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  Edinburgh techno night Dogma has long carried the
torch for techno in the Scottish capital, filling the void left open by
the demise of early techno/hard-trance nights such as Sativa, Pure,
Lift and Purple Moon. From its humble beginnings, Dogma has built up a
reputation for being one of the best nights in Scotland for hard dance
music in all its many and varied forms.
Dogma has been responsible for putting on some of the finest
names in not only techno, but electronic dance music in general. Past
guests include Si Begg, Surgeon, Regis, Green Velvet, DJ Rush and The
Horrorist to name but a few. Another regular feature of Dogma nights is
the support given to local acts such as Morph, Cymbol, FB Collective,
B*Wilder, Patrick Walker, Lodestar, The Falkland Hill Yaks and Andy
Piper. In this way Dogma has left its mark on the local scene and has
helped regenerate interest in the whole techno and electronic sound in
Scotland and, as a result , their loyal following has increased with
the result that Dogma is an institution to rival the likes of the
seminal Pure and Sativa that came before them.
 The
"Dogma sound" has always been about more than simply techno. The lineup
of excellent main floor DJs play a wide range of gritty techno and
clubby electronic sounds, but when let loose on the other floors the
residents can and will play everything from disco to hip-hop. This
variation has become an enduring and endearing part of the Dogma
experience, which drops the unsuspecting punter into a sea of
electronic experience before spitting them back out at the other end
with a fresh sense of what it means to be fully 'avin it! Even the most
experienced members of the Avionix crew have found themselves enter the
club with the intention of keeping it together and staying sober before
and during a set , but have left the building clinging onto a bin bag
full of beer, pie-eyed and seeking that mystical experience known as
"The After-Party" whilst gibbering about electronic pixies...
Simply put, Dogma is one of the best clubs around - not only for the
music, but also the attitude that comes with it. Its consistently
maintains a high degree of musical integrity without ever losing its
up-front roots and - for a techno club - that can only be a good thing.
One thing's for sure, you won't find the team stroking their chins in a
display of self-appreciative backslapping DJ wankdom. The crew are as
up for it as the punters who come through the doors, again maintaining
a close, down-to-earth connection with the crowd.
We decided it
was long overdue that someone approached not the DJs and acts, but some
of the promoters themselves - in this case, Geoff and Lav - and found
out what makes Dogma hang together. Here is the result of that
interview:
The Interview
Avionix: You have been running Dogma for some time now. How has the feel of the club changed in the time since its conception?
Lav:
"Running Dogma" - is that our Red Indian name? (laughs) I think when we
started we had a bigger "crusty" element to the crowd, and the music
policy was fairly hard back then. I think the music policy has mellowed
and matured over the years. As the club grew more popular, we attracted
a greater variety of people with more varied tastes, so we had to adapt
to include fully diverse range of styles we now play.
Geoff:
It's got a lot bigger obviously. When we first started, we knew
everyone in the club for the first few nights. Now most of the crowd is
new, which is great. It seems to have kept the atmosphere it started
with though, which we're really happy about: The crowd still seems very
friendly, very into the music and very up for it. A lot of our guests
have been completely blown away by the crowd reaction and atmosphere in
the club, which I guess means we're doing something right.
 Avx: What first attracted you to the idea of running a club?
G:
Mainly because at the time there were no other clubs playing the kind
of music that I wanted to hear. There was a bit of a hard techno void
in Edinburgh after Purple Moon and Sativa stopped, so when my flatmate
Steve got asked to start a club (Apex) by Studio 24, I was more than
happy to join in. Dogma followed on from that pretty naturally, Lav and
myself had been talking about running something together for ages and
when Apex finished it seemed the right time.
L:
Money, fame, girls! Nah, we just wanted to put on our own night playing
the tunes we wanted to hear for our friends to listen to, having been
inspired to do so by legendary clubs like Pure and Sativa. The best
clubs always start out as parties...
Avx: What are your main priorities? Do you look to have a club with an excellent party atmosphere, or is the music the main focus?
L:
That's an easy one: both! I don't think you can separate the two - they
go hand in hand and I seriously don't think one would happen without
the other. That's probably the main reason a lot of clubs don't last.
G:
I think you definitely have to have both. The main thing that's going
to attract people to the club is going to be the music so I suppose
initially that's the most important thing, but atmosphere definitely
counts for a lot.
Avx: What criteria do you have in mind when booking your guests?
G:
We've always tried to book people who do something a bit different from
just turning up with a bag of records and playing them for two hours.
As you know, we heavily favour live acts and book them whenever we can.
Any kind of stage act gets our interest, such as Holy Ghost or The
Horrorist. Music-wise we've had, and will continue to have, a lot of
variation â€" anything that takes our fancy really.
L:
If we were to formalize it then, there's 3 main areas we look at: The
quality of the act, if they're interesting or unusual, and how
contemporary they are.
Avx: Who's the best guest you've ever had, for whatever reasons?
L: There's too many to name. Regis was a great laugh though...
G:
We've been lucky in that everyone we've booked have been both excellent
on the night and also genuinely nice people. You hear horror stories
about DJs refusing to play unless they have certain riders, and so on,
or generally act like a bit of a wanker but all of our guests have been
really sound. Personally, my favourite guests would be The Youngsters:
both times they've played I've loved their sets.
 Avx: What are your main influences? What sort of music do you listen to outside of the club?
G:
My main influences - if you can call them that - are old industrial
stuff: NIN, Front 242, Sheep On Drugs, that kind of idea. At home I
listen to a lot of different stuff - quite a bit of funk, ska and
house, along with old indie and metal. Techno-wise I tend to go for the
older stuff unless I'm listening to potential guests.
L: I like the ol' Surgeon/Regis sound meself
Avx: If you had an unlimited budget, what would be the ideal line up?
G:
I'll be greedy and take two floors, with The Youngsters live, Early
Daft Punk live and a DJ set from Surgeon on the main floor and Adam X
Live, Front 242 live and a DJ Hell DJ Set on the top floor. Though
that'll probably all change tomorrow!
L: The main
floor lineup would be Ritchie Hawtin, Green Velvet and Laurent Garnier,
with the Mathew Herbert Big Band, Wevie Stonder and Casetteboy on the
top floor.
Avx: Do either of you have any
musical aspirations or are you strictly promotion only? Does Lav play
the trumpet? Perhaps Geoff enjoys a tinkle on the piano?
G:
I played the recorder between the ages of 7 and 9, which has stood me
in good stead. Look for a live set soon (Avionix have since badgered
Geoff for his first Demo EP on this basis)
L: Oddly enough, I'd love to play the piano, banjo and mouth organ in that order.
Avx: What's the way forward for Dogma? Do you have any future visions for the club itself?
G:
I think we're at the point now where we can start moving in other
directions. We've been discussing labels, and perhaps doing events in
other places. Musically, we're wanting to take it forward as well -
there's a lot of excellent musicians starting to appear now, both
locally and abroad, and we intend to keep at the forefront of this. The
sound upstairs is now back at a level where we can start putting on
upstairs guests, and we have a long long list...
L: Ad astra per arduum!!! (We're not quite sure what this means â€" but assume Lav has been on the jungle juice again)
Avx: What do you think of the venue itself ? Studio 24, A.K.A. "The Calton"?
G:
I think its one of the best venues for techno in the country. There are
very few places where we would have the freedom to do what we do with
the décor, deck location, sound and lights that we do in S24, and the
atmosphere is second to none. Its an Edinburgh institution and
hopefully will stay that way for a long time.
L: Its
a great venue. Its a decent overall size and layout with a sizeable
main dancefloor and the second largest capacity of any club in
Edinburgh. Its also a very versatile space with many options of how to
lay stuff out
 Avx: What do you think
of the Edinburgh scene? Is there really such a thing? Would you say
there is a common sound - techno or otherwise? What makes clubbing in
Edinburgh different from Glasgow (which is only a hour's drive away)?
L:
Edinburgh has always had and been known for having a large techno
following, which isprobably directly attributable to Pure and Sativa. I
don't think that any particular style of techno is dominant, although
most of the free party scene is based around the harder-edged stuff,
like Hardcore and Gabba. Clubbing varies massively in style from the
east to the west: Glasgow is a more industrial city and has a
deep-seated culture of looking "smart", so as not to reflect the poorer
roots of the city. Edinburgh has a more "melting pot" feel of moneyed
people who can afford to rebel by looking scruffy, hence the large
"crusty" population. Glasgow venues generally have stricter policies
about how punters dress but also have nicer interior surroundings,
whereas Edinburgh clubs have a more laissez-faire attitude towards
admission and, in general, tend to have more of an "underground" feel.
As for musical differences - we all just love techno!
G:
Yeah...av's probably better placed to answer this one than I am due to
me living in London, but I will add that techno in Edinburgh seems very
strong just now. All clubs seem pretty busy and there are free parties
on almost every weekend. It's all good.
Avx: What do you think is the general state of affairs with the techno scene as a whole?
L:
Its no longer a remotely "new" style of music, so the initial interest
in it has peaked. Now its looking to diversify and evolve.
G:
I think people worry too much about scenes. There seems to be a lot of
good techno being released just now - even if you have to wade through
quite a lot of crap to find it - and a lot of very talented new DJs are
appearing and most clubs seem to be pretty full so its good...
Avx: How do you see the "Dogma sound" evolving ?
G:
Have we got a sound? Excellent! More of the same I think: As live as
possible, keeping the energy and atmosphere of the club up. I'd like to
move away from hard repetitive techno, towards some other sounds, but
we'll see what happens.
L: I think it'll have a more mature sound for the more discerning ear, rather than just laying down those four four beats.
Avx:
Do you forsee Dogma taking any steps into releasing any of the music
played in the club? Can we expect to see a Dogma compilation of
highlights at any stage?
G: This is something we've
discussed, so it is a possibility. Both Neil and B*Wilder have been in
the studio (B*Wilder especially) and so there is the chance for some
authentic Dogma techno to be released. A "Highlights" compilation has
also been discussed: This may happen depending on costs and release
rights, etc.
 Avx: What do you feel
about the growing trend of having multimedia entertainment in clubs?
How much effort and consideration does Dogma give to the visual aspect
of its nights given the rise of affordable multimedia and visual
hardware?
L: We already utilize a lot of visual
stimuli within the club and have for a long time. We have two
projection screens showing live mixed visuals with a third on its way,
up to six TV monitors with visuals and a mid-air writer with live mixed
image feeds running to it. I think it can only be a good thing to have
more and more visual stimuli.
G: On top of this, we're looking to start involving proper VJs as part of the night, which should be pretty good.
Avx: Finally, sum up Dogma in your own words.
Probably the words that come closest are "Next date, 15th October !"
The Next Dogma is at Studio 24 Edinburgh on the 15th October, with Adam
X Djing and a live set from Terrence Fixmer, make sure you check it
out! |
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