Kay-Uwe Lenk aka DASFAX
The Techno scene had its dark sides. It was also the case in Hanover’s Techno scene – the abuse of hard drugs. My friend Daniel perished from it.
It wasn‘t my thing to party during the week. I preferred to flood my ecstasy hangover with plenty of oxygen in the gym, fresh vitamins and plenty of sleep. On Mondays in the record shop, it was elementary to find the best tracks from the past rave and to integrate them into my domestic record collection. On the other days, I trimmed the weekend haircuts for the Techno scene of Hanover and went about my business.
However, the constant demand for drugs at Techno parties did not escape my attention. Techno culture and Ecstasy are intertwined closely. Without this type of accelerators, transmitters and messengers of happiness, the sense of harmony in the club could not have developed so intensely. This permanent demand made a forbidden aspect very tempting – professional organizing and distributing. For a short time, things were running – far too easy.
Trade and consumption of ecstasy are a criminal offence, and therefore the sentence of a well-disposed judge reminded me to reconsider my excessive form of Techno life from the early years. Of course, I had to do some soul-searching whether I should mention this short, intense time in my vita. But I came to the conclusion that it is more important to me not to exclude this fact but to point out the danger. This fierce lesson was a decisive point in my life and luckily got me back on track – I wouldn’t be who I am today (I’m in favour of Legalize it, though). But everyone should know that in prison, encounters with people are the order of the day which show life from a perspective that lies beyond a healthy reality.
Every second in this place is the worst waste of life. The Techno zeitgeist that had once been so carefree escalated more and more, and then, all of a sudden, I was recklessly playing around with my freedom. But the lightheartedness also left worrying memories. Some people were shattered by it. The time was ripe to return to the true values of Techno music.
Two well-maintained 1210 record players from this period are still part of my equipment today. I started to buy Techno and House music on vinyl more regularly again and learned how to skillfully operate the Techniks 1210. In Hanover, the era of the big Techno clubs was over – so far – after 1996.
There were hardly any significant clubs for electronic music left. At his Peppermint label store, Mousse T had a small House club which was a smash. But I did not have the leisure to adapt to this Peppermint Jam sound just to be enabled to spin records. After initially playing music at various Afterhours, a residency was finally offered to me at the Liquid. The club bar was located at the end of a passage that ran directly below the central train station. The golden triangle of those times could be found here, the nightlife district of Hanover. In the immediate vicinity, there were the Osho, the Zaza and the Palo Palo. The Liquid was the smallest club, and the most dazzling.
With a lot of imagination, flesh and blood, brothers Knut and Kai had transformed a space of about 30 square meters into a futuristic time capsule of bizarre accessories. At weekends, an exhilarating menu of cocktails and the line-up attracted friends, gays, night owls, music lovers and the most intelligent and most beautiful women in town.
Here I was very happy for many years and played my sets regularly on Saturdays. New York and French House, savvy Electronica or Very British Big Beats regularly set the Liquid on fire, especially in the morning hours.
Nevertheless, I visited Berlin more regularly again, even during the daytime, and so I decided to fulfill my ideas in the Techno metropolis. In August 1999, I moved to the district of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin.