Sheffield’s iconic clubbing institution is set to make a historic return to the city this year. Three years since world-celebrated Sheffield nightclub Gatecrasher burned to the ground, owners have revealed firm plans to develop a new flagship venue in the city which they hope to open on their 17th Birthday this September.

Plans have been submitted to Sheffield City Council to create the ultimate 30,000 square foot , 2000 capacity hyper-club in the heart of the city, just a few yards from the original Arundel Street site. Subject to planning permission, Gatecrasher intends to invest £5 million developing the basement of the infamous cheese grater car park (Q-Park) on Charles Street creating over 200 city jobs. The site has been chosen because it means that Gatecrasher can open the club in 2010, originally bosses intended to open on the old Arundel Street site but that would mean an extensive and time consuming rebuild.

Gatecrasher is urging the city to get behind them and ‘Vote Yes’ for the new club and have created an online petition for messages of support for the new venue which they intend to submit to the council to back-up their planning proposals.

Gatecrasher bosses hope to build a state-of the art venue like no other in the UK and intends to enlist the skills of celebrated international designer Callin Fortis from New York based Big Time design. Fortis is responsible for the award winning designs of the world’s most famous clubs including Crobar New York, Crobar Chicago, and the Cameo Theater in Miami. Fortis also designed Gatecrasher’s Birmingham club voted top UK club by dance music bible Mixmag. His clubs are revered the world over with fans including Paris Hilton, Harrison Ford, Lenny Kravitz, Cameron Diaz, George Clooney and Tommy Hilfiger. A Phase 1 drawing has been submitted details the layout of the venue which will include 4 different club rooms and a main auditorium designed for both DJs and live music. Fortis and his team at Big Team Design are currently progressing the finer details.

The loss of Gatecrasher in Sheffield sent shock-waves throughout clubland, no-one was hurt but dance music fans worldwide mourned the loss of a clubbing institution. Following the fire the club received over 5000 emails and letters of support. Club bosses vowed to return to their spiritual home as soon as possible and have spent the last three years trying to find a suitable location.

An application for planning permission has been lodged with council and Gatecrasher is urging the city to get behind their plans.

Simon Raine, MD of Gatecrasher, commented;
“Gatecrasher hopes to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. We were devastated at the loss of the Sheffield club in 2007 and have been searching tirelessly for a location so we can return to our spiritual Sheffield home. What’s been heartening is all the support we’ve had from the city, we get emails daily asking us when we are returning to Sheffield and now it is finally a reality, although there is still a long way to go”

Since Gatecrasher launched in Sheffield in the mid-90s, it has played a significant role in the development of the city and has been previously been praised by council officials for its impact on the economy and tourism. The clubs contribution to Sheffield’s thriving nightlife and entertainment scene firmly placed the city on the International map creating major interest and inward investment. The impact the club has had on the city is staggering with over 8 million people attending Gatecrasher in Sheffield in over 10 years. A survey carried out in 2001 also found Gatecrasher to be the number one reason that students decided to study in Sheffield.

During Gatecrasher’s reign in the city, the club played host to the most spectacular club nights which are now immortalised in clubbing history. The club kick started a dance revolution and helped forge the careers of DJs including Judge Jules, Tiesto, Mauro Picotto and Armin Van Buuren.

From humble beginnings to a world-conquering global club brand, Gatecrasher has continued to push boundaries and dominate dance music. It’s reputation as a flamboyant, individual and hedonistic brand continues to grow and the Gatecrasher name remains emblazoned in the heart and soul of clubbers throughout the world. The Gatecrasher lion has always sat proudly at the forefront of clubland, responsible for many of Sheffield’s never-to- be- forgotten events.

With the launch of the new club hopes to define a new decade of clubbing. Simon Raine added;
“The new site will exceed all expectations bolder, bigger and a lot more edgier than before. We want to build the best nightclub in the world that has always been our aim!.”

Gatecrasher is looking to engage the city of Sheffield in the quest to launch its new club and is looking for suggestions and support from city dwellers. They also intend to work closely with residents, local police and Sheffield City Council, Simon added;
“Having worked as part of the community in Sheffield for over a decade, we are more than aware we need to work in close partnership with the residents, the local authority and police to address any potential issues before they arise. We are currently in close consultation with the relevant authorities to ensure that our policies around noise, anti-social behaviour and dispersal satisfy each party.”

GATECRASHER IS URGING THE CITY TO ‘VOTE’ YES FOR THEIR PLANS TO RETURN TO THE CITY. PEOPLE CAN REGISTER THEIR SUPPORT FOR THE PROPOSED VENUE BY LOGGING ONTO: WWW.GATECRASHER.COM/SHEFFIELD

This summer, Gatecrasher released Gatecrasher’s Trance Anthems 1993-2009 a trance anthology celebrating 16 years of dance floor domination…… The result? A euphoric opus of the laser-imprinted anthems that propelled Gatecrasher’s trance brand Crasher to supremacy. The album topped the compilation charts and achieved instantaneous Gold-selling status (currently selling over 115,000 copies).

With Gatecrasher still emblazoned in club-goers hearts and souls they’ve decided to do it again with the release of Gatecrasher’s Club Anthems 1993-2009. This time the music will be more reflective of the sounds that have thrust Gatecrasher’s impressive nightclub and events portfolio to dance-floor dominance. Dance fans will be able to drench their senses in the most uncompromising sounds around, classics that have set dance floors ablaze, classics that Gatecrasher has helped champion and chart. The album is a true celebration of two decades of electronic music past, present and future.

Gatecrasher’s Club Anthems 1993-2009 is an inspiring sonic soundscape featuring tracks that have touched the heart of the masses, an adrenalin-fuelled epic signalling the mighty Gatecrasher lion’s focus on the smash hit dance genre. Set across 3 CDs, the album takes the energy, passion and irresistible momentum of the Gatecrasher brand and throws it headlong into the iconic brands biggest dance-floor moments…

The Gatecrasher story is far from over as the Lion continues to go from strength to strength. Gatecrasher’s Club Anthems 1993-2009 reflects the sounds that have rocked the dance floor of Gatecrasher’s burgeoning club empire throughout the years.

As a special celebration Gatecrasher welcomes one of the most famous DJs in the world, Moby to headline the official album launch party at their flag-ship club in Birmingham on Sat 14th November.

Gatecrasher’s Club Anthems 1993-2009 provides the perfect opportunity to look back to the club’s heritage, as the brand further evolves and broadens its musical spectrum. A celebration of the past, present and future. These moments will last forever……

Gatecrasher

The past two years have been phenomenal for Gatecrasher. 2008 witnessed with the opening of its £5million flagship venue in Birmingham. Since the club opened over a million clubbers have flocked to the venue with DJs including Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Fedde Le Grand and Laid Back Luke rating the club amongst the top venues in the world. Gatecrasher’s Watford club Area had a decadent makeover in 2009 to critical acclaim. This October also saw the opening of Ultra Gatecrasher in Nottingham which has been restructured taking inspiration from the darker more underground live music scene. Gatecrasher also continues its dominance in the north with its Leeds club Gatecrasher 7 going from strength to strength and a new Sheffield club to be launched soon.

Following on from their sell out residency at Privilege last year the dynamic duo once again join the world famous Tiesto for another season at the islands biggest and best club. Every Monday throughout the season Riley and Durrant along with their hugely successful Electrik playground will host Room 2 (LA VACA) at Privilege. The night will provide a session packed full of the best in eclectic futuristic House which will guarantee to keep you dancing till sunrise!

The residency will be kick starting on the 8th June and with 8000 people forecast weekly, this is the biggest night on the island and one not to be missed!

Riley and Durrant’s massive Leeds based creation The Electrik Playground will be taking centre stage with Riley and Durrant hosting the events supported by an array of talented and diverse DJ’s and producers such as Juan Kidd, Heavy Feet and Adam Sheridan.

The night has enjoyed huge success within the UK since launching in 2008, hosting huge names including Kate Lawler, Chris Lake, Hybrid, Paolo Mojo & Young Punkz. The Leeds based night has travelled around the country with residencies at infamous nights such as Back to Basics, Gatecrasher and Ministry of sound and now it returns to the Ibiza for its second summer in residency.

Throughout the season the hottest sets and interviews will be recorded and broadcast across Riley & Durrant’s Galaxy Network shows which reach over half a million people a week and are some of the most listened-to in the UK.

Weekly Electrik Sunset sessions at Savana; one of the hottest bars on the legendary sunset strip will provide the perfect place for a sunset session. Running throughout the 16 week residency, the party gives a fresh approach to the sound of the Ibiza pre party.

This will be the sixth season the boys have rocked the dance floor in Ibiza and promises to be equally as impressive, see you at Privilege!

VOLUME encompasses track selections from his massive 15-year catalogue and includes classic cuts from studio albums 45 RPM (1994), Seven Ways (1996), Out There And Back (2000), the Grammy-nominated Reflections (2003) and In Between (2007). The HUGE van Dyk classic For An Angel features in a very special 2009 remix alongside 1997 hit Forbidden Fruit, Connected (that was also used on a Motorola ad campaign) plus the massive We Are Alive that achieved worldwide chart success.

Renowned for his collaborations, a selection appears on VOLUME that includes White Lies that features Jessica Sutta from the Pussycat Dolls, St. Etienne Tell Me Why (The Riddle) and Vega 4 with Time Of Our Lives. Paul’s project with Cosmic Baby titled The Visions Of Shiva features on the album with Perfect Day that perfectly captures the sound of the 90’s house scene.

The video of Paul’s 2009 remix of the classic For An Angel is now available to watch below;

To celebrate the launch of Volume, a specially designed Paul van Dyk iPhone & iPod Touch Application is also available that will appeal to fans, music enthusiasts and professional DJs alike, featuring a BPM Counter, Frequency Analyser, Decibel Meter, Seismic Reader, Virtual Glow Stick, DJ Check List and an Itinerary Manager. The application will be available in localised language versions in many countries, reflecting PvD’s global popularity.

Watch Paul van Dyk’s introduction to the app below:

After being ranked within the top five slots in the world’s leading DJ Magazine Top 100 Poll no less than seven times (hitting #1 DJ in the world spot in 2005 and 2006), Volume captures why Paul van Dyk is one of the biggest artists in the electronic scene to date… there is no stopping him!

Volume is available now via iTunes (clicking this link will open iTunes) & HMV!

You can buy the DJ Application directly through iTunes (clicking this link will open iTunes).

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is tell us which Sheffield Superclub Matt Hardwick used to hold residency at… simple!

Both in terms of his production and deck skills, Matt Hardwick continues to reside at the very top of the trance music tree. As clubland has seen a major new force arrive at its doorstep, he has been one of the most passionate advocates of Digital Society’s musical ethos. With his recent production and spinning successes, D.S. Resident Kane Nelson has himself emerged as a future star and become synonymous with the success of Digital Society itself.

The compilation features a musical embarrassment of riches… Both the titular ‘Headliner’ and ‘Resident’ discs are crammed up to bursting with an arsenal of uplifting trance, featuring new speaker-spankers from the likes of Giuseppe Ottaviani, Temple One, John Askew, Darren Tate, Sean Tyas, Stoneface & Terminal and Activa.

Digital Society, The Club – A Little History: Launched in February 2007 as a forward-thinking dance event, Digital Society has expanded into one of the UK’s leading Trance names. Sell-out crowds at Leeds venue MyHouse and blockbusting line-ups (including 12 UK debuts in two years) have become the Digital signature. DS events have featured some of today’s most high profile spinners, including John O’Callaghan, Menno de Jong, Gareth Emery, Lange, Simon Patterson, Aly & Fila and Sean Tyas. With a highly respected resident team including Will Holland, Activa and Kane Nelson, the Digital Society ethic is widely regarded as being at the leading edge of today’s Trance scene. The night now looks to develop and move further forward with several huge events lined up for the latter part of 2009.

‘DS Vol1’ is also the first venture from Digital Society Recordings (DS-R), the newest label in the Enhanced Recordings stable. Look out for imminent new singles from Temple One, Alex M.O.R.P.H & Woody van Eyden (in their Lexwood guise) and Italian maestro Manuel le Saux! Accompanying the release of the compilation will also come the Digital Society Album Tour, which launched on the 13th March in Leeds with an exclusive Matt Hardwick & Kane Nelson back2back set.

Already picked by Mixmag as their Compilation of the Month for May, the magazine says:
“Leeds trance night Digital Society celebrates two years in business and the launch of their Enhanced sub-label with this two disc trancefest. Event founder and resident Kane is joined by Matt Hardwick, who held a ten year residency with superclub Gatecrasher, collaborated with Smith & Pledger on hits ‘Day One’ and ‘Connected’, and was only pipped to Radio 1 ‘Essential Mix of the Year’ by Sasha. As you’d expect from a duo who personify ‘uplifting’ to a clued-up Northern UK crowd, the album is packed with hands-in-the-air moments aplenty – showcasing the best in today’s peak-time sounds.”

CD ONE – Headliner – Matt Hardwick

CD TWO – Resident – Kane Nelson

Worldwide release on 04/05/09

Matt Hardwick, will be using the imprint to showcase his own productions, his forthcoming album project and to introduce some of the freshest up and coming new talent that the scene has to offer.

Talking about the reason for launching a label at this stage in his career Matt commented by saying: “I see Kill the Lights as being a platform through which I can demonstrate the depth of my musical tastes and vehicle through which I can really look to push the envelope in terms of the musical genres and the artists that will be represented. There is no doubt that a main-stay will be the music that I am perhaps best known for, but the real aim is to get away from the run of the mill type labels that have become so common these days. People who have followed my DJ career to date will recognise that I draw from varied musical influences and the representation of these influences on Kill the Lights is something that is going to be a key focus”.

For the labels debut release KTL head honcho, Matt will be delivering first solo production entitled ‘Supernal’; a peak time angler with a deep, melodic undertone that is guaranteed to ignite the labels arrival in clubland. The remix will come courteously of Last Man Standing; the talents of this exciting and fresh producer will feature more on the label over the coming months. Looking ahead to the second release the label is proud to announce the signing of The Gallery resident John Askew. A respected producer the world over, John’s KTL offering, ‘Nothing Left Between Us’, will see him release his first ever vocal production. The remix will come from the immensely talented hands of German underground outfit, Duderstadt.

All tracks from the label will be released digitally, as well as receiving a limited number of vinyl presses for those remaining plastic fanatics out there.

To mark the arrival of the label, Matt will be doing a select number of exclusive tour dates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, North and South America from October 2008 till January 2009. To kick start the label tour, Matt will be performing a 6 hour showcase at the best regular night in the country – Digital Society

So ‘Kill the Lights’ and get ready…

How did you get your foot in the door of the world of dance music?
Andi: I spent 2 weeks work experience in 1996 at the council in Huddersfield making weak tea and choosing the best fonts for new road signs.. which made me take a long hard look into ways of making a living out of my hobby and not getting a proper job. I used to make tapes of old hardcore, drum and bass and rave and sell them outside school for £2.60 – so I figured it was the way forward. I managed to blag my way into the studios of Kiss FM in Leeds and worked for free throughout college. I used to be the guy who sat in with all the specialist DJs making sure they weren’t too stoned to work the desk, and inevitably sometimes they wouldn’t turn up, or a pre recorded show would go wrong so I’d be ready and waiting with a bag of records.. I eventually got my own show and Kiss became part of the Galaxy network in 97.

Nick: In my early teens I was into rock so I brought a guitar to play along with the music I was into. When I heard the prodigy and got into dance music I soon ditched the guitar and brought some decks. I moved from London to Sheffield to go to Uni, and put on club nights at Gatecrashers sister club Bed to promote myself as a DJ. I got the Crasher residency in 2002 and was very lucky to be put on most of their world tours.

Andi: We met behind the turntables at Gatecrasher in Sheffield in 2002, and have been working together as DJs and producers ever since.

Who would you say you look up to in terms of DJs or Producers?
Andi: There’s such a massive range of music we play in our sets and on the radio shows it’s hard to narrow it down – everything from the Swedes – Angello, Ingrosso, Laidback Luke and Axwell, to Herve, Ferry Corsten, Paolo Mojo, Lutzenkirchen and Dubfire. In terms of DJs, Paul Van Dyk is always on the cutting edge of technology, and you can’t beat Tiesto for being the big dog of dance music.

How would you describe your music?
Andi: I hate the phrase “Electronic Dance Music” but it sort of is – it’s not trance, not house, not techno, not progressive – it’s all of them. On our last artist album we collaborated with folk singers, rock vocalists, various musicians and producers from minimal, house, trance, techno and hard dance, and it’s a similar thing in our sets.

Nick: It’s hard to put it into 1 or 2 words.. it’s just deep dirty music that makes you dance.

You’re a resident DJ’s on Galaxy FM, how did that come about? And tell us a bit about your show?
Andi: I’ve been with Galaxy since the start, working my way up from the bottom to getting the flagship Saturday evening Warm Up show, which I enjoy doing immensely. Every week we have some of the biggest names in electronic music dropping in for a chat and a guest session, from Pendulum to the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Van Dyk, Carl Cox and loads more.

When me and Nick starting working together we approached Galaxy about the idea for our Nu Breed concept supporting underground and unsigned music, and they took the show a few years back.

Nick: Andi still does the Saturday evening show, and together we do Friday nights 11pm-2am. It’s basically a bit of a house party, with some of the most exciting new names in dance coming on, all the up and coming talent in the Nu Breed part of the show, and the best new electronic music around. If you’re not in a Galaxy area, you can also listen online, on Sky Digital, DAB Radio and Virgin Media across the UK.

As well as being DJ’s, you produce a lot of your own stuff. How did you get in to producing and what equipment do you use?
Nick: We both come from pretty musical backgrounds, being made to learn piano, keyboard, guitar, drums, violin and trumpet amongst others as kids, so it’s something we’ve both always done.

Andi: We do the bulk of our work on Reason to make music, but we’ve just opened a new recording studio complex in Leeds with the Utah Saints, which is full on old analogue gear and some brand new gadgets, and has pretty much everything going installed, so we’re always trying new bits of kit.

You have an outstanding production portfolio that speaks for itself, so what’s next for Riley and Durrant
Andi: Thanks! We took a year or so out to make our album in 2007, so this year we’ve been getting back on with remixes for various labels and producers, which is a lot of fun.

Nick: We’ve also putting out a lot of our own more underground stuff through our Nu Breed Music record label, so keep an eye on places like Beatport.com

This year your off out to Ibiza with Electrik Playground. What are the plans?
Andi: We’ve tried to support some of the most exciting music makers coming through the scene at Electrik Playground this year. Some of the guys we’ve had on at Mission in Leeds include Paolo Mojo, EDX and Glenn Morrison who are all on the verge or going massive, but for Ibiza we’ve tried to concentrate a bit more on the new talent and taken a lot of the people from our Nu Breed Galaxy shows and invited them over to play at Privilege.

Nick: Tiesto is in the main room every week, so we’ll be providing our usual eclectic Electrik sound and providing a bit more of a deeper, darker, dirtier sound to the Coco Loco room.

I hear you have a lot of exciting talent lined up for the summer. What DJ’s should we look out for?
Nick: We’ll be there every week, and some of the guests we’ve got booked in include Adam Sheridan, Kate Lawler, Nick ‘Bodyrox’ Bridges, Deepgroove, The Young Punx, Filthy Rich, Jon Rundell, Will Bailey, Hauswerks, Prok & Fitch, Anthony Probyn, Jon Gurd and loads more.

Do you have any crazy stories from your trips to Ibiza?
Andi: None that wouldn’t be considered libel or slander against some of the biggest A List DJs around, but weird as it sounds, most Ibiza events have always been very smooth and professional, and people are so up for it, the parties are always amazing, back in the UK though we’ve had loads of weirdness.

Nick: A couple of months ago we turned up at a club, and the biggest meathead you’ve ever seen walked up to the booth and said “ If you don’t play a good set I’m gonna kick your fucking heads in”!. We’ve also done gigs going back a few years where the clientele is so dubious we’ve found the longest track in the box, put it on and legged it out to the car.

What is your favourite club in Ibiza and Why?
Andi: It’s a toss up between Privilege and Amnesia. Privilege is the biggest club on planet earth, so it’s whatever’s on there is a spectacle to watch, and feels like a proper “event” rather than just a normal club night. Amnesia is one of the most famous clubs in the world, and playing in that main room as the sun comes up is always pretty special.

Which UK nightclub have you not yet played, but would love to?
Nick: I think we’ve been lucky enough to play at pretty much every club going, but if we could get hold of a time machine we’d probably go for one last gig at the old Gatecrasher Republic in Sheffield. We were fortunate enough to play at the last ever Crasher before it burnt down, but it would be great to have one last part in there.

Andi: On a similar tip, I’ve always been gutted I was too young to go to the Hacienda in Manchester. I do own a piece of the dance floor that lives in our studios, but that’s the closest I’ll ever get.

As part of your Radio show you must get sent a lot of exclusive promos. What tunes should we look out for this summer?

There’s loads already looking big, but here’s a few to look out for:

Ingrosso and Laidback Luke – Chaa Chaa

J Magik and Wickaman – Crazy World

Steve Angello – Gypsy (This is really annoying and a bit weird, but will probably be quite big)

Nic Fanciulli and Zoo Brazil – IDE (Tiger Stripes Mix)

Deadmau5 ft Flipside – Hi Friend

Riley & Durrant – Remote Control

Cube Guys – Baba O’Riley (Riley & Durrant Mix)

For more information on Riley & Durrant, check out their MySpace page www.myspace.com/rileyanddurrant

With Bass Kleph’s record label Vacation Records already providing the soundtrack to the Summer, with hits like ‘Helium’ and their new summer smash hit ‘It’s Never Too Late’, you can expect a full-on action packed medley of the freshest cutting edge electro sounds, brought to you on this side of the pond by the main man himself.

As the resident DJ team are busy jetting in and out of our favourite Summer Holiday destination, Ibiza, expect Dale Castell, Eddi Zanetti and Leeds up-and-comer Liam Tate to be on hand to pump the crowd up before and keep it pounding well after Bass Kleph does the much needed mid-season dancefloor damage! Expect a Summer party of grand proportions, plus the newly forged wonky after-party ‘Fidgit,’ where you can carry on the madness with Digital Filth (Spinout/Fakt Recordings) and Marc Spence right through until 9am. See you there!

Filth @ Mint Club, Harrison St (off New Briggate), Leeds.
First Saturday of every month, 10pm – 5am, £10 advance (Skiddle.com)
Fidgit (after-party), 4.30am – 9am @ Bed, Gatecrasher 7, Leeds