Newcastle, described from its tourism bureau as “a great city - once in the forefront of 19th century industrial innovation, now, the forefront of technical innovation, leisure and culture.” Not many people in the world outside of England knows about this little city of 266,000 residents…no one except those who pay attention towards electronic dance music that is. Since the mid ‘90s, this hidden space has turned into the breeding ground for underground dance music (the first “Melbourne” perhaps?).

It’s a city that is no longer than an hour away from London; a city’s majority consists of young adults ranging from 20-29 years of age; and a city’s real estate that is half of its counterpart, it’s no wonder why Andrew Archer and John Elliott of Trafik call Newcastle their home.

I was quite fortunate to catch the two during their busy schedule to talk about what they have been up to, why they respect those who came before them, and of their opinions regarding popular music in our world.

Since last we spoke, “Afterhours 2” was nearing its release and Trafik were completing their in-house studio. You’d think with summer finally here, they take that break I mentioned to them, but “No holiday for me! I think Andrew is heading off somewhere for a bit, but in reality, we’re far from an island in the sun just yet” says John. It seems as though they’ve taken the initiative to expand their repertoire, “we have an album to mix for a band” (Peace Burial At Sea) and Andrew kindly nudges in and tells me “we have been producing other people’s music for a while now. We worked on an album for J-Punch last year, producing Rachel Lamb’s solo work as well as working with John’s other aliases of Spector and Avatar.”

"We would love to work on a film score, we have the studio setup now to do that at a very professional level. It seems the next logical step to take, so any film directors out there, get in touch. ;-)"

- Andrew Archer

As I listen, I think to myself, "these two must be extremely passionate about what they do, or these two gents are workaholics."

Music is a gift that keeps on giving, I can’t recall where I first heard that from, but one can see that Trafik believes in that motto. They have realized one of their dreams after all with their studio; a place not just for them to create music, but for friends, family, and whomever comes through their doors – even if it’s for Hollywood. It would be a natural progression from electronic artist to film composer as many have traveled this path prior. “We would love to work on a film score, we have the studio setup now to do that at a very professional level. It seems the next logical step to take, so any film directors out there, get in touch. ;-)”

I then mention Forth, Archer’s other group, once consisted of ½ former Global Underground label head James Todd, the current manager of Audio Therapy, Scott Dawson, and Archer himself, the group now consists of Elliot and himself respectfully. So where’s the distinction of sound, what’s the difference in having two names if both members are in the same group? Andrew clearly sees the difference as “Trafik is more of a band, writing songs, putting out a diverse array of music, whereas, the Forth is rooted in progressive electronica.”

So then, Trafik will grow out of the studio and find themselves upfront with the crowd. Taking all the cheers and admiration that pioneers such as The Chemical Brothers and Moby have paved the way for. “We’re hoping to put out a full Trafik live show next year, just with a bass player, drummer, Andrew, and myself taking on a multitude of roles to begin with, but eventually, we want a big show with a full band” John explains.

Getting to Rachel Lamb, the guest vocalist for “Surrender,” John tells me that having an additional vocalist “kind of decided for itself to be honest.” Lamb’s assistance suited the song in tune with the style that blended her vocals well in a “jazzy way.” “Rach has a beautiful soft voice and I think it suited Bullet perfectly.”

Like a mother nurturing for her child, musicians take pride in their music, their songs, and their lyrics. It’s always a fulfilling reward when others hear your music, and it has become a fun challenge to re-create and shape someone else’s music to their own, but what about creating music for others? John sees the popularity from pop acts to embrace dance producers at the moment and he believes it to be a great idea, the next step for electronic dance producers to move on from nightclubs and into recording studios with recording artist.

“I truly believe that electronic music, regardless of commercial success produces the most innovative engineers/producers around.” It wouldn’t surprise me with recent memory of Sasha’s experiment in ”Involver” or any of BT’s production techniques, most notably the “shutter effect” that mainstream artist such as Linkin Park and Missy Elliot have adopted. One artist in particular that John hopes to one-day work with is Radiohead, an artist “who would thrive and be inspired by an experimental recording process.”

On the subject of BT, I bring him up. Why, you may ask? Why not? There has been numerous debates regarding his current transformation in music, and style, but no one could escape his influence in the genre of electronic music. I asked both Andrew and John on their opinions regarding BT and his hair.

“BT has been an inspiration in Electronic music, not least because he was into the Forth remix of “Loving You More” that started music careers for many people. The breakdown in “Nocturnal Transmission”, the Ima Dub of “Loving You More” and the intro to “Trippin’” being some of my favorite dancefloor moments ever. No comment on the hair!” said Andrew, and for John, “I’m a bit newer to the scene than Andrew, so unfortunately, my experience of the quality BT is a lot less. I think he has just tried to get a bit too educated with the music, the cardinal sin of alternative music. Stuff like Fibonacci Sequence and Hip Hop Phenomenon that he did with Freeland are amazing, but then he got the haircut and started singing, and it all went a bit wrong. As far as other electronic producers go, to me Timo Mass and Freeland have made huge inroads into quality music. Both of them are now making really decent quality 21st century pop records, something they should be proud of.”

It’s been an interesting interview so far, getting away from the normal Q&A, and speaking about other matters. With real answers given from two individuals, I couldn’t help but go on to learn about their views on popular music these days, but it’s a bit funny as you could have a full debate regarding this one topic alone. Trying to squeeze a class lecture in a span of a paragraph, John takes center stage and confesses his take as he bluntly lets out “this could take a while.”

“I mean culture in a personal sense, it’s thriving; people are more expressive in the way they dress and the way they have fun. The amount of music available both live and recorded is ridiculous, but the problem to me lies in the fact there is nothing-new happening. It’s as if we spend thirty/forty years where culture exploded into various forms and functions, from the ‘60s through to the early ‘90s, and now we’re gonna spend a decade re-hashing all of them. I think if you’d have told us on New Years Eve 1999, that by 2005 the charts would be filled with indie-rock bands, U2 would be still be charting number ones and ‘80s re-makes were tearing up the airwaves, no one would have believed you, or at least been very disappointed. To me, there is a serious creativity problem happening at the forefront of popular music nut, but hey, maybe that’s gonna change. We need to see Infusion, Trafik, and Freeland on Top of The Pops – but people worry they’ll get slated for going ‘mainstream.’ To me, that’s bollocks. Someone needs to represent this new crop of producers and musicians in the same way that The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Faithless, Groove Armada, and Basement Jaxx did in the nineties. The knock on effect of having illustrious acts like this in the mainstream is that it makes people want to go to clubs, and that’s how the underground benefits and thrives.”

This then brings up how bands in this age can benefit from the popularity of digital downloads. Since the birth of Napster in the late ‘90s, the influx of downloads has created a new means of promoting new artist globally. It’s been an arena for producers and labels to release previous unreleased mixes and song to the public for the first time, while it has been the most effective way to offer music to the public quickly without waiting. Andrew agrees, “we have already seen a huge increase in sales over the last year. We feel it has been very valuable in getting our music to the corners of the world that vinyl usually does not. With stores like Beatport who really understand dance music, it’s going to be the future of musical distribution.”

However, with such affordable technology in the hands of many, one can’t escape the well of lower-than-expected quality of music from many labels, major or independent within the past five years. “Sometimes it can feel like there is nothing good about, but there is always good music, you just have to look for it” as Archer gives me some advice. In a way, this is a renaissance for electronic music because anyone who wants to be involved in the scene can be as a producer, a dj, or label owner. That alone has created a double-edged sword, but Archer recognizes that the benefits out weights the negatives, with the exception, “just look at the amount of people paying for a crazy frog ring tone.”

"We need to see Infusion, Trafik, and Freeland on Top of The Pops – but people worry they'll get slated for going 'mainstream'. To me, that’s bollocks."

- John Elliot

Something that has amazed most dance industry insiders is the activity that encapsulates the Global Underground message board. No other record label can be said to house a community like theirs. John mentions that he was once a moderator for the board years ago, and things haven’t changed much since his roles has changed within the years. The only things to be said was that “we lost a lot of good people on the board when it changed systems, which was a shame, but when you think of it’s history you can’t knock the fact that’s been a hive of activity and information to say the least for quite some time; it kind of stands on its own now as a Mecca, rather than a message board for a record label.”

Nearing the end of this conversation between the three of us, and staying in tune with “music” as the main topic, I find that Andrew and John listen to more than electronic music lately. Andrew’s CD player has the “Go Team” and “Best of Motown” albums in rotation the past month, while John tells me how out-dated I am to be listening to music on my stereo. “CDs are so 20th century man ;) On my I-Pod I am mainly listening to, the last Wu Tang album, Aim’s first album, and Shadow’s Endtroducing.”

After a good talk, I tossed this last thing out, just to see what each would say. “If I or any other trainspotter came up to you asking to chat, take a picture, or ask what the record was…do you”

A) Be polite and do what the drunk kid is asking
B) Think to yourself, “why isn’t this guy dancing with a girl, why is he here up with me?”
C) Look at him funny because he wants a picture with another guy who just plays records
D) I wouldn’t need to worry about that because that doesn’t happen to me ever.

Andrew: Have to say A) for that
John: I’d have to say hidden option E.) and say sure take a picture, but I never know which tune is which so ask Andrew.