Remembering Colin Faver: A Life in the Mix
The dance music community (and industry at large) lost one of its seminal pioneers when iconic British DJ Colin Faver passed away last weekend at age 64. Faver was a pivotal figure in the development of the UK dance music scene and club culture revolution that arose in the wake of disco and punk during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Widely revered as one of the key progenitors of England’s house, techno and acid movements, Colin was the living embodiment of the diverse scenes he helped forge and propel. His innumerable contributions as a vanguard DJ, promoter, A&R executive, radio programmer and cofounder of the influential pirate station KISS FM (now a national broadcaster and preeminent institution) helped transform the fledgling underground subculture and cultural phenomenon into today’s global mainstream music empire.
Throughout his dynamic 40-year career, Faver championed the most groundbreaking and cutting-edge musical developments—from post-punk, new wave and alternative/indie rock to house, techno, acid, electro, industrial and hip-hop. He was among a select few British DJs—including Norman Jay, Mark Moore, “Evil” Eddie Richards, Pete Tong, Danny Rampling and Coldcut—to fully grasp the innovative house and techno music bursting out of dance clubs, private lofts and alternative art venues across the Atlantic in New York, Chicago and Detroit. He fully embraced the gritty, multicultural sounds that were an innovative hybrid of R&B, electro, jazz, gospel and remnants of disco; and he introduced British audiences to many of the leading producers and artists who would provide the energizing soundtrack to nightlife throughout the ‘80s, ‘90s and beyond.
Colin’s professional career began in the late ‘70s when he was recruited by his friend Pete Stennett to work at Stennett’s Walthamstow-based record shop and independent music label, Small Wonder—which would become one of the central outposts for emerging artists in Britain’s thriving post-punk scene, like Crass, Poison Girls and Patrik Fitzgerald. Faver designed sleeves for the label’s releases and was instrumental in signing their most seminal acts, the Cure and Bauhaus.
In the early 1980s, he and Kevin Millins launched Final Solution, a live promotions agency that hosted events with some of the most revered names in post-punk and new wave, like Joy Division, New Order, Bauhaus, Throbbing Gristle, Section 25, Cabaret Voltaire, the Birthday Party and Culture Club. However, after getting his big break as a warmup DJ at the Marquee Club in London’s Soho district, he threw himself into playing and developed a signature vanguard style that was an intoxicating mashup of raw and melodious post-punk, early house, experimental electronic, hip-hop, disco, soul and breaks. By 1982, he secured his first residency at the newly-opened Camden Palace (where he remained until 1988). The venue would become the epicenter for the New Romantic movement, witnessing performances by more synth-heavy pop artists like Prince, Madonna, Grace Jones and Eurythmics.
Throughout the latter part of the decade, Faver’s sound shifted more toward house, and he became an integral fixture at every notorious house, techno and acid house venue in London—from his residencies at Danny Rampling’s Shoom Club and the Wag Club (alongside Eddie Richards) to his popular parties, the Asylum and Pyramid at Heaven (London’s largest gay club), as well as infamous one-nighters Hedonism, Enter the Dragon and RIP at the Clink. He also maintained residencies at the Hacienda in Manchester, Orbit in Leeds, and Rex Club and Le Palais in Paris. This led to a slew of international bookings, which found him globetrotting across Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada and the States—where he would be one of a select few guest DJs to grace the decks at Paradise Garage.
However, the 1990s would prove to be Faver’s most fruitful and landmark decade. He launched his storied Wednesday night weekly party, Knowledge, at SW1 Club in London Victoria with Jane Howard, DJ colleague Colin Dale and fellow techno DJ Brenda Russell. Widely credited as one of the very first techno club nights in the UK, Knowledge was ground zero for the development of the hard techno and acid sound that would become Faver’s iconic signature and the foundational template of the genre. Many of the now world-famous DJs got to their big break at the legendary haunt, including Carl Craig, Sven Väth, Dave Angel, Laurent Garnier, Frankie Bones, Joey Beltram and Richie Hawtin. He also founded the Rabbit City Records imprint, along with partner Gordon Matthewman (brother of Sade and Twin Danger main man, Stuart Matthewman). The duo produced several techno and acid jams as Razor Boy and Mirror Man and released Analog Bubblebath Vol 2, the second EP by Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) under his then-alias, AFX.
During this time, his indispensible pirate radio station KISS FM finally gained legal status as a national broadcaster and Faver, alongside his cohort Colin Dale, hosted their hugely influential twice-weekly radio show from 10pm–1am. The pair were instrumental in introducing UK audiences to myriad dance and electronic music styles, from house, techno and trance to gabber, hardcore, experimental ambient and industrial. They interviewed scores of now-legendary DJs and producers like Larry Heard, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May and Baby Ford, and helped fan the flames of the swelling dance music and club culture revolution. Faver would remain on the roster as a regular “specialist presenter,” hosting a variety of shows—including the weekly techno broadcast—until 1997.
In 1993, Faver once again teamed up with Dale and Russell to start a new Friday night weekly, Deepspace, which ran for nine months at the Paddocks (now Leisure Lounge) in Holborn, London. It relaunched in ‘95 as a monthly Saturday night party at the End, followed by the trio’s other successful weekly party, Submerge, at the legendary Gossips in Soho.
By decade’s end, he had traveled the globe, playing at many of the most important house and techno clubs, festivals and raves, such as Mayday, Love Parade, Tresor and E-WERKS (Berlin), Tunnel and Unit (Hamburg), the Omen and Dorian Gray (Frankfurt), Ultraschall (Munich), Street Parade (Zurich), Twilo (New York), Destiny (Toronto), Arrival Festival (Montreal) and the debut of Tribal Gathering in the UK.
In recent years, Colin’s musical tastes had shifted from the harder-edged techno sounds he was synonymous with to more soulful, melodic material, which he featured heavily on the digital radio station Mi-Soul. And while he rarely made headlines, the soft-spoken trailblazer was beloved by the dance music illuminati, and his vast influence continues to endure and reverberate across generations of music-lovers worldwide. He was a rare breed—a DJ’s DJ—hardworking, inexhaustibly enthusiastic and ego-free. He lived and breathed the music and scene that defined his life’s work and was a staunch supporter to the very end.
Colin Faver died of multiple organ failure on Saturday, September 5, 2015, with life partner Brenda Russell by his side.
