The Luddite EP
Lab 4
Have 04
1998
The Tale of Havok 4
A long time ago, me and Medicine Man were out at a night called Spiritus at Manchester’s Boardwalk. Playing live that night was a little-known band called Lab 4. We were so blown away by their incredible set that we booked them for Havok on the spot and they became one of our most frequently requested and much-loved guests, still returning years later to help power our reunion gigs. We were therefore honoured to have them on Havok Records, and they produced three absolute blinders for us. The lead track is so good that it often overshadows the two belters on the B-side and it is therefore no surprise that this became our best-selling vinyl to date.
Run Out Groove Etchings
This Side – Give Us The Book, Give Us The Bag, Give Us The Skins
Me and Medicine Man never really had formal business meetings; everything was pretty much done on the fly. But, on the rare occasions when we did get together to plan our next releases or discuss upcoming guests, we had to make sure our heads were in the right place. To help us erm, ‘focus’, we would always roll a little something before planning. Every Havok meeting would therefore start with the immortal line, “Give Us The Book, Give Us The Bag, Give Us The Skins“…It’s probably lucky we didn’t keep minutes, really!
That Side – Smash The System Not The Machine
This is a play on the name of the EP, which is titled the ‘Luddite EP‘ and its title track, ‘Machine‘. Luddites were groups of English workers who destroyed new machinery, especially in cotton and woollen mills, because they believed these machines threatened their jobs. Obviously, since techno is created using machines, we fully support them. However, given our anti-establishment roots, we felt that smashing the system was a much wiser idea.
