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Future funk may not be a household name yet, but they are one of the most exiting things happening on the techno scene in the South West. The night's run by two friends and techno enthusiasts and DJs (Gez Bentley & Motorboy) who aim not to make a profit from it - unless you know how to calculate the value of the fun they have doing it. Fed up with the lack of imaginative techno in the South West, the pair have been moving up the Bristol clubbing ladder at a rate of knots. Universal Source spoke to Motorboy after their busiest summer to date, taking in St. Paul's carnival, Glastonbury festival and a move to a new venue that's twice the size as their old one.
universalsource: Future Funk is quite well represented in terms of graffiti and posters on the streets, is that all just fanatical supporters of the future funk cause?
Future Funk: To be honest, it's not no. I actually got caught once, I was spraying future funk stars all over the place, and the police took me in and asked me loads of questions. I was quite stoned, so I thought it was quite interesting. I had loads of flyers in my bag, and they were like, "Do you work for these people?" and I said no, and they said, "How come you're going round spraying their logo everywhere?" and I told them it was my tag, and I let them use it for their flyers. They didn't believe me, but they didn't press charges, I think it got passed to the council and lost in their bureaucracy somewhere.
US: How did you start Future Funk, I mean it's all very well wanting to change the face of techno in the West, but how d you go about doing it?
FF: Gez and I met when we were working at BT- like everyone else under 25- and we got chatting, and realised we had the same taste in music. I'd done a few nights in Newcastle, so I was quite sure about what sort of thing I liked, and he liked the same stuff. It started quite small, at The Rummer.
US: Why Techno?
FF: I used to live near Leeds, and I was into ambient electronica and stuff like that, then I went to a club called The Orbit in Leeds, and it's pretty good down there, so I kinda got sucked in!
US: Has dance music improved much since those days?
FF: It's gone two ways, there's the commercial stuff and the underground, they're both progressing really fast, but in different ways. I'm amazed by the amount of great stuff there is though, but it can be hard to find. The commercial side is just for leisure, not for appreciating. But on the whole, I think they're well balanced, it's not all cheesy house.
US: Do you have to be off your tits to listen to Techno?
FF: No, drugs and clubbing can go hand in hand, but I think that's to help people dance all night rather than to make the music sound better.
US: What's the difference between Future Funk techno and other forms of dance music?
FF: We're really into very rhythmic, looped music. You don't perceive a lot of changes in the music, but that's where the fun comes, we'll mix it up, have some out of time sections, miss the odd beat. It throws you, there's no cheesy build-ups and predictable breakdowns. We like to surprise people, it's all about the DJ tools, drum machines, samplers.
US: So have you seen/heard any DJs who seem to know their craft better than most?
FF: Jeff Mills, James Ruskin, Oliver Ho Most of the people we have down are pretty good, and I'm not really into the whole name-dropping thing. But yeah, there's some good DJ's out there. It's not a very commercial scene, so most of them come down just to play good techno to people who appreciate it, and getting them here isn't difficult if you can guarantee a club full of up-for-it people.
US: Doesn't it take up a lot of your life? There's the radio show every Thursday from 12 am till 2 am on Passion 106.2, Glastonbury, St Paul's, moving to The Depot, 'educational exchanges' with House of God in Birmingham, if you don't make any money is it really worth the hassle?
FF: I've got a job, but I spend all my spare time on Future Funk. The last year has been terrible in terms of money, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Things like Glastonbury barely count as work anyway, we were there for 4 days, and played in the travellers field on 3 of them, it was a great atmosphere. In November we've got Atomic Jam coming to The Depot, which I'm looking forward to.
US: The Depot is twice the size of The maze!
FF: Yeah! I am scared shitless about that, when it's not that busy it looks really empty. We're going to get in one of those wedding DJ's to do the upstairs chill out area- Kind of like a comedy interlude! And it's better than MTV!
US: So what's becoming big in music and youth culture generally?
FF: Nothing. The sort of techno we play is really cutting edge for techno, but there is still nothing new and exiting coming along. It's all rehashed, redone. But it's still better than chain pubs and pissed 40 year olds. Young people are more impressed by what's about nowadays, the more you do clubbing the less you enjoy it, that's why the older (late 20s) ones all go to bars nowadays.