BILLY BUNTER

The last 18 months have seen another new musical force emerge from the rave scene. What am I talking about? 'Trancecore' is its name / pigeon-hole, depending on who you speak to. Personally, I'd call it the future of hard dance - that's hardcore dance. One of the main people identified with this movement from the very beginning has been Billy Bunter and his co-owned record label, G.B.T. (Great British Techno) that has been responsible for breaking some 'real' quality future music. There's no doubt that it has given the happy hardcore scene a good kick up the arse, and opinion is divided whether this was well-needed and whether 'trancecore' is any good as well. Billy himself has plenty of opinions on the happyside of things and how, in musical terms, happy shouldn't mean silly. Uplifting, yes, but not silly... and, to be totally honest, I agree with him. Sampled rip-offs like "I've Got The Key" and "Born Slippy" are bordering on the ridiculous and do nothing to enhance the reputation of happy hardcore (oops, another label). With this in mind, I set about to find out just how Mr Bunter sees the present state of affairs and what the future holds for himself and G.B.T.

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN FIVE WORDS

Serious, fun, moody, thoughtful, laughing.

YOUR MUSIC HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS TRANCECORE, DISCUSS

Every form of music I've ever been into, sadly, gets pigeonholed. At first people started to say 'oh it's trancecore', and I'm like 'come on people, don't label it so early on, at least let the music progress.' Fifty percent of it is trancey and the rest can be melody - so what label will they put on it then? Melodic-core? All it does is hold us back as DJs and artists and it just gives another segregated pigeonhole to be put in, to try and push it away from happy hardcore, techno, jungle... when it all should be as one. It's funny that a scene that has such so-called pride in its unity, is currently so segregated with loads of cliques. The label has come and stuck, but it's just self-destructive. At the end of the day, it's all rave and good quality music, but the people who label it come and go.

YOU SEEM TO BE TOUTED AS THE STANDARD BEARER OF THIS NEW SOUND, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Initially, G.B.T. and my DJing played a major part in getting it to ravers' ears and the eyes of the media. However, there are a lot more people besides, like Stage One, Ramos, Supreme & UFO, etc. I think the reason why we seem to get all the props is because we've totally believed in it for the last 18 months solid and stuck to our guns. Not once have we been side tracked into making happy hardcore for a quick buck, which a lot of other people have done. We've totally believed in the music and supported it 100% with the label and now there are certain people jumping on it that haven't. That's why we've got respect, because we deserve it. It's not like we've sat back and let people hype us up to fuck. We built it and will continue to build it.

WHAT'S THE IDEA BEHIND G.B.T.?

The whole idea behind the label is 'do what you feel' - whether DJing or as artists. Don't do what is being touted as the sound of now, or the sound that's going to make the so-called top DJs play the tune. Make what you feel inside - it has to have feeling. We could make a strictly breakbeat track or a vocal based one, but the music comes as moods move on, or as we discover new sounds. On the business side of things, we want to concentrate on various projects and an album, but we want to remain focused and in control of where it's going. We've had interest shown by some majors and some nice carrots dangled in front of us, but we have so far remained untempted. The money may be good, but if we don't like the people, their ethics or think they're trying to muscle in on the most important aspect, namely the music, then it ain't running! We've got to feel that G.B.T is going in the direction we want, regardless of big money, big labels and compilation interest.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ON THE CURRENT DELUGE OF COMPILATIONS?

It's a Catch 22 situation for small independent labels like ourselves who purely put out singles. All these compilations have affected 12" sales, which are down. When we started, we said we didn't want to get involved in the compilation thing, but it's so frustrating and heartbreaking if you bring out a firing tune and you earn fuck all from it, because of compilations flooding the market. It's a bit easier for me, because if I don't earn off a tune, I've still got the DJing to fall back on. At the moment, we've had a lot of approaches, but we only go with people we believe in like United Dance, Helter Skelter and the new one I'm involved with, "The Future of Hard Dance" on Alphamagic.

WHICH PRODUCERS ARE ON THE CUTTING EDGE?

It's got to be Citadel Of Chaos, Helix, DJ Fury and D'Zine. Fury especially, he's been well ahead of this time - certain people are claiming to be pioneers, but he was the original. Then there are people like Rob Vanden, my partner in G.B.T., Tripswitch, Tailbone, Austin Reynolds, Ramos, Supreme & UFO. So there's a little group of people on the cutting edge, not all the obvious names that always get touted, but were talking cutting edge! We've also got Miss Nic and DJ Swoon, a woman from Germany on G.B.T., which I'm really excited about as it's a good fusion of British and German.

WHAT HAVE BEEN THE HIGHS AND LOWS?

Lows: things like going abroad and getting stiffed for half your money and, over here, certain promoters that have booked you, now don't, due to the politics and back-stabbing that goes about - it's ridiculous. The music being segregated and not getting the recognition it deserves. The incestuous kiss-assing done by certain DJs in some magazines. Highs: getting the music out there, the label growing and the various projects we're involved with. Then there's the buzz of when you first start playing out - all your learning points: the early 2000 AD Desire's, the Labrynth residency and the Helter's are always a buzz - all the big events.