Scottish house jock The Revenge, real name Graeme Clark, is set to headline this weekend's installment of Picnic.
Clark first toured Australia with his bag of disco and mid-tempo house last year, playing a string of club sets across the country. This time around, in addition to the club shows, he'll join the cast at the RA Arena for Saturday's We Love Sounds. Once the gates at Moore Park are closed, he'll join the Picnic crew for their Civic Underground takeover. New York's DJ Spun is also set to play at the party, stopping in for an exceptionally rare Sydney appearance.
We caught up with Clark via e-mail earlier this week, where he spoke about his work with Harri, the upcoming LP with Craig Smith, and his creative kinship with Larry Levan.
This will be your second time touring Australia – how did you find the first tour?
The first tour was great. There was a fantastic response to the stuff in general, and I met some great people who I'm hooking up again with for this tour.
This tour you get a few days off. Do you have any plans for sightseeing?
Yeah, it's a real bonus actually, because I crammed quite a lot in last year. I have some production work to do for some forthcoming releases, but I'll hopefully get to hang out and soak up the Australian hospitality in between. Let's hope the weather improves though!
We've just had your good friend Harri play dates in Sydney and Melbourne. Is there anything new from Burnt Island Casuals in the works?
Yeah, Harri's played some great shows over here. We've got a new remix coming out for Roberto Rodriguez on Compost, a deeper thing. And then we've got a slower remix to finish for the next release on Instruments Of Rapture. We're keeping it varied.
Also, you're aiming to release an LP with Craig Smith under your 6th Borough Project guise. How do you approach recording for the LP format?
The LP format has changed in a lot of ways over the years I guess. People consume music differently, and I'm not sure that people listen to albums from start to finish as much these days due to our shortening attention spans and increasingly busy day-to-day lives. But I think it's still important to have a real flow in a body of work like an LP, and to make every track count regardless of tempo or style.
When most people think of The Revenge, they immediately think disco. However, your sets comprise of disco, house and techno – what do you think of that "disco" tag?
I guess everyone has a different view of the word "disco". But I always think of Larry Levan's sets and productions as my overriding, outsider's view of disco. That spirit of hedonism, eclecticism and freedom that he represented in the musical choices he made both in the studio and on the dance floor. I've never been a purist and, as such, I'm no expert when it comes to disco, house, techno, or any other genre. Ideally, I just try and put something together on any given evening that allows people to escape and lose themselves.
Finally, could we grab your current top five?
1. Homepark - On Me (3rd Strike)
2. Tornado Wallace - Paddlin' (Delusions Of Grandeur)
3. Mark E - Christo (MERC)
4. Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts - Can't Have Everything (Circus Company)
5. The Planty Herbs - Disco 2080 (Wax On)
Tickets to Picnic are available through RA Tickets.
