Bloc File: Altern 8
Nice one, top one, sorted! Mark Archer, one half of rave situationists Altern 8 is the latest person to come under the microscope, as the count down to Bloc 09 gets well and truly under way. Here, he talks about those masks, his and Chris Peat’s Nexus 21 alter ego and rave music’s relevance nowadays…
You probably have been asked this millions of times, but where did the idea for the yellow masks come from? Was it because a lot of people going to raves were wearing masks at the time?
“As far as I can remember, no one was wearing masks at raves before we started, not that I want to try and claim a fashion (albeit a suspect one) to myself but it wasn't something people did. We started purely to hide our identities as we were 'known' as Nexus 21 and didn't want people to realise we were the same group.”
Did the masks and the overall image help you to break through?
Obviously you had the tunes as well…
“I think it helped from the fact that we had an image so people could recognise Altern 8 as most other groups were lads with ponytails and you couldn't tell them apart image-wise, but the first release with eight tracks for the price of two helped in a bigger way than we first thought. It got DJs on our side with the value for money element - then when ‘Infiltrate 202’ came along, people were already aware of us.”
What was the period of your life like when you were in the charts, playing Top of the Pops and performing at huge raves every weekend? Was it so wild that you can't remember much of it?
“It was amazing, we didn't expect the tracks to do as well as they did but the success meant we pretty much traveled the length and breadth of the country as well as abroad doing PAs and DJing plus all the TV appearances, sometimes doing up to six gigs in a week. Top of the Pops was an experience I never thought I’d witness as a kid and it allowed us to meet a lot of big names too. “
Didn't one of you stand as a candidate in a local election in the 90s? Would you ever stand again as a candidate? When you were coming to prominence in the early 90s, the Tories were in charge - has much changed since then politically, or have Labour made a big mess of things too?
“I’ve never really been one for politics to be honest, us standing for local election was just one of the many daft things we did to help keep our name in the public eye. Seems whoever is in power starts off well then loses public support, I'll stick to my music if it's all the same.”
What do you make of all the people who come to Altern 8 gigs now wearing rave gear like face masks and visibility jackets, some of whom were just babies when you were first on the scene? Is it good that they know the roots of the music or do you find it a bit sad that they are wearing the same old gear? Has there been a distinctive look since then in electronic music?
“I don't think there has really since the early 1990s, when you had the change year on year from 1988 up to 1990, then the whole high vis thing was around 1992/1993 and all the house and trance lot were wearing Destroy and leather trousers. It's all been a bit samey since then but it's nice that we are still remembered 18 years on, it's not something I could ever have bargained on back then. It's just mad when there's people in the crowd who are younger than the NBC suit I’m wearing!”
Do you do gigs now as Altern 8 to 'pay the bills' or do you enjoy playing old school sets? Do you think that there's a danger that you become a rave tribute act or is it good to remind people of electronic dance music's roots?
“I still DJ because I enjoy it, seeing a crowd go off when a tune breaks down, still get that buzz every time. It's not just a nostalgia trip for 30 somethings, it's a whole style of music that's as valid today as it's always been, just another genre along with all the others that house has created in its 20 plus years and one that crowds still want to hear. When a lot of the people who are clubbing probably have never heard of anything older than from 2003, it's nice to be able to play tunes that may be new to them.”
Apparently those ‘Old School Euphoria’ mix CDs are big sellers: do you think there are a lot of people out there now with money who want to remember the early 90s and its music?
“Yes, a lot of people who went out back then didn't buy records, they just had mix tapes etc so these CDs are a way of them sort of getting them back (but way better quality) - and for a lot of people, this was the best time ‘musically’ of their lives, the time they discovered dance music and the whole rave scene.”
The hardcore/rave/bleep sounds play a huge role in contemporary electronic music: why do you think that period of music from the late 1980s to the early 1990s was so important and has had such a lasting effect?
“It was a really 'fast-forward' time of musical experimentation and cross-pollination of styles. Sounds were changing year on year and there were a lot of sounds then that were way ahead of their time, so it makes sense that these sounds are going to be brought back into play within new genres. The rave scene from the late 1980s and early 1990 was a massive part of British dance music and will (I think) remain a very big influence.”
Do you keep up with current music and if so, what producers are you into and why?
“There's way too many different genres to keep up with and with gigging every weekend, I don't ever really get to go clubbing as such. But I'm well into Detroit techno as I have been for years so I follow that really with producers like Stephen Brown, Arne Weinberg, Strand and Sui Generis.”
I'm a huge Nexus 21 fan and have always preferred that music to Altern 8's; were you disappointed that it didn't get as much recognition or success as Altern 8?
“I wasn't disappointed as some of my peers cite Nexus 21 as the reason they started to make music and that is praise indeed! It was just a shame that the workload we had for Altern 8 meant it was pretty much impossible to carry on with the Nexus 21 project and by the time Altern 8 was laid to rest as a production outfit, it was too late to resurrect Nexus 21.”
You recently released an excellent EP 'Ring of Gyges', which reminded me a lot of the old Nexus 21 sound - is this what inspired the release? Is Mutate your label?
“The solo work I've done over the past few years such as 'Ring of Gyges' on Mutate ( a label run by Edzy from Unique 3 and Robert Page of Super DJ Bobzilla fame ) and 'Songs For Einna' on DS93 which was released in 2007 directly continues on from what I was doing in Nexus 21. These are the tracks that I wanted to make back then but didn't have the musical knowledge or production know how.”
“The release on DS93 was vinyl only and limited to 93 copies, this release is digital only, there's no right or wrong, new or old way, it's either about concepts or business sense. I don't think digital is the only way forward but as a commercial format, it's standard now. I'd love all my releases to come out on vinyl but sometimes labels choose not to, I'm just happy to still be releasing music 20 years on.”
good little interview, i really like that DS93 record a whole lot. very nice stuff.
Posted by: tom/pipecock | February 24, 2009 at 07:33 PM
Chris and Mark are top fellas, who would have thought that after watching them on TOTP we'd be help put one of their records out!!! Another reason why I love techno :)
Posted by: Martin Dust | February 25, 2009 at 03:26 PM
That DS93 record is a corker - a real pity this new one isn't out on vinyl. Martin, please have a word with them!
Posted by: Brophy | February 26, 2009 at 09:29 AM
Aye, talented lads who made me rave :)I'll be having a word.
Posted by: Martin Dust | February 26, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Nice interview ... and lads. Had a chat with one of them whilst down the front dancing to Chic at Creamfields last year:-)
Posted by: Matt | February 27, 2009 at 05:00 AM
Mark is a top bloke and his set at SulpHate was an absolute belter, a real pleasure to meet him.
Anyone off to Bloc really has to catch Altern8.
Posted by: Alex SulpHate | March 03, 2009 at 05:53 AM
Martin, if you can swing a vinyl release for that EP, I'd be a very very happy man!
Posted by: Brophy | March 05, 2009 at 08:51 AM