Dave Clarke (DJ)

Born in Brighton, East Sussex, England, Clarke was educated at Brighton College, but moved out of home at the age of 16 after his parents separated. Since the age of 8, Clarke has been interested in music and technology, and to him, "there was no alternative but to go professional." After a brief period of homelessness, a friend offered him temporary accommodation and Clarke continued to develop his love for music — initially hip hop and post-punk. The Damned was an early influence for Clarke and he continues to listen to the band during his music career: I bought my first Damned album because I thought they sounded like they'd be really evil... and even now their album Machine Gun Etiquette is one I keep coming back to. I like the attitude, the free rein of it, and on an artistic level I see my music as in the alternative genre rather than dance music. Techno and electro is an alternative that happens to be on the peripheries of dance music. During this period, his employment included a low-paying job in a shoe shop; however, his musical ambitions were established at this stage of his life: "I used to tell people when I was working in a shoe shop that I would one day travel the world based on a career in music... I was that driven." Musical success began when he attained a DJ residency at the Brighton nightclub Toppers, which rivalled a club night run by John Digweed (then known as DJJD). Clarke later explained that he regarded the period "as an apprenticeship". Clarke's music reviews were also published in the now-defunct DMC Update magazine and he reviewed the first single by Aphex Twin. Clarke acknowledged in 2013, "having my reviews in there [DMC Update] helped me to get the vinyls I needed to be out there DJing." ==Musical career==

Clarke's musical career commenced as a producer and his first release was under the moniker "Hardcore" on the XL Recordings label in 1990. The release occurred two years after he played his first international show at the now-defunct "Richters" venue in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 1992 Clarke launched his own music label, "Magnetic North", releasing recordings under the moniker "Fly By Wire". He then produced a series of EPs under the name "Red", one of which was listed by the DJ Mag publication in its "All Time Techno Top 100" list. Also in 1997, Peel identified Archive 1 as number 14 in a list of his top 20 albums at the time. Clarke then released a series of DJ mix albums, including two World Service sets, released on the React Records label at the beginning of the 21st century. The album ''Devil's Advocate'', released in 2004, was Clarke's output during a brief period with the Skint music label and featured collaborations with Chicks on Speed, Mr Lif and DJ Rush. Clarke relocated to Amsterdam in 2008, explaining in 2013 that he "just couldn't grow there [England] anymore." Following Clarke's performance at Richter in the 1980s, he states that he "fell in love with the place and hoped one day to live" in the city. Clarke commended Amsterdam in 2013, as it "has so many great things, an amazing way of life in the most beautiful setting with a bloody great big and reliable airport 15 mins away." Since relocating to Amsterdam, Clarke founded the "Dave Clarke Presents" event moniker that, as of 2013, appeared on eight sold-out occasions at the annual Amsterdam dance event (ADE) and hosted the second-biggest outdoor stage at the Tomorrowland 2012 festival in Belgium; Dave Clarke Presents returned for Tomorrowland 2013. Clarke has also appeared at other prominent festival events, such as Awakenings, Glastonbury, Pukkelpop and Nature One. Clarke explained in 2013 that the radio show "really is my way of paying back the scene." In 2014 Clarke will curate a stage at Belgium's Tomorrowland event for the third consecutive year and explained in a June 2014 interview with American magazine Big Shot: "In Belgium they always had an understanding and respect for underground music. I have been playing there for over 20 years so I think in their hearts they love having a bit of punk spirit on a very successful EDM festival, for me it is an honor to be entrusted in doing an alternative stage." When asked for his final thoughts in the Big Shot interview, Clarke stated: "An American mag asking me questions whilst I am not and never have been part of EDM has to be an honor." DJ equipment Clarke has not played vinyl in clubs since the end of the 2004, and instead played digital files on CD (his players of choice were the Technics DZ1210). In mid-2006, he then used the Technics DZ1210 in conjunction with Serato Scratch Live—with an SL3 converter—but also uses Pioneer CDJs or Denon CD DJ players (DJ SC2900), the latter of which he helped develop. For fast & easy navigation on Serato he is using a SpaceNavigator. Clarke explained in June 2014 that he never prepares his DJ sets, which he explained was considered "weird" by others. Clarke explained: I like to be on my toes and be instinctual and “live,” so I will deal with each gig as it comes. Of course some are more “pressured” than others, but as an artist you feed off that. ==Personal life==

In 2013 Clarke explained that his experience as a professional DJ was a combination of "ups and downs": ... the travelling is tough, the lack of sleep is a killer (3–4 hours over 2–3 days), giving up your weekends for 25 years needs understanding from friends and family, being dead tired on a Tuesday is really a bummer, being in cars for hours on end when you want/need to sleep can drive you mad, being in a club when people really get you and all is syncopated is pure magic ... ==Selected discography==

Albums • Archive One (1996) – UK No. 36 • Marcel Fengler – ("Sky Pushing") (2014) UK charting singles ==References==