DAVE CLARKE

It's an amazing feat that despite not releasing a record since 'Shake Your Booty' in 1997 Dave Clarke is still one of the biggest techno DJs in the world. Not just in terms of crowd pulling power but in terms of respect. The fact that he practically invented the filtered house sound (that has taken the likes of Daft Punk to global success) back in 1993 with his Aphrohead remixes and took techno to the charts with one of the genre's greatest anthems in Red 2 probably also helps. A bit of history never hurt anyone.

For the past couple of years it's DJing that has dominated Dave's life with residencies at Liverpool's Bugged Out! and Belfast's Shine and regular appearances at the UK's Atomic Jam and Pure. Away from England Dave is also a resident at Belgium's world famous Fuse club and Barcelona's Nitsa with a weekly schedule that takes in clubs all over the world - Dave collects Air Miles like most kids collect football stickers. Dave's love of radio (he did a stint filling in for Annie Nightingale on Radio One in '97) is currently indulged by many of his European DJing sets being recorded and syndicated to stations all over the continent. Watch this space for further D.C. radio action!

With his recording career on hold Dave has flexed his muscles in the studio recently with a list of remixing commissions the length of a tall man's arm. In the last six months the likes of Moby, Underworld, DJ Rush and Jark Jark Prongo have felt the benefit of Dave's midas remix touch with his Underworld 'King of Snake' remix being played by Tong over the original and his Jark Prongo mix wedged firmly in the boxes of the nation's biggest jocks; the fact that Dave's underground sound has the power to cross commercial barriers is one of the most exciting things about him.

So what does the future hold for the techno maverick? The worldwide DJing schedule won't stop of course; Dave lives and breathes the lifestyle. And then there's the remixes; be it rock, techno, hip hop or house Dave will twist tracks into new sonic shapes via his state of the art studio and ear for a tune.

But it's the follow up to the tremendously successful Archive 1 album that is most eagerly awaited. Listening back to Dave's debut now the potential of the follow up is frightening - in fact there's no reason why Dave shouldn't be joining The Chemical brothers and Daft Punk at the top of the charts.

Unfortunately anything this side of the millennium is unlikely, but come the year 2000 and the Dave Clarke hit machine will be well and truly back in motion. Can't wait...

PAUL BENNEY (EDITOR, JOCKEY SLUT 1999