Sh!t, that's very sad news - I used to buy records from her shop
Rob Taylor
VT Librarian
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Hatch Desk x1088
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-Original Message-
From: Martin Dust [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 25 July 2008 16:00
To: list 313
Subject: (313) Alex Silverfish RiP
reported by Ben Stroud on July 24, 2008
London underground techno pioneer Alex Silverfish was found dead at her
East London flat last weekend. Friends close to Alex told Skrufff she's
believed to have committed suicide. Alex was 43.
Starting her DJing career in 1989 (under the inauspicious moniker of DJ
Lowenbandiger) Alex set up London's first euro techno night 'the
Hiddenside' at the now defunct Bar Industria, with Marco Lenzi, Nils
Hess and Keith Fielder, going on to open the Silverfish record shop in
1991.
The Charing Cross Road shop, art-space and regular all night party venue
served as a key hub and meeting point between London's then thriving
squat party warehouse scene and the overground worldwide techno scene
and Alex rapidly became a star DJ, spinning alongside the likes of Aphex
Twin, Juan Atkins, Sven Vath and Joey Beltram, in the UK and abroad. She
went on to promote 287 Silverfish parties at warehouses and venues
across London becoming one of the capital's most respected and popular
party hosts of the 90s. She also remained passionately committed to
techno, labelling it a form of shamanism and a 'magic ritual' in an
interview with Skrufff in 2002.
"Dancing to the rhythmic sound of the drums all night is something that
men have been doing for millions of years and in those rituals there are
lots of processes happening such as energy sharing between the DJ and
the crowd. Magic things and real healing can happen through techno,"
she said.
"When I play techno to people I feel an energy coming out of my spine
and passing into the crowd, then coming back through the head. If you
play good music to people you receive a vibe in exchange and it's a
formidable sensation. This sensation is really what I still play for,
rather than the money for glory. That's why I still play for free in
lots of underground techno parties," she added.
Embracing electroclash alongside techno at the start of the decade Alex
also announced that she was taking steps towards changing sex from male
to female and lived the remainder of her life as a woman.
Chatting to Skrufff in 2003, she spoke enthusiastically about the
support she'd received from transgenderists in London's club scene and
from friends, who'd known her from her techno days, though was candid
about her ongoing struggles.
"After a life of agony, four years of therapy and two suicide attempts,
I've finally started a sex reassignment program to correct a natural
error that occurred at birth," said Alex, "Basically I've finally become
one after a lifetime of living a double life."
However, two years later, she spoke sadly about the hatred she routinely
encountered following her decision to live as a woman, particularly from
viciously homophobic gangs roaming the estates around her Hackney home.
"Experiencing aggression and receiving hate has been a constant for
quite a few years, so much so that maybe I'm almost becoming used to the
daily abuse," she suggested.
"I've always been spiritual and ascetic and, believe that hate can be
more contagious than love and everyday I try to forgive people's
ignorance and not to get contaminated," she wrote, "At times it's hard
but there's not other way out, We live in a society of resentment,
rejection of freedom and homophobic hate."
"Walking a lifetime with the gaze pointing down is, at the moment, the
best safe-choice of many gays, lesbians and transsexuals in a country
that apparently guarantees freedom around the world," she added.
"Giving too much freedom to fascists of every faith always results in
weaker groups and sections of society losing theirs and suffering,"
she warned.
Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
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