All was quiet on the Nick Warren front for a while, since his last Global Underground compilation in early 2007 and his tour with Future Music Festival not long after. He’s known for his powerful sets of melodic progressive, so you could be forgiven for linking this absence to the explosion of stripped-back minimal and techno that hit shortly after his last Oz appearance. But that’d be speaking too soon, as he’s back in early ‘09 with a superb new mix compilation, a fresh Way Out West album on the horizon as well as a round of Australian gigs over Easter that’ll give punters the chance to catch him where he arguably does it best – in the clubs.

In spite of assumptions to the contrary, Nick Warren tells ITM there’s been plenty that’s been inspiring him since we last hosted him in the country. “It’s been fantastic for me, the techno side has been brilliant and I love a lot of the stuff coming out. Gui Borratto from Brazil and Robert Babisz, people like that have been a huge influence.” Nonetheless, he’s steered away form the stark rhythms of minimal house, and he reckons he made the right choice by keeping things on the melodic tip. “It’s dying away already,” he says of minimal. “It was very much a trendy sound; some of the minimal stuff was great but you don’t want that for three to four hours in a club… Now, the whole progressive and techno sides are very close to each other, but there’s a lot of melody involved… They’re not that far away from each other now. ”

His GU35: Lima compilation from last year has been hailed as one of his best, and when he chatted to ITM from Bristol he informed us he’d just put the finishing touches on the new Way Out West album with his production partner Jody Wisternoff. “I’ll be playing a lot of it on the tour, so make sure you come out.” ITM’s Angus Paterson gets a few more details from the merchant of melody.

Nick Warren tour dates:

Friday April 10th – Brown Alley, Melbourne
Saturday April 11th – Adelaide, Live at the Zoo
Saturday April 11th – Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Sunday April 12th – The Met, Brisbane
Thursday April 16th – Lot 33, Canberra
Friday April 17th – The Heritage, Cairns

Hanging out for Nick Warren’s return to our clubs this Easter? Catch some footage of him performing below…