decoded_

*EDIT* 04-07-2009 : You can now find a lot of my old DAMC tracks on my channel on youtube…

http://www.youtube.com/user/techione

~~~

I thought it was about time I made some pages for my musical past (before I forget it all). This is put together quickly, I’ll tidy this up, add mp3s, pictures, flyers and more soon.

DAMC

Between 1992 and 1998 I produced and performed live as solo dance/techno act DAMC read as D.A.M.C, which are the initials of my full name: David Anthony McCann. DJ names like HMC, GT, MPK, ATB, PMA were popular in Adelaide at the time.

My DAMC music productions and live sets covered a range of electronic dance music styles: Techno, Rave, Hardcore, Gabber, Happy-Hardcore. I settling into Jungle and Drum’N'Bass for a couple of years, and then returned to more Techno sounds.

As DAMC I performed live regularly at clubs, raves and dance-parties, with live performances mostly in Adelaide, and also a few performances in Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart. I was based in Adelaide until 1995, then moved to Sydney with/for my live band Bliss (see Bliss page). Once based in Sydney I would often be flown back to Adelaide regularly for live performances. I’m still based in Sydney today.

My live performances always featured an MC. Someone on the mic to hype the crowd. MCs at the time were popular at raves/dance-parties in Adelaide, not so in Sydney and Melbourne. The MC who performed most with me was the fantastic MC Maestro D in both Adelaide and Sydney. Adelaide MCs: MC Pab, MC Dee, MC Tim and MC/DJ Ribbz (UK) helped out a few times as well.

As DAMC some of the international dance music stars I’ve performed alongside: HMC, Paul Oakenfold, Misjah & Tim, Joey Beltram, Claude Young (2120), CJ Bolland, Cru-L-T, Force Mass Motion, Lenny Dee, UltraSonic, TopBuzz, Ratty, Grooverider, The Dreem Team, Slipmat, Dougal, and MCDJ Ribbz.

In 2000, after a couple of years break I purchased a heap of new music gear and began producing and playing live again, this time as TECHiONE with a percussive, funky, tribal, melodic techno sound.

As TECHiONE I’ve performed alongside international dance music stars: Jeff Mills, Oliver Ho, Deetron, Richie Hawtin, Kevin Saunderson, Chicken Lips, Heiko Laux, Alexander Kowalski, Kazu Kimura, Devilfish (Live), Andreas Kauffelt. Plus performances at 2 Sydney Big Day Outs, featuring The Prodigy, Luke Slater, Dave Clarke, New Order, Underworld and Kraftwerk For more on TECHiONE see the TECHiONE page.

The DAMC sound initially came together through experiments with my sampling keyboard, sampling everything and anything, and then sequencing up strange little musical pieces. At the time I was listening to a lot of Depeche Mode, The Shamen, 808 State, Orbital, Jesus Jones, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and Pop Will Eat It’s Self. I used to sample a lot of dialogue and sound effects from VHS movies as well.

How it began… In late 1990 I went and saw dance/techno act Quadrophonia live at the Old Lion Hotel, and ended up later that night at LeRox hearing Dames and Angu$ mixing it up, and hearing proper ‘techno’ for the first time. Lots of those early Detroit, and Belgian techno sounds. I was hooked on these awesome sounds, my whole world changed. I went back to LeRox almost every w/end from then onwards, absorbing as much of this music as I could. I soon learned about the drum sounds of the Roland 909 and 808, and acid sounds of the 303. I began hunting out drum loops, sampling old vinyl records, lots of James Brown, and building up a great collection of loops, sounds and samples to use in my own ‘techno’ productions. I began borrowing a lot of synths and drum machines and sampling them as well. I started hanging out at DJs places, and listening to lots of records, recording tracks, and sampling sounds.

Musical inspiration continued via Georgie Knight’s radio show “Dreaming Daisies” (who used to play a lot of my early productions off cassette on her show), visits to Central Station Records chatting to Tristan and Dames, and from weekly clubbing/raving, dancing to local Adelaide DJs like HMC, Hugh-Z (Uzi), GT, Brendon, Dames, Angu$, MPK and more… I became good friends with many of them. Over the years I frequented clubs/club nights like Control, The Metro, Hell, Le Rox, Discovery, Radius, Disco/Venus, and Heaven etc.

I had been to nightclubs before all this, in the late 1980s like the the Toucan Two, but I was too into rock music at the time to appreciate the dance, new romantic, hip-house, new-beat, acid-house sounds.

I was never keen (or had the time/money) to get into DJing or buying records… until 1998, when the failure of my music gear, and meeting my DJ girlfriend opened up a new musical chapter… It’s now 2008 and I have over 2500 vinyl records! I used to present a weekly Internet radio show for about 7 years, starting in 2000. More on that later.

A nice little community of dance music producers, and live performers developed in Adelaide in the early-mid 1990s. Shouts to: Eugenic, Aquilla, Paddy, Juice Records, Marc ‘PMA’ Plummer, Simon ‘Brown Goldfish’ Haynes, Maas Unconcious, Inner Resonance, Flip, Phase, V-Agent, T-Bot, Eclipse/Steven Gibbs and more…

I must send huge thanks and shouts to people who gave me support, gigs and helped me along the way (in no particular order): Georgie ‘Dreaming Daisies’ Knight, The IP/UW crew, Daniel MPK, Noddy, Ben PFG, Paul Hamon, Damien Maestro D, all the crew at The Core Magazine, Mindflux, Orb Magazine, Kab 101, Troi Human Satellite, Jay Penfold, Paul Armour, Petrina Frost, Paul ‘Larger Than Life’ Hodder, DJ Brendon, DJ Angu$, DJ Gary ‘Uzi’ Hughs, DJ HMC, DJ GT, Dames, Tristian Jones, Dave Edwards, all the promoters who had me play, and all Adelaide’s early-mid 90s ravers, plus anyone I may have forgotten, sorry!

DAMC : Track Titles…

The reason for the Central Station all over those, is they were made for Tony at Central Station, who was keen to pass them on to OS labels for possible licensing deals, nothing came of it though.

Early stuff…

Fascination
Three Day Rave
Liquid
Monty
Survival Through Technology
More Beautiful
Radicals
Huge
Voyager
Xpander
Phoenix
Black Memory
Interference
Bubbles
Happ-E-21
Wind Tunnel
Bass Is Rockin’
Clench
22
Cyber Christ
303 & 909
Indulgence
Riff Master
Noddy Goes On A Trip
Murder
Psychedelic Machine
Transients
Hardwax
Toxic Psychosis

Peak time…

Fortress (Of Bass)
Unf**kenbelievable
Play It Loud
Farewell
Discovery ‘95
We Are The Future (with DJ Brendon)
Black Planet (with DJ Brendon)
(This Is) Creation
Frequencys Of The Jungle
UltraWorld
E Hard (Time Dawn)
Camelot/Excaliber (with Flip)

Junlge/Drum’N'Bass stuff…

Funky Jungle
Night On Earth
Feel The Beat
UW8
Sojourner (Parts 1 & 2)
Beyond Bliss
Dark Daze/Mood Swings
City Lights
Science
Techione

Later techno stuff…

2am Biscuit
Lost In K
Save Silverfish
Cyran
Elevator
1998
Heat Control 2109

Division By Zero (An alias for my harder stuff)…

Blood & Thunder
Disease Symptom
Noddy Eats A Penguin
Brain Sickness
Cybernated
Scrapworks

Melodizer (An alias for softer techno stuff)…

Basic Illusion
Hypnology
Snow Wash
You Are
The Garage

Many of these tracks now only exist as recordings on cassette tape, or DAT tape. I still have them all but I fear many would be un-playable now, damaged by air, moisture, mould etc. If I get my hands on a DAT machine or cassette player one day I’ll try and record them to my PC. I have most of my peak time stuff recorded on CD-Rs, and of course have CD’s and 12″ records of released stuff. I’ll mp3 some of that soon and add links to this page.

You’ll notice quite a few of those titles are the names of raves, dance-parties, club nights I performed at (listed below). I made tracks especially for parties, it was a challenge I gave myself to try and make new music for each new party I played at. One of my faves was “Fortress (Of Bass)” for a rave “Fortress Of Bass” held in the Old Adelaide Gaol, and my track used samples from the (bad) movie “Fortress” about a futuristic prison… “No one escapes the Fortress…” it all tied together perfectly. I also liked to remix my own tracks for live performances as well, playing something new/different as much as I could.

DAMC : Production/Live Equipment…

Ensoniq EPS : Sampler/Sequencer/Keyboard with OEX-8 : EPS 8 Output Expander
Roland D550 : Synthesizer Rack Module
Korg KMX-122 : 12 Channel Line Mixer
Alesis MicroVerb : Reverb Effects Unit
Yamaha DX-100 : Synthesizer
Roland Juno 60 : Synthesizer (borrowed, never used live)
Korg Poly 61 : Synthesizer (borrowed, used live once)
2 x QuickLok Single-Tier X : Keyboard Stands
* DAT Machine (Hired/supplied by promoter)

Some other equipment I’ve owned in the past, from my early music making and live band days.

Tascam 4 Track : Multi-Track Cassette Recorder
Korg DDD-1 : Drum Machine
Boss DR-220e : Drum Machine
Roland D50 : Synthesizer
Yamaha DX-7 : Synthesizer
Ensoniq ESQ1 : Synthesizer
Ultimate Support - Apex AX-48B : Column Keyboard Stand
1 x QuickLok Double-Tier X : Keyboard Stand

* With only enough memory in my EPS sampler for the samples/loops and sequences of a single track at a time, I used to have to alternate between playing tracks live from my music gear and played from DAT (Digital Audio Tape) track/backings. I never mimed a whole set to DAT (like many other live dance acts back then). Whilst a DAT track backing was playing I would play live samples out of my sampler keyboard over the top, as well as loading the samples and sequences (from floppy discs) for the next live track. Luckily my sampler had this functionality of playing while loading. It was a scary way to do it, I was in trouble if I forgot to load the next track, or had issues with floppy discs. Thankfully it always seemed to work out (I was lucky that I only had technical troubles a couple of times out of all my live performances). My live sets were not musically beat mixed together, it was very track start/stop, more like a live band performance. It worked ok. It made me work harder to keep the tracks interesting from start to finish.

DAMC : Discography… (in no particular order)…

http://www.discogs.com/artist/DAMC

V/A - The Core EP 12″ [Core Magazine/Viscious Vinyl]
- DAMC & DJ Brendon - We Are The Future

V/A - The Australian EP 12″ [Rabit City Records UK]
- DAMC & DJ Brendon - We Are The Future

The DAMC EP 12″ [Underground Pressings]
- DAMC - Play It Loud
- DAMC - Funky Jungle
- DAMC - Unf**kenbelievable (Was forgotten to be cut into the master record, which is why it’s on the label)

V/A - Big Dog Records - Outback Drum & Bass CD [Big Dog Records]
- DAMC - Sojourner
- DAMC - UW8
- DAMC - Feel The Beat
- DAMC - Dark Daze
- DAMC - Beyond Bliss

V/A - SpaceFold - A Collection Of Contemporary Adelaide Techno CD [Core Magazine/Mindflux]
- DAMC - Interference
- DAMC - More Beautiful
- DAMC - Voyager

V/A - Jigsaw EP (White-Label) 12″ [Larger Than Life]
- DAMC & DJ Angu$ - Necronomicon

V/A - AdRave CD [AdRave]
- DAMC & DJ Brendon - Black Planet

V/A - Transfusion (Dance Music Competition) CD [Roadshow Music]
- DAMC - Funky Jungle [live]
- DAMC - Farewell (Feat. MC Dee) [Live]

Kate Ceberano - Love And Affection CD Single [Mushroom Records]
- GT Vs DAMC Drum And Bass Excursion

Bliss - Threshold EP CD [Outer Style]
- DAMC - Cyber Future Techno Version (Secret unlisted track)

V/A - Vicious Vinyl Volume 2 CD [Vicious Vinyl]
- DAMC & DJ Brendon - We Are The Future

V/A - Underground Pressings 01 CD [Underground Pressings]
- DAMC - Unf**kenbelievable
- DAMC - Fortress (Of Bass)
- DAMC - Discovery’95

DAMC : Live Performances… (Listed most recent to oldest)

1998

78 : 12.09.1998 : Essence : [DNB/TECH] : Synagogue : Adelaide SA.
77 : 25.07.1998 : Big Dog - Lost In Bass [DNB/TECH] : Syrup : Hobart TAS.
76 : 24.07.1998 : Rave Anthems [RAVE/H-CORE] : Heaven II : Adelaide SA.
75 : 18.07.1998 : Essence 6th Birthday : [DNB] : Synagogue : Adelaide SA.
74 : 17.07.1998 : Discovery : [DNB/TECH] : Diamonds : Adelaide SA.
73 : 16.07.1998 : Universal : [DNB] : The Planet : Adelaide SA.
72 : 30.05.1998 : Basscode : [DNB] : The Palladium : Sydney NSW.
71 : 12.04.1998 : Ultraworld 10 - Drum’n'Bass Room : [DNB] : (w/ DJ Grooverider) : St.Pauls : Adelaide SA.
70 : 12.04.1998 : Ultraworld 10 - Anthems Room : [RAVE/H-CORE] : St.Pauls : Adelaide SA.
69 : 12.04.1998 : Euphoria (All Ages) : The Planet : Adelaide SA.
68 : 10.04.1998 : Anthem Encore : [RAVE/H-CORE] : Heaven II : Adelaide SA.
67 : 14.03.1998 : Big Dog - Fringes Of Jungle : [DNB] : (Live Vs Set With Phase) : Madlove Bar : Adelaide SA.
66 : 12.03.1998 : Chemistry : Heaven II : Adelaide SA.

1997

65 : 31.12.1997 : Ultraworld 9 NYE - Anthems/Techno Room : [RAVE/H-CORE/TECH] : Lerox : Adelaide SA.
64 : 31.12.1997 : Ultraworld 9 NYE - Drum’n'Bass Room : [DNB] : Lerox : Adelaide SA.
63 : 25.12.1997 : Chemistry Xmas : Heaven II : Adelaide SA.
62 : 12.12.1997 : Big Dog - Outback Drum’n'Bass CD Launch : [DNB] : Diamonds : Adelaide SA.
61 : 05.10.1997 : Above The Clouds : [DNB] : (w/ DJ Misja & DJ Tim : DJ HMC) : Heaven II : Adelaide SA.
60 : 04.10.1997 : Save Silverfish : [TECH] : Silverfish Techno Cafe : Adelaide SA.
59 : 04.10.1997 : Adrave BBQ : Jungle Bunny + Funky J’s : Adelaide SA.
58 : 22.09.1997 : Pacific Circle Dance Music Convention - Showcase : [DNB] : Riva : Sydney NSW.
57 : 20.09.1997 : Pacific Circle Dance Music Convention - MTV Amp Launch : [DNB] : Sublime (Pitt St) : Sydney NSW.
56 : 16.08.1997 : Sabotage : [DNB] : Bull & Bear : Adelaide SA.
55 : 08.06.1997 : Anthem : [RAVE/H-CORE] : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
54 : 18.05.1997 : Ultraworld 8 - The Time Machine : Heaven Warehouse : Adelaide SA.

1996

53 : 31.12.1996 : Ultraworld 7 NYE : (w/ DJ Ratty : DJ HMC) : Heaven Warehouse : Adelaide SA.
52 : 27.12.1996 : Discovery : Synagogue : Adelaide SA.
51 : 25.12.1996 : Genesis 2 : (w/ The Dreem Team) : St.Pauls : Adelaide SA.
50 : 03.10.1996 : Chemistry : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
49 : 10.08.1996 : Ultraworld 6 : (w/ DJ Grooverdier) : Flinders University : Adelaide SA.
48 : 03.05.1996 : Level 1 : Cafe Who/The Lodge : Hobart TAS.
47 : 07.04.1996 : Jigsaw 2 : Lerox : Adelaide SA.
46 : 26.01.1996 : Transfusion - Competition Winners Showcase : Kinselas : Sydney NSW.
45 : 25.01.1996 : Ultraworld 4 : (w/ DJ Ratty : MCDJ Ribbs) : Old Adelaide Gaol : Adelaide SA.

1995

44 : 31.12.1995 : Omega NYE : East End Markets : Adelaide SA.
43 : 25.12.1995 : Genesis : (w/ DJ Paul Oakenfold) : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
42 : 21.12.1995 : Chemistry : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
41 : 15.12.1995 : Transfusion - Competition Grand Final : Kinselas : Sydney NSW.
40 : 02.12.1995 : Hysteria : (w/ Ultrasonic) : Thebarton Theatre : Adelaide SA.
39 : 24.11.1995 : Transfusion - Competition Semi Final : Kinselas : Sydney NSW.
38 : 11.11.1995 : Farewell : (w/ DJ Cru-L-T) : Underdale University : Adelaide SA.
37 : 10.11.1995 : Sanctuary (All Ages) : The German Club : Adelaide SA.
36 : 13.10.1995 : Transfusion - Competition : Kinselas : Sydney NSW.
35 : 16.09.1995 : Dream Time - DAMC EP Launch : (w/ DJ Dougal) : The Lion Theatre : Adelaide SA.
34 : 28.07.1995 : Discovery : Disco/Venus : Adelaide SA.
33 : 11.06.1995 : Dance Nation 2 : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
32 : 09.06.1995 : Discovery : Disco/Venus : Adelaide SA.
31 : 14.05.1995 : Ultraworld 2 : Proscenium : Adelaide SA.
30 : 22.04.1995 : A Perfect World (All Ages) : Warehouse - Wetheril Park : Sydney NSW.
29 : 25.02.1995 : O-Ball : Adelaide University : Adelaide SA.
28 : 07.01.1995 : Choice : (w/ MCDJ Ribbz) : Torrens Boat Club : Adelaide SA.

1994

27 : 31.12.1994 : Ultraworld 1 NYE : (w/ Force Mass Motion : DJ Michael Wells : MCDJ Ribbz) : Old Adelaide Gaol : Adelaide SA.
26 : 03.12.1994 : Hummanity : (w/ Vision Four 5) : Supre Warehouse : Adelaide SA.
25 : 17.11.1994 : Fusion’94 : (w/ DJ Joey Beltram : Topbuzz) : Warehouse 127 : Melbourne VIC.
24 : 12.11.1994 : Creation : (w/ DJ Joey Beltram : Topbuzz) : Creation Warehouse : Adelaide SA.
23 : 22.09.1994 : Radius : Heaven : Adelaide SA.
22 : 17.09.1994 : Kaleidoscope : (w/ DJ Slipmat) : Watershed Theatre : Adelaide SA.
21 : 05.08.1994 : Frontiers : Lerox : Adelaide SA.
20 : 30.07.1994 : Quantum : University Of SA - Levels Campus : Adelaide SA.
19 : 20.07.1994 : Pulse - Spectre (All Ages) : Synagogue : Adelaide SA.
18 : 16.07.1994 : Fascination 2 : St. Pauls : Adelaide SA.
17 : 09.07.1994 : Excaliber 2 : (DAMC Vs Flip live) : Camelot Castle : Adelaide SA.
16 : 30.06.1994 : Frequency : Big Ticket : Adelaide SA.
15 : 28.05.1994 : Mix-A-Matosis : (Rabbit City Records - Australian EP Launch) : Old Queens Arms Hotel : Adelaide SA.
14 : 29.04.1994 : Escape (All Ages) : Disco/Venue : Adelaide SA.
13 : 12.03.1994 : Arcadia : (Spacefold CD Launch) : Wharf Shed 5 Port Adelaide : Adelaide SA.
12 : 25.01.1994 : Fortress Of Bass : Old Adelaide Gaol : Adelaide SA.

1993

11 : 25.12.1993 : Xmas : Lerox : Adelaide SA.
10 : 16.10.1993 : Fruit Of The Gods (Outdoor) : Jacobs Creek Reserve : Adelaide SA.
09 : 21.08.1993 : Excalibur : Camelot Castle : Adelaide SA.
08 : 11.08.1993 : Discovery : Disco/Venus : Adelaide SA.
07 : 24.07.1993 : We Are The Future : (The Core EP Launch) : Cheltenham Racecouse : Adelaide SA.
06 : 21.04.1993 : Discovery : Disco/Venus : Adelaide SA.

1992

05 : 07.11.1992 : Toxic : (w/ DJ CJ Bolland : DJ ‘2120′ Claude Young) : LeRox : Adelaide SA.
04 : 08.10.1992 : Pulse - Critical Level (All Ages) : Old Lion Hotel : Adelaide SA.
03 : 19.09.1992 : Fantasia @ Life : Old Lion Hotel : Adelaide SA.
02 : 15.08.1992 : Fascination : Night Train 2000 : Adelaide SA.
01 : 17.07.1992 : Fundamentals - Fire : (w/ Vertigo Hypo Live) : McMahons - Tonsley : Adelaide

I just found flyers for a lot of these! Scans coming soon.

DAMC : Photos…

DAMC Promo Photo : 1992 : Photo by Paul Armour

DAMC Promo Photo : 1992 : Photo by Paul Armour

DAMC Promo Photo : 1992 : Photo by Paul Armour

DAMC : Fundamentals - Fire @ McMahons - Tonsley : 17.07.1992 : Adelaide SA : Photo by Paul Armour

DAMC : Fundamentals - Fire @ McMahons - Tonsley : 17.07.1992 : Adelaide SA : Photo by Paul Armour

DAMC : The Core Magazine : 1992 : Photo by Jay Penfold ?

DAMC/Divison by Zero : Discovery @ Disco/Venus : 21.04.1993 : Adelaide SA : Photo By Paul Armour

DAMC : We Are The Future @ Cheltenham Racecouse : 24.07.1993 : Adelaide SA : Photo By ?

DAMC & MC Dee & MC Maestro D : We Are The Future @ Cheltenham Racecouse : 24.07.1993 : Adelaide SA : Photo By ?

DAMC : Quantum @ University Of SA - Levels Campus : 30.07.1994 : Adelaide SA : Photo By Chris Jenkins

DAMC: ? : 1994/1995 : Adelaide SA : Photo By ?

DAMC: ? : 1994/1995 : Adelaide SA : Photo By ?

DAMC : Home Studio : Sydney : 1995 : Photo By Me

DAMC & MC Maestro D : Transfusion @ Kinselas Sydney : 13.10.1995 : Photo By ?

DAMC & MC Dee : Transfusion Promo Photo (From CD Booklet) : 1996 : Photo By Evan Pierre-Humbert

DAMC Promo Photo : 1996 : Photo By Paul Armour

DAMC & MC Maestro D : Ultraworld 7 NYE @ Heaven (Warehouse) : 31.12.1996 : Adelaide SA : Photo By ?

DAMC & MC Pab : Ultraworld 10 @ St.Pauls : 12.04.1998 : Adelaide SA : Photo By Paul Armour

DAMC & MC Pab : Ultraworld 10 @ St.Pauls : 12.04.1998 : Adelaide SA : Photo By Paul Armour