Wax Works & CryptiQ present Ø [Phase]

Ø [Phase], real name Ashley Burchett, made a massive impact with the huge Binary Opposition release on Token Records last year.  However, Phase has been putting out records since 2000 and saw his first record released on our previous guest Steve Bicknell’s Cosmic Records.

Not a prolific producer by any means, he seems to be a man that works at his own pace.  This approach has a positive impact on his output, however,  as there’s a timeless quality to a lot of his music, the sort of thing that producers who rush to meet release schedules and see their tracks forgotten after a just a few months, should maybe take more notice of.  Process 1 & 2 are great examples of this, as they are amongst the biggest techno tracks of the last 12 months and have been played by all your top techno DJs, but they still sound just as fresh & exciting when you drop them.

With an album due to be released in the very near future and bigger things just around the corner, this is a brilliant time to see him play.  He has recorded some absolutely storming mixes for Resident Advisor and Smoke Machine, so you’re in for a treat if techno is your bag.

The night is at Stereo, which is BY FAR our favourite venue in the city and it’s definitely the only club that you can really say feels like it’s a techno club.  So for less than it’ll cost you for a packet of fags, you can come and see one of the most exciting UK techno artists in the coolest venue in the city, with a sound system that is sounding fucking brilliant.

Fuck you, if you’re not into that.

Wax Works present Steve Bicknell

It’s been a pretty quiet summer in Glasgow for us, but with the success of the parties with AnD and Animal Farm still fresh in the mind, we’re looking forward to kicking off August with a return to Stereo this Saturday!

We’re bringing Steve Bicknell back to Glasgow for the first time in who knows how many years, definitely well before we started running nights and as for Steve, well, he’s been running a seminal techno night in London before we hit primary school!

Lost is the name of the event/party that Steve promotes and DJs at.  It’s been responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in Techno to the UK for the first time in their careers.  Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills & Basic Channel are just some of the guys that have played for Lost since they were young guns trying to make a name for themselves.

He’s requested 2 turntables and 3 CDJs for his set, so it is bound to be pretty special.  I really hope that you can all make it down to party with us once again.

It’s £5 all night, Lovejoy 11-1, Steve Bicknell 1-3.

Resident Advisor

Posted Missing

It's been months since I last posted and it's been months since we last played; part of that was due to the fact that I felt like throwing in the towel and part of it was down to me having nothing to say.. or nothing that I could put into writing anyway.

But here we are.

It's two months since we had Eric Cloutier & John Osborn in Glasgow and it's been two months without a night in Glasgow breaking the mould.  In a 'techno' city, how many nights in the last 8 weeks have booked a techno artist?  infact, in the last 8 weeks, how many nights have booked someone that is fucking interesting?

Fucking zero.

We tried.  We got fucked about twice and we made mistakes. BUT, if you were at Sigha then you were at the best techno night in Glasgow this year.  Hopefully the video will be online again soon for anyone who disagrees.

Why wasn't the June party just as good? Well, we were up against Rockness & Jeff Mills at the sub.. but we still got in 150+ through the door and there wasn't a bad tune all night.  Which, normally, we would have been cool with.... but. and it's a big BUT.    Chambre69 had previously agreed to pay the DJ fees for both artists. However, 3 days before the gig they pulled out of this; we were told if we can't pay them, then we need to cancel.  This, understandably, left us a bit... fucked.  So the night went ahead and we did our best to make it work - we hope everyone had a good time and we appreciate everyone who made an effort to come down - we then had to cancel our bookings with Move D, Kassem Mosse & Donato Dozzy, leaving us absolutely gutted and looking like a bunch of fucking twats (tbf, we were for being so naive).  This is on top of our night with Kassem Mosse & Kowton being cancelled because Numbers wanted to put on a party; which we did without any fuss.

But fuck it right? Shit happens and it's part of the curve; we want to try and bring forward thinking and exciting techno artists to Glasgow (a city that enjoys a crowd of clubbers more intersted in taking drugs, looking cool and downloading the latest Richie Hawtin hair doo). So we will try?

Black Country Music Club.

Some Thoughts On 'Clubbing In.. Glasgow'

It's not often Glasgow gets featured on an international music site, but when it does, it's usually the Sub Club, Numbers, Pressure or Soma that's making the news.. It's interesting then, that the recent feature on Resident Advisor has nothing more of a passing reference to them, much to readers dismay, although, the same can be said for most of the nights in Glasgow, as almost all of them got a shoutout at the least, and a sentence at the most.. Except from the Artschool, a club that didn't really appeal to me, and although it had a diverse selection of nights and a varied crowd, it isn't deserving of the praise it's receiving here.

It wasn't changing the face of clubbing in Glasgow, it didn't put Glasgow on the map, and it wasn't on everyone's go to list. It did host many excellent parties, and a lot of the worlds most popular DJs have played here - but the importance placed on the Art School is misleading at best, for someone who isn't from Glasgow. It was an opportunity to put more deserving nights and clubs in the spotlight, that was squandered due to the writers personal taste.

Many people have complained about the lack of a mention for various nights, clubs or labels, but I genuinely think it's refreshing to read something on Glasgow that isn't dominated by Sub Club, Pressure or Soma (Numbers too now). There's no doubting their importance, and the fact that they have been going for so long is only testiment to their love and dedication to what they do, but there's more to Glasgow than them and that is this article's greatest failing. It made a statement by only briefly mentioning big nights like Pressure and leaving out the likes of subculture completely, but it didnt do nearly enough to justify that.

I doubt their was ever anything malicious about nights not being included, you could argue that too many nights have been mentioned, but I don't think that any night has a divine right to be included in a piece like this - so it's a bit of a shame that the comments section on RA is littered with people who are criticising for one reason or another, if you draw comparisons from another 'Clubbing In' feature then the difference is remarkable for a 'friendly & forward thinking scene'

I do however, find it interesting that the writer barely mentions anything techno related, which I think draws an interesting parallel with the lack of good techno nights that are on in Glasgow on a regularly basis.. Certainly in comparison to the overwhelming amount of nights that feature beatport house & minimal artists, or the weekly nights at subclub (that feature no dedicated techno night). There's Animal Farm at the subclub every so often and CODE now at La Cheetah on a bi-monthly basis.. it's not much, and it puts doubts into my mind about the artists that we would like to book.. Is there still a techno scene here?

I hope there is because Glasgow, for me, is techno.. and it's sad that the city has a feature on RA, with Techno nowhere to be seen.

What Went Wrong?

First off - sorry for the lack of info here and the delay in posting it, but we wanted to be sure that the information we had was correct.

Secondly, we sincerely apologise to anyone who was looking forward to seeing Eric, and had made plans to go and see him. We were completely gutted about what happened, but it was outwith our control.

As for the reason as to why Eric didn't play - it turns out that Eric got himself a visa for his tour, which he believed covered him for the duration of his time in Europe, but it actually only lasted 3 days. So when he arrived in Glasgow, he was detained by customs, and as the visa was not valid he was held in solitary confinement and deported the next morning.

There was nothing that we could do about it, and we didn't get a chance to contact Eric to find out exactly what happened until he was back in Berlin.


I want to say thanks to everyone who still came down, and by all accounts seemed to have a good night - we really appreciated it.

Also thanks to Animal Farm for having us down to Substanz, it was a pleasure to be playing there again, and was a great end to what had been a pretty stressful day & night.


As for what's next - we have Forward Strategy Group booked for 7th October & Sigha for 2nd December.. thankfully they're from the UK.

Promo Fail?

This is something that I'm sure everyone is aware of, and I know that we get a pretty good laugh at most of them, but I think that it's about time someone asked 'what the fuck is going on?'

Far too often now, when a new night is announced, someone releases a record or has recorded a mix, you are greeted not only by the essential details of what's on but you are given a free history lesson on the DJ/Producer. Now this would be okay-ish if it gave you some interesting information but it is always the same generic, meaningless background story (filled with superlatives), and it keeps getting worse..

Now I'm sure that the majority of folk who do this, care about their nights and invest a lot of time, effort and money to put them on.. Why then, do they have absolutely no pride or shame when it comes to promoting it? Does it really mean THAT much to get more views on the forum?

Do they really think, that having a 2 page essay on DJ A is going to convince you to spend your money?

Maybe you think differently, but if I haven't heard of a DJ, a page of generic text is most definitely not going to change my mind about going to the gig, never mind the cringeworthy drivel that you get from some promoters.

So have a read at the next few quotes and decide for yourself. If you read this, does it have you convinced? or does it leave you wondering what the fuck they were thinking?

* All of these are real and relate to house and/or techno, and can be found online

"Both DJ's displayed a fantastic knowledge of tracks when they last played ?, so we couldn't think of better pair to link together to kick start the night"

And how did they display this knowledge? A quick Q&A? I think that displaying a fantastic knowledge of tracks is a little bit misleading...

"Glasgow based DJ ? is rapidly gaining a reputation for his talents playing tech music. Possibly the most versatile and technically talented DJ we've come across, able to play a set seamlessly, combining a variety of different styles, with ease. Be it techno, minimal, tech house or deep house, he'll play it, if the time is right, and the crowd wants it. "

I'm almost certain that was written by the DJ, but if it wasn't - why would you even think about having it on your profile?

"Sometimes, no introduction is required."

This preceded 4 paragraphs about Ricardo Villalobos... c'mon?

"The ? lads have been putting in a sterling shift on the local club scene around Glasgow and have hosted some great nights around the city. Bringing something different to every night, the resident DJs mix it up with anything from Upfront House to some nice Techno beats adapting to give the crowd what they want. With their early success they have a promising future ahead, being booked to DJ at nights in 2011 such as ? & ? and supporting Stereofunks monthly residency @ Level 2."

I would read that one a few times..

"? talent knows no bounds, and musical knowledge is unsurpassed. To add to all this, his DJ talents are as impressive as his productions - can anything hold him back in 2011?!"

How can people write this and expect to be taken seriously?

There are tons of nights & DJs doing this kind of thing, most of them far too long to post on here, and I think it's getting out of hand... Seriously, get it together, it's embarrassing.