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 No stranger to the electronic dance, festival and free party movement across Europe, London based French DJ Sue Ellen Tribe brings underground to the over ground and shares her experiences within a scene Hong Kongers know very little about.
Nilly: Tell us a little about yourself (real name, where you are from)
SET: My name is Virginie. I am French, from Marseille which is in the South of France, but now I live in London. Nilly: You were recently up in China for a few gigs. How was your trip up in China?
SET: China was a totally new experience and it’s also our first time in Asia. We were there for a week. We flew up to Kunming from Hong Kong and went to Beijing from there. We did some shopping some sight seeing and trying out new food. Simon even tried a cricket, but I think I have to be there a while before I try it! In Kunming we played at a club called ‘The Shelter’ which used to be an old bunker. It was originally about 10 km long, but they have closed off one section of it and redesigned it as a club. The place was totally packed and the response of the party was wicked! The club is run by a guy called Li Feng who lives up there and took us all around the city. For the first experience, this was great! In Beijing, we played at a club called Yu Gong Yi Shan. This club is run by a French guy, Pierre A, who brought us to China and looked after us there. Big up to Pierre A! The response was good, but not as good because there were three massive parties on the same night Nilly: Sue Ellen Tribe is an interesting name. Are you from a tribe or collective of artists? What made you choose this name?
SET: Well, I used to come from a tribe a long time ago! Before Sue Ellen Tribe! It was a couple of us friends who traveled and set up the biggest sound systems across Europe, excluding Britain, around 1992 to 1998. We were very active in this domain, trying to make the most of a new space, unused space or even a used space which we would borrow from the night and set it up and bring all the things we could to make it a good party!
The name Sue Ellen Tribe came from a friend of mine who used to take the piss out of me when I was on the decks and he thought the name suited me really well. It’s a silly name but the fun of it fits the music I play and I like it because it’s not so serious, unlike the rest of the music industry. Nilly: Is it correct to say that you are associated to the French ‘free party’ movement. If so, how long have you been involved with the scene and where is the future taking it?
SET: I started going to raves when I was about seventeen, going crazy with guys like Laurent Garnier and various other artists that were pushing the rave scene in France. Then in 1993, I met Spiral Tribe, who brought the ‘free party’ movement into Europe, firstly in France!
At that time I was in awe of the music. You could do whatever you wanted, but you had to behave. There were no ass holes controlling or somebody to tell us what we could or couldn’t do! I really liked it because we were growing up with the music, dancing and people were coming together!
But, in about 1998, the scene got really big, with crowds of about ten thousand people. It just became hard to control, people got ruder, it got messy! So 1998 was the decline of the movement. But I believe that there are always ups and downs. There will be an up again for this movement. Maybe mot in the same way, but the same people connecting with different people. The meaning will be the same, but the people’s way of working has changed, but these are passionate people and when they work the passion comes from their guts!
I don’t personally go to free parties anymore, at least not in France. But in the rest of Europe you have collectives working together for parties and festivals, but without the dark image of the scene! Nilly: How long have you been DJ-ing for and what do you do apart from DJing?
SET: I have been DJ-ing for about ten years and my main inspiration and influence came from the free party movement. Now I focus more on the ‘electronic circus’ which is a combination of performance and electronic music. The circus is called Baseline Circus and is made up of an old free party collective from the nineties. A year ago they bought a circus top and with their knowledge of putting on parties, they brought together performers and artists.
They are based in London and are currently working on a tour across England. They are still a young circus so it’s logistically difficult for them to move around over a sound system. At the moment there are like twenty people living together with a massive circus big top. It’s just more difficult, it’s not like picking up and doing a party at a factory! Nilly: How would you describe the style of music you play?
SET: I play a bit of everything really! I play some breaks, electro, house and garage, some 4 beats as well. Anything I like really, I’m not scared to mix things together. I just hate nights where it’s just the same kind of music! It’s always been my style to add variation. I take inspiration from the sound of the moment and twist it to give it a different shape.
I don’t create music, I mix and play it. So I use a tune like my sauce and mix with it, if I get bored, I choose the next tune and do the same. Nilly: How and when did you meet Crystal Distortion?
SET: We met ten years ago. I was living in Berlin and we started a sound system called Kamikaze. Around that time some mates from another sound system and Simon (Crystal Distortion) from Spiral Tribe; we all came together and formed Facom Unit had parties across Europe.
Gradually this grew, as we met collectives in Portugal and Italy and formed a massive posse called Sound Conspiracy and we traveled all over Europe until 1998 when Simon and I went back to France to have our first child.
Also at this point the posse was staring to get bored of Europe and moved to India on an improvised trip. They made a video and had parties in Goa and also up in Katmandu, Nepal. Nilly: You have two young children. Have your kids been to some of the festivals?
SET: I take them everywhere. Next time we come to Asia the whole family will come. My elder child, my daughter is nine and she’s cool with the whole thing! There is always someone here to show her around and take her to various parts of the festival and she’s always happy to help out and set up the party, she stays busy! My son, he’s four, so as long as someone plays Batman with him, he’s fine! Nilly; Do you split your time equally between France and the UK?
SET: Simon plays in France, I mainly play in the UK sometimes to other parts of Europe, but not much. Maybe it’s because they can’t pigeon hole me to a genre so they don’t like me! (laugh)
But at the moment DJing for me is not major. I enjoy DJing, but I’m not running after gigs. If they come to me it’s cool, but I do a lot of things that I enjoy as well…all the other creative things. Nilly: Are there a growing number of female DJ’s in the free party/ European festivals scene?
SET: Yes, there are fair few girls DJing, but they need to be quite pushy to get into the scene. They can’t wait around for gigs and get gigs because they are girls. Everyone needs to work hard in the scene, but you also just have to ask! Nilly: What sort of music do you think is steaming things up in both the UK and France?
SET: At the moment in Europe, Breaks is big! It’s grown so big that it’s almost commercial. But you have people who are making cutting edge breaks, like Cybeg, TCR, the label, who are trying to push the boundaries of breaks, not just the cheesy more housey break! But I did love it!
The German’s seem to be back on the scene with their heavy electro house. They used to have a very powerful sound then it just got a bit cheesy, fluffy, boring. Bt now it seems like they are projecting back out again. But I think they got influenced by the break scene as well! Nilly: Which present day artists do you respect?
SET: I would say, Dead Silence, who are mates with us. They are from London and do this punk and breaks live thing with a combination of instruments and technology! Tipper music is another favorite now. Nilly: How involved are you with ‘Labrat Audio Chemicals’?
SET: I run the Labrat Audio Chemicals label and we are linked to Expessillon, which is based in Paris, which we run with a very old friend of ours. Nilly: What are your plans for the future? (gigs, tours, albums)
SET: My plan for the future is more involvement with the circus o the performance side, work with more people. I don’t believe in a one man show as a DJ, so DJing will be on the side. I enjoy DJing where there is a party, with friends in festivals in Europe. DJing in clubs would just bore me.
Nilly: What sort of music should we expect at Sugar on the 24th November?
SET: I have to be there to know really. I have to test the crowd and see what they are feeling! Interview by: Nilly Chaudhuri www.labrataudio.com
www.expressillon.com
www.deadsilence.co.uk
www.baselinecircus.org
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