Dave Clarke’s Footprints

I always enjoy reading interviews with Dave Clarke -  he’s one of the few people in techno who comes across as opinionated, witty and intelligent in print. In person, the Dave Clarke experience is even better – he’s great company, has a savagely funny sense of humour and anytime I’ve hung out with him, we’ve laughed ourselves silly and had some proper conversations (not ones that revolved solely around discussing the merits of obscure electro -  although we’ve done that too). What I’m saying, in a roundabout kind of way, is that I’m fond of Clarke and think that he’s a genuine character. I also think that he often gets a hard time in the press -  usually portrayed erroneously as a miserable type. I know that he also tends to get misquoted, so what I’m about to question could just be a mistake, but in a recent interview with Trackitdown, he talks about his changeover from playing vinyl to CDs to now using Serrato, in which he says: “Ecologically it also makes sense, I try to be as green as possible within the confines of my work, now I don't burn needless carbon tonnes carting around 30 kilos of vinyl every week. Vinyl is ecologically irresponsible, CDs are better and hard drives are better still on a weight and manufacturing basis. There’s no longer any need to have records driven around to stores or delivered by the postman. The winner is the environment and the DJ for having to learn new skills.”
Later on, he also says: “ I drive less and less (even though I have a penchant for V8/V12 cars) and I recycle everything I can, which is really easy in the UK, though surprisingly difficult in Holland. I think that the government should subsidise all personal renewable energy, there are millions of rooftops that don't have solar power; why not? I think the government should renationalise the railways and have decent tram systems in all metropolises that can handle them and subsidise public transport. There should be no more runways either, it seems silly to invest in all that airport infrastructure if we are running out of oil.”
The second quote makes sense – Clarke used to drive cars with big, fat engines -  but with all respect, isn’t this the same guy who has been jetting all over the world for the past decade to play gigs? It’s great that he’s curtailing his penchant for tearing around European motorways like a techno version of ‘Top Gear’ (but without Clarkson’s thinly-veiled xenophobic put downs), but in the grand scheme of polluters, vinyl is pretty low on the list of offenders. Most of the records Clarke used to play only ever sold a few thousand copies, and nearly all of the research into the fragile state of the world’s environment shows that the biggest polluters are commercial airline flights (not that this absolves anyone who drives SUVs from a special place in hell). Fly around Europe a few times a week - and Clarke has also done more than his fair share of long-haul travel to play on other continents -  and pretty soon, your carbon footprint becomes bigger than DJ Sneak’s pizza intake. I understand that DC is keen to enhance his DJing using new technology, but please Dave, don’t use environmental excuses to distance yourself from the black stuff…

Comments

[Ronan]

I remember the awful blurb that came with World Service 2...was like something out of Total Guitar monthly or yes Top Gear...eg "Dave Clarke knows that his fans, techno fans, are the most technologically gear conscious people in the world. THAT'S WHY HE CHOOSES THE NEW TECNICS CDJ (that shortly bombed a month later)".

Wasn't he on a Ronseal ad in the 90s?

[c-smac]

what about all the cigar smoke he's been releasing into the atmosphere over the last couple of decades?? environmentally conscious my arse

[Jason Brunton]

I lived in Amsterdam for two years and i constantly bemoan how bad the UK is at recycling compared to Holland- I simply cannot understand where he's coming from saying that its hard to recycle in the Netherlands- they even give you money back on empty beer bottles and plastic drinks bottles at the supermarket (so you an buy more beer of course!)- they've been charging for plastic bags at supermarkets for years, encourage (as in SERIOUSLY encourage) cycling, have a fantastic and cheap highly integrated public transport system- we're good at loads of things but recycling and being environmentally positive aren't two of them (in my humble opinion!)

[Brophy]

remember the awful blurb that came with World Service 2...was like something out of Total Guitar monthly or yes Top Gear...eg "Dave Clarke knows that his fans, techno fans, are the most technologically gear conscious people in the world. THAT'S WHY HE CHOOSES THE NEW TECNICS CDJ (that shortly bombed a month later)". - ha ha, never saw that, but it reads like typical pr guff....and we all know that there's a special place reserved in hell for people in pr

Wasn't he on a Ronseal ad in the 90s? - maybe, but didn't he work for the british social welfare checking up on dole recipients before he discovered techno? I love the internet....

[Brophy]

what about all the cigar smoke he's been releasing into the atmosphere over the last couple of decades?? environmentally conscious my arse
- yes, it seemed like an odd quote for dc to make, that's why i took him to task over it,,, didn't even think of the cigar smoke:)

[Brophy]

what about all the cigar smoke he's been releasing into the atmosphere over the last couple of decades?? environmentally conscious my arse
- yes, it seemed like an odd quote for dc to make, that's why i took him to task over it,,, didn't even think of the cigar smoke:)

[Brophy]

I lived in Amsterdam for two years and i constantly bemoan how bad the UK is at recycling compared to Holland- I simply cannot understand where he's coming from saying that its hard to recycle in the Netherlands- they even give you money back on empty beer bottles and plastic drinks bottles at the supermarket (so you an buy more beer of course!)- they've been charging for plastic bags at supermarkets for years, encourage (as in SERIOUSLY encourage) cycling, have a fantastic and cheap highly integrated public transport system- we're good at loads of things but recycling and being environmentally positive aren't two of them (in my humble opinion!) - interesting, maybe he lives in a badly polluted part of the city (when he's not off jetting aroud the world!)

[d.clarke]

Only just discovered this blog,very informative, just put it into bookmarks.

Firstly, to the chap who lived in Holland.....yep that is one of the reasons I enjoy NL when there, it is undoubtably a better (and by chance greener way of life), and although I prefer skateboarding to cycling ( too many people nick bikes and you need a lock the size of a small child) and the public transport system rocks I was referring to recycling which ( I think) is easier and better in the UK regarding cans/ tin, plastics etc. Where I live in the uk recycling is amazing compared to NL, everything else green though and the inverse is clealy the case.

The dropping of the black stuff (sadly not guiness) wasn't done in way shape or form to be green, I just consider that to be a lucky side effect. There are many reasons why I stopped with vinyl but surely not having them burning carbon tonnes everyweek is a plus (also the fact vinyl is an oil based industry both in manufacture and distribution is something that cannot be overlooked). Another reason why I (and that is my personal opinion) don't miss vinyl is the amount of times I have been ripped off by it, yet again the Red series is out, yet again it won't appear on a statement, at least digital is more democratic when you get ripped ( ie not one entity gets money easily).

dc
ps I never did a ronseal ad, and I never did check up on dole recipients ( don't you love the internet?)

[Brophy]

Dave, thanks for commenting, sorry it took me so long to reply to you. Just one thing - how about the carbon fooprint you leave through flying to all of your gigs?

[dclarke]

I'm sure my carbon footprint is similar to the effect of your long history of writing pages (that used to belong to living trees) of reviews and interviews in DJ Mag/ Hot Press, ie no one is holier than thou in the recording industry......

[Brophy]

I'm sure my carbon footprint is similar to the effect of your long history of writing pages (that used to belong to living trees) of reviews and interviews in DJ Mag/ Hot Press, ie no one is holier than thou in the recording industry......mmm, not so sure about that point Dave. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, but paper/printed material is recyclable (spelling?), unlike the thousands of tonnes of fuel that you have used flying all over the world. I'm not trying to be 'holier than thou', but they don't recycle that stuff...