Translated from Sothach! Issue 70, May 1995
Something is happening deep in the dance scene in North Wales. The members of dna have decided to turn their backs on the Welsh Rock scene network in Lleyn, and look towards the nightclubs of Britain for their inspiration. To discover the links between spirituality and dance music, I was dragged to a derelict monastery deep in the countryside to a private rave with the members of dna to talk about Cadfael (Trinity Dub), the lost track that was to appear on the Gog Rock compilation album, but mysteriously didn’t.
You do understand that by playing dance music on this portable stereo that you’re breaking the law according to the Criminal Justice Act?
X: We realise that, but a genre has finally arrived that appeals to more people than any music has since punk in the Seventies. The Government sees techno as some sort of threat to the system, and by passing the Criminal Justice Act, they’re forcing people to break the law just by dancing.
Y: This is a form of protest, but on the other hand, it’s no different to what we were doing before the days of the CJA. We don’t think many people have changed their attitudes towards techno because of it, and as a result I think the music has proved to be stronger than the Government. They’re afraid of young people taking control of their own lives and sticking two fingers up at the system, just as the punks did seventeen years ago.
X: Dancing is a form of celebrating life, and people have danced to the rhythm of the drum since the dawn of civilisation…
Y: and sex isn’t safe in the Nineties, so the more physical forms of dancing are a way of simulating sexual identity…well, that’s what I’ve heard anyway.
dna aren’t particularly keen to talk about themselves, but they have plenty to say about music. So what’s the state of the dance scene in Wales at the moment?
X: It’s really open. There’s a huge gap in the market and the only bands that seem to be filling it are Diffiniad, WWZZ and The Super Furry Sound System, but there’s room for so much more. There are so many bedroom producers and small labels making music at home, and more and more people are listening to the music that’s coming out of the clubs. Those who can, travel to big clubs outside Wales to dance, clubs such as Cream in Liverpool, and those who can’t get friends and relatives to record mix shows off radio stations like Sunset Radio in Manchester, or Kiss FM.
If Diffiniad are the natural successors to Ty Gwydr, is there room for another techno band in the Welsh Rock Scene?
X: Of course, since Diffiniad write songs whereas dna creat tracks. We use the sound of the voice as an instrument rather than as amelodic entity. Since the days of Ty Gwydr some people are generally less interested in listening to lyrics, the most moving dance music centers around strong beats and sounds.
Y: Edrych Arnat Ti off Diffiniad’s Discodawn album was one of the best techno songs in the Welsh language because the lyrics in the chorus were so repetitive, which is nearer the spirit of modern dance music than the songs off Dinky, which hark back to the Disco age, when songs were more melodic and revolved around the voice. With the best dance music, any shift in the music leads dancers to change their body movements, and this is more subtle, yet far more potent than having a singer let you know that you’re listening to a verse or a chorus or whatever.
What was the inspiration behind Cadfael (Trinity Dub) and why did you use Gregorian chants?
Y: The Gregorian chants are a reflection of the spirituality of the rave scene, according to Shamen such as Terrence McKenna, who believes that clubs are the new churches, and that audiences at the end of the millenium worship the beat rather than worship God, since many young people feel that they don’t relate to archaic religion any more. Shamen also believe that clubs are good for the environment, in that dancing releases a cosmic energy that helps repair the Earth. The Gregorian chants were also a way of unifying two types of music from opposite ends of the musical spectrum. The original mix was titled Trinity Dub because three of us were responsible for creating the track, and we believe that Melody, Harmony and Rhythm are the musical trinity.
You also have a song, O.F.N (Mamix) on the Gog Rock compilation album. Why was this project important to you?
X: The Gog Rock project gave us the chance to record the kind of music we really wanted to, but couldn’t because of financial restraints. Cadfael and O.F.N were the results of a small amount of money given to us by the organizers of the Gog Rock project to come up with something for the album.
Y: It’s possible that many of the bands on the album won’t last the year (perhaps we won’t, who knows?), but what’s important is what they do now. Gog Rock defines a certain place at a certain time, and all the bands from North Wales that are part of that album are contributing to this little piece of musical history.
It’s always difficult recreating the studio sound live on stage, so what will dna do about playing live?
X: It’ll certainly be a challenge, but the audience reaction should tell us whether we’re succeeding or not.
Y: It’s likely that we’ll use a number of drumloops from a sequencer, with two or three keyboards creating live tracks over those loops. This means that the set will be different every time we perform, since the loops will be stored on disk and can be triggered in a different order every time. It’ll also be possible to create our own melodies over backing tracks provided by other techno artists, a sort of interactive DJ set, where we’ll perform live and DJ at the same time. The audience may also show more interest if they can recognise parts of the music from somewhere else.
X: We don’t intend playing many gigs to start with. We want to release more radio singles first, to ‘test the water’ with the Welsh public that usually listen to rock music.