How and why did Summit come about?

Summit was initially created by a small group from a much larger group of friends (our clubbing family if you like). We used to be out in the clubs every single week all up and down the country. Our most common gathering would be Camden Palace for Peach on Fridays, and Frantic for the Saturday night, and a Tidy Weekender when it came around of course.

Many of our friends were passionate clubbers, and others were aspiring DJ’s (with some of them being shit-hot to say the least). Me and the lads had some great contacts within the scene to help get things up and running. Between us, we noticed that we had all the ingredients necessary to start running our own thing.

Who are the people behind Summit?

There were initially five of us that decided to put Summit together. Since then, we have had a couple of changes. The current team consists of me, John, Joe, Ben, Jaymo, and this Scottish bloke called Dave!!

It’s a great team, and every single one of us has their own input in one way or another. The good thing is that we’re all different, and each person appreciates different things in a night club event. When we put something together, consideration is taken for almost every type of clubber, and how their nights can be enjoyed. We use our own experience as clubbers to think about what we love about going out.

Can you tell us a bit about your resident DJs?

On the resident front since day one, we always saw a tremendous talent in Cally Gage. Not only did she fit the requirement as a DJ, but as a personality that would represent what Summit was about (a friendly place to be with kick-ass music). As she has become even bigger as a performer, Cally’s attitude has never changed towards clubbers. She will give them all the time of day, and that definitely wins you fans in my eyes.

Ben Skinner our next resident. He’s a fantastic hard dance DJ, who can always deliver a tight and hard hitting set. On a hard dance sound, he used to be more on the hard trance side of things, but in the last few years, he has played a lot more hard house in his sets to add to the variety. Also, he has mixed many styles of music apart from hard dance, including garage, drum ‘n’ bass, freeform and hardcore. This certainly shows a wider appreciation for music as a whole, and you may hear certain influences from these scenes making their way into his sets.

Then there’s myself. Again, I have played a complete range of music, from garage and old skool in my early days, and now I play a combination of Hard dance, trance, techno, and electro. I have always loved watching the energetic trickster style DJ’s, whether it be Eddie Halliwell, Andy Whitby, or DJ EZ for that matter. Watching those guys rev a crowd up is amazing. It’s like watching a transfer of energy from one person to thousands in an instant. I have worked hard to try and bring some of that energy into my own sets, and about 3 years ago, I got myself into scratching. It’s been hard work, but very rewarding when you can develop a style of sratching that can identify

Your next event has the tag line “Above 160” - can you tell me any more about that?

Yeah, sure. It stands for ‘Above 160 beats per minute’. It fits with the kind of tempo you would associate with freeform and hardcore. As it’s different to our usual events, we wanted to brand it slightly differently, and give it it’s own identity. We want it to appeal to hardcore clubbers as well as our hard dance following. The difference in name should make it easier the for people to identify when we have hardcore, and when we don’t. The response has been really good so far, and if the night goes well, then it may be something that we look at doing again on occasion.

I also believe the plan will be go above 160 in the hard dance main room for the final hour when Damage and Narkotique. I’d make sure you save enough energy for that one!

Is hardcore the new hardhouse?

No, I wouldn’t say that. It’s a scene all of its own that has had a tremendous history. It’s very vibrant at the moment, and the scene exploded again a couple of years ago, and has caught the attention of many new people. Some hard house clubbers like it, and some don’t, and the same for hardcore.

There is a certain amount of crossover, but I think it’s a two way thing really. Hardcore has managed to gain a great placement on a commercial level, and exposure to the masses has helped to grow the scene. The hard house and hardcore joint events seem to be more regular now, and it’s a good chance for each type of clubber to experience ‘the other side’ as you might call it. Generally both crowds have a strong community feel, and it’s a very friendly place to be at either type of night, so there’s not really too much difficulty in getting the two to mix.

I see that you are down to play a Tidy classic’s set, do you prefer classic hardhouse?

As a DJ, I look for new music to take out to a dance floor and show a crowd what I believe to be interesting or deserving of greater appreciation. There are some amazing producers out there who are forever developing the sound of hard dance, and it’s the job of a DJ to be rooting through these new tunes and finding the classics of tomorrow.

I enjoy all types of hard dance music, and I think it’s good to get a balance between new and old material in your performance. Some of today’s classics are the tunes that I first started clubbing to in hard house, and there are some great numbers that I will always remember. I still love playing them, but I wouldn’t say that I prefer it.

I’ve never actually done a classics set whilst restricting myself to one label, but Joe asked me if I would be up for it, and I think our crowd are really looking forward to it. Tidy is a great label to do it with as well as they cover the entire hard dance spectrum, so it leaves plenty to choose from.

Tell me more about Damage & Narkotique.

These guys are a wicked DJ double act from the country better known as up north! Sometimes I think they are from a different planet all together with the antics they get up to. They really do bring some fun to a party, and their style can only be described as ‘hard as nails’. They play a combination of the filthiest hard house, driving NRG, and a couple of their own tough numbers thrown in for good measure. Because they really enjoy playing a much faster paced set than most, then this really was the only way that we could finish this kind of night

How did you get into the hardhouse scene?

Um… It’s Joe’s fault! Hahaha!

Joe introduced me to Peach initially, and trance was a big passion of mine. He had been to a fair few hard house events to start with, and he was very pro-Frantic as it was London’s premier brand. My only experience of hard house was hearing it on some tinny stereo’s and therefore I didn’t think I’d initially be into it. Joe eventually got me out to a Frantic day-rave (where the hell did they disappear to!), and I spent a solid 8 hours grinning from ear-to-ear and bouncing about non-stop. That was my introduction to the music. From there on, I started picking up the tunes, and going to more events.

What tracks are in your top five hard dance tunes?

Well, my all time favorite is Heaven’s Cry – Til Tears do Us Part. It means a lot more to me and many of my friends than being just a great tune. On top of that I would say:

Stimulant DJ’s - Legitimate Sounds (Paul Maddox remix)
DJ Kim – Jetlag
Organ Donors - Turntablism
SQ - Abort Retry

If Summit was a car it would be...?

Fast, powerful, sexy, and enough brake horse power to cruise at 160! I think it’s got to be a McLaren F1!

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