Coincidence is a strange force; just ask Den Haan, whose phallic name surprised even them.
Two wasters hang out in Glasgow, one of Europe’s biggest techno cities, and decide to make tongue-in-cheek Italo-disco. An abstract decision considering the sounds that raged around them. And whilst their resulting music is camp, a tad ironic and looking far into the past, it’s always floor filling HI-NRG modern disco that’ll smash any club.
It turns out that Den Haan’s plans went even further, as one half of the band Matt Aldworth explains: “We did toy with the idea of making it conceptual and even wrote a story involving futuristic Nero-Glam rockers, an intergalactic mining fleet run by evil cat people and a trans-dimensional phaze alignment module that allowed you to travel back in time and into parallel universes. However, we decided to shelf that and let the music speak for itself.”
Their music screams fun. Taking a cheeky swipe at Italo references, they looked at their heroes with names like Azoto and Tantra and ’Lectric Workers and knew they needed something special. Matt and bandmate Andrew Gardi both loved the idea of being one person and so picked a name from the Dutch phone book: Den Haan. “It had a nice ring to it, but after
four or five months we began getting feedback on our MySpace page and one guy in particular twigged responding with: ‘You guys aren’t really Dutch are you? Do you know what Den Haan means?’ We certainly didn’t! He replied: ‘It means ‘The Cock!’’”
Hmm. Not a band to be deterred by such associations, Den Haan unleashed tracks like ‘Release The Beast’, which quickly became an Optimo anthem several years ago. Matt, however, knew what worked at Optimo, having smashed out sets under his Crème du Menthe moniker since the early Noughties.
And, despite the city being increasingly obsessed with Optimo’s rock/techno fusions and latterly nothing but wonky hip-hop, Den Haan always tried to operate outside trends, despite disco enthusiasts being so thin on the ground. “Glasgow has always been, and still is a big Techno city. But I think the further you look back, especially the HI-NRG scene in the mid- to late-’80s, I don’t think it’s too far removed.”
“Music always comes in cycles,” the producer continues. “Who knows; perhaps disco will get more mainstream, but I hope not because then you can find yourself in a situation where you’re surrounded by all the media hype and marketing and people making really shit pastiche half-arsed drivel. That really cheapens the name.”
Den Haan Essentials
‘Release The Beast’ (Optimo Music)
‘Gods From Out Of Space’ (Courier Of Death)
‘Night Shift’ (Courier Of Death)
Catch Den Haan live at ‘The Nest’ in Dalston for our next Clash party on April 1st. Win tickets to see the duo, and Deadboy, Radioactive Man, Gyratory System and When Saints go Machine, by entering our competition HERE.
