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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! | | Goa based party animal and artist extraordinaire Nirmal talks punk concerts, metal sculptures, flying and rippin' it up on a High Tide! | | DJ Wired talks to us about the Rise of the Hope and parties, ahead of his upcoming set at Tribal Village on 14th January 2022! |
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Nu Religion — introducing James Condon
Reported by e99
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Submitted 25-10-06 14:37
So, you probably will have heard of Nu Religion by now. The burgeoning new night has left a serious dent on London’s hard dance scene in 2006, with some very fresh line-ups, great atmospheres and very well-attended events. Do you know who their residents are though? The new blood that they are putting all their faith and hopes into? You don’t? Shame on you sir/madam! James Condon is one of the Nu Religion DJ representatives, and he’s just been snapped up by UDJs DJ Agency — home to the likes of Andy Whitby, Cally Gage and Technikal.
“I knew James through my missus,” says Damo, promoter of Nu Religion. “We went to an after party back at his and he was playing and I was shocked how good he was... it all went from there really. Every time I saw him play out I was just simply amazed by all of his sets. When we started Nu Religion I wanted to get him on board as one of the residents.” Damo’s faith in new blood is part of what makes the event so exciting — seeing the future stars of the scene cutting their teeth and proving they are worth their salt is a refreshing change from seeing the same 25 djs play over and over again. James answered our psyche-delving questions ahead of the next Nu Religion at Hidden on November 18th...
When was the first time you ever remember hearing music distinctly?
My dad is quite musical. He used to be in a band in the ‘60s. I think the band broke up when I was born in 1979, so when I was growing up there would be music on at home quite a lot, which got me listening to different styles of music from The Beatles through to Michael Jackson. Then from there I guess I just started to like different types of music and found my own style.
Were you musical as a child or was it something you got into later on?
As I mentioned, my dad was in a band and used to play the guitar. I can always remember from a very young age wanting to be able to play as well and I think I must have been about 10 when I first started to have lessons, but to be honest after about a year or so I started to get board and wanted something different to learn, so for my birthday I got a Yamaha keyboard and started messing around with that. Then when I started secondary school I discovered dance music and learning to play an instrument went out the window.
How did you get introduced to dance music?
When I was about 11ish I used to really like the dancier style of music that was in the charts. I remember the first time I heard the Prodigy. I was at a mate’s house and we were watching MTV and the track ‘Everybody in the Place’ came on and me and my mate were like “fucking hell — what’s this?!” Then I think it must have been a couple of weeks later we where at youth club and someone had brought down their decks and where playing the same style of stuff. It was awesome. From then on I used to collect all the tapes from different events. I think the first one I had was Ratty live at Obsession and believe it or not I still have all my old types. I don’t know if anyone else used to do this but me and my mates used to get copies of tapes from different people and then get the flyer for the event and cut them up and stick bits of the flyers to the cassette and case so we knew which tapes were from which events!
How long was it before you were forging fake IDs and trying to get into clubs?
Hahahaha that brings back memories. I remember when my school upgraded their computers from RMs to Macs, which as you will probably know are great computers for graphic design. I remember I used to spend all my IT lessons making fake IDs and selling them. This was when I was about 16. We used to go to a club in Oxford called Park End. It wasn’t a proper dance club, but they used to play proper house music for the last 2 hours. We used to all go along and just wait till 1AM when all the cheese would stop and the proper tunes came on and we would all go mad for it.
Can you remember the first time you put a demo together? Have you still got it and is it any good?
My first demo was probably about 3 months after I got my decks. My girlfriend at the time wanted one to listen to in her car so I decide I would make one for her. It was the most nerve-racking experience. I was proper shit at mixing still and didn’t really know what I was doing as I had never had any lessons and didn’t even know what beat matching was so I just used to try and mix tracks on the breaks and as you can imagine it sounded well shit but she loved it so I was happy. Do I still have that demo? No its long gone along with that girlfriend but it would be nice to have a listen to it again and hopefully I will have improved a little!
Can you single out one set in your mind that has made you want to make it as a dj more than any other?
It’s funny you asking me this question because I remember exactly when I decided that I wanted to make it as dj more than anything else. I used to be resident for a night called Tongue and Cheek in Oxford, which was a weekly hard house night. Anyway they also used to put on big one off marquee events round Oxfordshire which I used to play at but would only ever be played as a warm up dj. I remember I was playing one of the events, it was the1st May Bank Holiday in 2001 I was warming up in the main arena for Lisa Pin Up and it was going well, but I could tell people were just waiting for Lisa to turn up and when she did the place was just electric. As she stepped up to take over from me the atmosphere was just fuckin’ awesome and as she dropped her first tune I remember the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and I thought to myself, “now that’s what I want to do”, so I guess I can thank Lisa Pin-Up for that, Cheers Lisa!
What is your “if all else fails tune”?
At the moment it has to be a fuckin’ wicked remix of Mauro Picotto’s ‘Lizard’ which is shit hot. Every time I drop it the crowd go fuckin’ nuts. It’s got such a build up and then when it drops… well, you will have to come see my set at Nu Religion I will be sure to play it. Clubbers and djs always come up and want to know which remix it is but its on download and I really can’t remember who its by. Well maybe I can remember but it’s good to have some exclusive tracks.
How would you describe your style on the mixer? What do you do to keep things interesting?
I love playing about, chopping it up and using the effects and tricks on both the CDJs and the Pioneer DJM. I personally think it can really add to a set and make it more interesting, although there is definitely a fine line between messing around too much. You sometimes hear djs over using the effects or using them but not knowing how to and you end up thinking just let the f*ckin track play! I made a demo once which I thought was shit hot but when I listened back to it I just kept thinking, “for god’s sake James, just play the fucking tune and stop fucking around with it you numpty”!
So you made your name with Wildchild — but how did you become a resident for burgeoning new promotion Nu Religion?
Yeah that’s right my first main set in London was for Wildchild and as most of you know they really help push me onto the scene which was wicked. The way my residency with Nu Religion came about purely because I am really good friends with Damo, who you will probably all know is the man behind the promotion. Damo had always said that he was going to start his own night in London and that if he did I would definitely be his main resident hard dance dj. When Damo told me he had come up with a name for the night (Nu Religion) and showed me the logo I remember thinking what a wicked name for a night and that the logo looked fuckin’ awesome. I knew from then that Nu Religion would be a wicked promotion.
How have your sets gone down at their first few parties?
I have really enjoyed all my sets for Nu Religion. The clubbers are always so up for it and friendly which is just what you want. I think my favourite set so far has to be at the launch party where I played in between K90 and Andy Whitby. The atmosphere was electric and I fuckin’ rocked it even if I do say so myself! All this talk of Nu Religion and Hidden is getting me well excited about the 18th November. I’m writing this sat at my desk at work and it’s making me want it to be the weekend so I can go partying!
You’ve now signed up with UDJs — who are they and what do they do?
UDJs are the agents for some of the best names in hard dance. It is run by Will Paterson and Chloe Leeks, who are also the people behind the Frantic events. At the moment UDJs looks after and promote Andy Whitby, Cally Gage, Greg Brookman, and Technikal and have just taken on me, Steve O’Brady and Digital Kid, so as you can see it’s looking pretty shit-hot.
When UDJs got in contact with me I had been playing on the scene properly for about 2 years and I was really struggling to work my day job, look after all my bookings and promote myself, so when Will and Chloe contacted me for a meeting and told me they wanted to sign me it was like a dream come true for me.
Have you got some good stuff lined up with them since you joined the roster then?
I have now been with UDJs for about a month and a half and am currently fully booked all over the UK, which is wicked. Since being with them I have had my DJ biog written, am in the process of getting a James Condon brand logo designed and have just had my photo shoot done. All I can say is watch this space. So far 2006 has been my year, but I get the feeling that 2007 is going to rapidly be over taking!
And finally James, please describe your dream gig. Where is it, who else is playing, and what are you wearing...
Uuuuumm I think my dream gig at the moment would be to play the main room at the Brixton Academy. It’s such an awesome venue and the acoustics are just wicked. I think the line up would have to include Eddie Halliwell, Rob Tissera, Alex Kidd, Scott Project, Andy Whitby and Vinylgroover.
I think I would have to go out and get a new outfit if I was playing the main room at Brixton Academy so fuck knows what I’d be wearing, it would be proper dapper though.
Photos courtesy of Evolution99. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Nu Religion
 
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On:
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Saturday 18th November 2006
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At:
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Hidden [map]
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From:
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22.00 06.00
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Cost:
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12.00 Tickets More on the Door
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Website:
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www.grabaticket.co.uk
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Ticket Info:
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VERY Limited £10.00+BF Early Bird Tickets on sale Monday 18th September
From www.grabaticket.co.uk / www.ticketweb.co.uk
We expect all Early Bird Tickets to sell out within 10 days!
Standard Tickets £12.00
More on the Door
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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Nu Religion
Saturday 18th November 2006
Hidden, Vauxhall, London
10pm till 6am
We’re back for the last time in 2006 WOW! But don’t be sad guys we have a little treat lined up for you. A party to end all the awesome parties from this year! We decided to put on absolutely massive line up to celebrate in style! We’re sure you will agree it has been an amazing year. Who’s ready for the next one ? With 3 absolutely rocking arenas playing the best Hard House, House and trance this party is going to ROCK!
So Join us, Join the Nu Religion for UK Clubbers your nightlife will never be the same AGAIN!!
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Other Features By e99:
Fergilcious: PunchFunk & Excentrik take over The Key
Baklash take over the IceBox at HeatUK Aftermath '07
Goodgreef take on Frantic at NYE-NEC
Trevor Rockcliffe — Proactive — HeatUK & The Gallery NYE — 'nuff said?
HeatUK Evolution: Natural Selection — a look at dance music’s gone-but-not-forgottens
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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