I remember Djing in a bar a few years ago to a bunch of liquor swilling middle aged Rugby Fans and in the midst of playing some embarrassingly commercial house numbers, I was confronted by a stocky red haired lady (who I assumed was challenging me to a rock throwing competition as she bared a striking resemblance to William Wallaces best friend in Braveheart) who yelled at me over the music ‘WHAT IS THIS TECHNO CRAP?’

Techno is a genre of music (and indeed a word) that is very misunderstood by a large majority of music fans and also something that is held close to the fast beating hearts of the purists. In this crazy world of misconception there is one singular notion that cannot be denied. If you know real Techno, you know Deetron aka Sam Geiser.

Born in Bern, Switzerland, Sam was always around music from a young age. His father was a Jazz musician who made sure that their household was always full of music.

‘We would always sit around listening to his old Jazz records; I guess my dream was always to work with music from a very young age. I used to play piano as a kid but gave it up in my ‘teenage phase’, I really regret that actually”

As he grew older, he progressed musically into the world of Hip Hop, influenced by the jazz infused east coast sounds of people like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Gangstarr which was a stepping stone for him into the world of clubs, turntables and late nights.

“I liked hip hop from a young age and was a huge Prince fan (laughs), I started out DJing hip hop in a local bar and then started hearing the early hip house sounds of people like Todd Terry which really took my attention…As I was getting more into the 4/4, i started hearing this Detroit sound coming through, artists like Kevin Saunderson were a big influence there”

It was only a matter of time before he started to get the itch and want to start producing his own beats, but it wasn’t instantly gratifying as Sam explains.

“I started out with one synth and a really old computer, I just started messing around with it with a few ideas and the first results were ridiculous (laughs) it took me a while to start producing things I could show other people…..My First EP for Intec got a lot of attention from people like Derrick May and Jeff Mills which was in 2000 I think, but the main thing that really gave me a boost in terms of DJing was the ‘Deetron in the mix’ compilation which ended up getting me a lot of work”

And Indeed he did, with offers flying in from all around the globe as his funky dance floor friendly style led to him being approached to work on projects with such internationally acclaimed names such as Samuel L. Session, Ben Sims, Damon Wild, Steve Bicknell (as Karakter), K-Alexy Shelby, Orlando Voorn, Paul Mac among others.

“I am always really careful with what I pick to remix, it is really easy to get pinned down with doing things that at the end of the day aren’t really your work but I always try to approach it from a point of view that it is my own track from the beginning. I take a lot of time with things so that I can take them further, I always try and pick things to do for artists that I like”

His much anticipated debut longplayer “Twisted” is set to hit the stores in October 2006, it seems it has been quite a long time coming for both fans of Techno and the man himself.

“I have done this album over the last few years and they are all new tracks, only really 2 of them I made a while ago and it has just gotten to the point where I can release it, its actually quite a bit deeper than the things I have made before, I have used some guest vocalists and there is some more downbeat material as well, it’s a good balance really but in the end it’s a very dancefloor oriented album with of course a big Detroit influence”

With an Australian tour looming, we can expect his own unique brand of booty shakin electronica to fill clubs and empty water bottles across the nation in the coming months. He is renowned for a distinctive 3-deck style that layers sound, creating a special club experience that is ultimately directed straight at the dance floor with hands in the air, not stroking chins.

“Sometimes it is too easy to just mix two records together, in saying that there are a lot of DJ’s out there that do that very well but for me its just my own style to use 3 turntables for there are a lot more possibilities there. You can layer sounds and use tools like acapellas and really give the impression that you are creating something live, I am really looking forward to coming down there soon”

I think there are thousands of bleary eyed punters out there hunched over their PC’s that would be very pleased to hear that.

Deetron’s album ‘TWISTED’ out October 9th on Music Man.