#5 Deeper into Outer Space | Richard Sen
The underground London selector on the clubs and raves that shaped him as well as the inspiration behind new compilation, 'Dream the Dream'…
“I’ve never been part of the industry and always avoided all the bullshit that’s come with it,” says DJ, producer and dance music aficionado Richard Sen on his adventures within electronic music’s underbelly.
“I’d sometimes read an article on a DJ or producer somewhere and be like: ‘Fucking hell, they’re just some careerist, pimping themselves out’.”
Integrity and passion are certainly two sources to have sustained Richard on his lengthy musical journey.
Catching light in the mid-eighties, he’s since partied and played throughout multiple iterations of UK rave. From the initial pulses of acid house running up and down the spine of the country to the multi-headed monolith today’s electronic music scene has grown into, Richard has witnessed much of the action, yet often on the fringes, driven by distinct tastes and on his own terms.
As artist and producer as Bronx Dogs and Padded Cell to his latter day work as host of shows on NTS and Charlie Bones’ Do!! You!! alongside high-profile remixes, Richard’s musical antennae are rightly revered and now see him serving up a selection of eclectic moments for his new Ransom Note compilation, ‘Dream The Dream: UK Techno, House and Breakbeat 1990-94’.
Honing in on UK productions created in this four year-period, the collection aims to celebrate a strand of British electronica that is perhaps less well known. Killer tracks from Epoch 90, Mind Over Rhythm and UVX all feature but may well be fresh to those more familiar with European or American contemporaries from the time.
“Some of these producers carried on making music, some just stopped but they were united by not being bothered by any sense of fame,” Richard explains. “Dance music has become this industry now but for a lot of the people back then, it was a different mindset - it was all about the music, not necessarily making money.”
London to NYC to London
Richard’s musical experiences initially began via a love for hip hop and graffiti he developed during the eighties.
While London was getting down to rare groove, he flew across the pond to spend time with an aunt in New York at a time when the city was raw and mostly untouched by gentrification and tourism. He describes his time there as like “visiting a different planet”.
“The vibe just blew us away,” he says. “Graffiti on the trains, watching LL Cool J and Run DMC perform at this Fresh Festival. It was still really rough and edgy. We saw someone get stabbed and you could smell the weed but it was all really exciting at the same time.”
Back in the UK, Richard found himself in the capital when the first acid house explosions began to detonate. Although still a die-hard hip hop head, he went along to some raves with friends and became, like so many, hooked with his perceptions blown apart by ecstasy. It was a trip to London club, the Astoria, that converted him.
“The night started off as the Trip, then became Sin with Nicky Holloway and Pete Tong, those two played all night,” he remembers. “I took my first E there around Christmas 1988.
“I missed the Summer of Love as I was quite militant about the music. But then I took ecstasy, and the music, the party - it became everything.”
DJ obsession
These pivotal moments opened up the floodgates for Richard’s immersion into dance music. With weekly pilgrimages to London clubs such as the Clink and Spectrum, he became a devotee and began to follow certain DJs and parties. His own experiences behind the decks came as a warm-up DJ at an after-party on a Sunday at a daytime club called Busby’s. Richard and his friends used to go to the Crazy Club, a venture which took over at the Astoria from Nicky Holloway and he began manning their afters.
“A friend of mine knew the promoter so I just gave him a mixtape,” says Richard. “I started getting gigs within about a year of DJing but just as a warm up. I was in the bar area, which was more eclectic. The main room had a far heavier sound compared to what I was playing.”
Alongside these clubs, Soho’s network of record shops fed Richard’s initial passions with Red Records in Beak Street, an endless source of vinyl inspiration alongside Trax on Greek Street. Frequent visits saw him become a regular and allowed him deeper access to a musical world he was keen to explore.
“A guy called Nick the Record, he’s a DJ now and used to work there, he would pick tracks for me,” says Richard. “You’d build up a relationship. It was a bit daunting as the people who worked in record shops could be pretty rude. You had to earn their respect.”
Dream the Dream
Richard’s new compilation ‘Dream The Dream: UK Techno, House and Breakbeat 1990-94’ takes its pointers from another collection of music he put together for the Strut label. ‘This Ain’t Chicago (The Underground Sound of UK House)’ was released in 2012 and saw him start to mine this early period in dance music’s history. He cites this latest delve into his record collection as a continuation of where he’d previously left off.
“It could have been the timing of that first release or just the way people consider their music these days but there’s definitely more interest in this period of dance music now than there was before,” he says.
It’s an eclectic set, ranging from melodic bleeps and ambience to heavier trance, breakbeat-driven sounds. Rather than particular clubs or parties, much of this links back to certain DJs and producers and makes up a compilation of melodic favourites rather than soundsystem bruisers.
“A couple of the tracks I heard Weatherall play such as Mind Over Rhythm, that’s how I found them,” he says. “I heard Epoch 90 on Colin Dale’s show on Kiss. I used to listen to his and Colin Faver’s show and was a fan of other DJs such as Eddie Richards and Mr C.”
Much of the music comes from a period where dance music was still very much a subculture. Still, the clubs and parties he first attended as a dancer felt different to his adventures in NYC due to the diversity of the crowds.
“That time did break down barriers, you’d get super rich aristocrats, poorer, perhaps more working class people, Black, white, Asian,” he says.
“It never felt too edgy although there was one club called Dungeons on Leyton Road which was crazy. I was speaking to someone the other day who said their mate went there and apparently someone had been decapitated. We went and it was so dark, you could smell the crack. We had pills on us and were just too scared to take them.”
The bigger, outside raves offered a different energy to the clubs, with the eager anticipation ramping up excitement and vibe. The pursuit of an experience and the waiting and plotting on how to reach the destination all added up to something unique. The cover of the new compilation comes from a photo Richard took during the time at Nicky Holloway’s Kaos Weekend held at Pontins, Great Yarmouth.
“We had these chalets where they would beam in Kaos TV,” laughs Richard.
“Weatherall was on DJing on speed and they were screening this. This was obviously way before Boiler Room and no one had seen a TV screen with a DJ on it. It would be amazing if someone had a recording of it somewhere.”
Gentrification vs Community
The dance music world that ‘Dream the Dream’ lands in is far different to how it was when this music was first aired. At the same time, London and its clubbing world has also changed with many forced to the edges. His focus is all about the music and retaining a renegade spirit.
“You look at someone like Colin Dale, he’s never stopped, he’s still DJing but you don’t see him on RA or at all the festivals,” says Richard. “He’s just carried on doing his thing and it’s an example I’ve looked to follow.
Richard continues to work in his own realm, focusing on his radio show on Do!! You!! and DJing select and appropriate parties including the Marina Fountain in St Leonards.
“I love doing the radio show, it’s such a community, almost like a cult, respect to Charlie Bones for doing it himself,” he says. “It’s why I set out to do it myself although I guess it’s inevitable that a culture with so many great drugs and music would reach a huge audience. Before, you could be freer in terms of where and what you played - and I’ve always tried to keep that underground spirit alive.”
Get a copy of ‘Dream the Dream: UK Techno, House and Breakbeat 1990-1994’.
Richard will be launching the compilation with a special party at the Waiting Room in Stoke Newington on 16th June alongside Scott Fraser.
All photos from Richard Sen.