Interview Kutski.
LET'S MEET KUTSKI!
With the Tidy’s Extreme Euphoria event at Heaven in London fast approaching we decided to catch up with one of the hottest Hard Dance acts out at the moment Kutski who will be headlining the gig on Friday 27th January with some of his extreme hard dance goodness
2005 saw Kutski become a firm favourite at many top clubs such as Frantic, Sundissential and Slinky, where he has blown away crowds with his electric style, raw uncharted passion and extreme technical ability. These attributes led many people to label his performances as 'set of the night contenders' 2006 already looks set for Kutski to continue to grow with is reputation has one the of the biggest names in Hard Dance
With his show 'The Residency' on Radio One, that continues to increase in popularity with each broadcast. Radio One have been inundated with positive feedback from listeners to the show including listeners from America and Asia.
We sat down with Kutski to pick his brain about his appearance at Heaven, Tidy Weekenders his residency show and New Year Resolutions
What did you get up to over the festive period? Where were you playing?
I wasn’t mad busy over Xmas. On the 23rd I played back to back with Sharkey at the Freeformation Xmas party which was a wicked night!! I had Xmas eve and Boxing day off which was cool ‘cause I’ve been out for the last two years and it kinda kills The chilled outness of it so that all turned out good!
NY was more full on!! On NYE I was playing at Inside Out in Glasgow, which I’m sure everyone knows how mental it normally is… X10 at the end of the year!! Crazy stuff! Then I had a ‘short’ journey south to play last set at Slammin’ Vinyl at the NEC, Birmingham! That’s was good because I was just as knackered as the dancefloor, so it like a case of us all trying to get through the last hour together! Haha! Time for the big tunes at the back of the box innit!!
Then of cause Tidy Blackpool on NYD!! Absolutely rockin! I really think the Tidy crew are getting to grips with me and what I’m about now! I can drop something crazy, and people will give me a chance to see where I’m going with it, or not take me too seriously!!
Ah Yes the NYE Tidy Weekender did you hang around for long after your set if so, did anyone grab your attention whilst there, did you debauched any tables for the tidy faithful etc ?
I was a bit of light weight to be honest!! I got there a couple of hours early and caught Marcel Woods (Very impressed!), and Scot Project who where both wicked! Then after me, Johnny Doe was on, and any one who respects artist integrity, respects Jon Doe! So I had to hang around and catch his set and see what he’s up to! I stayed for most of N.E.C Live, but then I had to concede to sleep deprivation! Like I said, lightweight!
Talking of Tidy Weekenders, Your Tidy Weekender debut in October saw you perform one of the most outrageously diverse & brave set’s I’ve ever witnessed, combing hard dance with everything from hip hop to rock. What was your inspiration behind this set & were you nervous about performing it in front of such a large predominantly Hard Dance audience?
It was about a year since the late, great, John Peel passed! As a lot of people will be aware, John was a massive supporter of our scene, and publicly supported it despite the snobbery in the wider musical world. When he passed away it was the week before I played Slinky for the first time, so to mark his passing and as a sign of respect, I played CLSM’s John Peel Not Enough.
When I realised TW8 landed on the anniversary of his death, I felt I wanted to do something special, partly as a tribute, but partly to continue John’s legacy!! John had a very eclectic taste in music, as I do, and therefore was a big inspiration for me!! I’ve always thrown a few abstracts bits into my sets, but I felt there was a need to concentrate this as I knew I’d have a wide audience and I wanted to try and provoke some thought into what the hard dance clubbers are entitled to except from a night out in a hard dance club!
Obviously I was I little edgy before I went on but I truly believed in what I was doing, so that wasn’t really an issue! I was really happy with how this was received and how everyone immediately got on to what I was doing!!
Hard dance has needed a little something different in it for ages; it can be a difficult genre to shake things up in. If you could set up something really extraordinary, something no one would expect, really throw away the guidelines, what would it be?
Haha… was that not what happened TW8?? Hard dance heads dancing to everything from Thomas the Tank Engine to 250bpm Speedcore???
I do agree that things need a shake up though! I was starting to forget why I got into hard dance with all this cool, credible techy stuff knocking around! House is cool, breaks are cool, hard dance and hardcore should be fun!! Hence the bounce revival!
And with regards to the guidelines, my decks mustn’t have come with the booklet that says “You shall play 149-152bpm UK hard house, beatmix the first and last 16 bars, and nothing else”. I guess DJ’s made these guideline to play safe, and then everyone has to conform. As you say it’s a difficult scene to shake up, but again, TW8 as the example, the dancefloors are ready for it!! Bring on 2006
Everyone is hyping you up and talking about you at the moment, are you worried that you might not live up to the pedestal people are putting him on or is it giving you inspiration to try harder and push boundaries even further?
I’m not really bothered about living up to people’s expectations! Everyone loves the new kid on the block while they’re fresh, and then you get the people that start to slate you once you’ve made it, and there’s nothing you can do about that! You see it all the time, and the important thing to do is know its coming and do what you believe in!
Just listening to a wide range of music gives me inspiration over time. I don’t push boundaries for the sake of it, it’s just my take on music, so it’s just evolution and will happen naturally. It’s not like I’ll sit down in 6 months and think “what can I do to be cutting edge now?”
Your debut tidy release “Nightmare man” received rave reviews from a cross section of the industries leading players, when are you planning a follow up & what other studio plans have you got
The follow up is done called “The Underground”. It’s very Euro orientated again, so it’ll probably be quite hard to digest for hard house purists, but there is also “The Darkside” I did with Nick & Jake (12 Inch Thumpers) which is more hard housey. Me and Sharkey are gonna work on a project in the first half of the year and I’ve got plans to work with Robbie Long, Roosta, Bunter, and the rest of my chums at some point this year too!
2005 as well saw you become the first DJ on Radio One to have a show solely dedicated to Hard Dance, how did you cope with the pressure before the first show back in March and how’s it all going now?
It’s been going amazing! It’s still crazy ‘cause a year a I’d never have dreamed to be in this position! I was completely bricking it before the first show, but at the same time I was really honored to be able to give the scene the exposure to such a wide ordinance!! It’s also a big responsibility because I have a very wide range of music to represent accurately and fairly!
It really is going great now though! Radio One have made some alterations to the residency line up, and have kept me on so it’s great that a massive force such as Radio One has taken notice of our scene, and re-assuring for me that I’m doing an acceptable job!
The Show in my opinion has grown in stature with each broadcast and as you know you have had inundated with positive feedback and recent reports have stated that your residency show is gaining a large following in the USA. Have you got any plans to go out there?
Damn right!! I’m probably the least traveled person, let alone DJ

Seriously, I would love to get out there and play! I know Eddie is massive out there, so I’ll have to tap him up for contacts, hehe…
It is really great to read emails from people listening to the show all over the world. A lot of the people that mail in aren’t specifically into the music, they’re just into dance music, tuned in, and loved it! That’s what’s so great about the show! It’s a great opportunity to break any negative stereo types about hard dance and hardcore, and get more people into the scene, so it can gain the status it deserves!
You've been bridging the gap between hard house and hardcore for a while, within your sets and on your show with Radio 1, do you see it as a dangerous thing to do? By which I mean if they morph together will it lead to us losing an avenue of inspiration?
No not at all! Infact the complete opposite!! Look at the work Nu Engery Collective have done! The lines are blurred between Freefrom, Hard Trance, Hardcore etc… This is the creativeness that comes from working closely with, and understanding different music genres!!
Plus the other massive factor is, if all forms of music such as Hard House, Hard Trance, Hardstyle, Freefrom, Hardcore, Gabba (and so on…), come under the one roof of “Hard Dance”, imagine how many people on the UK go clubbing to “Hard Dance” events every week?? Imagine how many “Hard Dance” compilations are in the charts?? See where I’m coming from? People can’t ignore it!!! It’s this concept that got our humble little slot on Radio One!!
With this being the start of the New Year have you made any New Year Resolutions you wish to share with the tidy faithful, you giving up smoking or have you given up already with your resolutions?
I’m fairly clean living to be honest!! I don’t smoke, do drugz or drink excessively so I get away quite lightly with new years resolutions!! I have actually knocked caffeine on the head though!! I drink stupid amounts of tea and coffee in work, so I thought, out of interest I’d see what happen if I stopped completely!!
The outcome: A big bast*rd headache for about a week, and minty fresh breath from all the peppermint tea I’ve been drinking!! Rock ‘n’ roll eh???
Thanks Kutski, enjoy the gig and good luck in 2006
Jah Bless!!