Music Interview: Spinning Double Ds

By Latifa Pelletier-Ahmed

If you’re looking for music to put on quietly while studying, look elsewhere. Hardcore techno is a genre demanding you to crank the volume to maximum, find something to hold on to, do a shitload of drugs and grind your teeth. Anything less than total physical commitment and you’ll be in traction for a month. Despite its “shut the fuck up and listen” sensibilities, the genre remain relatively unheard of and certainly not the most lucrative of genres for aspiring artists to get involved with.


“This is definitely not a money maker, you have to love it to do it that’s for sure,” exclaims Lucie (DJ Double D), an enormous advocate of hardcore techno and the rave scene for over a decade. “My goal is to promote that type of techno and that’s what the Resurrection event’s about.”


Its relative unpopularity makes hardcore techno hard to get in to, even if one were to have the inclination. In hopes of combating inaccessibility and simply “getting it out there,” Lucie runs a hardcore techno-based show every Friday on CJSW.


“You won’t come across is easily in the day to day business,” explains Lucie. “You’ll probably come across it either through a friend or tuning into CJSW at the right moment.”


Despite its similarity to other sub-genres of techno, Lucie insists hardcore is in a league all its own. Think about the fastest, most bass-injected techno song you’ve ever heard. Then speed it up to a level bordering on unreasonable, crank the bass knob until it breaks off and bash your face against some jagged concrete. Now you’re getting close to the kind of intensity hardcore delivers.


“If you’re familiar with industrial [techno], it has a very different cool and dark kind of [feel],” says Lucie. “Hardcore isn’t necessarily like this–it may be rough and tough [like industrial], but it’s got way more energy and hyperness.”


Still have trouble getting it? Understandable, as most advocates of the genre affirm one needs to hear it to be truly understood. For this reason, a lot of people attending the shows are part of the larger Calgary techno/rave scene. Hoping to break this mold, local hardcore artists are getting together for the Resurrection XII event–basically an enormous rave party where you can go dance your ass off and vibrate your bones with bass. Aside from the basic difficulties of promoting and funding a music event, events in this genre must also face the serious stigmas attached to the rave culture.


“A ‘rave’ is a dirty word, so we have to be really careful how we present it and how we organize it,” articulates Lucie. “One of the key things is not to make a bad event happen– maintaining a fairly decent profile.”


Resurrection XII is an all-ages show by the strictest sense of the phrase, with past similar events dominated by late teens to early thirty somethings. Any high energy and open minded individual should take the opportunity to experience it all. Featuring Double D, B Kiddo, Mantrakid (live PA), The Lotus Queen and Danny Diamond, Resurrection XII promises to be a hardcore show for genre enthusiasts or even people who like to support local music.