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silver
Admin
Japan
12,579 posts
Joined: Feb, 2001
894 hardcore releases
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 Posted - 2003/09/06 : 09:54:06
I dont really know where to put this... but if your interested...
I was interviewed by PowerHouse productions that are doing the Utopia event in Australia Oct 4th / 5th that I am playing at.
If you ever wanted to find out something interesting about me click the link below, or if your in Sydney pickup 3D world magazine in the upcoming issue the interview is also in there.
http://www.powerhouseproductions.com.au/show_media.asp?MID=179
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it's all hardcore.
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Seany
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,908 posts
Joined: Aug, 2002
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 10:20:36
hmmm ,doesnt seem to be loading on mine 
Happy Hardcore ForeVer
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whispering
Moderator
Finland
8,453 posts
Joined: Nov, 2002
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 10:57:36
It was very intresting, i liked this part: MasterWax will be moving up to shipping 1-2 releases a month.
I hope theres coming lot of JHardcore 
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They've done it to me, their gonna do it to you!
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fazza
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,126 posts
Joined: Sep, 2002
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 13:02:55
nope, not loading for me either
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?"
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all your base are belong to us.
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Dave Murray
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
3,675 posts
Joined: Jan, 2003
136 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 13:15:24
Nice Interview Silver. 
__________________________________________
I Couldnt Take It No More ... So I Became Hardcore.
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<3 Trance
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Simon
Advanced Member
Belgium
5,001 posts
Joined: Dec, 2001
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 13:51:48
worked okay for me,
nice read .
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Everything is random, your probebly not meant to read this!!!!!!
You Turn & Face The Strange..............You Turn & Face Yourself!!!
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"...The Outsider"
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milo
Advanced Member
Canada
3,391 posts
Joined: Sep, 2001
347 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 15:56:05
very interesting indeed silver =) eyes are glued more so now to the news page
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http://milo.happyhardcore.com
HappyHardcore.com/North American Hardcore Movement/Totally Sweet Radio/Hardcore Street Team
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Comet
Advanced Member
United States
1,544 posts
Joined: Aug, 2002
745 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/09/06 : 15:56:35
Noticed a few typos! (Yeah, as you see, I'm a perfectionist too..)
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Hardcore 'till I die ..
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Cassells
Average Member
Canada
157 posts
Joined: Jul, 2003
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 Posted - 2003/09/06 : 18:12:58
nice!
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Happy2bBonkers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
352 posts
Joined: Jul, 2003
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Posted - 2003/09/07 : 04:18:05
A good interview m8
HARDCORE IS BACK NOW THEY ALL WANT A PIECE OF US!(Happy2bBonkers)
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HARDCORE IS BACK NOW THEY ALL WANT A PIECE OF US!
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Xenochrome
Advanced Member
United States
2,645 posts
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Posted - 2003/09/08 : 06:44:39
Linky no werky.
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whispering
Moderator
Finland
8,453 posts
Joined: Nov, 2002
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Posted - 2003/09/08 : 07:09:00
Coz so many are having problems with the link, i took the liberation to copy/paste the interview. Hope theres nothing wrong about it:
DJ Silver
Without a doubt if you are a hardcore fan, then you would have heard of or visited happyhardcore.com. DJ Silver has worked hard to get the site to where it is today, as well as building a strong fanbase through his DJing.
Powerhouse caught up with him for the upcoming UTOPIA;EMF event.
You have been involved with the entire DJ and production thing for a while... give us a little insight as to how it started...
How it started... that's an interesting story. Well to be totally honest with you I started DJing back in the early 90's as a high school DJ with CD's and regular CD players cause I could not afford turntables at the time. Most of the tunes I wanted to play were not on CD's and I was getting sick of the top 40 requests for MC hammer I was getting doing the gigs I was doing so I started to buy vinyl and picked up two basic turntables and a mixer second hand. The turntable was belt driven (ack!) but had a pitch adjustment so at least I could learn to beat mix.
I kept buying more and more vinyl and DJing here and there.. Around 96 - 97 became the manager of Affinity a Sydney based hardcore / hard trance group that made a lot of headway in the scene, even a releasing a vinyl and CD compilation under my own label at the time. We had a major offer from a Tokyo based company to do a big CD release, promotional tour and play a big event... funny enough the company went bankrupt after they did not pay the Japanese mafia enough money and so went the contract. I was determined to do something with the Japanese scene and get something going for myself and others, after a job offer in Tokyo working for a magazine I packed and moved to Japan. After realizing I did speak much Japanese and I should have listened in high school Japanese classes I figured I would concentrate on DJing in Tokyo clubs as they are the main culture for hardcore events and with space at a minimum it makes sense.
How would you best describe your sound?
My sound has progressed with the times, I would say my style has always been based on the UK style. At the moment I would say my style would be best described as "Hard uplifting hardcore"
How do you keep yourself in touch with what's going on music wise ?
Keep in touch!? That's easy… HappyHardcore.com ... although these days with hardcore on the rise it's getting harder to stay on top of things as things happen so quickly. Over the years I have build up a massive network of connections with people, labels and artists mostly they send me the info, I hear a lot of things, most of the stuff I can't tell most people cause the labels swear me to secrecy for a few weeks or months until it leaks out then I can post the news. Other than that I make a few phone calls here and there, I have my insider contacts at all the major labels that are doing hardcore. I have even had major magazines ask me for contents.
Tell us about your work with happyhardcore.com. How did this come about?
Put simply in 99 Hardcore music nearly died, nearly 90% of the producers stopped making hardcore and talented producers at the time such as Billy Bunter and Vinylgroover all moved over to Hard House. Not understanding Japanese television and bored out of my brain I decided I needed to promote the hardcore sound globally to keep the global scene and hardcore alive. A few weeks later HappyHardcore.com was born, from simple beginnings the site promoted hardcore via online radio with version two being launched February 2001 when which we started excepting registered members. Since that time we have over a total of 12,000 members (at time of writing) with nearly 400 new members a month showing the support of hardcore on a global scale. HappyHardcore.com has members from over 108 countries pulling 1.2 million page views (not hits) a month!
A number of factors have led to the change of hardcore over the years, what do you think has been the biggest contributor to its evolution?
Artists, DJ's and labels not afraid to do things different. All of them doing things out of the hardcore box and not letting hardcore go the way of disco.
The hardcore scene has returned being as strong as ever right now. What do you think has helped contribute to its growth?
Producers and artists sticking with hardcore and new talent breaking through in the hardcore dark ages. Label's putting hardcore out there even went there was no guarantee that they will make any money from it. Ravers coming to the events showing their support. More recently hardcore music production has really taken a step up. The releases coming out now have so much polish and care on them that other genres such as hard house and trance have already enjoyed in the last few years.
The sound of hardcore now has shown its popularity through the trance elements... how do you see this as a positive direction of late.
Hardcore is unique genre in that it covers many grounds and BPM speeds, you can play hardcore anywhere from 165 - 210 BPM, with that said it's harder for the general public to appreciate something that is so different to what they are used to listening too. For hardcore to survive it has to grow and attract new people, with all scenes and genres people come and go all the time, if new people don't replace the old then the scene dies. Not only does the trance element give hardcore new life it helps promote the sound to people that make be listening to hard trance or hard house at the moment. They can quickly identify with the tracks and appreciate hardcore for what it is.
Is the word "intelligent" one you would use to describe hardcore today?
Hmmmm interesting concept, I would agree with the fact that hardcore has become more intelligent, but you have to remember that today's hardcore comes from HappyHardcore which came from oldskool. I would say today's hardcore has shaken off the "happy" and gone back to its roots with added production and other influences. It is much more intelligent than say 4-5 years ago, but about the same level as it was in 91-94.
Explain to us what is your involvement with Infinity Records.
I own it... I bought the entire back catalogue and copyright from Mark Breeze (DJ Breeze) early this year. I actually run and own 4 labels with our main label being MasterWax Records. Between the 4 labels we have seen CD releases on Decadance (Ministry of Sound), Moonshine, React, Toshiba-EMI, Victor-JVC just to name the big ones, we have over 40 CD releases worldwide, a track catalogue of over 60 tracks and about 35 vinyl releases.
What do you consider influences yourself in regards to your own production?
I'm a little of a perfectionist, you wont hear or see anything on my production until it's ready. But to answer the question, the other music around me of course influences the music you make. Working with other producers and artists can also show you new ways of doing things so basically every time you do a studio session you are learning something new no matter who you are.
Do you find it surprising that you revolve around something that once was just a passion or a dream, to now being what your life is run by?
Surprising yeah that is an understatement, I work with the biggest music promoter in Japan and the 3rd biggest in the world and sometimes when I start to tell other people what I do they look at me funny because it sounds like ********... I have to laugh to myself about it. But I have to say that it is a lot of hard word, a lot of long nights and a lot of now ex-girlfriends cause most of the time I put hardcore in front of them. I don't think I have reached my dreams just yet, I always set long goals, and always move them further away when I get close to them, the minute you think you have reached the top it is minute you start to fall. I am always looking for further ways to promote hardcore and open up new markets. HappyHardcore.com did not become the biggest hardcore web site and media outlet in the world by chance or luck, there were many other people that could have done it, just I believed in making something I would like and find useful and hopefully other people would too... I guess it worked!
Is there any sort of aim or goal that you have in terms of your production / DJing?
Whenever I DJ I always give my all, there was a famous quote I read once in a book I picked up "There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best." - Joe DiMaggio. This quote refers to baseball but it really struck home with me. I want the crowd to be dancing and listening to what I am playing and thinking to themselves, "wow this is such a good tune", only for me to bring in a bigger and better one, then another and another until the crowd is going crazy. And when it's all over the people in the crowd are thinking "what the hell was that.. where am I... oh my god..." sort of spellbound by the music.
What current projects have you got under your belt at the moment?
We always keep our projects under our belt until they are 100% completed or just about to be released, in the past we have been burnt by telling people what is coming only for other people to steal the idea. But I can say as few things. We will be starting a fully serviced online record store where you can buy the latest hardcore 12" releases at very cheap prices, we have sorted a deal with a UK mail order company and will be shipping everything direct to customers from the source in the UK.
HappyHardcore.com radio is the most listen to 24 hour fully licensed radio station in the world, on the largest dance network in the world Digitally Imported who get over 12,000 simultaneous listeners at peak times daily! We will be expanding this service to offer a subscription service along with our free service where you can pay a small monthly fee to listen to the radio at 192k (basically CD quality). Our free service runs at 21k-128k and will remain the same.
MasterWax will be moving up to shipping 1-2 releases a month.
We will be sponsoring more events in the future for example we are a partner with Tidy in the UK to help promote their latest event Magna7.
Anything else planned for the future?
Tones and tones of things... keep your eyes peeled on HappyHardcore.com
In regards to other producers, who tickles your fancy? Who gets you all hot and bothered?
I would say my current influences would be UFO, Breeze and Styles, DJ Impact, CLSM (Jon Doe) and Scott Brown.
What about new talent? Are there guys that are getting material released that you can see being one of the best in the near future?
New talent is the one of the driving forces for hardcore. These days you don't need a mass of hardware to write decent tracks. With soft syths and DSP hardware cards you can reduce your entire production to just your computer. I could mention many very famous hardcore producers that have already done this. I get demo's sent to me nearly daily with new artists, If I hear potential I encourage them and try to give guidance, or sign the track up and get a get remix done. I'm really impressed with new talent that is coming through and the newer labels that are starting up... it's all good. If I had to pick one new artist I would put my money on the Australian producer Weaver, he had certainly got what it takes and is the first international artist that has been released on the label hardcore Raver Baby which is certain an achievement in itself.
In terms of the international scene, where else is the scene healthy?
The biggest growth I have seen is in the US, they never really experienced the first hardcore explosion and are only now catching up. Canada has a very strong scene and so does Mexico if you can believe that. Australia is massive, UK massive, Japan is big and parts of Europe are also big.
What are your ideas about Australia's scene?
The Australian scene has the biggest hardcore parties in the world, but everyone plays overseas artists tracks. Australia really needs to encourage new artists to produce tracks and create a scene similar to what the UK has at the moment. Australia certainly has the number of people interested in hardcore to facilitate this. Other than that, the Australian scene is certainly rocking hard, it's almost owe inspiring to see the photo's and videos of a sea of 10,000 people rocking hard to the sounds of hardcore. I have heard many a UK DJ tell me that Utopia and Powerhouse events are the party of all parties for hardcore and are totally jaw dropping.
What will you have planned for this upcoming UTOPIA event?
Just have to wait and see wont you... Play some new stuff, play some older stuff... rock the hardcore room like there is no tomorrow. I am really looking forward to the event it's going to be stormer. From the people I am talking to and members of HappyHardcore.com I certainly know the Australian scene is ready to go hard at Utopia.
Silver will be playing in the happyhardcore.com arena at the upcoming Utopia Electronic Music Festival on Saturday 4th - 5th of October at Glenworth Valley.
_____________________________________________
They've done it to me, their gonna do it to you!
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silver
Admin
Japan
12,579 posts
Joined: Feb, 2001
894 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2003/09/08 : 17:40:53
Someone sent me a scan of this weeks 3D World, it's on page 44 if you live in Sydney, they only printed a tiny bit of the interview.
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it's all hardcore.
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