The Revenge

Glaswegian disco don Graeme Clark has been releasing shit-hot edits and original stompers for a while now. After toiling away in clubs and studios, and honing his craft for years, it was 2010's Reekin'Structions remix compilation for Joey Negro's Z Records that won him attention from dancefloors worldwide.

Not content with being best known for reworks, Clark is now turning heads with debut original production LP, Love That Will Not Die, set for release March 30 through his own Roar Groove imprint. Not many records out this year can lay claim to featuring Sister Sledge so when Clark got in touch and asked if he could give us a track-by-track, blow-by-blow, account of the record we were pretty, pretty jazzed.

Here's what the man behind the music had to say about it.

1. "Intro"

This was just a funny moment that I captured whilst playing with Craig Smith in Edinburgh. The soundsystem went off whilst we were playing and took about 10 minutes to come back on. The crowd went from mocking, to pissed off, to accepting that it wasn't coming back on, and when it finally did it was great. Unfortunately, I couldn't include that bit because I was playing someone else's music, but I thought it was just a funny way to start the record.

2. "The Seed"

This was the first track that I made with a new perspective in 2012. I'd been really ill and pretty much confined to the house so I'd moved my studio setup around and starting coming up with new ideas. I'd just played a live show in Glasgow as an experiment to see whether I still had a feeling for live, and that lead me to realising that the studio and the live thing were totally linked for me. It was an important moment.

3. "Crush"

I'd borrowed my mate Ali OOFT's Juno 106 for a bit and had recorded a lot of parts for different tracks. This had a sort of 80's Depeche Mode lead line that had sat about on my hard drive for a year or so. I just kept coming back to it again and again and it sort of crystallised when I made the beat a bit dirtier.

4. "Just One Touch"

This one was a fusion of a few different things. The rhythm had been part of a remix that I never quite completed and I just stumbled on it when I was putting the album together. The vocal bits had originally been part of a techno track which ended up becoming "MWI" from my first EP on Roar Groove. I just fused them together with the little drops and it became this.


5. "Incredible Shellsuit (Theme)"

"Incredible Shellsuit" was a track on my last single for my label but I couldn't squeeze it onto the album. I wanted it to be represented though because the hook always felt really strong. It wangled it's way in on this short melodic cut.

6. "Another Light"

I'd worked with Jesse on a few tracks and she'd been so patient with me chopping up all her great vocal parts. The track that was originally gonna be on the album with her just never quite fitted for me and so I was just jamming on another thing when I found this little bit of vocal that she'd put down. Just a kinda dirty, melancholic vibe.



7. "Night Fever"

I had the lead line of this one for a while with a different beat. It actually had a sampled beat and vocal, which would have probably been too difficult for us to clear, so I stripped it all down and built a new rhythm. I added some extra bits of percussion from my mate Esa Williams (Auntie Flo) that I'd recorded previously.

8. "A New Heaven"

This one went through so many different mutations. It was originally a mid-­tempo funk number with a really hooky melody. But I felt that it was almost too much for the album so I wanted to do another version that was more chilled out. I mellowed down a lot of the elements to get to this version which I felt fitted better on balance.

9. "Stay A While" feat. Sister Sledge

This collab came about by the magic of Twitter. Joni, Debbie and their rep, Sam, had liked a version I did of one of their early tracks and had mentioned it online. I got in touch to say thanks and that I was working on some new stuff if they wanted to hear it. We ended up with a day in London to put it together and it turned into "Stay A While". They were so cool and down to earth about the whole process which was so refreshing.




10. "Love That Will Not Die"

I had jammed this one with my TR­909 using the 'external instrument' function to make the bassline. It had sat around for a while as this raw­ slow­house thing with me adding extra bits, vocals etc. It became the axis for the album in an emotional way really - just a track that didn't need to say too much but said a lot to me.

11. "Otherlover"

This track has been with me for about 15 years in one shape or another. When I first started playing live around 2001 / 2002 it was a part of the set, and then it was just shelved whilst life took over. The chord sound was from my Waldorf Microwave XT synth that I've had for about 18 years. I had made the sound just before I made the track and it's been really difficult to match it. The synth needs some repair now, but I was glad I squeezed this one out before it pops its clogs!


12. "Tender Is The Night (Harder Is The Day)"

Another one that came from those tinkerings with the Juno 106. The chord pattern came first I think. I remember it starting with an old Kashif edit I was working on for my DJ sets which I'd played some chords over. I took the sample out and started jamming on it from there.

13. "Dance 4 U"

I think I made the original of this in 1999. I added the synth at the start very recently, but the bassline remains close to the original. The big rising woosh sounds came from my Waldorf synth again and had been recorded in the original session in 99.

14. "Love That Will Not Die (Reprise)"

This part was originally on the end of the main mix, but I felt that the flow of the album worked better for the original to be in the middle and have something to close the album off. It uses a muted part of the main melody that I never included in the main version.

Love That Will Not Die will be released on Monday 30th March on The Revenge's Roar Groove imprint and will be available on limited edition double 12″ vinyl, CD and in digital format. - Vice

Although he has been releasing music since 2004, Graeme Clark (a.k.a The Revenge) only this week released his debut album, Love That Will Not Die, via his own Roar Groove imprint. It shows an artist at the top of his game, masterfully bringing together his love of disco and slowed-down house to beautiful effect. In support of the album Clark has debuted an all new, totally live set up which will be part of the Love That Will Not Die tour.

The tour touched down at Badaboum, Paris two weeks ago, where the below live set was recorded. “I’ve DJ’d at Badaboum a couple of times before and it’s always been a great vibe - but this was my first live show outside of the UK and I was a bit more on edge just because there was a lot more to go wrong!" Clark says, "The live show is only an hour long, but it consumes much more attention and energy from me as there are so many elements to deal with. It’s like a skydive or something, once you let go you need to focus and relax at the same time - to feel the moment as it happens otherwise you miss the full experience. It makes it really special when the crowd feel that too and I think this recording reflects some of that energy.”

The official album launch party for Love That Will Not Die will take place tomorrow in Glasgow at Sub Club's temporary 'Sub Hub,' where Clark will be doing a short live performance and a Q & A. You can check out the exclusive premiere of the live set recorded at Badaboum below, with his upcoming live tour dates. - XLR8R

Glasgow's The Revenge may have first made his name with a series of highly prized disco re-edits, but in recent years on his own and as part of 6th Borough Project, he's minted his own distinctive disco-flecked house sound. With his superb debut album 'Love That Will Not Die' ready to drop, we asked The Revenge to create a mix for our exclusive DJ Mag Download Card — and to tell us about the long-awaited new record..........

Don't go thinking that The Revenge, real name Graeme Clark, is some kind of EDM thirsty, menacing super hero character — as his red and black identity suggests.

The Glasgow-based producer, DJ, label owner and wannabe art student, also known for his 6th Borough Project collaboration with Craig Smith, couldn't be a more amiable chap. And his sparkling, disco-kissed and Juno 106-enhanced debut solo album, 'Love That Will Not Die', is proof of his powers and prowess in the studio, although there's definitely nothing sinister about it.

Arranging his set-up for standing room only could also hold the key to his creative knowhow. “You're always standing up when you're DJing, you're always standing up when you're playing live. You end up going back to the studio and sitting down, and it just feels like it's taking longer to get anywhere.”

Released on his own cheekily-named label, Roar Groove, with vinyl copies selling out on pre-orders almost immediately, Clark's hands-on approach to the music industry, and his svelte productions, are heartwarming. “It's like having your own delicatessen or something, you make stuff, you deal with your customers, you get a better feeling,” he tells DJ Mag.

How's it going Graeme, with your studio and office half based at home?
“It's changed things for me in that, sometimes you feel like you're just pissing in the wind with records and a distributor, and you don't really know where they go, and you either sell out or you don't sell out.

This way you're dealing with the day to day orders, so you might get an order from the other side of the world or just in your own city or wherever.

The technology's come on so far in terms of being able to have your own shop, whereas 10 years ago I remember at that time you would have to have your own web store and you would have to get somebody to develop it for you, whereas now there's a framework there.

You can put your own design in and it's a lot easier to manage the orders now than it used to be.”

We absolutely love the album. It's really lush and we love the way it builds up...
“Oh thanks. I've done albums as part 6th Borough Project, having an album that's got a little bit of a story, and I've always had someone else to bounce that off before. This time the only people that heard it were the two people that help me with the label.

At the end there was a shortlist of maybe 50 tracks and I whittled it down, and it was a decision to make the vinyl, digital and CD to all have the same flow. And that was trying to create the same sort of story that didn't deviate depending on the format.

There were certain tracks that had to be on there, because they were collaborations that had been done with Sister Sledge and Jesse Rennix, so there were two given tracks that would be the linchpin for the album.”



It's a very listenable album, and that's quite a rarity...
“I don't expect that people would listen to it as a whole but also because of the constraint of vinyl, unless if we were to make it three twelve inches — maybe it would restrict the people that could afford to buy the album.

You can only make something that you believe represents your thoughts and where you're at at that time. In a sense a DJ set is a collaborative thing between you and the audience, when I make music I lock myself away and I really don't ask for anybody else's input.

In the way that it's my expression of me, or my feelings, it's completely single-minded. I care what people think, I find it hard to look or not look at reviews, even though it's hard to switch off from that.

My friend Paul who helps me run the label, helps me with the live act, taking a bit of equipment, he helps me pull it together and he helps with the label, it feels like we're part of the same thing.”

The closing and title track 'Love That Will Not Die' is very emotional, we nearly cried...
“God. Jesus. Sorry! I'm quite an emotional person, give me a couple of drinks or whatever and as time goes on I'll probably get emotional, but with music it's just instant, I really feel that that is the way that I can express myself.

With the album it's based on lots of things, relationships obviously, having a daughter, although that came in at the end of the album when it was almost getting finished. Just lots of things, just life stuff, music inspires me, but life stuff, just going for a walk or watching a film or stuff like that, music's probably the thing that inspires me as much as anything else.”

Yeah, you've gotta love emotive music...
“I mean why do it if not? So people look for a reaction, I'm not looking for that, it really is those moments when you're making a track and you're getting quite emotional yourself and it would be nice if people get it.

And people that have pre-ordered the album, it scares me because they don't even know what it sounds like. Their trust is based on some other tracks that I've made in the past and I don't know, it's exciting.

I get excited about records coming out. I'm such a control freak when it comes to all the packaging and even the delivery, and it all forms part of the same thing. Like the delicatessen idea, it's like having your own butchers or bakers, it is important to put the love into the thing that you make.

In a restaurant if you get food, if it's great, great, but if it's shit then really it just puts me off going back to that restaurant again. I think the same thing can be said about music or art or anything like that, it's important to have a connection and respect your audience.”

And you release cassettes on your label as well?
“Yeah, we're going to do a version of the album, an ambient version, which will be on cassette tape, which will come out for the summer solstice, 100 cassettes. Albums like 'Chill Out' from KLF are really seminal albums for me growing up, and I like the idea that you can take the themes of albums and strip them down.

You can do that with all the tracks and tell a different story, that's more of a blissed-out story.”

There's some lovely synth sounds in your album, do you have a lot of old school equipment?
“I grew up with hardware so I have quite a bit of stuff in the studio, I've trimmed it down over the years, but most of the synth stuff off the album was actually a mate's synth that I borrowed, a Juno 106.

It was all pretty much hardware-based, whereas years before I'd mostly been taking a software-based approach. It was only going back to just jamming in the studio with hardware, which is basically where the gestation of the album and the label came from.

That was the seed. And the second track on the album 'The Seed' was basically the first track that was the seed of the new label. And it felt that it should be part of the album because it was really the first track when I just jammed with some hardware in the studio and I got an idea for the track, and it just made me really rethink my whole process in the studio.”

With this album does it feel like you're going to be taking a step forward perhaps?
“I think musically not necessarily, but more in the sense that it was an experiment to see if I could manufacture something and release something myself or ourselves in terms of the label, get someone to do our press, and we've got a great relationship with them and the people that do the DJ promo, and they get it to the right people.

And having control of things like that, for me it's a step forward in the sense that the live thing can really coincide with this release as well so that's the thing that's been really important. So it is a step forward in the taking control of all of that, the making of it and having the confidence to put it out and say this is what it is, you can take it or leave it.” - DJ Mag