Sad to say this week one of our favourite shops the legendary "hardwax " saarbrucken , germany finally closed its doors :( no more shall we see its like . The store run by our good friend and collaborator roger "23" reuter and henner "the hand" dondorff was a big big influence on our musical journey .

As it was sometime in 1998 james and i were booked to play at the timewarp fest in saarbrucken and this being one of our early trips into unknown territory .......we explored as we like to do in most places ! the hotel was on top of a hill and ......
as we passed the beach volleyball court in the town square , and then passed a church built by adolf . sorry had to mention that :(

Then, past the irish pub and down the road we saw a sign - HARDWAX - eh here ? this is not berlin ? as we approached our breaths quickened (too many joints) and our smiles got wider . fuckin cool - a decent record store in this small provincial german city.

We pushed the door and the proprietor said " i am sorry we will close in 5 minutes " (in german) but it was only 4 pm?, eh?, typical german efficiency ! "please come back tomorrow " . as we left we said a few words and gave the young man our debut cd "snowboarding in argentina" ... typical self promoters!!!!

That evening , as luck would have it timewarp fest was crap , except we blew the soundsystem and had a fire blower blow - fire while we played ..... to 10 people . then tom middleton weaved his magic and we went to bed early while carl cox cooked up a storm.

Up with the larks and down to see the store , like two kids into star wars ! there we found our man roger who "loved" our cd (he actually listened ) and placed a few quality bits of the black crack in our sweaty palms . i approached the turntable (thing that you play vinyl on you pussys) my head was thumping from the cheap heineken rider.....but one tune jumped at me like a salmon out of water !

Donna - mmm - hardwax label - the most amazing acid electro / house / techno tune i ever heard :) still amongst my faves ! plenty more came out the store with us from BC, playhouse,perlon, WMF, klang, pokerflat , even gigolos !!! sadly now its gone and the vinyl is dying too ! as you may or may not know the roots of djing is in vinyl which began with jimmy saville (not really) . frankly i think if you are a dj you should play records and support music stores . downloading and burning makes it all too easy to find the good shit. the days of trawling in the second hand stores are past ,but i like a good rummage when i visit strange towns .......

The message is support the artists , support the stores and enjoy the music . Dont steal please.

Since that day we invited roger 23 to play with us at fabric many times , then we released his tracks on 240 volts , and are best friends to this day . Henner will be twiddling studio knobs and i am sure producing a fine techno record very soon ......and selling premium grade compressors !

Roger and myself will be djing in istanbul this friday........strictly vinyl!

In the history of music and bands a name has always been bigger than the sum of it's parts. There are several formerly bigtime 70's bands who tour with none of the original members present, at one time there were 3 different groups all claiming to be the Temptations and all touring simultaneously. Is this i cause for concern? does the paying public care? perhaps all they want is the name and individuals are not of great importance to them. The hardworking fake factories of the east are proof of the power of the brand, that in fact many consumers are not too concerned with the quality or origin of their goods as long as the logo is present.

For many musicians a band name can be both essential for success, but also a constraint against development. We all work at the beginning of our careers to build our name, but often with any success there begins to be an expectation on the part of fans, agents and promoters. I would love to see the Rolling Stones play their next tour entirely on modified Speak and Spells, as im sure they would enjoy the change ..but poor old things, they are trapped in this bubble of guitar/ rock posturing.

Thus i find myself victim of the name game as i travel to Paris to play a solo gig, that was booked as JAMES TAYLOR, but where a greedy/ dishonest promoter has billed me as SWAYZAK. I understand why they do this, but to me it is the height of oppertunism and basically misleading to any swayzak fans who shell out their 20 euros and dont get what they paid for. I know that the music bussiness has never prided itself on its high principles and we are not the first to fall vicitm to this kind of ploy.

So kids the lesson here is not to belive every flyer you read and always demand a refund if you believe you have been taken on false pretenses.

posted by JT

It struck me the other day after being asked to be tested for radiation on BA flights , that perhaps i was flying too much ! but the radiation from russian spies doesnt bother me, more the crap we get from being so high in the sky , closer to the sun! Did anyone mention that? and the sandwiches are awful !!!! thought i better write a blog before its too late.

apart from that we are working hard on a new swayzak lick for sometime in the new year . we already looking at may 2007 with k7 records ! some 10 - 20 tracks already being considered and i know my preferences . we plan to get a snippet up on site soon ! looks like a step in the old way plus a two- fingered salute to the minimal scene .......

2007 will be celebrated by us here at swayzak industries as our 10th year since having a proper job ! well worth celebrating and we plan a series of events to coincide with hugo chavez being re-elected ! well that was easy , big -up hugo !
1997 saw our first release bueno / fukumachi on swayzak 001 . it was recorded in a notting hill (when it wasnt beverly hills) bedroom , and we had croissants for lunch ! but soon after complaints led to us going down the pub. all went a bit hazy after that ! we left the DAT machine running and a croissant on the midi keyboard - what a result ! SWZ001 was closely followed by a frenzy (not)of 12's until we signed to k7 in 2002 . The majority of these 12's made up our first album "snowboarding In argentina" (still not been) and yes we plan a 2007 version with remixes . we have also negoitated the release of some special 12"s this coming year . the first will be swayzak 013 back to the roots of the sway and a fore-runner to the new long player . coming soon 240 volts 12" from the archives ! strictly limited as kompakt never want to re-press !

Our long time suffering collaborator and co-dj popla1000 , resident of portland ,formerly of amsterdam , soon to be resident of amsterdam again ! the man responsible for so much swayzak art and crafts since 1997 has now his own gem up and running check www.popla1000.com where he ludicrously claims we never paid him, i know for a fact i bought him a strong lager in the star for our first logo. cheers popla !

2007 will also be our year of entering e-commerce (whatever that means) and our launch of some fine merchandise , designs from err popla1000 ! so keep your bellies slim this christmas . . .

watch out for a few remixes in the new year - jack arel , terry lee brown coming soon !

talking of vinyl - does anyone buy it anymore ?



i hope so ! otherwise were fucked.................