Emma Johnson<\/a> about their long career. They will be taking to the stage at Wav tonight.<\/p>\nRead the full interview below:<\/p>\n
You are celebrating more than 35 years in the music game this year. Has it been a wild ride?<\/strong>It certainly has been! From the get go it\u2019s never really stopped. It\u2019s been an incredible journey, with both the music and technology changing with the imagination of the protagonists, leading to endless possibilities.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s nice to reach this milestone of [their record label] Soma\u2019s 35th anniversary to reflect on the history and some of the key moments, too, as we\u2019re usually looking forward to what\u2019s over the brow of the hill.<\/p>\n
The energy of the early \u201890s was so incredible because the scene was new to everyone, so excitement at the parties was universal.Did you ever think your career would span so many decades and still be so busy?<\/strong>At first we didn\u2019t think it would last more than a year or two. I think everyone involved in the early days of the scene was the same \u2013 bright eyed and bushy tailed, lapping it up and unstoppable.<\/p>\nWe probably didn\u2019t really even think about it as we were having so much fun and trying to do different things all the time \u2013 especially when we started the Soma label and got in the studio doing a track with The Orb or a remix for Underworld. But 35 years seems insane really. We do have to pinch ourselves sometimes.What do you think it is about your sound and shows that has stood the test of time?<\/strong><\/p>\nWe\u2019ve maintained our underground and experimental ethos and our love of the music in all its weird and wonderful forms. And we always deliver when taking it on tour \u2013 so see you down the front, Liverpool!<\/p>\n
Remind readers if you would, where it all began for Slam\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\nWe worked in the same bar in Glasgow. It was a big place with a party atmosphere. Everyone would go clubbing after finishing. We fought over who\u2019s tape would go on and both bought records.<\/p>\n
We ended up blagging a few spots in clubs we went to and started our own nights. The main night on Saturdays in 1988 we called Slam \u2013 from there we went on to play out and make tracks using the club\u2019s name as our own, and started our Soma label in 1991.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Band2.jpg\")
Scottish techno titans Slam will be playing in Liverpool tonight(Image: Slam)<\/p>\n
Clubbing has also changed immeasurably since you started out. What do you miss about the old days?<\/strong><\/p>\nYou could say things in some places got a bit too sanitised. Some places organised the fun out of it \u2013 others made it feel like a career.<\/p>\n
We always try to avoid that, which is why we are still gigging around so much perhaps \u2013 we had so much fun robbing the bank we forgot to take the money! (a quote we nicked off Joe Strummer talking about The Clash).<\/p>\n
In those days we were at the beginning of something unquantifiable. Everything was new – we\u2019d be all over going to small clubs and parties up and down the UK.<\/p>\n
We played the Hacienda a few times. We\u2019d get to Dundee, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Nottingham too and soon got playing in Ibiza, Paris, San Francisco and Berlin too.How has 2025 been for you so far?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe album was really well received by fans and peers alike \u2013 which is never a given \u2013 so that was a relief.We\u2019ve had a couple of amazing nights back in the Arches (in Glasgow) which lost its licence and closed down 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
We brought young and old together and everyone created a pure atmosphere again \u2013 very special.We jumped through hoops to get our US work visas again and managed to get to LA to play this great underground rave RE\/FORM. Berlin Tresor was another highlight. We love that city and club…And how is the record label? Any new artists we should be listening out for?<\/strong><\/p>\nWith Soma, we are gearing up for our 35-year birthday celebration next year. We plan to release 35 remixes of classic tracks and hidden gems. We can\u2019t divulge any names but it should be a big project.<\/p>\n
We also plan to have an exhibition in Glasgow about the history of Soma. New artists on the label to look out for are RNGD , Alexey Dunchyk , DAMNE, Bastian Balders and Alexander Kulikov to name a few.You are headed to Liverpool this weekend. You must have played here a few times over the years… any memorable shows or moments?<\/strong><\/p>\nWe have fond memories of going down to Liverpool in the early 90s in an ex-Home Office yellow jail van we borrowed off a friend who\u2019d bought it second hand to take his mates to the Celtic games in.<\/p>\n
The first time in Liverpool we did a Soma party at G-Love on a Wednesday ending up at a huge all-night flat party.<\/p>\n
After \u201893 we used to come to play Voodoo at Le Bateau which was totally off the hook. Lovely people Sam and Claire and Steve Shiels. Liverpool\u2019s techno club for 20 years. RIP Sam…<\/p>\n
The odd time we used to come and do Bugged Out at Nation, the nights there were huge.What can people expect from the show with 909 at Wav?<\/strong><\/p>\nScorch marks on the dance floor! We never plan too much, just go with the vibe. Orde and I play back to back all night so it\u2019s fluid but also sporadic and instinctive. We might bang it at times and dig deep into the archive but it\u2019s all about giving the floor a groove to lock into.Do you ever see yourselves hanging up your headphones or are you techno lifers?<\/strong><\/p>\nTechno lifers. It\u2019s in the blood \u2013 we might enjoy the travel less but the buzz of playing and creating never leaves you.Slam play the 909 x Wav birthday tonight (Friday, November 28) at Wav<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottish techno titans Slam will be playing in Liverpool tonight, FridayScottish techno titans Slam will be playing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,12394,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-600019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-gigs-and-festivals","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115629566793522335","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Band1.jpg\")
Scottish techno titans Slam will be playing in Liverpool tonight(Image: Slam)<\/p>\n