Interview with Vali NME Click

Continuing my investigation into the German Jungle/Drum 'N Bass scene, I was referred to Vali NME Click. As a pioneer in the scene, he has contributed much to its prosperity. I took some time to connect with Vali and discuss the entirety of his Jungle/DNB-related activities...

M: Hi Vali. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

V: I´m Vali, 46 years old, residing in Berlin but grew up in Ulm, Germany. I run the only German Hardcore & Jungle label Parallax Recordings and the events of the same name. (I) am 1/4 of renowned Drum&Bass formation NME Click and a dedicated record collector, DJ and radio host.

I earn money for me and my daughter as a graphics designer/illustrator and worked for various labels in the scene such as Metalheadz, CIA, Dispatch, Impact, Basement Records, Street Beats, Precious Material, my own Parallax label and others.

M: How did you get started as a Jungle/Drum'N'Bass DJ?

V: It all started when my mate Önder, with a Walkman, showed me a tape with the Sublove Remix of Luna C´s Edge Of Madness, amongst others, in the first break at school. That was in 1994 in Ulm, a city in South-Germany, sandwiched between Stuttgart and Munich, and that´s where I grew up.

Being big into Hip-Hop culture, and graffiti and skateboarding, my biggest passion was possibly music from an early age. The speeded-up breakbeats, ruff sampling and DIY approach of the music spoke to me instantly. Shortly after, me and that mate bought the Hardcore and Jungle collection of local DJ Naughty and it went from there, really.

There were few DJs around and we had to persuade people who had a turntable and mixer set-up to let us practice in exchange for weed or free graffiti in their rooms. Back then people into Jungle instantly connected when they met by chance, such as it was in the early skateboarding scene, so we built a network. We started out as NME Mürda Click but dropped the Mürda and that's how people know us till today.

In '97 we started a weekly residency at the Roxy´s Tanzhalle, a 800+ capacity with 2 floors, one House/Techno floor and our floor was mainly Jungle and DnB with a few Rap concerts in between. We also started our StepUp! radio show in '98.

In '99 we started our residency at the ConFusion party in Augsburg, another city in Germany, where we played DnB on 4+ turntables alongside the Turntablist crew Offbeat Turntable Mechanics aka OTM who scratched and juggled over our sound.

Also in '99 we started our Touchdown and Echoes From the Future nights - that´s where we brought the first international artists over and our first records came out in 2002/2003 on labels like Dimensions, Basswerk, DSCI4 and others.

End of the 2000s we started the Feeel! Festival and also started our Studioline mash-up project, best known for the Neon Direkt parties. (Feeel! is) a reference to Bruce Lee´s quote "It´s like a finger pointing away to the moon..dont think..feeel....or you will miss all the heavenly glory." 😉 It was all independent and financed through our own parties - we did it for 5 or 6 years.

In 2009 I moved to Hamburg and in 2010 to Berlin. In 2013 I started the illegal Parallax parties that focused on the roots of early Rave, Hardcore, Breakbeats and Jungle; and around 2016 I started the Parallax vinyl label, which is what people these days mainly know me for. Wicked times!

M: OK so 'VME Click' is the name of the crew. Who are all of the members? Also, do you go by 'DJ Vali'?

V: Yes, 'NME Click' is the name of the crew I grew up with and still do Drum&Bass with, and it consists of Önder, Ikomowsa, Vali (me) and MC Marvelous. Since I am a record collector and play different musical styles I use 'Vali NME Click' (Drum&Bass, Hardcore & Jungle) or 'Valirowdy' or 'Studioline' (Organic Grooves, Rap, '80s..) as DJ names.

M: Is DJ Naughty still active?

V: Yes, he´s living in Berlin too and DJs as 'Filippo Moscatello'. He engineered for DJ Hell and International Gigolo Records and released music on several labels. He´s playing House/Techno/Disco these days. He was the resident DJ at our local club OWO from about 1990-1996 and we('ve) been there every weekend. He played Hardcore in between other electronic styles and we('ve) been, sort of, the breakbeat posse always waiting for him to drop those beats. It was a great time. He also played with Bryan Gee at his first ever Germany gig in Mannheim.

M: Which medium do you enjoy more? Music or graphic design?

V: I enjoy music most, but they (are) both creative arts so I love both.

M: Have you ever produced anything or do you only deejay?

V: I released music as part of NME Click (Drum&Bass) and Brute Force (a Hardcore/ Jungle project with Henree/Phyzikal Flex), but only had creative input - I never learned the ropes of engineering. I wish I found the time to learn that but, in reality, I know it would take at least 5+ years of daily dedication to get to a professional level and I simply don´t have the time.

I´m a freelance graphics designer and also work part-time in an agency now, I run the Parallax label which is a lot of work and (I) am father of a 6-year old. In between, I promote parties with NME Click and Parallax. There´s little free-time really.

M: Can you give us some (more) info on the Parallax label?

V: All the years, while I stayed current as a DJ and played 'upfront' Drum& Bass, I also had a passion for the early beginnings of Hardcore and Jungle. I connected with like-minded people, collected the records from that era and was on the hunt for ID´s (pre-internet). I often set up a second floor where I featured those sounds (and some UKG) and invited friends to play with me.

I started Parallax when I had a phase in 2012/13 where I ran out of steam for what was currently happening in DnB (I need little breaks from that from time to time to reignite the fire after all these years - lately there´s a lot of good DnB around again), so I thought why not focus more on my passion for the foundational years of the music. The feedback was immense and the first parties were great - you can find some of the recordings on my Mixcloud.

Being pretty geeky and hanging around in oldskool-related groups on Facebook I always was on the hunt to find artists behind those old rare white labels and see if they had more unreleased music from that era and tried to connect those artists with the few labels that were focusing on represses such as Sublogic or 92 Retro.

Will from Sublogic was interested in re-releasing On 1 Crew's 'Bad Dreams' and offered me to do it as a joint release between our labels and gave me 24 hours to come up with a name (haha). I never intended to start and own (a) label, so I simply went with the name of the Parallax parties and that's how the label was born.

I thought it was a one-off but, soon after, found the artists behind Technosaurus and wanted to try to set up a release on my own just for the sake of pulling it off. I still had no real plan of running a label, but Will gave me all his contacts and I went from there.

The album on 2 Records did pretty well and led to more follow-up represses. I rarely did pure represses but also tried to release unreleased music from that era too. Later on I went on to do new remixes alongside the original version by artists such as Kid Lib, Ricky Force, Pete Cannon or Dead Man´s Chest.

I also started to release new music in the old vein such as Tim Reaper´s Dead & Buried and Subaquatic EPs. For the 10th release I put out a 5x12" vinyl project entitled Message From The Parazone that solely focused on the contemporary Darkside and Jungle sounds, and that really put the label on the map.

Nowadays I mainly release current Hardcore and Jungle, with the odd repress in between, and had EPs by Kid Lib, InnerCore, Solaris, FFF, Ron Wells aka Jack Smooth, Dug, or Sonar´s Ghost (one half of Sonar Circle). I do all the artworks for the label myself and also put out a lot of merchandise such as shirts, hoodies, caps, sweatpants, slipmats and stickers; and the people love it for its distinctive looks. We started to release digitally as well but, first and foremost, we are a vinyl label.

M: That sounds (like) quite a bit.

V: It is. When I say "we" I really mean "me" with some support from DJ Chromz who really has been a great help during the last two years. I do everything myself from A&R (for) the music, being in contact with all the artists, planning projects, booking, mastering, approving test presses, doing artwork, setting up products and timing releases, sending out the physical products, having stalls at record markets - the whole lot.

It´s a lot and the bigger the label gets the more work it causes while, at the same time, the recession made it harder to sell records - not to talk about Brexit and diverse other problems in getting the records to the fans. But it´s all worth it and a service to the scene that I really want to see thrive.

I´d love to bring back the Parallax parties and bring in international artists that I am in contact with through the label as well as local talent (from) over the years and the (thriving) of the Jungle scene - there are more people who can play a good set but, apart from that, it´s hard work to put on a regular night in Berlin. I also, yet, have to find the right location with the right deal and the right size and that matches my vision.

M: What are your plans for the future?

V: At the beginning of the year I put out releases by Worldwide Epidemic, Matt Bass, Sync Dynamix and Justice & Necrotype. During the summer, I took the label on the back-burner. Now Parallax is back full steam with a double-vinyl/mini album by Radicall that made a lot of waves on test press and with DJ-plays, and I can´t wait to put that out. It will be followed by Dug´s Thannhauser Gate EP which is due to come out (in) a while. There is also a sequel (to) Kid Lib´s DJ Mindhunter project which will come out on 2x12" in collaboration with Tim Reaper´s Future Retro London label - watch out for test presses very soon!

Then there´s the Return of The Parazone album, which is the sequel to the first part of 2021 that put the label on the map. It will be 9x12" records that come out individually but will all be connected through the artwork and features music by the who-is-who of the scene.

The first part is out on test press since earlier this year and the coming weeks there will be the official release of that and some more test presses of the following parts.

We also start a limited lathe-cut label called Paradubs with releases by DJ Chromz, Solaris and Radicall lined up already; and the first two releases will be available at the Run Out Vinyl Market on 10th November (2024) at the ARCHIVES at Unit 10, The High Cross Centre, Fountayne Rd. in London N15 4QN.

If you´re in London, don´t miss this - there are stalls by everyone from AKO, Reinforced, Infrared, Creative Wax, Bangin Tunes and Brain Records over V Recordings, Metalheadz, Dread Recordings and DJ Zinc to Future Retro, Kniteforce and Parallax with many exclusives. And, if all goes well, we will set up the lathe cutter and will offer live cutting on the spot - watch this space!

We will continue our Peoples Station radioshow every other Saturday, 06.30-08:30 pm on www.jungletrain.net - tune into that and join us in the chat.

With NME Click there will be one more celebration of our 30 years anniversary and it will take place on 27th December 2024 at Eins Tiefer in Ulm with us playing all night long - a mix of the tunes current and the last 30 years.

SOCIALS

Vali NME Click

Facebook: https:/facebook.com/vali.nmeclick

Instagram: https://instagram.com/valiparallax/

Mixcloud: https://mixcloud.com/valinmeclick/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valinmeclick

X: https://x.com/Vali_nmeclick

Parallax Recordings

Facebook: https://facebook.com/ParallaxRecordings/

Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/534481436711345

Instagram: https://instagram.com/parallaxrecordings/

Bandcamp: https://parallaxrecordings.bandcamp.com/