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle are now back in the booth at the likes of SWG3 and Sub Club, playing at their iconic Pressure and Return To Mono parties.
Shortly before festival season gets into full swing, we caught up with Stuart, Orde and Dave Clarke, who co-founded the globally renowned record label SOMA - which introduced the world to a little-known French electronic duo - to talk about Glasgow's greatest clubs, their memories of the much-missed Arches, what they thought of Daft Punk's split and their hopes for 2022.
In addition, we also had a chance to put some of your questions to the trio.
How have you found the last two years and how does it feel to have people back on the dance floor?
Stuart: "I think it’s allowed us to re-group, restructure and have a think about what we’re doing and come back stronger.
Dave: "A lot of people have been talking about ‘let’s make the local scene stronger, let’s get away from just booking international guest artists, let’s develop the local scene, recognise it, give people who are doing their own thing an opportunity to play on some of the bigger stages we do’. We’ve stuck to that since we’ve come back.
"For example had a girl called DJ Farnaz at the Sub Club alongside Slam last weekend. We did a Halloween party at SWG3 where every artist whether it was Optimo or the people from Shoot Your Shot or the techno people in the Pressure room, they all lived within a 10-mile radius of the venue, which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time on that scale. We sold 2,000 tickets for that which was great to see.
"We want to make sure promoting local talent is something that’s not just a flash in the pan and we continue to do it."
The Riverside returns for another three-day festival in June. Could you have foreseen it becoming so big?
Dave: "It’s such a great location, it’s in the heart of the city, people can get there just using public transport.
"When we first did it, we thought ‘they’re actually letting us do this big party in the middle of the city!’
"I guess we’re part of the culture of Glasgow just because it’s techno, it’s house music, it’s as important as Celtic Connections, the ballet or the opera.
READ MORE: Glasgow Riverside Festival lineup as new artists announced for Bank Holiday weekend
"Each year we’ve done it we’ve invested more into the international artists, but recently we’ve invested a lot into the local scene with our satellite stage, trying to cover different bases in Glasgow.
"It’s become a real part of the fabric of the city and we were glad to bring it back this summer."
How much did you miss playing in Sub Club during the pandemic - and what makes the club so iconic?
Dave: "Sub Club is a special place. Even before the house music scene it was as blues club. It’s always been a basement with a good atmosphere for music.
"They have a great sound system, great people working there."
Stuart: "The venue has a special vibe and it always has. You’ve got to go downstairs to go into it and it just has that thing that’s really hard to articulate.
Orde: "It’s like a blueprint for an underground club."
What's your best memory of playing there?
Dave: "In 1990, Glasgow was European City of Culture and we had the 5am licence. It was a different city because it was also at the beginning of this new scene where people were maybe going to Ibiza or going to Germany and thinking ‘how come we’re shutting at 3am? Why can’t we have a few more hours on that dance floor?’. The freedom that gave people."
Orde: "I remember one night in particular dropping one of our singles, Positive Education - which went round the world - the very first, physical chance to play it out. It was built for the space.
"Just to see that instant reaction to it in Sub Club is definitely one of my lasting memories of that venue."
Do you miss The Arches? And how much has SWG3 filled that void in Glasgow?
Dave: "The Arches was a time and place in history and it was great for the city, but into that vacuum has come SWG3. For the type of night we want to do, it’s the perfect venue and is at time even better than The Arches."
Orde: "Probably the reason why we’re still enthusiastic after a decent amount of time is we’re always looking forward, never looking back."
Dave: "SWG3 has gone from having one room with 600 people to a new room with 1,000 people and then when the people who were galvanising moved out, they took over this warehouse space, soundproofed it, put a soundsystem in it and now it’s a great venue for 1,300 people where you can go and dance to techno.
"It’s a great cultural space where they’re always trying something different whether it be with food and restaurants, they’re growing food out the back, doing the body heat thing and trying to become carbon neutral."
What's your favourite venue to play at?
Stuart: "In Glasgow - the Sub Club and internationally, Berghain.
Orde: "The Arches and SWG3. It’s hard to put it down to one venue to be honest, because they’ve all had their iconic nights."
What's the best ever night you've played at?
Orde: "The penultimate night of the The Tramway Rave in 1989, the first rave in Scotland. Or perhaps Slam in the Park?
Dave: "Pressure at SWG3, when the Galvanisers first opened up. It felt like a modern day industrial techno venue had been brought to Glasgow and it had just been dumped there in the west end."
Stuart: "That was an amazing night because some people didn’t show up, so we got to have like a three or four hour set, which was incredible!"
If you could play with one other artist, who would it be?
Stuart: "I’ll say Jeff Mills because he’s been a long-time hero."
What's the one track you feel is quintessentially Slam?
Stuart: "I’m not saying Positive Education … although it probably is. I still listen to it.
"The Positive Education track came together in about half an hour, but we spent weeks perfecting it, meticulously getting levels and laying it out. When I listen back to it, production wise, I can’t hear anything in it I would change. There’s not many tracks I say that about.
Orde: "Every six months or so you hear someone playing Positive Eduction in a mix, it keeps coming back at you."
Dave: "That sound works in a club today for a crowd who weren’t possibly even born when it was made."
Who is the best up and coming artist to look out for at the moment?
Orde: "That’s an impossible question to answer! There’s so many talented people coming up through the ranks in Glasgow. We’re very lucky in that respect, Glasgow is really a positive city.
Dave: "There’s some girls doing really well with techno like Farnaz, LISALÖÖF, Neoma and Kairogen.
Orde: "Every so often there’s another new school that comes through and Glasgow never fails to produce new talent, artists of all kinds. It’s a very kind of vibey city."
Did you know Daft Punk were going to split up?
Stuart: "The answer’s no. It was a complete surprise. It’s not like I’m on the phone to Daft Punk every weekend, so I had no idea they were going to split up.
Dave: "I met Thomas a few years ago in Paris and they didn’t have any pressure to make a record, but they were still going into the studio together. I always thought they would come out with something else. So yeah, it was a complete surprise and I don’t know any of the details.
"But I do know the made music together in the years since the previous album - who knows what happened to that or what will. They’re always full of surprises aren’t they? I’m sure we’ll hear something from them again."
What are your hopes for 2022?
Dave: "Soma Records is really pushing forward with a lot of new stuff, always thinking of the future and never the past and Slam conscientiously listen to thousands of tracks that come in and make sure we get the wheat from the chaff and get the good ones out there.
"We have to mention Ukraine. Slam was supposed to be playing there in April at Nektoh, one of the most stunning, open-minded places you can go to. We were all going to go over. Four weeks ago people in Ukraine would have said ‘where are you going tonight?’, now they’re in a bomb shelter, friends and family are dying.
"I guess for 2022 we’d hope things can change so much we can actually go there and pick up the pieces.
"Last Friday, the guest we had, Stef Mendesidis, is actually from Kyiv. He got out to Poland and this was one of his first gigs since. We’ve donated all the proceeds to the humanitarian effort in Ukraine.
"So, for 2022, we want world peace instead of world war."
