Dave Clarke
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A maverick, a musician, a photographer and a man with a singular electronic vision, Dave Clarke has great instincts – and those singular instincts have kept him on the correct musical path for over three decades straight. Championed early by the late John Peel who affectionately labelled him The Baron Of Techno, Dave Clarke has been making music of his own since 1990, along the way collaborating with and remixing iconic artists such as Depeche Mode, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld and New Order to Fontaines D.C. Soft Moon, A Place To Bury Strangers, Gazelle Twin, The Amazing Snakeheads and Placebo.
Born and raised in Brighton, UK, Dave Clarke is uniquely in tune with the genre’s roots, citing early European Electronica along with Disco, 80’s Gay club music and, of course, Chicago and Detroit, as vitally important in the sonically characteristic sounds that moulded him as a musician and an artist. Dave Clarke has also long embraced sounds outside staunch electronic dance, from Brian Jonestown Massacre and Idles, original UK punk and new wave to gothic favourites Bauhaus and through his own richly adventurous music; often defined by their darker and more abrasive sonic pace and visceral accents. His complete musical palette presented via his longstanding Bimonthly radio show “The Saga Series”.
As a prominent figure in techno and a bold ambassador for the genre’s inherent futurism (his weekly RTE 2fm radio show “White Noise” is approaching 20 years young and 1000 episodes), Dave Clarke has long been classified as a genuine, expressive artist whose lasting musical career combines a bold idiosyncratic passion and technical ability, crashing through walls of hesitancy with a passionate conviction.
In 1995, Dave Clarke signed to Deconstruction Records to release the iconic album ‘Archive One’, an array of singles, and subsequently formed a cohesive trilogy of releases whose electro and unrelenting techno caused excitement and anticipation, now a monument in Dave Clarke’s discography.
Despite being a musician known for his longevity and sturdy perseverance, Dave Clarke’s output and reverence was far too creatively restless for such a neat career trajectory.
Signing with Brighton’s own Skint records 2004 resulted in his ‘Devil’s Advocate’ album and over the following years Clarke made his presence felt again, working with Dutch partner Mr Jones (Jonas Uittenbosch) as _Unsubscribe_ and dropping remixes ranging from John Foxx’s seminal synth-pop gem ‘Underpass’ to Gesaffelstein, Detroit Grand Pubas and Octave One, as well cutting tracks for labels such as Houndstooth and Boysnoize. In 2016, an album of remixes, ‘Charcoal Eyes (A Selection of Remixes from Amsterdam)’, ranging from Placebo to A Place to Bury Strangers, suggested Clarke was revitalized in the studio and thus returned to Skint in 2017 with “The Desecration of Desire” featuring Louisahhh, Mark Lanegan amongst others. Records diverse in mood; dark and playful but just as cohesive and commandeering.
Now residing for over a decade in Amsterdam, Clarke finds himself as an elder statesperson in the electronic scene where both his life morality and music is woven into the European city’s artistic empathy, expression, and integrity. From small, sweaty clubs to the likes of Fabric, Fuse or Tresor, Clarke has long nurtured an extraordinary relationship with the world’s most coveted dancefloors. On the big stage, he’s played too many festivals to mention but includes I Love Techno, Lowlands, Pukkelpop, Glastonbury, Nature One, and Amsterdam’s own Amsterdam Dance Event, where he has run his own event for 18 years at the Melkweg.
As 2024 sees the 30-year anniversary unsealing of a classic archive that propelled Dave Clarke’s career and journey through the international dance scene, the reissues of seminal records such as Red’s “Protective Custody”, “Wisdom To The Wise” and “Thunder” are crucial steps in recognising his seismic influence on a scene that followed from the mid-nineties.
A pinnacle of Dave Clarke’s subversive artistry Red Series is of course just one of his many motifs that transcended as a creative blueprint for countless electronic producers and DJs looking to pave their own path.
By disposing of the status quo virtues that music must be polished and prepared, Dave Clarke is an underground-championing artist with principles that can’t be bought or sold.
His incredible catalogue and career forging a timeless pillar for the genre of techno, early recordings that helped crack open a world for fresh voices of electronic music, and a lasting admiration amongst the scene’s new generation of protagonists.
