Back and Forth: Slam's Orde Meikle recaps 'Reverse Proceed'

“One of the things that attracted us to techno is that it’s a genre that doesn’t want to be liked,” begins Orde Meikle, one half of production/DJ duo Slam. It’s ironic then, that their latest full-length offering Reverse Proceed – which comprises hard-as-nails bangers such as the aptly named Ghosts of Detroit and the acid-laden Pattern A3 – has found itself nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year alongside daytime radio figures such as Paolo Nutini. 

“It’s a little strange,” he concedes, but the dismissal of techno’s widespread appeal must not be mistaken for a lack of gratitude. Throughout our chat, Meikle’s thick Glaswegian accent takes on tones of both buoyancy and appreciation for their shortlist nomination and from the comfort of his studio – which causes his phone signal to scramble whenever he swivells his chair in a particular direction – Orde is thoroughly keen to chat in-depth with The Skinny about the process behind one of their finest LPs thus far.

Released late in 2014, Reverse Proceed was Slam’s first full-length album in eight years, owing to their prolifacy elsewhere. In between overseeing Soma Records (which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2016) they also run two nights, Pressure – at Glasgow's recently troubled arts institution, The Arches – and Return to Mono at Sub Club. In addition to that, the duo have also found time to release several huge singles, tour the world as a DJ force and since 1997 have helped to curate their eponymously named dance tent at T in the Park, which hosted Dave Clarke, Sven Väth and Carl Craig last year. With all that in mind, it feels lucky that we got to hear a new long player from Meikle Orde and partner Stuart McMillan [interviewed around its initial release here].

“We feel Glasgow is a global name, not only for great clubs, great crowds and great producers but especially, there seems to be an emerging techno sound” – Orde Meikle

So what inspired the pair to produce this particular record? “We’ve always found that albums are kind of a special thing that gives you a chance to tell a story that isn’t told when you’re producing 12-inches to play in clubs and we’ve never done an album where we didn’t feel as if we had that story to tell. We were just really happy with bits and bobs we’d come up with in the studio, we felt it was at the right time and we came up with a number of concepts for this album.”

For those faithful who have heard it in full, you’ll have noticed Reverse Proceed's continuous mix-like format. Starting out in ambient territory with Tokyo Subway, it’s not until track six until we’re met with anything reminiscent of peak-time techno. “It kind of mirrors what we sometimes do as DJs,” Meikle points out. “We have a very broad spectrum of music that we like and when we do a long set, we often start off with ambient stuff, into down-tempo reggae and then build it up over the hours.”

One of the instigators for Slam’s new album was the modular synthesizer “explosion” in recent years. Despite the generally prohibitive nature of hardware’s price tags, Meikle suggests an upsurge of independent electronic companies producing their own pieces of kit have started to make their sonic ambitions more affordable. “That was definitely one of the things that started catching our eye, so we started building our own modular rig in our studio in Glasgow.”

One of the most notable pieces of hardware used on the album came about when Slam got in touch with Colin Fraser, owner of Sequentix Music Systems, an independent hardware company based in Paisley. “We’d been hearing lots of things on our travels about this new hardware sequencer which sounded like it mirrored the functionality of the way we used to do tracks in the very early days,” he says. The hardware in question is the Cirklon, which predominantly features on the album and most evidently on the track Cirklon Bells.

There’s a sense of charm that the album was heavily influenced by and produced on a sequencer which was made locally. Meikle's quick to agree with the sentiment. “We always had it in mind that we wanted to go back to an older way of working with the hardware but you just couldn’t make it up when we found out that the Cirklon was made by a chap who used to come to our nights at the Sub Club years ago.” Meikle adds that Fraser, who created the sequencer, is also a “very good friend” with Ritchie Hawtin who visits his studio whenever he’s in Glasgow. With that poignant anecdote in mind, it seems that the Cirklon was destined to make such a great modern-day techno album in Reverse Proceed.

Another endearing aspect of Slam’s nomination for the Scottish Album of the Year Award is its representation of Glasgow’s enduring club culture, currently battling against the elements. In previous editions of the award, some may say the scene has been left seriously underrepresented – only Rustie’s nomination in 2012 with Glass Swords could realistically be associated with the city’s infamous after-hours parties. With the nomination of Reverse Proceed, it seems that Glasgow’s clubbing institutions and techno have simultaneously been given a nod of appreciation: “We feel Glasgow is a global name, not only for great clubs, great crowds and great producers but especially, there seems to be an emerging techno sound,” Meikle says proudly.

Whilst such appreciation is nice, what seems to be Slam’s next challenge and what this nomination could achieve, is a broader recognition for Scottish underground dance music. When Slam tour the world to DJ, Meikle admits: “It’s always a real surprise to people when you tell them that all these producers emanate from this part of the world.” This is a phenomenon they plan to help eradicate with their forthcoming compilation album – Slam presents Transmissions: Glasgow – which exclusively features electronic artists hailing from the city and hopes to “tell a story about the sound coming out of Glasgow at the moment.”

In Reverse Proceed, Slam have again demonstrated that their hometown can match more recognisable ‘techno cities’ such as Berlin and Detroit for sonically adventurous records; not only is it an exceptional conceptual album that is relentlessly enjoyable, but with it, they’ve presented a vision of a brighter future for Glasgow's currently tumultuous scene. You can't help but hope that they win.