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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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Interview with LAK:UK
Reported by Joe Black
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Submitted 19-10-04 09:50
Last week I was visited by aliens. I was blissfully minding my own business when out of the blue I received a message from a Synthetic Electronic Being. And this message had a purpose – an instruction. This message requested that I educate the world about the power of dance. And, what better way to educate the world than discuss dance, politics, and the availability – in more ways the one - of performers with two of LAK: UK’s driving forces, Kane and Seb.
Now, I must admit that – even though I had seen their performers at a number of events - I didn’t really know much about LAK: UK before this interview, so I found the answers to some of the questions very interesting and enlightening. Hopefully this interview will give people a better insight into another facet of clubland – a facet that is alive and kicking!
So, tell me, what is LAK: UK all about?
Kane: LAK:UK is all about loving the music and letting yourself go – releasing all your inhibitions, and just having it and allowing the music to take control of your body. We try to encourage all present to indulge in that sort of freedom.
How did it all start?
Kane: We actually started off purely by accident, in fact. I was one of the ‘Brixton massive’ that were about in the old Samsara days. Every Saturday morning after the Fridge closed, we’d all sit in the peace gardens until somewhere else opened (the Fridge bar was such a sweatbox), when the revelation that is Logic was first born. Logic managed to secure the Fridge as a venue and Dave asked myself and Liza if we wanted to dance on stage – obviously we were more than happy to do so, not to mention the fact that at the end of the night Dave came and found us to give us money for the pleasure!! Well you can imagine how that felt. It was great! A few Logic’s later, we were approached by other events for our services and that’s how it all began. Since then we have expanded, offering a broad range of performers including: fire spinners, aerotech (light staff/poi), stilts, pole dancers, and various styles of dancers, from high energy to sexy and seductive.
Quite a few people have asked me this question, and I personally have been curious for a while - how did you get your name?
Kane: I remember when we got a request from XLR8 for our logo to go on a flyer – we were less than prepared for this, as we didn’t have a name, let alone a logo! We spent 2 days trying to think of something appropriate and then gave up and decided on LAK:UK, which stood, almost obviously, for Liza & Kane United Kingdom…..now, since Liza has moved on to the emerald isle, the LAK now stands for Live and Kicking, which I find pretty apt. 
How did you deal with your partner in crime leaving? Who runs it with you now?
Kane: As it happens, before Liza left us we had taken on a young star who had won one of the XLR8 stomp comps. His name is Sebastien, and he is pretty well known in the scene by a lot of people as the face of LAK: UK. We offered him a place on the team after a stunning performance at the competition, and that’s how the birth of the website came about. Seb took it upon himself to set it up and get it all going for us. We saw his potential (which is impossible to miss by the way!) and made him an equal partner. So Liza leaving, although meaning the loss of one of our best performers, didn’t make too much of a difference to the managerial side of things. Really Seb was more of a driver for it than she was, so if HE leaves, we will be up the creek without a paddle, so to speak! What a hero!
Why do you think it’s worthwhile having performers at an event?
Kane: We think that given the right kind of performance it can really bring something new to an event – a highlight other than just music. When we first started out, we just did freestyle dancing, but more recently demands are changing and we are moving towards putting on themed shows that are tailored to an event or a live PA. We have done a lot of Shows for Nick Sentience recently and have had nothing but positive feedback. We also discuss and plan out each show, to try and keep things fresh and provide the most exciting and memorable performances. Something we’ve found from our experiences is that clubbers tend to focus on certain things when they dance – and when they’re focusing on a group of people going crazy up on stage, it tends to rub off.
What is your favourite event that you’ve performed for? What is your favourite venue that you’ve performed at?
Kane: My personal favourite event is Logic – I have always enjoyed this event from day 1 – I guess it’s partly because I was there at the conception sat in the peace gardens along with Dave, Phil (Hazchem), Shaf, Alex, Baker, Bailey, Vince and all the other Logic veterans when Dave said “I know some guy who runs the George IV, I’ll see if we can get some decks down there and have a party!”. What a party it turned out to be?! Well it certainly beat the old man’s pub at 74 Railton Road!!
Now the atmosphere is still the same and the crowd are still as up for it at ever. They always seem to pull out a good bash even at short notice! J
Seb: We feel that The Fridge is our favourite venue as it has such a versatile stage and it’s a nice set up for performing. As a clubber it’s got a lot of little nooks and crannies where you can chill out – it’s great! We also like the Scala, as it’s nice and intimate, but not claustrophobic, and SE1, as it’s just so cool to run around and play in! J
Are some venues more difficult / easier to dance in than others?
Kane: Larger venues with stages are ideal, podiums are restrictive for performances, but fine for freestyle, and some smaller venues are suited to individual dancers as opposed to a group performance. It really depends on the type of show that the promoter is looking for, depending on the size / scale of the event itself.
Which event would you most like to perform at, that you haven’t performed at before?
Kane: We’d love to do Dance Valley for an outdoor event and Hard House Academy would be a great place to do a stage show for, we could be nice and extravagant with those, couldn’t we?
What knowledge / experience is required to become a club dancer?
Seb: Regarding the knowledge, a good start is to know yourself, both physically and mentally. Technically, most of our team members are multi skilled, and have to deal with the different aspects of the production/management. Some prepare outfits, some are our first aids or fire marshals, and some have professional make up training (prosthetic makeup). Spinners have workshops once to twice a week, and Jolene is always ready to teach her pole dancing skills to any willing members of the team. Experience is not required, even though we really appreciate it. A good experience of the club scene is always a good start.
Kane: I suppose the only prerequisites would be an outgoing personality and a sense of rhythm and coordination – getting up on stage in front of over a thousand people isn’t really for the shy, introverted type. At the same time, getting up there and just jiggling about doesn’t always (ok, maybe sometimes) cut it. We like to get the team involved in more than just the performing part of things, and as Seb mentioned we have many other skills that are required for behind the scenes.
Is your chosen career financially rewarding?
Kane: Well to be honest it’s not any of our first sources of income. Both Seb and I have full time jobs, as do our team leaders – Jojo, Jolene and David (although David is a full time student). Most of our team have jobs or studies to keep them busy when not performing. It can be well paid, depending on what is required of us, and we do have offers and deals for promoters that reduce our takings but encourage regular work, which is better than one off well paid events (although they’re nice too!)
Did you get into dancing so that you had a better chance of shagging the DJ?!
Kane: Never really fancied any DJ’s – most were guys when I started performing!
Seb: No, I didn’t. But Shaf made me change my mind.
Do you encounter politics / competition?
Kane: We try not to get involved in club politics much, as it’s more the promoters that get caught up in that (whether they want to or not most of the time). We try to run the team in a way that diffuses bias, and we try to just be open, honest and upfront about things, so that we can be objective about things. The more people who did this, the better all of our lives would be. At the end of the day most of us are all out for a good time and to meet new like-minded people.
Which of your female dancers is single?
Kane: Well I don’t think it’s our place to disclose that information, however, if you want to sell yourselves on our guest book to any of the single females on our team, then you are more than welcome! Make sure you leave your e-mail address so they can get back to you!  LAK dating agency….not a great ring to it really…
What are your plans for the future?
Kane: As times and demand are constantly changing we have had to move with them, and now we are putting on set shows for use at events that request them, along with tailored shows for live PA’s and events that require something different to the usual. We have done a lot of shows for Nick Sentience recently and aim to keep it different each time as we don’t want to keep doing the same repeatedly.
We are currently looking for new types of performers to enable us to move into various different genres of music. Furthermore, with the massive variety of music tastes within the group, we’re definitely interested in dancing for a wider range of events, while continuing to service the hard dance scene. We’re confident that we can bring the same level of energy and enthusiasm to any event, regardless of the music (so long as it’s not pants!)
And finally, a cheeky question from our audience - who is the best dancer? Emma, Laura, or Sexyjojo?
Kane: We think they are all great performers, although we prefer for the audience to make their own decisions.
Photos by Joeyxx, Dan and Binbag.
Links:
Main Site: www.lakuk.com
Recruitment: www.lakuk.com/job
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The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1-xmas.gif)
but anyways.. cool interview x
