As decades pass the music changes, the faces come and go, from warehouses to clubs, vinyl to CDs, techno to trance and back again. In the life cycle of the rave scene often the only consistency is the artists who put their life’s blood into entertaining another new generation all over again. Nearly 20 years since he emerged as a budding DJ playing at illegal parties, before holding the fort in the early days of Antiworld and Escape From Samsara, Oberon is still orbiting the outer reaches of the party scene.
For the first time since 2006 he is swooping into London for Pendragon & Freedom Present Earthdance at The Medusa this Saturday 26 September for a fairytale night of music old and new, as 150 parties across 50 different countries dance in synchrony for peace. We tracked Les down to hear about his vast music collection, early warehouse memories, and his work with some of the scene’s best artists.
Tell us about how and when you found your love for music and what motivated you to start DJing and producing?
I found my love of music when I was a young boy listening to my parents’ records — Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Everly Brothers are some of the first artists I ever heard. I guess it just carried on from there; I was always into music, I never really bothered with football or cars. I was allowed to go and see bands when I was young: Coventry Theatre charged three quid to see The Jam, The Damned, The Buzzcocks etc. By then I was hooked and it just carried on throughout my life.
Because I had such a huge record collection I used to play at parties at friends’ houses and eventually I bought some decks and a mixer. Even then, it was just for fun, so I could do mix tapes to play in my car and give to friends.
My main motivation came around 1991, a friend from the Midlands had moved to London and was running illegal raves in empty warehouses and schools, under the name of Urge. He knew I was into mixing and asked me to come and play. This gave me the opportunity to play to large numbers of people, say 500+, which in turn boosted my confidence loads. It was here that I met Beamish.
Soon after I started sending demos to clubs in the Midlands and actually got a few bookings. This, added to the regular London visits, made me want to see how far I could take it. Around this time I was getting sick of my job, not surprising really, I was out raving every weekend! So eventually I quit work and moved to London to be a DJ full time. Looking back it was a bit of a jump to make; I don’t think I realised at the time the enormity of what I was doing, but it worked, and I’ve always been glad that I did it.
Regarding production, I wanted to make my own music initially, because it was so hard to find the kind of tunes I wanted to play. In 1991/92 trance was almost unheard of, it was best to check out all the genres, hardcore, techno and what was called progressive back then, then see if you could find anything with trance sounds in it. There was some stuff filtering through from Germany, but it was all a bit thin on the ground.
I had a word with a mate in the Midlands, who had made a few hardcore tunes, and asked him if he wanted to have a go at something different. I took some records along to the studio and played some sounds that I liked, we took it from there and had a couple of releases under the name of Blokka, which sold very well both here and in Europe. The friend had just started recording house music as well,you might have heard of him — Quivver! When I moved to London I just carried on producing, it seemed like a good way to fill in the time in between the weekends!
You’ve been known to play a variety of trance and techno over the years now, as well as producing your own gems along the way, what’s your sound like now in 2009?
Tech-trance, trance with a bit of techno, electro trance and hard trance. Same philosophy as always really; if I think it will go I will throw it in the mix and see what happens. How hard I play depends on what time of night I’m playing and which DJs are playing either side of me. I’ve been known to play a bit of psy recently as well.
Who have you enjoyed collaborating in the studio with the most and do you have any plans for new releases?
Paul Harding is my obvious choice, we worked together for about five years, it was always good to work with him. Nuw Idol and Chris Hampshire of Recoverworld are two people I would be happy to work with again and Beamish and Darren Shambhala are always on the list.
There may be more releases in the future, but after so many years of living in a recording studio, I have developed a desire for sunlight and I enjoy doing normal things these days, but yes, I do have plans to start working on more music and I’m currently playing around with some sounds, so watch this space.
You’ve played your part for some of the biggest parties in London, including being one of the first residents for Antiworld as well as making appearances for Escape From Samsara, not to mention the international gigs. What has been your best memory from it all?
I could write pages and pages about the places I go to and the things I do; most of it is fantastic and the bad bits usually contain a lesson worth learning. It’s great to know that when London was rocking with thousands of up for it clubbers every weekend, I was right in the middle of it, playing The Fridge, Academy, Tyssen St etc. The international travel is great, getting to see the world and experience different cultures, the good friends I have made along the way are priceless and, of course, I don’t have to work night shift down a coal mine any more!
But the best memory?? I like to think the best is still to come....
What or who is your biggest inspiration?
Lots of people have inspired me over the years, for lots of different reasons, I guess it’s relevant to keep within the realms of the DJ world here; my biggest inspiration when I first started playing was Fabio and Grooverider. Back in the day, before drum ‘n’ bass, the style they had was amazing, the tunes they played and the way they played them — they were in a class of their own.
I hear you’re a bit of a Neil Young fan, what’s the appeal?
I first heard Neil Young when I was 15, the album was ‘Harvest’ and a year or two later I saw him live. I’ve seen him play a few times since and I now have 30 of his albums on my iPod. He covers the whole range of music, from acoustic to the hardest, dirtiest grunge rock; his songwriting skills are great, and he’s an amazing guitarist. Check it out, how many people who played at the Woodstock festival in 1969 are still going today? Not many at all! And he’s released at least one album a year, every year since then, as well as touring constantly.
His method of recording is unique — the song is rehearsed, then when the red light is on and the tape is running, that’s it, one shot to nail the song, if it’s not perfect, doesn’t matter, it still goes out, he won’t re-record it 10 times to get it just perfect, that way the essence of the song is captured without it being doctored. He was responsible for the whole grunge movement, due to the music he wrote with Crazy Horse, and he was Nirvana’s main influence. He’s never been afraid to try different styles, always goes with what his heart says. If you haven’t heard him, check out ‘Live at the Fillmore East’, ‘Harvest Moon’, ‘Unplugged’, and Live Rust’.
Words of wisdom; what are yours?
We create our reality with our thoughts, words and actions.
You now spend a lot of your time in Argentina, how does it compare to living in the UK, what is the party scene like there?
I moved to Argentina in June 2006 thinking that I would stay for a year, I stayed for three, and I intend to go back! I had been playing there every year since 1998, so I was already familiar with Buenos Aires, which made it easy for me to settle in. I love the country and I love the people, it’s a great way of life out there, similar to here, but also different.
The party scene is big there, the Argentinians are as passionate about their nights out as they are about their football! In the summer the parties are outdoors, often going on until 11am!
I’ve been working with Javier Bussola, the main man for trance for many years now, and it just gets better every year. There’s a regular bunch of UK DJs who love to play there: John Askew[b], [b]Phil Reynolds, Simon Patterson, Ali Wilson, they all love it — and so do I, I miss Buenos Aires and I’m looking forward to going back soon.
What are your top tracks of all time, and why?
Dragonfly — ‘Visions Of Rage’.... one of the biggest and best tunes of 1991, sums up the whole of that scene perfectly, and doesn’t use any of the rave clichés.
Arrakis — ‘The Spice’.... massive tune from the Fridge days.
Rabbit In The Moon — ‘Orisha’.... early trance from around ’92, combines trance with breaks and dark melodies.
Red Planet — ‘Star Dancer’... best techno track ever, and you can play it in a house or a trance set!
Push — ‘Universal Nation’... one of the best-engineered tunes I’ve ever heard, love it.
Cybernaut — ‘Califrae’... best live act I’ve ever seen. Specialists in venue roof removal!
Tronik House — ‘Up Tempo’... an American techno tune that was huge with the hardcore/jungle scene, still sounds fresh today.
What are your plans for the next five years, in music and life in general?
I’ve recently learned that the most important time of life is now. Right now, and that’s what I’m concentrating on. Wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, music will be a big part of my life. I intend to visit India for a few months next year and at some point I want to go back to Argentina; the rest will look after itself!
On the 26th September you’ll be headlining Earthdance, alongside Beamish, Mark Sinclair and Chris Liberator, have you got any surprises waiting for us on the night?
Wait and see!! My lips are sealed.
If anyone would like to get hold of some classic back-in-the-day mixes, please join my Facebook group page ‘Oberon- Rocking In The Free World’ and look at the discussion board, under the title of ‘downloads’ — there you will find links to lots of old mixes from the Fridge, along with recent Argentinean mixes, most recorded live, and there’s more on the way. See you on Saturday!
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Photos courtesy of Oberon. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Pendragon & Freedom are working together to bring you the most amazing party in which to enjoy this years Earthdance Celebrations. We've brought together DJs and live acts we know you would love to see on the same line-up, DJs who have been rocking the UK dance scene and beyond since the early days of dance.
We have a main room of techno and trance, psychedelic trance in room two and house of honey in room three. Each room will be magically transformed by Kate Pendragon, Trance Orbital and Wondermonger. On top of this Priceless (Live) will be performing deep spiritual healing in the Magical Outdoor Garden.
At 12' o'clock midnight g.m.t each party around the globe will stop and hold a worldwide prayer for peace, uniting over 150 cities in 50 different countries.
"This profound and powerful moment affirms the feeling that we are the same human being all sharing the same planet"
(His Holiness, The dalai lama)
Please arrive early if you would like to take part in the Mandala of Peace and Love ritual invoked by 'Essense and friends'.
This is part of a global event co-ordinated by Earthdance International. All profits will be donated to The Lifeline and The Big Issue Foundation.
Give Peace a Dance...
One Love.
Flyer:
-
Region:
London
Music:
Trance. Acid Trance. Hard Trance. Tech Trance. Psy Trance. Nu NRG. House. Deep House. Funky House. Hard House. Prog House. Tribal House. Vocal House. Electro House. Tech House. Deep Techno. Funky Techno. Techno. Breaks. Electro.
From: Ed Realon 23rd Sep 2009 14:37.46 legend! remember having Oberon come play for me in Portsmouth in 1996 - respect due!
From: Slink.on 23rd Sep 2009 22:40.14 Nice feature...wondered what had happened to Oberon...saw him a few times, last seen at the Boxing Club on Chatham Street in Reading...haha, excellent night WOuld have been good to go to this on Saturday...
From: slackyon 24th Sep 2009 10:36.00 Wonderering what happened to him too. Played out alongside him a couple of times in the old Logic days. Had him down to play @ Corrosive for me too. Nice bloke. Glad he's still around and rocking!
From: antiworldon 24th Sep 2009 13:44.00 can t wait to see Oberon & Beamish , Mark Sinclair..yummi and MR Liberator...could it get any bettter?
From: CLKon 24th Sep 2009 14:04.22 Can't wait to have him down to play for us... Gonna be amazing!!! Wicked interview too
From: Taraon 24th Sep 2009 17:43.01 Awesome interview guys Saturday is going to be quite a party!
From: Pathfinderon 27th Sep 2009 23:17.56 Shame I couldn't be there - One of my favourite mix cds is the Dual mix. Think that finished with that Califrae track.
From: pam@pamon 29th Sep 2009 14:51.07 Oberon rocks....!! X
From: Slink.on 1st Oct 2009 13:28.02 Ooh, nice...just had a message on Facebook; some old Escape From Samsara mixes available
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Saturday is going to be quite a party! 
