Interview With Dan Sicko

Fact: A Detroit native, Dan Sicko has been writing about techno music for over ten years. His articles have appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, Wired, Urb, Res, Raygun and Alternative Press. From 1993 to 2001, Sicko has also published Reverb, one of the Internet's first techno music magazines. Dan lives with his wife and daughter just outside Detroit.

Techno Facts: Dan's work is as vital as an key release, his ability to give a balanced, jargon free and thought provoking explanation is something you often don't see, and this is the reason he trusted and loved by some many artists and fans. His book: Techno Rebels has become a bit of a bible for fans old and new and while some felt that it didn't go far enough, we believe had he gone any further he'd still be writing it now. LD managed to turn off Dan's Power Book long enough to ask him about the past, present and the future.

Hey Dan, how you doing?
Not bad. Insanely busy, but good.

LD is at the bar, what's your poison?
Hmm. These days I've been cutting back, but Matt MacQueen had me drinking Campari and sodas this summer. A good ale on tap is always welcome. Sake will work too, as long as I don't have to be anywhere important the next day.

How are things out in the D?
Well, I'm ever the optimist. So good! As far as the nightlife goes, I don't see as much of it as I used to, but I try to stay in touch as much as possible. It seems there are more quality nights out there than ever before. I couldn't speak to how well attended they all are, though.

From the outside looking in, there seems to be a lot of good smaller nights going off in the D, just like the UK and if anything, there seems to have been a slow build up in Detroit of late, time for you to get out some more don't you think?
Yes, you're right. And I have ... the Paxahau 6th anniversary and another cool loft party from the COLOR collective.

I noticed you also mentioned "numbers", do you think that matters, is more better [apart from the obvious of course]?
I think there's a breakeven point somewhere that promoters have kicking around in their heads. On either side of this figure you'll have people describing the scene as "vibrant" or "dead." We seem to have been stuck in the middle somewhere for a number of years. Having come up pre-rave, during the Music Institute years and seeing the huge drought that followed it, I tend to see the scene as being really vibrant. People from other cities or countries may not think so.

Movement always seems to be so chaotic, is that just the nature of the beast?
It seems so. Though I really wish the city would put more support (meaning $$) behind it. A fraction of the the money they're using to "spruce up" the city for the Superbowl would be nice.

How much stick at school did you get for your second name, Dan?
Not as much as you think. My dad was a high school and college basketball coach, so more people knew how to pronounce it by the time they got around to me.

How do you pronounce it properly?
Seek-oh

Any new projects in the pipeline?
Book-wise, no. I had a proposal out there that garnered some interest, but some of the interview subjects were less interested in it than I was.

Shame, I think the 313 and LD people could think of a few they'd like, why do you think your subjects had no interest, you're certainly someone they can trust?
I can only think of 3 reasons: They're not ready to look back just yet (which was why Mr. Mills was not interviewed for TR, and I respected his position), they're tired of looking back, or they're going to write their own book.

Care to share with us what the proposal was?
Not yet. :)

Are you aware that we are probably going to pester you for the rest of your life to do a second book?
"Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!" Yes, I'd love to do something else in the book category, if not a 2nd edition of TR or some kind of sequel, but everything has to be right for me to commit that much time again.

Just how hard was Techno Rebels to complete?
Hmm. The actual research and writing wasn't exactly difficult, just very time-consuming. I experienced so much first hand in Detroit that it was easy to get rolling. All of the non-writing activities (contacting photographers, chasing down interview subjects, getting permissions, fighting about the cover, etc.) were much tougher.

Yeah, tell me about it, why do sleeves take longer than anything else?
Artists directing artists? :)

Did the book sell well in America?
A lot of people seem to assume that it did and that I'm on Oprah's reading list. Truth is it was more like a moderately successful 12"-spread out over 5 years! I think there are still a hundred or so in the publisher's warehouse. Labor of love, to be sure.

Did you have any idea how important the book would become and would you do anything different now you've published the book?
I think I did. I knew that this was a chance to put Detroit techno in the continuum of American music (really that was my main goal), and that I needed to both talk up its importance and demystify it. I suppose I would have fought harder not to try and tackle all of the different European scenes and rather picked one or two, but I don't think my publisher would have let me write a book that was 100% about Detroit techno. Remember how popular all the English acts like the Chemicals and Prodigy were back then. I was lucky it was about 65/35.

Why do you think that everything in American has to be presented in a format that people have to understand immediately?
Cause we're so damn stupid! Half the country still supports George W. Bush - maybe I should have his handlers edit my next book?  Honestly, I am pretty happy with being able to communicate some of the intracacies of Detroit techno's story through an American publisher. There are enough (however few) readers out there that are interested in the details to make it worthwhile.

A lot of the bigger artists get a lot of critisism but I've always seen them as a way in for many, do you feel the techno community as a whole is over critical?
Yes.

You also received a lot of criticism for some parts of the book, i.e. lack of coverage for German and for not pointing out that while minimal techno was a search to find the 'lost' funk it was also partly to blame for the drop of interest, how do you feel about that?
I remember some of the criticism on the German coverage and that was pretty much well deserved. I should have stretched my research trip at least to Berlin, but I would have been paying out of my own pocket at that point. On the other hand, I didn't set out to write a book about German techno.

As for minimal techno, I can't remember any such criticism, but it seems to me that the drop in interest was probably taking place while I was writing the book and I was probably not as aware of it as I should have been.

I've seen it mentioned a few times about the damage minimal techno "did" and sometimes I also feel that it can be like the Emperors new clothes - maybe it's just a lack of understanding or just the thought that it must have only taken ten minutes, what are you're thoughts and do you understand why the masses did/won't take to it?
I suppose it's as simple as this - when your movements and changes are that subtle, the masses aren't going to pick up on them. Which is not to say you shouldn't keep pushing in that direction. It's obviously helped shape other (more popular?) genres and sub-genres like so-called microhouse as well. This feeds back into the techno community being overcritical too - not enough patience to see things develop on slower, natural curves.

You also didn't criticise that many people, was this your choice to focus on the good rather than report the negative?
Yes, like I said I'm definitely an optimist. On the other hand, I was trying (hard) to be as subjective as possible with this book. It was more important for me to document how this music developed and where it "fitted in." I don't think the general American audience for the book knew who many of these people were, let alone cared how they might have slighted each other along the way!

It's difficult to get people from the D to open up - everyone I speak to won't say anything about anyone else, there's a point tho where this is doing more harm than good, as it's almost impossible to find out who's doing what and who to look out for, would you agree or disagree?
Yes, definitely. I like to think I had a bit of an advantage in this regard, having known so many of the artists for many years. I think they were less guarded overall.

In some ways I can understand that because if you open yourself up to much people believe they own you and are in some way responsible to them, so I can understand why people from the D just take care of their own business, it's just sometimes I wished they push a little more - open us up to new stuff, will that ever happen?
I'm sure it will, as time goes on. I like to think the older we get, the less self-centered we become, but I've seen some miserable bastards become more miserable too.

Having said that Detroit Love is pretty tough going, but I think it could teach us a thing or to in Europe, would you agree with that? And what are the difference you see between Europe and America?
Can you elaborate on the first point a little bit?

Right, in as much that Detroit love is pretty direct, as seen in the replies on detroitluv.com, pretty direct and to the point...
Yes, I do appreciate that attitude in Detroit. I don't know where exactly that stems from - the working-class history? Or maybe it's just the fact that we have far more artists than we do critics. The dancefloor being the ultimate yea or nay. We are definitely used to direct results and responses.

The downside is not thinking before you act or think, which in a ridiculously general way is where we seem to find ourselves in America today. "You're either with us or you're against us." So much for statesmanship!

A lot of Detroit players see Europe as exploiters, how do you see it?
I'm sure it's a mixed bag of honest enthusiasm and those looking to cash in on Detroit's well-developed music culture. When they're all entrepreneurs, I'm sure it's hard to sort out sometimes.

One of the things always levelled at Detriot is that it's "sound" has failed to move on, would you agree with that?
No. It's still out there and growing, but it's more scattered. There are a lot of artists and labels that aren't just trying to recreate the past, but take the Detroit sound elsewhere: emoticon, delsin, all the usual suspects. But then, that's my personal on what Detroit's "sound" is and where it's going. If you define Detroit by the harder, more forceful stuff Kevin did early on, you're going to have a completely different outlook.

What was the last bit of Detroit electronic music which really blew you away?
There's been a lot! I'm all over Jason Hogans' latest :brownstudy EP, listening to a lot of Jimmy Edgar, and I love what Shake did on that F.S.K. album! I'm sure there's more, but I haven't been to the record store in quite a while. :)

The F.S.K is pretty special, Shake always does the unexpected and is something of a father figure for many, he's a wise man, that takes no BS. Have you heard any of new album yet?
Not yet ... only some of Da Sampla material. I know he's working hard on multiple projects though. Can't wait!

What's the future hold for Dan?
In terms of writing, hard to say! I hold down a copywriter job in advertising to supplement the, erm, hoard of riches the book has afforded me, so the time I devote to articles and reviews is always fluctuating. I've ramped up my schedule this year, but I seem to fall in and out of love with the process of writing for magazines. The essay/paper I did for Shrinking Cities was a great middle-ground between that and a book-length project. Maybe there'll be more opportunities to contribute on that level.

http://www.techno-rebels.com/