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Music

How a "17 Year old Indian Lad With a Morrissey Haircut" Produced 90s Rave Anthem "Labyrinthe"

Demonik's track was the warehouse screamer produced from a bedroom in Birmingham.
Peter Duggal AKA Demonik, "back in the day."

In the latest instalment of The Story Of we've spoken to Peter Duggal AKA Demonik, about his seminal rave record "Labyrinthe." The record was a regular in the warehouse days of the early 1990s and was sampled by Altern-8 on their track "Infiltrate 202."

I was 17 when I released my first record, under the name Doggy. They were wild times, genuinely pure and naive in the best way possible. I always think making music was a lot like punk for us. Just like how punks only had a guitar they hardly knew how to play, I only had one synth and a really limited sampler which I had to try and squeeze as much possibility imaginable out of. I started making tunes and some of my friends who listened to them said "this is good, you should send them to someone." I had a copy of "Voodoo Ray," and there was this address under the label, so I sent them a cassette and basically said "this is my song, do you like it?" Next thing I knew I was on a train and signing a contract.

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When I was making music my main interest was machines. I was only 17 so I didn't go to raves really, but because I was making tunes I gravitated towards other people in the scene. After a while I started getting booked for PAs. I'd get picked up in a car and driven to a warehouse or factory somewhere with my synth under my arm, then I'd walk out on stage in front of thousands of people, play six songs, and go home again. Just this 17 year old Indian lad from Birmingham with a Morrissey haircut. I've got very fond memories of those days.

There was an innocence to the whole enterprise. No fancy flyers, astute promoters, or spreadsheets checking how much money was being made. That being said, there was a lot of fleecing going on as well, a lot of contracts being signed without being properly read. The advent of the internet has been really interesting for me. I knew "Labyrinthe" had been popular but it wasn't until I got online and starting talking to other people that I realised just how widespread it had been. I didn't even know that Mark Archer had sampled it on Altern-8's "Infiltrate 202" until he told me.

Music is still the biggest part of my life. I'm currently working with former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flur on his next record, we've been in touch for years chatting about music and have now become good friends. I've also done a lot of music for film and TV and more recently for playstation games. It feels fitting to be working on computer games. The world of programming was very much the same as producing music in the rave days. There was something punk about that too, up in your bedroom creating beautiful worlds while your mum was shouting for you to come downstairs for dinner.

Peter now produces music under the name Moonraider.