Techno legends Slam celebrate ten years of Pressure

Techno legends Slam celebrate ten years of Pressure

27 November, 2008 | 11.02AM

• Written by: jamiegardiner1
• Filed under: Music News:

Beatportal speaks to techno icons Slam as they prepare to celebrate the 10th anniversary of one of dance music’s biggest club nights - Pressure.

Pressure hits double figures this weekend, no mean feat when you consider the fickle nature of today’s clubbers.

Co-founders of Soma Recordings, Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle better known as Slam launched the monthly event way back in 1998.

Even they couldn’t have predicted the success and longevity the night would enjoy.

Guests over the decade read like a whos-who of the techno elite with Laurent Garnier, Richie Hawtin and of course Detroit’s originators Saunderson, May and Atkins all making the long trip to Scotland on a regular basis.

Located below the train line that is the hub of Glasgow’s rail network lies The Arches in three massive cobble-stoned rooms that contain some of the most up-for-it friendly clubbers you are likely to meet.

Stuart and Orde of Slam describe what Pressure means to them and how it all began.

Where did the initial idea come from to start Pressure?

We had been doing a night in the venue for six years as a residency in one small room with a 700 capacity. When the venue secured a full alcohol and entertainment license for the full venue we jumped at the chance of doing something on a grander scale.

Our DJ career as Slam had started to take off at the time and we were playing loads of cool parties across Europe.

Are you surprised of the longevity of the event?

When we started we were only going to do one or two to see how it went and here we are 10 years later, so yeah a wee bit surprised! Our ethos is to always look forward and because techno is a genre that is always moving forward and changing we have managed to keep the line ups fresh and exciting. The secret of its success I think is that we are always on the look out for new talent to play alongside the more established acts.

What have been some of your personal highlights in its 10 year history?

The first time Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos played together in 2004 was amazing. Galaxy To Galaxy live with Mike Banks playing behind the band obscured by a speaker and a bandanna with a big smile over his hidden face. The reaction when we played our own ‘Azure’ track live last birthday to the home crowd massive and Halloween this year was just crazy - with most people dressed up in crazy costumes and Paul Ritch playing an excellent live set.

And any moments you’d rather forget?

There are moments I’m sure we have forgotten but that’s due to having too much fun on the night or whatever. Other than people loosing their records at airports, or the occasional DJ not turning up - most of the time things go pretty smoothly.

Guests such as Green Velvet and Derrick May continue to return to Pressure year after year - why is that?

They are legends and the early creators of the scene we now enjoy today - without them we would have nothing. Also Glasgow has a long history and love of music from Chicago and Detroit so people like Jeff Mills and Laurent Garnier still play and are still amazingly popular DJs in the city.

We’re not just into the fashionable aspect of techno we tend to book music we like not just music that is trendy in the press.

With the booking of diverse artists such as DJ Yoda and Boys Noize - this will clearly be a Pressure with a difference - will this mark a shift in musical direction for Pressure?

Each line-up is like a mini festival or a major one in some cases. It’s never set 100 percent in stone so the music policy and ethos will remain the same.

What do you have in store for clubbers in 2009?

More fun and crazy nights out! We have great line-ups penciled in for next year already. In January we have Robert Hood and Stimming both playing live so watch this space!

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