Clubland

It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 15 years since we were riding high in the charts around the world with tracks like ”Let’s Get Busy”, ”Hold On (Tighter To Love)” and ”Set Me Free” - three of many beautiful moments in the history of Clubland, if we may say so.
Ever since, people have been asking us: ”Jan, Morgan and Zemya, when are you coming back?”.
And being so convincing and Swedish, everyone believed us when we said:
”Dudes, we ain’t never coming back”.
But we lied. Because now we’re back. Kind of back.
So what does ”kind of back” actually mean? Will you be finding us - three seasoned, but yet so good looking house gurus - grooving along to a conga in your local club next weekend? Or have we put together a DVD box with all of our painfully bad videos along with unique behind the scenes footage? (oh god, let’s hope not…)
Wait and see, lovers, wait and see…
For now, let’s just say that we’re about to bring you a selection of our classic hits in remodelled, updated and perfected remixes very shortly. Watch this space for more news.
In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the original Clubland sounds, still so robostyled and megablasted. We’ll put up a new classic collection every week, so make sure to come back.
Love y’all!
Jan, Morgan & Zemya
"HOLD ON (TIGHTER TO LOVE)"
Picture this: It’s early 1991 and yours truly are down. Way down. The follow up to ”Let’s Get Busy” – ”Pump The Sound” – was a huge failure, our label Btech went bust and bill collectors kept banging on our office door every day.
So what did we do? The only obvious thing of course – we sent our last fifteen grand to Steve ”Silk” Hurley and his very fat and very dodgy manager along with a master tape of a forgotten track, ”Hold On”, that we’d found on our first album. We begged ”Silky” to save our arses and make us a killer remix.
And the funny thing is that the plan worked out. With a little help – okay, big help! – from Hurley’s quirky sounds, ”Hold On” went on to become a massive hit in the US (Number One), South America, Japan and Europe. We were back again! And yes, we owe you one, Hurley!
This week, we are very proud to present the brand new, fabulous 2008 rework by legendary London DJ and producer Allister Whitehead. To be released shortly. Enjoy!
”LET'S GET BUSY”
There’s a lot to be said about ”Let’s Get Busy”. Enough for a whole novel actually. But let’s cut it short and just say that our first worldwide smash and US Number One Club Hit was a mess. A big mess. There was so much drama, sample disputes and copyright infringements flying around that our American label, Geffen, closed down its brand new dance department after just one release. And that one release was indeed ”Let’s Get Busy”.
But let’s talk about the music instead. The magic behind ”Let’s Get Busy” was the way it was put together. It all started with an old Curtis McClaine track, written by Marshall Jefferson and released by Trax Records in 87. Clubland and British DJ team Quartz found the vocals, sampled them and created a knee-deep feestyle house track. Their track was then picked up by Snap! who did their amazing German thing as well as adding a bit of Dutch flavour on top with Amsterdam rapper King Bee.
That’s how you create a hit, kids. No one ever said that making house music is simple. And now, 16 years down the line - enjoy the first of several new remixes!
”LOVE STRAIN”
It was with a certain amount of danger in the air that we decided to release ”Love Strain” as the follow up to ”Hold On (Tighter To Love”) in Europe. When our A&R guy at Island in the US, an ex mental patient named Michael Hacker, found out that we’d turned down his follow up choice, ”Set Me Free”, he called up Jan and screamed:
”I’m gonna come to Sweden and kill you Swedish son of a bitch!”.
Ah well, it was just another day in the life of Clubland…
”Love Strain” never reached quite the same success as ”Hold On”, but it didn’t matter. That track is still our most precious seven minutes. David Morales was in his best mood when he did the Lost In Jungle Mixes – pure, soulful house, but yet with an edge.
A couple of years later StoneBridge did a fantastic rework. We’ll put it up here soon.
”PIECE OF LOVE”
It’s 1994 and Jan is having a vision. A kind of what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you vision.
”I’m gonna transform Clubland into a euro pop act”, he announced very proud one day.
That’s what happens when you hang out too much with Italian dudes like Lee Marrow…
Morgan and Zemya freaked out.
The euro pop song he came up with, ”Piece Of Luv”, wasn’t actually bad at all, except for the stinking production. But lucky enough Jan came to senses and George Morel stepped in for some necessary damage control. He turned the track into a NY tribal groove. Thank you, George!
Apart from being Clubland 24 hours a day – and believe us, that was a hell of a job! – we also somehow managed to run our own labels; Btech and Clubvision.
Btech started in 1988 and quickly built up a huge fanbase around the world. It was the first underground house label to come out of Scandinavia and our release policy was straight to the point: if we like it we sign it, no matter if it’s techno or hiphop. That’s what made Btech so unique - where else would you find a semi rapping dentist (Dr Alan), three ecstasy kids (MDA), an acid rock band (The Creeps) and Brazilian film music (Morgan King) under the same roof?
BTECH HIGHLIGHTS:
Soundsource: Take Me Up
MDA: Take An E
The Creeps: Way Cool
Dr Alban: Hello Africa/No Coke
Going Back To Basics Vol 1-4 (Various Artists)
Morgan King: I'm Free (Music From The Motion Picture La Serrena)
In 1992 we set up Clubvision along with producer StoneBridge. It was all set for peak hour house and the success was immediate. After our own string of hits followed 17 year old Apollo’s project House Of Virginism, NY transvestite Donna Giles, soul boy Eric Gadd, Finnish farmers Stabbbs and super diva Gwen McCrae. Clubvision had two golden years with more or less every release turning into a huge club hit.
CLUBVISION HIGHLIGHTS:
House Of Virginism: I’ll Be There For You
Donna Giles: And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going
Eric Gadd: The Right Way
Stabbbs: Joy + Happiness
Gwen McCrae: Keep The Fire Burning 94
House Of Virginism: Reachin