Graeme Clark AKA The Revenge is one of the most high-profile names to come from the Scottish DJ scene in recent years. This weekend The Revenge will be one of the acts taking to the Casa Bacardi Arena at Electric Picnic. We caught up with Graeme for a quick chat ahead of his set.
Hi Graeme, will this be your first visit to Electric Picnic? Do you have any preconceptions about the festival?
I've been once before and I loved it. As a Scotsman, I find it easy to bond with the Irish … almost too easy. Am pretty sure I ended up at an afterparty somewhere last time. But I can't really remember which is generally the case after a night out in Ireland.
You've been on the road a lot this summer, how has the tour gone so far?
I'm just heading back from Mexico now actually after being in the USA and Colombia. It's been a great tour over here and have got to see a few more cities than I did on my last tour which is nice.
For the unaware, can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I started making music about 20 years ago when I was about 14. The rave scene was pretty back at that time in the 90's, and so I was making a lot of hardcore rave stuff initially and then got into techno, jungle, house, disco over the years. I studied sound engineering at college when I was about 19 years old, about the same time I got into DJing.
What was the Scottish music scene like for you? Is it a case of having to live in one of the bigger cities to make connections and keep on top of trends?
As with anywhere it helps to be amongst like-minded people to give you the confidence to push things forward. When I lived in my hometown of Dunfermline I'd already started my first record label and been down to London with my crew to cut test pressings, speak to record shops and organise distribution. But moving to Glasgow when I was in my early 20's opened my mind to the club scene and the energy of a bigger, more international city for sure.
I understand that there'll be a new 6th Borough Project release soon. Will it resemble the first, or were you keen to push the envelope even further?
We've just finished the first single and it's definitely got a 6th Borough Project feel to it. It's a pretty raw sounding mid-tempo house release with a great remix from Chicago Damm. The album will be pretty varied, but I'd like to think it's an extension of the first one. There'll be some slow jams and some house business on there too, which fits in with the sort of stuff we'd want to hear on any album.
You've been making music for about twenty years now. Is there anything you wish you knew back when you were starting that you know now?
How to side-chain a kick drum.
What can fans expect from the gig at Electric Picnic?
Me drinking rum, playing music and dancing. I guarantee it.
