Back in the late eighties and early 90s, the UK was pretty happening for techno and dance music – It pretty much blew up there first with the acid house thing, so there was a lot going on, even in Scotland... In Edinburgh, we had the longest running techno club in the UK in Pure. They were the first in the UK to bring over many of the Detroit DJs to the UK, and were influential to everyone in Scotland at the time.

When we were running the club Sativa in Edinburgh, we were also organising free parties and setting up systems at the free festivals which happened back then. It was a big part of the scene we were all involved in, and we would also go down to London for the weekend to go to the Spiral, Bedlam, etc., parties which were going on. Many of the UK systems moved to Europe when the Criminal Justice Act arrived, so I went out there for a while, squatting and travelling around. It was a great time, with some of the craziest parties I've ever been to, I remember the first day I arrived in Holland I ended up at a party at a two-story primary school which had been squatted which went on for three days.

I started it with some friends in 1991, and ended in 1996. Steve Glencross and myself were the residents, with another friend Ian Brown playing also. Over the years all different people became involved, bringing different things to the club. At the end we had around 25 people all contributing; we had a techno floor, one for dub, reggae and ragga, and also a chill out room, we had people creating sculptures, re-designing venues with all our own stuff; it was kind of like a mini-festival. It was a lot of fun, doing all this, playing the music, and watching it evolve into what it did.

We never really set out for anything in particular, we just started a small club, so we could play the music we were buying, and to have a laugh with our mates – and it just grew itself over the years. It was like we were in the right place at the right time. The music was popular with the people at the time. Our friends like Neil Landstrumm and Tobias Schmidt were starting to make music and come down and play, as well as internationals at the time. I think Claude Young did his first UK gig there, [DJ] Hell came quite a lot, as well as Dave Clarke and others. On the other hand we would also have our friends from SP23 come and play regularly.   

Well, it would be absolutely crammed with people, real hot and sweaty, loud, really dark with too many strobes. The music back then was hard and dark... I still think that some of the best club experiences I've ever had were from back there. It was still at a time when the music was quite new, so the atmosphere was maybe more vibrant to now. I think that some people got a bit of a fright on coming to Sativa back then – the crowd was mixed with punky looking people with shaved heads, dreadlocks, piercings and tattoos as well as the people who would usually go to techno clubs.

I think everything has a lifespan, and it seemed to me that it was the right time to shut it. We had moved venue, and it didn't seem as good as it was.

Yes, it was a natural progression. At that point, as I said, Neil and Toby were playing at the club, as was Cristian, with whom I was good friends, so we started the label to get their music out. Other friends like Adam X, Jay Denham, DJ Hell all contributed also, so it was very much showcasing what we were playing at the club every week.

There were no real goals, apart from getting the music released. We were all into it, but no real channels at that point for releasing it, so it was all very DIY Again, from there it just all seemed to work, and go from strength to strength.

I think in general most of the catalogue has something in common with each other, even though over the years we have covered different styles by a quite diverse range of producers. We were also lucky that the artists always seemed to give us great material, or sometimes the crazier stuff that they did, which kind of fits with the label. I'm not sure where we fit in the market but we have always been able to sell our records, and there still is a demand for it now. People still like to hear something a little different.

We started the label because at that specific time we had a lot of material we wanted to release and couldn't have it all come out on Sativae. The first release was Jay Denham, which didn't fit onto Sativae that well, so we started Drought. Most of the darker music I think we have released has been on Sativae, but that doesn't always go to plan.

I don't think it's a reaction against anything – I've never seen techno as one thing anyway. The whole loops thing, for example, is only part of it, not the whole thing. I think we are quite insular about the music anyway, no one really takes too much notice of what's 'cool' at the moment, everyone just gets on with whatever project they are doing.

I think it's hard to say if there have been any turning points. All the different producers have added their own flavour to whatever anyone thinks is the 'sound'. Any originators or motivators would have to be all the producers that I was into when I first heard them, and still into now. Too many to mention...

The Tresor guys have always been genuinely into our music from the start, always backed us, and wanted to release it. You can't really ask anything more than that. Germany has always been strong for us – our stuff has always gone down well there, the people are open to different styles there, so Tresor makes a great home.

It's basically a cross section of the kind of thing I was playing the week that I did the mix. I didn't want to make it a 'greatest hits' thing – more of what I would play in a three-hour set, but put it into 75 minutes. I also asked some friends to contribute some exclusives to make it a little different... with tracks from Landstrumm/Horrorist, Vogel, Schmidt, Glencross, Tube Jerk and two from myself. There is an exclusive 12" out some time after the mix.

It was time for a change. I had been speaking about it for a long time and eventually just did it. I was born here and know the city well. I have a lot of family here, so it was the perfect place for me.

I don't think the moved me in a big way musically. Basically I still like and make the same stuff as I did before, but more that the people I know here may slightly affect the process. Missing Law Rain, for example, I did when I borrowed some samples from my flatmate, Funk D' Void, and just made my own track from sounds I normally would not use.

At the start I was just concentrating on the club, DJing, and the label, which was enough. Slowly I accumulated equipment, and was making tracks for quite a while before I finally released the first 12". As time went on I got more and more into the production side of things.

I'm both really. I like to combine the two in my studio, the best of both worlds. I like the analogue stuff for the hands on element of it, and the sound of course. But, digital is so versatile, and has more possibilities, so I like both together.

It's important, as we would all become bored if we were stuck with the same things to work with endlessly. It's great to always have new possibilities, but that doesn't mean that the music made is any better. After all the development over the years, some of the tracks from 12 years ago still sound as good as anything now.

That whole Sheffield sound what was happening in the UK in the late 80s/early 90s. They were the records that we listened to – they had all the beats and bass that we liked. I suppose it was almost like a bit of an update, a heavier version. I always listened to a lot of German techno, Italian stuff like Leo Anibaldi, all sorts of stuff, which somehow makes its way into the music.

I think you're really close! I still play old PCP records, old R&S, and UR now... There's an old Mover track on the mix CD. That's the kind of stuff we used to play at the club years ago, and to me a lot of it still sounds good now.

When I listen to music, it's usually these kinds of things that attract me to it in the first place. I suppose I have always been a bit like that. When I was younger, I was never into normal pop music, I was listening to Bowie from a young age, as I got older I got into metal, punk, hardcore, industrial... Never really light listening.

To be honest, I've been out of the UK for three years, and don't read the magazines. I don't take too much notice really, but there are not as many techno clubs as there were before. The club scene in that way did die off. It's a shame as there were always good parties in the UK. The media and superclubs all seem bland to me, and the progressive thing sounds like trance to me.

Even though the club scene has died a bit there, there always seems to lots of producers doing good things there – there doesn't seem to be any problem. I have been checking out some of the 2-step stuff from London, which is great – huge dark basslines, with almost electro drums.

As I can see, everyone is getting on with their respective projects, doing their thing. Hopefully making some good music in the process, trying to push things forward a little.  

I'm halfway through the next album, trying to get that finished, also a track for the new Feis compilation CD, as well as a few remixes here and there.

In the pipeline for release there's a collaboration with Tobias Schmidt on Sativae and another collaboration with Lars Sandberg on Missile. And Cristian and I are meant to be going into the studio at some point soon...