15 Minutes with Northern Tempo

What type of Act are you?~

Answer: I manage a techno and electro collective, im a Dj and a producer

Tell us the brief history of your Act.~

Answer: Used to run a successful night in Manchester at the legendary Dry bar, and after moving back to Barrow I started northerntempo.co.uk as a way to keep in touch musically with my producer friends in manchester. then started a night in barrow with Liam Smyth (smivv) in October 06, its escalated from there

Who are your musical and non-musical influences?~

Answer: www.paxahau.com is a website that hosts hours and hours of dj sets recorded in detroit, i am always influenced by everything on there. Other musical influences outside techno range from Bowie to Kate bush, Tears for fears, The Doors and so on, the most influential producer to me at the moment is a guy called Robag Wruhme, google him. im also influenced by all sorts of other things though be it a documentary or a film or just a conversaton in a pub, it can come from anywhere

What are your goals?~

Answer: having fun is the main one, im under no illusion that i will be a big dj as they re a dying breed (for the better) i may eventually get a tune released but i have a lot of improving to do first, one swedish guy used one of my tunes on his myspace, that cheered me up

What's your opinion of the Music Scene in Barrow?~

Answer: unless your a teen goth, emo,metal head your pretty much screwed, pop isnt a scene and if your into that i wouldn't class you as being into music so none of the clubs count. the canteen is the only place that really tries but its limited by the audience, for a town of 70K+ there isnt many techno fans, and the big problem is getting them all out on the same night

How do you promote your Act and shows?~

Answer: myspace, forum28, barrowlocal, posters, word of mouth

Describe your show, visual and musically~

Answer: dark dirty techno extravaganza

What do you think about downloading music online?~

Answer: illegaly? illegaly isnt good as it is killing music, sure i dont mind if someone downloads the latest kaizer cheifs album as they do ok, but in my genre its such a niche market that once a song gets leaked onto a p2p network its gonna stop the majority of sales. saying that i will do it if i cannot find a song anywhere to purchase, i dont mind paying as i can get an mp3 for 99p

legally its great, all the music i dj with is downloaded from beatpotrt and the like, couldnt live without it

What's your claim to fame?~

Answer: ive hd a picture on the gallery on hart beat!

Tell us a story about gig that went wrong.~

Answer: something happens every week with regards to my laptop, power can cause problems and lighting often knocks my soundcard off

What inspires you to do what you do?~

Answer: the absolute lack of anything round here

What advice would you give to fellow Acts?~

Answer: practice promote

What are some of your pet peeves?~

Answer: people thinking 2 unlimited is techno or having a dim view of it as not music, some much care, passion and thought goes into a techno tune most people dont understand that, compare that to say a steps tune, how much passion goes into that?

What are the biggest obstacles for Acts in Barrow?~

Answer: getting all the fans out at the same time was the biggest obsticle, right now though its the smoking ban, its killing the atmosphere, with having a small crowd they tend to all go smoke at the same time and dont come back for ages. its making me re think the whole thing, roll on winter!

What's the best and worst thing about playing the venues in Barrow?~

Answer: the people and the people

Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.~

Answer: monthly at the rifes, because its damn good fun, turn up with an open mind and youll leave with sore feet!

Website: www.northerntempo.co.uk