@dj-shorty-1988: hi shorty, this is one of our new tracks called "Take Me" - it will be on our first album which is set to be released some time this year :)

Nice one I'll be bey it when it comes out 

Welcome To The New Age: The Technical Difficulties Interview
By Jon Brown

Quite literally tearing through the barriers of all things breakthrough in the UK’s hardcore rave music scene, energetic, full on, crowd pleasing four man act Technical Difficulties (aka Ed, Gary, Lee and Martin), have been working extra hard to perfect their sound over the last five or six years as a group with fantastic results. Their productions have repeatedly topped industry charts with huge support from a now global fanbase and their work as a collective performing DJ act has seen them take UK hardcore by storm as they secure residencies and regular slots alike on main stages with the scene’s hottest promoters. 

With the likes of HTID, Hardcore Heaven, Bionic, Unity and many more picking up the phone to get the boys involved of late, combined with their repeat performances at Total Barnage and Rave Unity of which they are residents and an eagerly awaited debut artist album in the works; I caught up with the lads to see what all the fuss is about - as they prepare for a very busy weekend ahead at not one, but two gigs, both of which they have had a hand in - Apocalypse Vs. Core Unity in Southampton and Rave Unity at The Rooftop in Birmingham.  

Gentleman, how are you? We’re catching up with you after quite a whirlwind 2014 so far, we’re half way through the year, exactly how much has been happening in that relatively short space of time, give us the rundown?

“Good evening Mr Brown, we are all extremely well thanks for asking. Well, where shall we begin? The first six months of 2014 have been an epic rollercoaster from the 1st of January to doing this interview with you right now. Firstly we would like to touch on the DJ'ing side of “Technical Difficulties” as a collaborative act, where we have had our busiest start to a year ever! Not only has it been our busiest year for bookings, we have also been given some incredible opportunities to showcase our productions on some of the biggest stages to boot! 

To name a few, there was ‘Unity / Bionic / Hardcore Heaven’ in February at Motion which was absolutely insane; ‘Critical Mass & Raw Energy’ where we performed a four way back to back set with the Welsh legends - The Last Of The Mohicans in Leicester, again, rammed to the rafters. ‘Fusion:The Return Of The Legend’ at The Old Firestation in Bournemouth, being our hometown which was a sell out and where we entered a mix and were finalised from 300 entries into a competition, which we made the cut for the final ten and had the place rumbling with local South Coast bad boy MC Lixxy. 

Last but not least, we were warming up for some of the biggest UK hardcore legends in the scene today at our home ‘Total Barnage’ at the mighty Barn in Portsmouth that have so far included Kutski, Dougal, Breeze and Styles & Breeze upcoming in July. To top all of this off, we have been asked to perform at the ‘HH Award Winners Party’ at Hardcore Heaven in August at the O2 Academy Bournemouth, where we will be performing on the main stage, which we are completely ecstatic about! This holds a special place in our hearts for myself (Gary) and Lee, as this was the first super club that we went to back in our teens, so this will be an extremely memorable night for all of us.

On a production level we have been working harder than ever in the TD studio, working on perfecting our sound and the release of the eagerly anticipated Technical Difficulties debut album! The TD studio has also undergone a spring spruce and is sounding as crisp as ever to work in. We have also added two small football goals in there as well which was agreed by all parties, and as you know us, we like to piss about when we’re not working! 

We have also been working with an exciting new team and event brand called ‘Rave Unity’. This brand is all about bringing back the old ways from the early days of the rave scene, where only the music and the ravers mattered. The brand is also very determined on helping the new breed in the UK and offers hope to artists who are talented, hungry and looking to get their names out there, which can be a very difficult process with today’s bursting DJ and MC scene. Rave Unity consists of four genres and sub brands as follows:

Bass Unity = Drum & Bass
Classic Unity = Old Skool
Core Unity = UK Hardcore 
Unity Goes Harder = Hardstyle / Gabba

The team consists of Nick, Mandy, myself, Gary (DJ Axis), Jo Savage, Martin Sacree (Apocalypse Events / TDC), Apollo, Chris Shutts as our Art and Design Manager and obviously yourself Jon as the parties very recently appointed PR Manager. We will be putting events on all over the country and in Europe, so watch this space... big things on the horizon!

Lastly we have been working extremely hard on building our already incredible fan base which we truly are humble to everyone who comes and supports us when we're DJ’ing at gigs around the UK. The support that we are receiving has been incredible and we are always trying to give free tracks out, new mixes, and in return, we keep them updated with our crazy videos from our studio sessions and snap chats. Massive respect to all of you, you rock!”

Indeed and I thank you for the mention, I’m also wondering with the addition of Football Goal Posts if the album is actually getting finished this year? Ha,Ha. With all that in mind, did you think that two years ago you could see all that happening and in answering that where do you see yourselves, two years from now and where would you like to be, ideally?

“The answer to this question is no, we had no idea that we would be this far down the road two years ago, to where we are now. We have worked so hard to get to know all the promoters at the events, meet and say hi to as many ravers as we can and spend countless hours on perfecting our sound in the studio. We will be honest with you, this has not been an easy road, but we have always had fun along the way, not taken ourselves too seriously and had a laugh all the way!

Two years today, we would like to be headlining main rooms on the biggest stages. We would like to see our debut album do well and hopefully start working on a second album if anyone buys the first one (laughs). We would also like to be booked abroad, as this is something that we have never done, so definitely waiting for that phone call. Not too much pressure on you there Jon! (Laughs again).

Also it has been a pleasure mentoring some of the younger talented artists in the scene today, where we give our advice, tips and general feedback on mixes and so forth to aid them on their journeys through the jungle and we would like to see these artists on the big stage in the future, living their dream, like we are today!”

I have a booking for you on the Isle of Wight, does that count? Ha, ha. While we’re jesting, let’s have some fun, as there’s a few of you. Actually before we go ahead with that, want to clarify exactly how many of you there are and what part each person plays please...

“There are 4 of us in the crew...

Ed Ash – Head Producer / Studio Technician / Plays Piano / Guitar and the best dancer in the group.

Lee Boyce – Acapella Junkie / Vocalist Scout / DJ, General Dogs Body and Tea maker of the group.

Gary Lane – Pianist / DJ / Promotions Manager / Core Unity Promoter / Always taking the piss and joking about and official stresser outer of Jon Brown on important matters. Ha, ha.

Martin Sacree – DJ / Apocalypse Events Owner / Sound Technician / Events Management / General Charmer and brought in to the group to tap into the GAY scene to boost a new fan base!"

I’m glad we cleared that up. You forgot to add, reason why I have no hair left (coughs loudly) - I mean reason why I’m so happy and driven and focused! Right, fun stuff, in each of these situations tell us, out of the four of you who is most likely to...

> Cry at his favourite team winning the Cup – “Lee”
> Randomly think of something funny and then laugh uncontrollably in a really inappropriate place (such as a serious meeting or funeral, etc)... – “Gary”
> Spend half his time at the Gym... – “Ed”
> Behave most like a Rockstar – “Martin”
> Convince the rest of the group to drink Desperado’s and get so drunk you come up with a hard german trance, hardcore, drum & bass, jungle hybrid track in the studio (this actually happened)...
– “All of the above!”

Back to business and on the subject of production, what can we expect from your forthcoming artist album, what is there about it, that you feel, like your work as a live act, that sets it blazing apart from the pack; when can we expect to hear it and a rough idea on release dates?

“Well as you know we have been producing as a team for the last six years and our sound has changed a lot over the last eighteen months, which has taken time to perfect! When we set out back in 2008, we always said we would be original, keep it fresh, bring the epic earlier dance classic sounds from the 90’s into the 2000’s, using all of our experiences in music to mash it all up to what it is today. Lee and I (Gary) used to mix oldskool, hard house, hard trance, house, drum & bass, happy hardcore and now UK hardcore and Ed loves reggae, soul, jazz, electro, house and d&b. So I think you can now see where our sound comes from and add all this into the mix, then boom there is your TD Molotov Cocktail Concoction!

When we DJ live, a lot of effort and time goes into every set. We do a lot of research as to the club and the town that we are performing in and tailor each set to that audience. We have even started to record the sets that were going to perform and listen to them back, so that each mix has the biggest impact and the set builds from the start to the finish. We get a lot of feedback from ravers about our sets and how gripping they are, so I guess we’re doing something right! As for release dates, it's due this year, but that's all we're saying for now, keep eyes peeled and ears opened!"

I think that’s a fair statement and the results are very much speaking for themselves. You have an absolutely huge weekend coming up, with Apocalypse on Friday and then Rave Unity on the Saturday, you’re performing as artists, but also two of you have been very heavily involved in the organising of these events, want to tell us a bit more about what’s happening, what part you’re playing on the overall tour of the weekend, more info on the gigs and why everyone should be joining you at each (if not both) parties?

“Yes, this is a huge weekend for Martin and Apocalypse Events and The Rave Unity Team as Core Unity is joining up with Apocalypse in Southampton, this Friday (6th June) to bring you over fourty artists, twelve headliners of UK hardcore and drum & bass, across two clubs. A huge amount of promotion, time, effort, sweat, blood and tears has gone into this event, so I really hope it comes off and the ravers have an absolute blast! We are performing with the legendary MC Whizzkid for the first time, so you can imagine Lee and I (Gary) are extremely excited about this set! You don’t want to miss this!

On the Saturday night (7th June), Rave Unity takes over Birmingham at the Q club’s Rooftop venue where you can see Mampi Swift headlining the drum & bass room and Kurt headlining in the UK hardcore room. This has been a huge effort by everyone involved, as trying to put on an event out of your home town has been a huge challenge, but we’re all on this path to learn about promoting and we are all personally looking forward to representing RU in Birmingham! Hope to see you all there ravers!” 

Gents, thank you, I do believe you’re going to leave us with a mix to entertain in the run up to this weekend? Meanwhile we’ll ask that you also leave us with all the info to follow you guys online and keep up with you and see YOU at the weekend, hope everyone will be joining us! 

“Yup, as follows starting with the mix we’ve made especially for this interview and ahead of this weekend’s festivities Jon:

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: WELCOME TO THE NEW AGE EXCLUSIVE NEW MIX (FREE DOWNLOAD)
https://soundcloud.com/jmbpr/technical-difficulties-welcome-to-the-new-age-exclusive-new-1-hour-mix-free-download

You can find out more about the events we’re at by hitting these links:

APOCALYPSE VS. CORE UNITY
Friday 6th June 2014 | 20:00pm – 04:00am | Roxx & Aura, Southampton 
RSVP / INFO: https://www.facebook.com/events/591823490900741/
TICKETS: https://www.fatsoma.com/home/#search=apocalypse&city=southampton&date=

RAVE UNITY
Saturday 7th June 2014 | 22:00pm – 05:00am | The Rooftop, Q Club, Birmingham
RSVP/ INFO: https://www.facebook.com/events/1423816187889834
TICKETS: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/tickets/rave-unity/10030437

TOTAL BARNAGE PRESENTS PARTY FOR A POUND: THE SUMMER FANCY DRESS PAYBACK PARTY
Friday 13th June | 19:00pm - 01:30am | The Barn, Portsmouth
RSVP / INFO: http://www.facebook.com/events/252587064929082/
TICKETS: £1 entry, all night long, admissions on the door, limited capacity, first come, first served.

...and you can get more information on us right here...

SOUNDCLOUD: 
https://soundcloud.com/technicaldifficulties

FACEBOOK: 
LIKE PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Technical-Difficulties/209695825736146
GROUP PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/116067331876338/

TWITTER:
http://www.twitter.com</a>/gary_lane_30 @Gary_lane_30
http://www.twitter.com/edshocktdc @EdshockTDC
http://www.twitter.com/djleekb_td @Djleekb_TD
http://www.twitter.com/martinsacree @Martinsacree”

Words: Jon Brown
Pictures: Supplied by Technical Difficulties and are subject to copyright by the original photographers.

Technical Difficulties 'Welcome To The New Age' (Exclusive New 1 Hour Mix) (Free Download)

Express FM Film Critic, Writer, TV Presenter, Journalist, Promoter, Co-Founder Of SOC, Remedy MGMT.

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