DJ Grooverider - Interview part a -  1993

How long have you been on the scene?
It depends what scene you are talking about,  I've been on the club circuit since I was 16/17 but this kind of music since the beginning I suppose, one of the pioneers?

Where did you first start playing?
First I started on a pirate radio station, the first club I ever played was a club about as big as your front room, it started at 4.00 o'clock in the morning and used to go on all day, during the week this was on a Wednesday going through till Thursday afternoon, it took off from there really,  I started to do little warehouse parties, like unit 4, getting about 1000 people in.

What was the music like , did DJ's take the music as seriously as now?
The DJs took it seriously but we weren't taken seriously, it was new then, the music - what they call progressive and garage now - well that's what we were playing 5 years ago, they#be only just started to get into it, I can't understand the music at the moment it  seems to me were going backwards instead of forwards.

When you started out did you think you would get to where you are now?  No way, I used to work as well, I used to have a desk job.  I never expected to do what I do now - its worked out well.

With you being around for so long did it ever get to the point that as more and more DJ's came into it you start to get equalled off?
No, that's the the thing with me I really don't care,  there can be good DJ's and bad DJ's but as long as I'm doing what I'm doing, as soon as you start looking at other people that's when you start to drop off.  If you concentrate on yourself you keep on going forward, that's what I'm like anyway - perhaps that's why I've been around for so long.

When you first started out did you give your name a lot of thought, every MC seems to like to say it 'Grooverider'?
Yeh, Yeh, there's MCs that say it when I'm not even in the place, I don't know its just a name really,  I used to be a dancer at one stage and it used to be my nickname.

Who influenced when you first started out?
Colin Faver I suppose, Kid Bachelor, I mean everyone around at the time because there was so few DJ's playing the music - anyone that played it would influence you in some way.

When you first started out on the scene, when it was still all underground, what was happening in Europe?
I don't even know what was happening in Europe, we all stemmed it from here so there wasn't anything happening in Europe with this music, the Europeans weren't making it yet, the only people making the music at the time was the Americans and still now there trying to get through with it yet, the only people making the music at the time was the Americans and still now there trying to get through with it,  I couldn't understand it because they were making the music but they weren't playing it in their clubs, we were the only people playing it.

People that have been around for a few years, like from the early days, I notice that looking at old flyers that your name went from the bottom  of the flyer to the top, until you were classed as the main guest?
No it doesn't work like that, I think its just up to the promoter who he put on the flyer first.

Was it an uphill struggle to get to where you are now?
Well it was and then it wasn't, black people weren't involved in the scene really, we were making the music, its always hard being a black person, you've got to be there and I would be there, just to prove myself.

Did people help you out or were they kicking you in the teeth?
They weren't helping me out, well they were helping me out because they let me play, it was then down to the public to sort out who was going to go anywhere.

Do you think the scene has changed from what it was to what it is for the better or the worse?
I don't know really because it's a different circuit really, it's a different thing, the music's changed and everything, it will never be how it  was because its not new anymore.  A lot of people are saying its not the same anymore but its not meant to be the same, if it was the same it would be different music, it would be something completely different - its all stemmed around the music and its not different music because its all House at the end of the day, what speed do you want to go at that's the question nowadays.

Events have gone from Warehouse to big ten events in fields, do you not think these kinds of events are getting to over the top with promoters being more concerned over the attractions rather than what they should be concentrating on which is the DJs?
Yeh they have done, definitely have, no disrespect to promoters but what is a bouncy castle going to do for me, its not going to make you dance any harder! They have taken the emphasis off the music, exactly that's why I prefer smaller events, maximum 2000, you can get a good vibe running, small clubs around 500 there good as well.  All that fancy stuff doesn't interest me, all you need is a good sound system and some space.

Grooverider Interview 1 continued....

Links to Fantazia

Check out his mixing on the Fantazia Jungle Collection  as well as Fantazia event sets.

Fantazia One Step Beyond

To buy either of these click here.