Miss Djax, her label, and the everlasting techno fight

Miss Djax, her label, and the everlasting techno fight

8 December, 2009 | 6.53AM

• Written by: Zack Rico
• Filed under: Music News: 20 years of dance music, djax records, djax upbeats, miss djax

Miss Djax is proof that age doesn’t necessarily always bring peace. For 20 years now, her Eindhoven record label has stomped on the face of techno with hard punishing beats, radioactive acid sounds, and distorted kick drums.

Its ferocious and often violent releases helped Chicago and Detroit sounds gain a foothold in Europe, as Djax Records was one of the first European labels to put out techno - its 1990 release Terrace ‘War Zone’ is considered by some, to be one of the most important techno records ever made.

Two decades later, Miss Djax still bangs the metal drum for hard techno. Impervious like concrete, her label has ignored every passing trend, muddy genre, and short-lived studio trick thrown at it.

It has recruited an ever growing army of youth for its techno revolution - in its 20 plus years it has sold over 1.3m records, a staggering amount considering it only deals in heavy speaker busters - and despite receiving multiple Dutch awards for Best Label and services to the music industry, Djax Records hasn’t once rested on its wise old laurels.

The renegade instincts of techno might be long gone, its fields and warehouses might have been replaced by the slick and fickle of big business and big bucks, but in Djax Records’ corner there is still a fight, still an insurrection, still an axe that needs swinging.

We spoke to Miss Djax aka Saskia Slegers about her staunchly committed techno label, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Stefan Robbers aka Terrace was the first artist to release techno on your label in 1990. How has Djax Records’ sound changed over the years?

Well I think Djax has been, and still is, one of the most consistent labels around as I have always released techno, acid, and banging chicago stuff - everything with a raw edge, and most tracks are produced with analogue machines.

The majority of the releases contain harder and rougher tracks by producers like Edge of Motion, Mike Dearborn, and DJ Rush. I never followed trends and always went my own way.

Many artists that used to release tracks on my label have moved in different directions or stopped producing.

Which artists from the early years are you still working with?

I still work closely with DJ Rush and I treasure the memories of my trip to Chicago in 1992. It’s very sad that Armando passed away at such young age. The Chicago sound has always been a big part of Djax-Up-Beats as almost one third of the label’s releases are from artists hailing from Chicago. I still love that hard banging Chicago sound.

When you first launched the label, you must have seen yourself as a sort of young revolutionary – one of the first female techno DJs, and one of the first European labels to pioneer strange new sounds from Chicago and Detroit.

I already knew at the age of 12 that I wanted to be a DJ, either in a club or at a radio station. I always hunted down the newest dance music, and was very eager to let the public hear the new exciting music I had found.

At the age of 16 I started my DJ career in a club in Eindhoven. I worked in record stores, played bass guitar in a band, founded a record label and performed all over the world so you can say that my whole life revolves around music.

I never thought about the fact that I might have been one of the first female DJs or first female record label founders. I just followed my heart and it happened.

Nowadays, I’m still in love with music and I love to give the crowd a good time. I play for a new generation now, as the Djax fans from the beginning are older and don’t go to parties anymore. I just love to play music for people.

You still sound passionate about DJing, but your label arguably has had a greater impact on techno than yourself as an artist – did you consciously sacrifice your own career for the label?

Yes, but I did it with love. The label meant, and means, everything to me. I wanted to make all that great underground music available for the public so I really worked my ass off. And on the weekends I travelled all over the world to spin. It was really hard work but I truly enjoyed it and I have no regrets.

That said, you have released a lot of your own productions recently.

The label is currently serving as my own personal outlet, and it’s very comfortable as I only have to work with myself [laughs].

I regret that the vinyl market has collapsed. I really miss the physical product, as for me, it’s no fun being a digital record company. So I will keep on releasing my productions on vinyl as long as possible.

Of course having fat artwork by Ed Repka is important - but I’ve just realized that it’s not much use talking about vinyl to a digital magazine such as yourself!

Alan Oldham designed a lot of Djax’s artwork over the years. How important were his comics and designs to the label’s success?

I think the succes of a label depends in the first place on the music, but an outstanding design is of course very interesting too. For me a release must sound good but also look good. I have always been into comic style graphics and I treasure the artwork that Alan did for me.

You’ve said in the past that the “golden days of techno are over”. What did you mean by that?

I think that the nineties were the golden years of rave in general and that includes techno too. The best labels, releases, and parties were in those years, it was all fresh, new, and exciting. And indeed the nineties were the golden years for Djax Records too, as in that decade I achieved so much.

You must have seen many trends come and go in techno over the last 20 years, but Djax has rarely flirted with trends. Why is that?

Trends come and go, and like fashion, today it’s hot, tomorrow it’s not. I don’t follow trends, trends are media hypes that only last until they find something new to hype.

Is that why you’re still putting out banging techno, despite the scene having slowed down over the years?

Hard, fast techno and acid have always been my favourite. I like the raw energy. In the nineties I always carried a screwdriver with me to gigs so I could open up the turntables to make the pitch control go faster.

I play my sets at a BPM between 150 and 160, so in that way not much has changed except that I don’t need to bring a screwdriver anymore.

What about the future – what do you want to achieve next?

I am a very lucky person because I achieved everything I ever dreamt of. The only thing left that I wanted to achieve was a gold record, but recently I got two! One for 40,000 albums sold of Osdorp Posse, and another one for 1.3m records sold over 20 years of Djax.

I am currently producing new tracks together with Guido Pernet from Human Resource. We are combining our styles and in 2010 we will release a new album. And my Djax Records 20th anniversary DVD ‘Underground Nation’ has just been released, which shows 92 minutes of true club culture from the nineties: Detroit and Chicago in 1992, Love Parade from 1995-1989, and much more.

I will keep spinning and producing hard banging stuff.

Video: Miss Djax live

Here’s a video of Miss Djax playing live at Djax’s 20th anniversary party in Eindhoven on 4th December 2009. WARNING: Not for the faint hearted.

Miss Djax’ Top 10 DJax tracks

The label boss presents her favourite-ever Djax releases.

1. Edge of Motion ‘Set Up 707’

2. Mike Dearborn ‘Birds On E’

3. Robert Armani ‘Circus Bells’ (Hardfloor Remix)

4. Random XS ‘Give Your Body’

5. DJ Rush ‘Stomp’

6. Miss Djax ‘Headbangin’’

7. DJ Skull ‘Acid Wiss ‘l’’

8. Steve Poindexter ‘Work That Muthafucker’ (Edge of Motion Remix)

9. Claude Young ‘Concentration Factor’

10. Hexagone ‘Burning Trash Floor’

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