The Hivemind _ Interview with Macronite
subsekt 011 is a special mix from the residents of the best club in Ireland; Macronite. You need to get inside The Hivemind if you want to know where they’ve been & where they’re gonna go..
With an encyclopedic appreciation of music & an incredible sound system, they regularly bring the likes of Surgeon, Inigo Kennedy, Lakker, Oscar Mulero, Northern Structures, Kriz, Forward Strategy Group, Perc & Pinch (to name but a few) down for a serious session.
subsekt 011 will be broadcast on Fnoob on Wednesday 17th October 2012 @ 2200GMT. It will be available on soundcloud after transmission.
I personally know the story.. But I suppose we need to introduce you properly to those who don’t haha – Can you tell us about how Macronite started? Was there a time when things were more “Micro”?
Yes, back in 2007 Dan started a night called Micronite – to showcase Techno in the city…there wasn’t much on back then and now & again a night would pop up and then never happen again. He wanted a monthly one that lasted. So Dan, Cian Frawley (who now runs Never Learnt Records) & Graeme Stackpoole (now runs Hsuan records) played tunes, wasn’t until Kev Blake from Electric Underground offered a flight-share on Fairmont, which turned out to be an immense gig, that international acts started going, which led to Camea, Bloody Mary, Fairmont, Dapayk, Florian Meindl.. They all played. And more people too (can’t remember!).
That was the sound back then…..
However it changed when we moved to Dolan’s and booked Jachoozi. After that gig we had our 2nd birthday party & all residents playing and it was packed. The sound definitely began to get harder and of course, we had two new residents, Ruan & Niki. By the time we were there a year or so, we had Loops Haunt, Sunil Sharpe, Fran Hartnett & Exium play; a lot harder and grittier sound….but then again, things always change.
That’s what keeps it interesting!
Anyway Micronite was going on & then Baker’s shut down leaving FDB & Fried homeless.
Eanna from DB was already running the Terrace at Micronite, so we threw our musical lot in together and that started where we are at now; Macronite.
So how many are in the Hivemind? Do you have specialists that are dedicated to particular tasks? That’s always going to be a strength when you’ve got to keep all the plates spinning..
When first started it took us some time to figure out our strengths,although we have our main strengths they are not clear cut every one helps out where they can, there are a lot of cross overs in our rolls but normally Ruan handles visual design, Niki and Greaney,do admin and tech, Teddy looks after promotion, Eanna is production, Dan takes care of Press, Don is the sound system guy. But there are more people that give their time to the gig each month.
Are you suspicious in terms of bringing outsiders into the crew, or are you open? Does the collective have to be ready to defend its ground when the initial fuzziness wears off?
Well from the start Macronite was based around a community of people, and that’s remained a massive part of why we do this, the Hivemind itself has changed personnel over the time we’ve been together, people have come and gone, and that’s fine with us, it keeps us fresh! As for other promoters, we get on well with many other crews round the country, and we play at and promote eachothers shows and it’s generally a really positive vibe around the various crews, and we all do different things so there’s no real toe-treading.
I often see DJ’s talking about you on Facebook, telling someone who is about to play that the crew is nice and the sound system is great etc.. Have civilians started to come from from abroad as well?
Yeah, that feedback is an amazing feeling alright, it’s one of the big perks of the job really! We’ve had a few foreign visitors alright, some people traveling from around the UK and some from the mainland here and there, word has been getting around steadily! We have a regular contingent of people traveling from Galway, Cork, Dublin and beyond already so we hope that’ll just keep expanding.
So tell us a bit about the mix..
Macronite resident, Ruan Flood handled this bad boy, it was done just on the fly with a set of tunes he’s currently enjoying.. And we rather enjoyed it too!
Did any of the tracks from the special moments at past nights find their way into the mix? There must have been several tracks that have made the hair stand on the back of your necks. Mulero playing LFO’s Butterslut was manic..
No, the mix is looking forward, same as we always do. We’re always collectively looking for fresh and quality tunes and this is a techno selection that represents what we’re listening to right now (literally, as we were writing this!) and maybe a hint of things to come over the next while.
As to the Macronite classics, some of the biggies are:
Surgeon – Radiance.
Blawan – Why do they hide bodies under my garage
MPIA – WTTP
Joy O – Ellipsis
Source Direct – Exit 9
How do you organise the roster for who is playing etc.. as there’s a lot of diverse music spread over your 3 floors..
It really depends on who we’ve booked to headline and who’d be most suitable, while keeping it fair so everyone gets a good slot as often as everyone else! As to the music policy, that is highly prone to change depending on what we’re listening to and feeling, it’s changed
a lot since the start and it’ll continue to change as music does, variety is always good, and there’s a lot of peer pressure to keep the quality up, with this many of us with such strong feelings about music! So far we’ve had Inigo Kennedy, Sigha, Perc, Forward Strategy Group, Surgeon, Mulero, Boxcutter, Northern Structures, Source Direct, Equinox, Fanu, and most of Ireland, and we have Pinch & Tessela coming up soon!
There’s a voracious appetite for good sounds in Dolan’s. Should clubs provide an education as well as a good time?
We’d like to think that every Macronite is exactly about that. We take music very seriously and we take having a laugh seriously too. Both are essential! There’s a lot of love goes into it, both from us and the community that comes in, and we’d love to think that shows,
you can feel it there, y’know?
At what point do you stop being a fan and start being “professional”? Is it a good thing to meet your heroes?
Being professional just means getting paid, as we work as a not for profit co-op we try to do things to the highest standard we can regardless of economic factors, really. All of us have been involved in making or promoting music for years, so it’s naturally something we
ended up doing, and besides, there’s lots of acts we wouldn’t get to see unless we got them over, so we had to do that! We’ve really had wicked times with pretty much all the artists we’ve had, some stayed and partied, some just hung out, but it’s been fantastic. Theres been a lot of
really cool people.
We’ve found that most DJ’s are like us so there’s instant common ground.
Meeting your heroes is UNREAL!
Footage from Macronite with guest Oscar Mulero
Has there been any opportunity for Macronite to guest abroad yet? You must be making serious contacts.. is that something that might be considered?
Yeah there’s a few things on the cards in Europe coming up next year, but right now we’re really just getting to get the name out across the country, we’ve got gigs coming up in Galway and Dublin soon and there’s more things in the pot yet, so you’ll know more when there’s more to know.
I saw you talking before about wanting to book Surgeon and how it was an emotional experience when you got him to play at your night. How do you beat that? What do you give the person who has everything? Can anything ever beat that first crackpipe? haha
That was a big one alright, but to beat the first crack pipe hit you simply double your dosage!
That’s what we are doing in terms of our bookings and widening our sound, it’s about pushing forward as well as getting some legends. There’s really been a good few gigs that we’ll never forget, and we’ll just keep trying to make that keep happening!
Whats next up in terms of bookings for the rest of the year etc.. have you started working on Paddy’s Day 2013 yet?
No… bwahaha… As we mentioned before we’re always looking towards the future. As we do our bookings a few months in advance trying to decide who we want can sometimes be hard, only having 10 gigs in a year and there being so many quality acts out there.
And have you considered starting a music label yet, or at least extending the T-Shirt range to some “Richly Hawtin” style-wear? Haha! Seriously though, with all the groundwork you’ve put in, I think that would be a fairly natural progression..
There will most certainly be a label at some point! As to apparel; well, it is a great logo…
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subsekt 012 will be provided by Roebin de Freitas (RDF) & shall be broadcast on Wednesday 31st October 2012 @ 2200GMT.
Macronite Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MACRONITE.Limerick
Listen live on Fnoob: http://fnoob.com/radios/fnoob-techno-radio
subsekt is a blog, forums & online network focused on Techno.
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Music production and history are my biggest passions in life.
Though people often say that Techno is faceless and should be about the music blah, blah, blah.. I believe in the need to document the people and stories behind it. Techno is a very small world in reality and I think it needs a proper resource.
I hope that everyone who is interested in Techno finds this blog accessible in terms of the way that it is written. I personally prefer to hear the artists voice as loud as the music and never enjoy synopsised and pasteurised versions of old conversation; the sort that's peppered with the occasional quote here and there.
Sean
Oct 21. 2012
Nice read lads, actually forgot to read it till now 😀