Why is Hardcore still alive in Scotland and Ireland? Most Celtic journalists despise the ‘cheesy’ rave culture seeing it as a blemish on what is otherwise a ‘quality’ music scene.

Trying, whenever they can to distance themselves from ‘bang, bang’ noises of the Hardcore generation wishing more to be associated with the expanding sound of London/New York creeping around the country. ‘Rave belongs in 89’ cry the press and TV dance authorities.

They use terms like ‘cheesy’ to describe the music, ‘you shouldn’t like this it’s dated…it has no musical quality etc’. With our own press and other such musical authorities detesting the music, various government bodies are gladly willing to see every last dance event banned, how has it survived against these horrendous odds?

One theory is that no one listens to the damning comments. Another is that they listen, but don’t give a toss what they should or shouldn’t be listening to. I’m inclined to adopt the latter theory, my reason being that the majority of ravers will use the term ‘cheesy’ to describe their own musical tastes despite ‘cheesy’ first being used in the likes of NME in a derogatory fashion. I could go as far as to say the ravers get something of a kick from being disliked by the ‘dance authorities’.

The following listings feature a number of DJ’s dominated the Scottish and Irish Hardcore scene. Most won’t particularly like being described as playing Hardcore due to the limitations the name holds. My definition can mean Happy Hardcore, Breakbeat, Rave, Gabba/Rotterdam, Industrial, Jungle…. Or what ever pigeon hole you wish to be associated with. In this article, it all means Hardcore!

Marc Smith plays Hardcore – The undisputed No. 1 DJ in Scotland for the last three years. Despite Marc’s push for Jungle North of the border, he’s still managed to grasp the Hardcore following “I know who voted for me year after year and I’m not going to forget that”. With massive selling releases on both Clubscene and his own label ‘Notorious Vinyl’ producing the new Rezerection album and numerous remixes, Marc has forged his name in the Hardcore history books without even starting what many think he’s capable of the last time I saw Marc play I had to push my way through the trainspotters, notebooks in hand jotting down everything from the quality selection of tunes to the tomato sauce stain on his shirt. He has both the hype and the skill, a deadly combination.

Tizer plays Hardcore. In Northern Ireland Tizer is seen as the best DJ in the UK. Known as the ‘Scratchmaster’ at his residency at Exit 15, his steep climb to fame stemming from his first break at Circus. Circus has been short and sweet…. That is of course if you consider four years fighting off challenges from the increasing numbers of top Irish DJ contenders both short and sweet. His name ‘Scratchmaster’ developed from an amazing ability, yeah, you guessed it, ‘scratch’ in time with tracks exceeding 175-200bpm.

His fame came from his stage show behind the decks, something that has to be seen to be believed. All his prancing about and backwards mixing antics have earned him a resident block of trainspotters fixed around his decks both entertained visually and musically. Difficult as it may be for Celtic DJ’s to crack England and Europe, if gossip is anything to go by, Tizer out of anyone seems more than capable.

DJ TEN plays Hardcore. Resident reviewer at Clubscene Magazine and probably the most underrated Hardcore DJ in Scotland. When I last went to see TEN starting off Rezerection, the crowd, normally placid to begin with, were in frenzied state of Hardcore bliss. He plays that bouncy Scottish stuff blended with the harder edge of Rotterdam, the genre that many have ignored replaced by strictly Happy Hardcore, which, he also plays a great deal of depending on the crowd.

Without a residency, TEN and his extraordinary scratching/mixing skills can be caught at the Fubar, Rez, Nosebleed, Non Stop gigs and a variety of venues in the North of England and Ireland. Two record releases under his belt: ‘Intense’ and ‘E.F.F.E.C.T’ with the new ‘Tennant’s Special EP’ featuring mixes by Ultra Sonic and Marc Smith about to kick arse, DJ Ten will not be underrated for long.

Eddie Wray plays Hardcore. Probably the hairiest man in the music game, and most definitely one the friendliest. Eddie blasts out the best every Saturday 6pm-8pm through Belfast’s BCR radio station. The shows success he believes is because no attention is paid to record sales, each week he gets listeners to vote upon their top tunes. Result? A direct reflection of your listeners musical desires.

To be honest, he doesn’t really play Hardcore, it’s more along the lines of that happy, friendly, bouncy stuff that seems to be kicking arse both on his radio show and at his residency at Exit 15. Adding to his work with his Entertainments company, bringing bands and DJ’s to Northern Ireland and his new founded Bassline magazine then you have all the makings of a monopoly. Eddie has fast become one of the main links between Ireland and the mainland despite the controversial use of the phrase ‘git it outta ye!’.

Tom Wilson plays Hardcore. Well, most of the time at least. He’s actually Head of Music at Forth FM in Edinburgh, the nicest bloke you’d ever want to run into, and probably the most famous long term member of the Scottish rave scene. When most radio stations were dictating chart and guitar sounds. Tom was doing his damnedest to slip in the odd repetitive sound as often as he could get away with it. That was his daytime show. On ‘Steppin’ Out’, his weekend dance programme just about anything goes.

Now, Steppin’ Out has just celebrated it’s tenth birthday, the DJ’ing gigs have never been so plentiful, and his releases ranging from Italian vocals to banging Techno and in particular Spain for some reason where his last release ‘Techno Cut’ went in the nationals at No 8. To summarise his popularity north of the border? Let’s just say the last time I was at the Fubar in Stirling a friend was introduced to a girl with a Tom Wilson tattoo. A bit excessive, but I think you get the point.

Marc MacLaughlan plays Hardcore. Glasgow born Marc has been messing with heads throughout Scotland’s second capital for just over four years now. Very much the local boy, starting at the Boats Under 18’s moving to Circa then his present day residency at the Venue. His scrambling Happy Break/Gabba style attracted the attention of Notorious Vinyl where Marc Smith and McLauchlan recorded the deep ‘Mark II’. Now, with the Non Stop Organisation and expecting further releases and most definitely more gigs outside Glasgow, you should be hearing a bit more of Marc in the coming months.

David Murray plays Hardcore. The other ‘best kept secret’ our Hardcore nation boasts. First receiving the deserving title at Rezerection Event 2 where the name seemed to have stuck. David has now been playing around various gigs in Scotland since ’91 attracting promoters through his non-explicit DJ skills. “I just play what pleases the crowd. I will play Jungle. If a crowd prefers Techno, I will play Techno, but what I won’t play is crappy anthem bashing tunes”. With the 170bpm plus ‘Enosis EP’ on Notorious offering a subtle blend of Murray’s styles you would be hard pushed to deny his said title. “To have talent in my opinion you have to be original. It’s as simple as that”.

Obsession plays Hardcore. Obsession started DJ’ing about six years ago playing the odd under 18’s and whatever he could get his hands on through his mobile disco unit. You could say persistence pays in the end when you consider he now holds the sought after residency at Scotland’s infamous Fubar in Stirling. “The Fubar contributes a great deal to the Scottish scene… we must be one of the only clubs regularly hosting DJ’s from England, Ireland and Holland”. It was through the Fubar and his own experienced ‘deck’ hand that Obsession now plays throughout the UK at the likes of ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Club Kinetic’.

There is of course a great number of missing names, Glen Molly, George Bowie, Judge Dred, X-Ray, Technotrance, Binman, Davie Forbes, Bass Generator and Mikey B (the latter two being English, but very popular Northwards), the list could go on but I fear far too much emphasis has been put on the DJ’s already. I’m not trying to say it’s the DJ’s that have maintained the music, their persistence has helped but there’s only so long you can play unpopular music to a crowd. The simple fact is that they like their music hard, the DJ’s and clubs here are to service that despite what they ‘should’ be promoting.

Happy Hardcore has more or less whitewashed the Celtic rave sound, making nights in certain Irish/Scottish clubs not a stones throw away from the likes of Die Hard, Helter Skelter, Kinetic etc. All in all with increasing numbers of DJ’s travelling the length and breadth of the country, the North-South musical divide seems less of an issue.