It s a kind of an honour to be invited in here. The scenery isn t so special a rented office in an industrial park in west Belfast, lined with concrete. But the fact that a couple of musicians have been working here in solititude for several years adds a certain mystique to the place.
Here they are then, the guys from Welt. Alan Ferris is the former indie DJ who had his head completely spun around by acid house ten years ago. He gave normality a miss around 89, and hasn t really come back. Simon Dalzell is the guitarist who abandoned trad rock and roll for the comparatively barmy world of samplers and found sound.
The Welt music, specifically the king menace of Darkman is finding its way into DJ sets by the likes of Paul Daley (from Leftfield) and is consequently buzzing areas of London. Meantime, the work continues off the Springfield Road as the pair peer into a computer monitor, tweaking with a 96-track virtual studio. A representative bag of borrowed samples includes Frankie Laine, Barry White, some 40s show tunes and yes, that could well be Funky Gibbon by The Goodies. Somebody call Bill Oddie quick, and while we re at it, let s alert the taste enforcers. For while many discerning DJs might proudly dismiss the poser: Got any Spandau Ballet? , those peverse Welt merchants are chopping up a famous Gary Kemp intro, rearranging the new romantic theme into something considerably more scarey. We ve got a backward Cliff Richard singing on one track, Simon laughs, eerily. Let s hope he s joking.
And then the pair set to telling me how they ve signed to the ultra-cool Cloak And Dagger Records without actually meeting the record boss. Instead, negotiations have been conducted by phone and e-mail. Simon says he s actually seen Sherman (a well-connected dance journalist and DJ) on a webcam broadcast, so he doesn t feel like he s completely missing out. But the outcome is pleasing everyone, as Welt (slang for penis in this part of the world) consider the release of a couple of EPs and a mini-album to clear away some of their large cache of tunes.
Darkman is quite a curio in that it s an out-and-out floor-stormin track, Alan explains. It s powerful, but the other stuff we do is more like sitting-in-the-house stuff. It s more eclectic and slow.
Ravers of a certain age hold a lot of affection for Alan, who was one of the first DJs to popularise dance music in Belfast. He s been involved with seminal clubs such as Joy, One World and Choice. The latter ran on alternative weeks at the Art College in town, the other nights being filled by David Holmes and Iain McCready. Alan bailed out of the Art College around the same time as Homer, realising that a surplus of new clubs was diluting the excitement.
Alan and Simon first worked together in an act called Transmute, creating in-your-face, 303 techno . Even then, they were using breakbeats and stuff, but the other band elements weren t suited to that area. So they cut loose, hived away in a rudimentary digital workshop, and emerged, two years later with the necessaries.
Since Alan had brought most of the dance luminaries over to Belfast during the early 90s, he was able to place the Welt demos into useful hands. He was also encouraged by a breakthrough Welt track, Fuzzy Roll .
So, the first reactions to the music were highly positive, and there were approaches from Junior Boys Own, Hard Hands and Skint. Eventually, though, Billy Nasty put them in touch with Sherman, who was so enthused that he reactivated Cloak And Dagger after it had lain dormant for 18 months. Welt whisper that there are a few surprises in store, like a remix from a top drawer electronic duo who can t be named for contractual reasons. In the meantime, they ll be busy in their Belfast bunker, burning off tracks onto CD-R and taking them directly to the pressing plant. A lot of people do it in their own studio and then take it to a bigger one, Simon says. But we re completely in-house. We re forced to be. We have no money.
The North s Awake
By the time you read this, the Autumn edition of belFEST 99 will be at its best, with more than 40 acts playing across ten venues in town. As well as local talent, there will be a chance to see the likes of Paddy Casey, Blew and Pilot Can from Glasgow. There are also some satellite events, involving Atari Teenage Riot, The Wiseguys and an interview with Bruce Findlay, former Simple Minds manager. Sadly you ll have missed Bailie and Hooley s Language Lab, a spoken word extravaganza featuring Glenn Patterson, Colin Carberry and Deirdre Cartmill. The aforementioned are all fine writers, and the chance to get them rattling off their stimulating art in a pub is worth repeating. The imput of Messrs. Bailie and Hooley is of debatable value . . . Anyway, there s a website (www.belfest.com) with all the details and sound files. Also look out for a compilation belFEST CD, which will feature 18 tracks for 99p. Last year s CD sold out almost immediately, so get your bid in quickish, if you want to hear why we re interested in the likes of Tiler, Desert Hearts, Go Commando and Foam. n