Elite Force, one of the many identities of Simon Shackleton, is known worldwide for destroying dancefloors with a hybrid mix of house, techno, breakbeat, dubstep, electro and everything in between… tech-funk is one way of putting it… another is: pure quality, pure class. As a producer, Shack has been recognized by his peers as a virtuoso… a master of the craft… honing his sound to a wicked blend of underground influences and engineered with a scientist ear. He keeps it fresh. Shack sets the standard.

On his just-released compilation album Re:Vamped (March 8—my birthday, no less!), Shack revisits some of the classic tunes and sounds of the past several years—mashing them up, remixing them, slicing them, blending them, and spitting them out into pure dancefloor rapture. Injected into this madness are some new tracks – including breakbeat juggernaut “The Law of Life”.

JR: So Shack, tell us, when did the idea for Re:Vamped come about?
EF: The idea to actually release the tracks came about around August of of last year. They were all originally intended just for use in my own DJ sets, but then I realised that there would be a good chance of being able to get licenses for a lot of the tracks I’d used, so we set about doing that … and man, it was a mission! We got there in the end though, even though some of the more ’snooty’ dubstep and techno labels weren’t willing to play ball.

JR: Is it any accident that much of this record is getting back to your breakbeat roots? Is it a fair assumption to say your roots are in breakbeat??
EF: I think that’s what people’s perception is yes. My own personal roots pre-date releasing or making any music really, and the first things I put out were techno 12″s and rock/rap crossover tracks with an extra helping of industrial yowwwlllll. But yes, I think most people know me more for my breaks productions than anything, and it just happens that a big chunk of this album is beats-orientated, as that was the stuff I felt was lacking from my own sets.

JR: While we’re discussing genre, you’ve had a lot to say about this matter on your Beatport blog, do you find that others are embracing your anti-genre position as you travel the globe?
EF: I honestly don’t think it matters that much to people on the ground — if the dancefloor’s moving and people are happy with the night and the sounds, then the job is done … it’s only when you delve into the darker corners of the internet on a Monday morning that you hear whispers of discontent from the self-appointed taste police and I’m done being bothered with all that.

JR: What are your impressions of where the US scene is at right now?
EF: It’s a tricky one to answer really given I don’t spend all that much time out there (I hope that will change after this album’s been released), but the opportunities to come out & play in cities other than San Francisco have been very thin on the ground over the past few years. I think it’s always going to be tricky in the US … there’s no cohesive national radio, each city has it’s own identity, the over 21 drinking rules are stupidly repressive and without serious tour support behind you to do what the likes of Crystal Method have done over the years, it’s very hard to make an impact. That being said, it’s been really inspiring to see what Bassnectar has been doing out there using his own unique vision of how to connect with people, and to an extent that’s been a lead I’ve been following in the last few months in establishing my own way of doing things, and the project has grown exponentially during that time!

JR: Was 2009 your first experience playing at Burning Man? What was that like?
EF: It was my first time, yes, and it’s a struggle to put it into words, even after months away from the Playa. I’m certainly not a religious person, but there was a spiritual element to Burning Man which really floored me & whilst I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to go back this year, it’s very hard to imagine not being there again. The DJ sets out there were a lot of fun and full of spine-tingling energy, but they were only a small part of the experience for me.

JR: About three years ago, we were chatting pre-show at Mighty (SF) about how to stand out as a producer. You mentioned that you receive countless demos and that aspiring producers really must understand how high the quality has to be. Do you have any advice on how aspiring producers (such as myself)—even those of us with some limited success on other labels—can take their game to the next level?
EF:It’s evolution not revolution for 99.9% of people. I think people’s expectations as producers tend to be unduly high and this usually means that people are unwilling to really listen to critical opinion on their music. The fact is that even a relatively successful release will only give you a slight bump in your profile, and if you’re not ready to follow it up with more material at regular intervals, you will find yourself sliding back each time you make a little progress, so it’s important that you are very organized and you follow up and follow through with any positives that come from your work. Use the networks heavily and creatively:  Twitter, Facebook, iLike, LastFM, Blogs, MySpace, E-Mail databases all have roles to play, so make sure your time is well spent and be prepared for a long hard slog with a LOT more hard work than most people imagine!

JR: The first time i heard “Mad as Hell” by Vandal was at Opulent Temple at Burning Man 2005 – Lee Coombs dropped it on an unsuspecting Saturday night crowd and completely changed the universe at that moment. As an example from this album – how on earth did Hatiras, JELO, and Stanton Warriors enter the equation on M.A.D? The result is amazing.
EF: Well when I was messing around with some ideas for new tracks & mashups for the album, I tended to have 30 or 40 tracks loaded up in Ableton in the same key as one another and just started experimenting with taking basslines form here, leads from there and big breakdowns from here … the basic principal was that ‘There are No Rules’ and no copyright (seeing as none of it was going to be released), and the result was a very liberating & fresh approach to the source material. If I ever did another one of these albums (which I may well do) i think it would be hard to be able to think quite as liberally as I could on this one, given that I’d be thinking about licensing restrictions & suchlike.

JR: Congratulations on all the success of your label U&A. What does the future hold?
EF:More of the same really. Developing the label as a brand a little more with some dedicated label nights, bringing through some of the younger artists I’ve been working with and giving them the best possible platform for the world to hear their music, and also looking forward at ever more creative ways of releasing music and communicating with people.

We would like to thank Shack for stopping by to answer some of our questions… and seriously people, do not waste time – pick yourself up a copy of this record on Beatport right away. Even by Elite Force-standards – this album is the fucking b.o.m.b. GO NOW!!

Album Review:

March 8 2010 sees Elite Force, one of Dance Music’s most admired artists, unshackle his brand new album, Re:Vamped, a jaw-dropping mix of bespoke refixes and re-edits that will redefine the art form.

Right from the word go, when Simon ‘Shack’ Shackleton created Elite Force the moniker became synonymous not only with gilt-edged class but also with the ability to deliver guaranteed club carnage time and time again. Straddling styles and riding roughshod across genre lines, both as a DJ and producer, Elite Force has carved an enviable reputation as an innovator, never staying still creatively long enough to be pigeon holed or trapped in a single scene.

The strength of his own musical output led to a series of critically lauded remixes for the likes of Miles Dyson, UNKLE, Groove Armada,Crystal Method Dylan Rhymes and Grandmaster Flash, that continue to cement his reputation as an aural trailblazer with a distinctive take on music. Already famed within DJ circles for his on-point re-edits that have drawn heavy praise from the likes of Fatboy Slim, James Zabiela, Laurent Garnier and Sasha, Elite Force has moved on from the simple restructuring of tunes to fit his set, viewing the tracks sent to him as raw material to be reshaped, retuned, chopped and reborn as something new, something fresh.

As sHack puts it himself: “I decided to embark on a whole new extension of the re-edit idea looking at creating a number of brand new tracks out of components taken from older tunes… proper mash-ups. Some were born out of simple live jams that evolved into finely tuned studio creations, whilst others were ground-up rebuilds where I was effectively writing new pieces of music using samples from other tracks. There was no fixed way of working and no sacred cows that went un-plundered.”

The result of this new approach is Re:Vamped a seamless excursion through Elite Force’s unique record bag taking in artists as diverse as Danielle Papini, Hugg & Pepp, Classixx and Bassbin Twins. Kicking off with the pounding kicks of Final Whistle sHack takes to the task with relish fusing French funksters Popof and Delon & Daclan with Lee Coombs & Dylan Rhymes before slipping into the euphoric energy of Red Lights & Lasers. Barbar Blaze’s bouncing b-line takes no prisoners as Palmer Brown’s searing a capella from Blaze’s ‘Do You Remember House?’ takes the track into the realms of uncharted mayhem, Harness The Nonsense sees sHack doing just that, entering heads down territory for a run of superlative cuts reassembling recent clubbing history into a whole that effortlessly transcends the sum of its parts. Dissecting elements of Propellerheads, Blatta & Inesha, Wolfgang Gartner and Meat Katie and assimilating them into a world of fierce subs, cavernous beats and incessant leads, before stitching them back together with consummate ease, Re:Vamped is brought to a heavyweight close with a re-reading of Bar9’s Shaolin Style that underlines Elite Force’s musical vision faultlessly.

In all twenty-eight mash-ups have made their way into Elite Force’s sets since the project’s inception, 16 of which appear on Pre-vamped. Several of those that didn’t make the mix have become part of the ‘Pre:Vamped’ project, a series of monthly free downloads that are set to become available across a massive network of online blogs & mailing lists. Keep checking http://soundcloud.com/elite-force for more information.

http://www.eliteforcemusic.com
http://soundcloud.com/elite-force

FULL RE:VAMPED TRACKLISTING:

1. Intro
2. The Final Whistle (Elite Force, Popof, Delon & Dalcan, Lee Coombs, Dylan Rhymes)
3. Red Lights & Lasers (Elite Force, Redlight, Meat Katie, Toob)
4. Barbar Blaze (Elite Force, Blaze, Hugg & Pepp)
5. Harness The Nonsense (Elite Force, Daniele Papini, Tim Green, Harnessnoise)
6. Reclaim Control (Elite Force, Calvertron)
7. Annihilate (Elite Force, 6Blocc)
8. The Law Of Life (Elite Force)
9. Rhythm Rocks The Blue (Elite Force, Stanton Warriors, Bassbin Twins, Dopamine)
10. M.A.D. (Elite Force, Hatiras, JELO, Stanton Warriors)
11. Cali Sk8r (Elite Force, Propellerheads)
12. Bring The Panic (Elite Force, Blatta & Inesha, Hijack, Rogue Element, Meat Katie)
13. Divine Act (Elite Force, Classixx, Wolfgang Gartner, Meat Katie, Roland Clarke)
14. Scrammed (Elite Force, Plump DJs)
15. Calypso (Elite Force, Datsik, Excision)
16. Shaolin Style (Elite Force, Bar9)