WELCOME TO THE PHUTURE

Producers like Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Marshall Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles are given credit for the creation of house, techno and consequently dance music and club culture, but it’s rare that dues are paid to Phuture. This is strange, because without Phuture, now called Phuture 303, it’s doubtful that dance music would exist at all. After all if Spanky, Herb Jackson and DJ Pierre had never started fooling around with the infamous 303 ‘acid box’, there would have been no Acid Tracks a record that was championed by legendary Chicago DJ Ron Hardy and that also inadvertently kick started the acid house movement in Europe. In fact, the impact Acid Tracks had on the music, look and behaviour of a whole generation was immeasurable.

In the meantime, the pioneering group was busy putting out the follow up, We Are Phuture, but all was not well chez Phuture. Pierre left the group to pursue a solo career and subsequent line up changes and dodgy record labels meant it was a while before the group released another record. 1990 saw Phuture put out another seminal track, ‘Rise From Your Grave’ but they only released an album, Alpha & Omega in 1998 as Phuture 303. Now they’re back with their second long player, Survival’s Our Mission, a title that clearly refers to the problems that they’ve encountered throughout their career. Stripped down to a partnership of original member Spanky and relative newcomer Professor Traxx, the group’s founding member explains that greed tore the group apart on several occasions.

“It started off with myself, Herb and Pierre,” says Spanky, “and I was under the impression it was going to be a group thing, I had no idea people were going to branch off and do their own thing. I won’t try and stop them, but I thought we were in this together. My main concern is always Phuture 303. I’ve finally found someone – Traxx – who thinks the same way. He thinks about the group first and himself second. That’s the way I want people to feel when they become a member of Phuture 303. Most people just think about themselves, which I have no problem with, but it’s not how I want it. If they can’t accept that, then I have to make a decision for them.”

The subject of greed brings us neatly onto the other major stumbling block in Phuture’s career, namely record labels. After years of being ripped off by various labels, the all-new Phuture 303 took direct action and set up their Creators Of Deepness imprint to release their own material and help aspiring Chicago producers to release music. It’s an altruistic act, a reaction against the problems Phuture 303 have experienced.

“Maybe it’s just the music business, but it seems to be very difficult to find someone who is honest,” Spanky explains. “If your record sells, then you should get paid. It’s a simple process but people want something for nothing. As far as our record label was concerned, even Acid Tracks didn’t sell! I find that had to believe. Traxx was the one who really woke me up to what was going on. When we were in Amsterdam we went to a few stores and asked for our records, but were told they had sold out. Then we went to our record label who told us our record hadn’t even been released!”

Despite these setbacks, Spanky and Traxx persevered. The softly spoken Traxx points out that many of their Chicago contemporaries have walked away from making music because, “the music business destroyed them”, Phuture weren’t going to roll over an die. Older and obviously wiser, Spanky and Traxx will oversee the pressings, promotion and distribution of their new label. In the meantime, there’s Survival’s Our Mission, a defiant statement of intent. Featuring a new version of ‘Blackout’ and making subtle nods to modern techno and house styles, the album nonetheless retains the distinctive acid led Phuture sound. So, nearly fifteen years later, how do they feel about the scene they were instrumental in creating?

“I think it’s missing a soul,” Traxx observes. “No one has any identity any more – I could spin twelve records in a row and no-one could tell me who made any of these records. At the same time I could play a Marshall Jefferson record or a Roy Davis Jnr. record and immediately tell them apart. Back in the day you could hear a track and instantly recognize who had made it.” Traxx’s criticism doesn’t stop there. “Nowadays, it’s too easy to make music and the market is flooded with labels and tracks, people literally throwing out music for the sake of money. That’s why Phuture always have a future style. We sound like no one else. They call us what they want but they don’t know where to put us. We’re a future group and that’s what the music is missing.”

Survival’s Our Mission is out now on Music Man