To help celebrate HeatUK's 6th Birthday at KOKO in London on Saturday 10th November, Hard House's hard man Paul Glazby will be serving up a very special 6 years of Vicious Circle classics set, showcasing the most memorable anthems from his seminal label. We took a trip down memory lane with Glazza to talk about 'Kick It', Madonna, and granny-scaring.

So when you first set up VC – did you have grand designs for the label or were you not looking that far ahead?

We were just glad to be involved in the scene at all! At the time the big labels were Tidy and Nukleuz, and then there were the smaller labels like Honeypot, Stimulant and Overdose (Paul King & Paul Janes’ label, not the big German one). We seemed to be making waves fairly quickly, due to ‘Kick It’ being a big track and then following it up with Andy Farley’s ‘Out Of Control’, our plans for the label grew pretty rapidly due to the initial success. We recruited most of the big names of the era to do tracks or remixes so we laid solid foundations for what we were about and then we’ve followed that (for the most part) in the same vein year after year.

Before it was available as an MP3, your first Vicious Circle 12” ‘Kick It / Rough ‘n’ Tough’ was changing hands for silly money on eBay. What did you make of the whole situation?

I loved it, I had a box of ‘em sat here and made a fortune! – Only joking! I wish I had.
It feels good that people think so much of it; it’s weird at the same time, to think that you can sit in the studio for a few hours and then years later, at the other side of the world someone will come and ask you to play it and then a club full of people lose their minds!

What have been the highlights for the label in your opinion?

One of the highlights for me has been ‘One From The Hardbox’. Before we did the album our distribution company told us the label wasn’t big enough to carry an album at that time - we did it anyway and it went down a storm! Sales weren’t out of this world but we outsold a lot of other labels that had been around for longer than us and I think it propelled the label forwards and put us closer to the likes of Tidy and Nukleuz.

The brief I put together for the album was to create something that would have the effect on people that ‘Trade 4’ or TdV’s ‘Live in Tel Aviv’ had on me years before, I think we achieved that. We purposefully mixed the album live so we got that ‘real’ sound; this was amongst the barrage of computer mixed albums of the time (and since!)

What’s coming up release wise? Do you have a musical direction in mind for the label as such or are you just picking up whatever you think is hot?

Just whatever we think is good at the time, I think what we’ve released over the last 12 months has been some of the best stuff we’ve ever put out and we’ve got some really tasty things lined up too. We’re putting a more varied sound out these days, from the likes of Catabolic or Organic, that have a more melodic edge, to our forthcoming Tinrib & Disturbed track ‘Shut The Fuck Up’ which you really wouldn’t want to play to your Gran – unless you hate her!

What’s going on with the VC sister labels Resurrection, NineNineNine and Neonate? Are they done and dusted now?

Well we had to concentrate on VC and due to vinyl sales dropping off so much the smaller labels just couldn’t cope with it, there may be things coming out on these labels at a later date but probably just on a Digital format.

Has VC felt the pinch from the reputed fall in vinyl sales over recent years?

Yes of course, times are hard, as I said before the smaller labels just couldn’t handle a 60% drop in sales, thankfully VC was selling enough to be able to take the hit and carry on but it gets tight sometimes

If you could go back and change one thing during your time running VC....what would it be?

There’s no way the 12” Thumpers would have remixed Farley’s ‘Out Of Control’.

You’ll be playing a 6 years of VC classics set at KOKO for HeatUK’s 6th Birthday on Saturday 10th November, which is sure to bring back a few memories. What are your fondest recollections of playing for Heat?

The 3 hour set I did on NYD 2004 I think it was, at The Fridge, it was fucking brilliant!

KOKO is one of those venues that has a long and rich history of playing host to some of the biggest bands in the world, much like Brixton Academy. Do you ever feel in awe of this history when you play at such venues? Ever stop yourself in the middle of a set and think – “fuck – I’m playing on the same stage as Madonna?”

I sometimes see her on the telly and think ‘fuck, I’ve played there, and I’m sure the stage is bigger than that’

And finally, if VC was a car, what would it be?

Range Rover Sport – big, sturdy, stylish, holds its value and will be around for years….

….not too good for the environment though!

Interview by Ben Gomori at Evolution99 – ben@evolution99.co.uk

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