The Mancunian
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>> After laying the foundations of U.K. rave culture, 808 State just wanna see you dance

by RAF KATIGBAK

When the Mirror caught up with Manchester’s Andrew Barker, he was by the sea in South Wales trying to get some R&R. “I’m staying near an airfield and there’s a giant rave going on at the moment, with pounding sound systems and lasers going up in the sky. I can’t get away from it. It’s terrible.” Ironically, it was Barker’s group 808 State that helped pioneer rave culture over a decade ago in Manchester’s vibrant acid house scene.

In 1988, Mancunian record store owner Martin Price met Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson, and put out Newbuild as 808 State. The album of raw acid house would turn out to be one of the most influential albums of the time (Aphex Twin loved it so much he re-released it on his own label a few years ago) and the name 808 State would soon be popping up in conversations and record bags in dance-music circles across the globe. After Simpson left in 1989 to form his solo project A Guy Called Gerald, the Spinmasters (Andrew Barker and Darren Partington) filled the gap. What followed were five solid full-length albums spread out over a decade (including the new Outpost Transmission), remixes for everyone from Bomb the Bass to David Bowie to Soundgarden, and a reputation as one of the best live dance-music acts around.

Mirror: So what’s the lowdown on Madchester?
Andrew Barker: When we started, it was equivalent to being in New York, where things were a bit grim. But the city’s always been a very creative place, especially for music. If you’re in a band in Manchester, you seem to know everybody else who’re in bands in Manchester. We knew the Mondays, we knew the Roses, we knew New Order. Everyone knew each other. Everyone had the same attitude of, “We’re gonna make music and were gonna be successful.” It was an excellent vibe.

M: Have things changed a lot since then?
AB: At the moment I think there’s a good vibe. There’s lots of money being spent here, we just had the Commonwealth Games. When you’re speaking to people in other bands, you kinda get a feeling that everybody’s striving for that same thing, like it was 15 years ago, even though the situation’s changed quite dramatically.

M: I noticed that on the new album, you continue your collabs with guest vocalists who are, for the most part, unknowns.
AB: We could have got the latest, biggest star, put him or her on the record and we’d sell bucket-loads. It’s not about that. We’ve done lots of collaborations with famous people on previous albums and some of them have turned out real shite. So we didn’t bother to put them on the album. With us, it doesn’t matter who it is. If it sounds good, it goes on the album. If it sounds rubbish, it’s gone. You could be Elvis. If it sounded rubbish you’re not on the album. It’s like, sorry, Elvis, we don’t like it.

Sinister Ministry

M: I guess by now you guys know the score.
AB: We’ve seen a lot of things come and go over the years. We’ve seen a lot of positive things happen, some amazing things and some really crap things.

M: Crap things?
AB: Well, the crappiest things I’ve seen are these corporate companies setting up these big glamour clubs like Ministry and Gatecrasher.

M: Too commercial?
AB: Basically, all they’re running on is money. They’ve got nothing to do with the scene. They’re more about leeching off everything else that’s good about the scene.

M: So you think the U.K. scene’s gonna go back underground?
AB: I hope so. That’s where new things generate. They don’t generate from going out, buying the latest designer outfits and dancing around your handbag in some big mega-disco. Those people are just going through the motions, on a treadmill. In the underground clubs, the punters are more open. They don’t just wanna hear the latest Top 40 piece of cheese from the DJ of the moment. The DJs at the underground clubs have got more balls, they’ll play something different.

M: So what can we expect from 808 State DJs?
AB: We mix it up. Between me and Darren, you’ll get a cross section of every type of dance music you hear or have heard, the best of it. Basically, we play a party set so, if you’re there in the crowd, don’t bother staring at us ’cause we’re not going to entertain you. We just want to see you dance. :

At Cream with Green Velvet, Dave Angel, Tiga, Iznogood and more at the Molson Centre on Sunday, Sept. 1, 10pm, $50

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