Slam on the closure of The Arches, T in the Park and Soma Records 25 year anniversary

2016 promises to be one of the biggest years yet in the career of dynamic
Glaswegian duo Slam aka Stuart McMillan and Orde Meikle as their label Soma
Records prepares to celebrate its 25th year.

They've recently released Make You Move on their new Soma Track Series and are
gearing up for a massive year of events with their cherished Pressure rising
from the ashes of The Arches at it's new home, Riverside Festival now
in its fourth year and the world renowned Slam Tent back at T in the Park in
July.

We caught up with Orde who told us more and the guys gave us their top ten
tracks which you can check out at the end of the interview.

What first made you realise that music was a passion that you wanted to
follow?

To be honest, we’re not really sure.

It didn’t seem like a conscious decision, we just always talked, bought and
played music.

I suppose starting Soma Records might have been a turning point where we
thought this might be serious.

What was the scene like in Glasgow growing up?

Can you tell us about your early clubbing experiences?

The Glasgow scene has always been vibrant and eclectic and growing up there
you were always aware of it's musical history with great clubs and major
live venues everywhere.

We used to frequent all sorts of clubs, Reggae, Ska, New Wave, Punk, Euro,
Student Unions and the occasional Disco.

We definitely had a very varied musical upbringing.

Your monthly club night Pressure recently celebrated it’s 17th birthday,
the events have been going from strength to strength selling out months in
advance.

How has the recent move to your new home at SWG3 from The Arches after it
was shut down changed things?

We felt it was an act of cultural vandalism shutting The Arches and not just
from the club view point.

The venue was so much more than just that.

It was a theatre that encouraged avant-garde productions, a live band venue, a
rehearsal space.

It had artist and recording studios and so much more.

But our new venue SWG3 has been a God send.

It’s a very similar set up in many ways and it’s also a multipurpose art
facility but located in Finnieston, a very new and vibey area of Glasgow.

The new Pressure gigs have been as good as ever but it’s the crowd that really
make the nights.

You have some massive Pressure events lined up for Easter Weekend and May
bank holiday, can you give us any hints at what to expect?

Yes, the Easter Pressure will have performances by Len Faki , Karenn, Mathew
Dear and Karotte and is almost sold out already.

The May Bank Holiday line up is still under wraps at the moment but we can
tell you that some of our favourite guests, legendary Techno artists from
both Sweden and a Detroit will be joining us.

You also run a monthly club night at the Sub Club in Glasgow ‘Return to
Mono’.

How does this differ from Pressure?

Return To Mono is a more intimate affair.

We tend to play a little less full on indulging the more “Housey ” and “Dubby”
sections of our crates.

Also the guests we choose are not always headline names but people we respect
and want to bring to Glasgow and our crowd.

You’re very busy with lots of different projects, running events, DJing and
producing, how do you split your time between everything?

There’s no real conscious time management – “everything all the time” – but
roughly we produce in our studios and when we’re travelling then meet about
once every 2 weeks to chat and make decisions about Slam’s future events,
once a month at the Soma office to A&R and general label business and
then spend pretty much every weekend on the road DJing.

It just seems to all fall in to place, somehow!

You recently launched ‘Soma Track Series’, can you tell us more about the
concept behind it?

We were starting to produce some tracks to play in our DJ sets that, I suppose
sounded like more straight up club tunes.

They seemed to have a vibe of their own that was slightly different from our
other Slam productions .

It was obvious they had to have a sub label of their own, hence the “Track
Series” imprint came into being.

Your label Soma Records is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, how do
you keep going strong and what plans to you have to celebrate?

We think the strength of the Soma concept is it’s never really had a grand
master plan, just to release qualitative, non-commercial forward thinking
dance music regardless of genre.

The Soma 25 project is well under way with a major triple box set due for
release in September 2016 plus some very exciting singles releases on the
run up to that date from some very new and majorly influential artists.

Also some great live Soma showcases are planned across Europe and the World
throughout the following 12 months.

What is your vision for Soma Records for the coming years?

Soma has always been a labour of love without any consideration of any
financial remuneration so it’s hard to say what the future holds.

I suppose we could say that we want to continue to support and develop new
musical talent from the future and bring it to the present.

Taking us back to the events that you run again, you’ve also had the
infamous ‘Slam Tent’ at T in the Park since 1997 which is a massive
achievement!

How has your relationship with T in the Park developed over the years?

How do you go about curating your stellar line-ups every year?

T in the Park is an outstanding professional festival and musically eclectic.

It’s become a really special date on the British musical calendar and It’s
been an honour to be involved for such a long time and allowed to program
our own arena, the Slam Tent which has grown from a 4000 capacity 2 day
 event to a 4 day 12 000 capacity weekend Dancethon.

Geoff Elis and the Dance Factory crew, who run T in the Park, have been so
supportive over the whole period and a complete pleasure to work with.

The line up planning for the next year starts the Monday after T in the Park
finishes.

It really does take that long to put in place.

We always know who we want, it’s just a matter of trying to make it happen.

A real highlight of our year!

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO OF SLAM'S TENT OPENING LAST YEAR AT T IN THE PARK

Not content with running 2 club nights, a festival stage, producing, DJing
and running a label you also co-run electronic festival Riverside which
takes place at the end of May every year in Glasgow.

You’ve recently announced the first run of artists playing.

For those of us not familiar with Riverside what does it offer?

The Riverside Festival is a newish festival situated at the world renowned
Glasgow Transport Museum designed by architect Zaha Hadid on the banks of
the River Clyde, a truly stunning venue.

It’s a 2 day outdoor festival that offers a fantastic experience with this
years line up containing artists such as Sven Vath, Laurent Garnier, Ben
Klock, Rodhad, Fatboy Slim, Kerri Chandler, Joris Voorn, Julio Bashmore,
Ilario Alicante, Vril (live ), Gary Beck, Gaiser (live), Animal Farm plus
many more, so we feel it’s a pretty stellar line up and the tickets are
going fast!

Do you ever get tired haha?!

Between us, it really doesn’t seem that much and we’re always looking for
other ventures to become involved in.

The next two dates that you can catch Slam are on February 12 at Sub Club
Glasgow for Return to Mono with Paranoid London and February 26 for Pressure
at SWG3 with Scuba, Skream, Marcel Fengler, Boris, Laura Jones and Silicone
Soul. For more information on Return To Mono head
here and for Pressure .

SLAM's CLUBZ TOP TEN

Remember to support your favourite dance music artists by buying their
music and not stealing it.