Interview: Mark Farina

On your new Fabric Mix; I was impressed with how you’ve doggedly stuck with your recognisable house sound, despite a global downturn in the popularity of this style of music. What places do you think this kind of music is still booming in at the moment?

The Midwest (USA), California, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Belgium, just to name a couple spots.

Has your loyalty to house music been a conscious decision, either for the benefit of your long-time fans, or perhaps because you don’t like to be dictated by current trends? Or is it just that you don’t identify so much with the more popular music right now (arguably tech-house)?

I just love House. There’s a certain Chicago – SF jacking deep sound that I enjoy and always try and find new goodies to support that. I think Chicago house has many sub-genres within though.

What do you prefer to listen to at home, funky house music along the lines of your Fabric Mix, or the sound you’ve been credited as coming up with, “Mushroom Jazz”? Any other left-field stuff?

Both. I usually listen to more house because I tend to find more new house tunes than downtempo. I collect weird records – searching for samples too.

Your Fabric Mix contains a few interesting science fiction samples. Where did these come from?

Obscure old spoken word albums I’ve collected over the years.

What about the Japanese samples in Das Shibuya? What’s the guy saying? (something about a computer I think, my Japanese skills are a bit rusty)

The guy is naming all of the Kraftwerk songs they performed at a concert in Tokyo in 1981.

Being a veteran of the house scene, does it disappoint you to see so many kids in America growing up thinking of anything with a 4/4 beat as “techno” in the negative sense, especially since techno and house were conceived in their own back yards?

It’s not their fault. It’s hard in the US to be into house or techno or any other sub genre of electronic club music because all the clubs are 21 and up (meaning you must be 21 to get in).

How’s the scene in America now? I’ve heard you mention in the past few years that rock music is making a big comeback, but I have also seen signs that dance music is gaining ground generally. A lot of American producers are starting to emerge on the global stage, though not necessarily in the house field. What do you make of this?

Still, it's pretty good here. Club style is either house, techno or electro. Then of course there’s the whole hip-hop R&B thing that’s more mainstream.

America is currently your home. Though hosting plenty of talented producers and DJs, it’s dwarfed by the amount of material from Europe. Have you ever had thoughts about relocation, or would it feel wrong considering that both house music and yourself got their respective starts in America?

Probably thought more about relocating to Europe or Canada because of lack of faith in our government than music.

You’ve stated in the past that Detroit, the techno mecca, is actually not that great to play because the clubs close so early. What IS your ideal club night? Are you in the open air on a beach, like the Full Moon parties you’ve played in Hawaii, or in a dank and dingy underground club in the centre of the city? What are people wearing? What’s the décor like?

Detroit is fun to play though, it just sucks when the party has to end too early wherever it may be. I usually prefer clubs in the 300-1000 range.

I wrote an article a while ago about the impact of drugs on the dance music. There are few people who have as much experience as you in the scene. What are your thoughts? Do you think drug use has increased or decreased? Is it detrimental? Would you prefer a crowd of drinkers or drug takers at your parties?

I think music, whichever genre, and drugs or alcohol have always had intertwined relationships. It’s just part of growing up. I think a mix of people is usually best, a few drunks, some druggies and some sober people too.

I’ve heard you like to play video games in your spare time. Are you a console or computer kind of guy? What are your past and current favourite games?

I prefer X-BOX 360 or PSP. Current faves: Grand Theft Auto (X-BOX 360), Call of Duty (X-BOX 360) and Tigerwoods 2008 (for PSP).

I’ve found that my favourite games often have great soundtracks. Is this something you notice too? If so, what games have good soundtracks for you?

The radio stations in GTA 4 are cool. One is a DJ Premier channel.

What’s coming up in your world in the next 6 months?

After the Fabric 40 release this weekend, going to do tours in USA, Canada, China, Japan, Brazil, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Interview: Simon Patterson

Trance producer Simon Patterson is everywhere at the moment. His massive hit Bulldozer can be heard at clubs around the world, while his own tour with fellow jock Sean Tyas has been driving crowds crazy everywhere. I caught up with him this week to see what's happening in his world.

You stated in a very recent interview that trance has become formulaic; something that I think a lot of people know and have been saying for many years now. Do you see a quick fix solution for this at all? If so, how?

No, I can’t really see a quick fix solution for this, because this sound is still really popular and new producers learning the trade will often emulate the sound they like. I guess the more risks people take with making stuff, then more new styles will be created. Everything has been done in trance, it is formulaic but it’s hard not to be at times.

I’ve heard murmurings around that any big trance revival could possibly come from psy-trance, which some consider to be a relatively uncorrupted genre, despite commercial success from groups like Infected Mushroom and Skazi in the past few years. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, I love this sound and many of my own influences come from this. I would much rather go to a psy party to hear tunes that I’ve never heard before than go to a trance party and know every track the dj plays. Psy is getting more and more popular. The top 100 alone has so many entries from psy DJs over the last 2 years. It’s such a select taste, but with Infected Mushroom and Astrix becoming more and more commercial, it is opening up doors to becoming even more mainstream and popular.

Your production hints at your interest in psy-trance, as Panic Attack, my favourite track of yours, could very nearly be considered full-on psy, simply for that great bass line, and also F16, for it’s acid-laden lead. I know you’re a fan of Israel’s Astrix. In the near future, where do you see your production headed, perhaps further down this path, or more so with techier, clubbier stuff like Bulldozer?

I spent so long on Panic Attack and Strip Search, but people never really got them. I think they went over people’s heads and I made a conscious decision to not spend so much time on tracks and change the sound a bit. Bulldozer and Smack are the definitely the direction I am heading, but I need to change it up a bit again. I think the whole kick in with bass and kick will wear a bit thin eventually and it is time to try something different. Although I am totally out of ideas at the moment so I have no clue as to what that will be! I love Astrix and his production is outstanding. I may make some psy stuff under a different name!

Are there any other psy producers you admire?

Black and White I really like too. And Silicon Sound.

Tell us about your new tracks, Smack and Whatever It Takes. (Released in April on Spinnin’)

Smack I actually worked on for quite a while. There are a number of versions knocking around because I kept changing it. I wanted to follow up Bulldozer but not make it a carbon copy. I guess arrangement wise it is, but the riff and percussion are a little deeper. So far Armin has been playing it on A State Of Trance and Sander van Doorn has been playing it at most of his gigs. It has been getting a good response, so hopefully it connects like Bulldozer did! The full promo starts in a week so it will be good to see what people think.

I actually did Whatever It Takes about 2 years ago. I must have deleted the song files, because when I went to update it I couldn't find them anywhere, so I left it as is and for a B side record, it's good enough. Again, it’s quite tech influenced with emotional chords and a piano. Then it kicks in with a riff and plods along.

(Simon uses a Mac G5, running Logic 8, with Virus TI and other plugins).

Another thing that seems to be happening in the world of trance is perhaps a resurgence of the UK on the world stage, with newer names such as yourself, John O’Callaghan and Mike Foyle stepping into the fold in the past five years after taking a backseat to the Dutch for many years. What are your thoughts on this? Are there many young names coming up?

For sure. There are so many new guys coming through that are brilliant. The UK especially (well Ireland more so), we have O'Callaghan, Downey, Kearney, Webster and Neal Scarborough all making great stuff. It’s the whole discover sound, it’s massive and has been for years in the UK. Now it’s catching on everywhere.

I’ve heard you talk in a few interviews about people in the industry having a “hunger” to succeed. Is this something you’ve particularly noticed as present in some people, and absent in others?

Everyone I am friends with in the scene has a real hunger. Without that, then I can’t see how you can succeed. It’s that hunger and desire to push on and want to do well that gets you through all the negative times. You can be the most talented person in the world but unless you have the will to win, then unfortunately you won’t get noticed. You need to be bashing down doors in this industry for anyone to care.

What’s your own hunger? Where are you looking to go with your career in the next five years?

I want to be happy, successful and look back on my career and say – “I did everything I wanted and achieved everything I set out to”. I came from Ireland at the age of 17 to London to make it in music. In my mind there was no choice for me to go back home, I had to do it. And with all the knock backs and false promises I had, I never once believed that it couldn't happen. There’s so much competition now with all these new producers, you have to be ahead of the game and always wanting to learn. As long as I keep moving forward each year. Then I’ll be happy.

Back to the beginning of your own career. Yours is interesting in that rather than slog your way through clubs (correct?), you got a job at Radio 1 and raised your profile that way. How did you get the job? What kind of interview did you have to do?

I actually worked at many record labels first. I was A&R assistant at Universal’s AM:PM and then went on to work in A&R at Incentive which was Ministry’s Label. I was about 22 and was there for a few years signing tracks and acts etc. Then when Seb Fontaine joined radio1 I went round to his office to drop an exclusive track off for him. He asked me if I would be up for helping him listen through his weekly records and source tunes for the show and I jumped at the chance. Whilst at Radio 1 I met Judge Jules and asked him if I could do the same. After numerous emails, he finally agreed and then I ended up working with him for about 4 years. So it wasn’t really working for Radio 1 as such, it was working for DJs with shows at radio 1. But this way I made loads of contacts and from here DJing and production started for me.

Can you remember your first day? What did it involve?

Just basically listening to about 500 tracks and trying to work out whether they were any good or not!

How long did it take before your taste in music became respected enough to begin sorting the good records from the bad for the show?

Pretty quickly to be honest. I had been working in A&R for so long, I knew what was good and not. With Seb I didn't really love the music he played. I liked it and I understood it, but I was always into trance and techno. So with Seb I had to be really careful with trying to look at tracks objectively. You know; “is this track interesting enough to play on his show”? And stuff like that.

With Jules, he gave me one trial doing it and told me to keep all the ones that I thought weren't good. So I put the tracks into 3 piles: 1. Good. 2. Interesting. 3. Not Sure. 4. Crap. He listened through all these and I guess I must have got it right, because he asked me to do it full time. Then I had to make a decision who I worked for, because I couldn't work for both. So I ended up working with Jules.

From here, how did you go to touring the world? Which countries did your first tour encompass?

This took quite a while. It’s only in the last 3 years that I have got to travel. The first country I travelled to was Russia, which was brilliant! As I got more and more into solo productions, this is when things started to move quickly!

Do you have any particularly interesting stories away from club land, Djing and music? Regardless of what you’re doing for a living, surely visiting so many foreign countries provides you with a lot of great experiences you might otherwise have missed whilst sitting at home?

The travelling is the best thing about the job. I used to get quite homesick when I first started, but I’ve gotten used to it now and love getting on that plane going somewhere new! It can be quite lonely at times though. You gain so much knowledge from each countries’ culture and it’s a great experience meeting new people all the time.

You’ve been interested in trance since 15, and had a set of decks not long after. What was it like when you finished school? Did you have a succinct ambition to get involved in the industry, or did your parents tell you to shut up and get a real job?

My whole family were involved in the music industry, but they wouldn't help me get into it. I was actually playing semi - pro football, but I had a car crash and couldn’t play again. That’s when I decided about music. I gave up the start of my degree and flew to London and worked out the best way to do this. After a few years of seeing that I was serious about it, my family came round and supported me.

Can you remember the first record you ever bought?

Red Light District - Did You Hear Me.

Eddie Halliwell is a DJ you’ve said you admire, and I couldn’t have agreed more two years ago. What do you think of his recent crossover to the commercial electro-house sound? Be truthful…!

To be honest, I will never say a bad word against Eddie because he's a good friend and for me there is no better DJ in the world that has his skills and also his stage presence. I haven't heard him play live for about a year. The last time was at a boat party called the Monday Bar Cruise which goes from Sweden to Finland and back to Sweden. Its 24 hours of chaos. I played with Eddie and Sander and I’ve have never seen a DJ set like Eddie played that night. He was beyond unreal. Each time I see him I forget how good he is. I guess with his radio 1 show he has to play an amount of house, electro and more mainstream stuff. But at heart he is tech trance DJ.

Do you have any aspirations for your own radio show like Eddie and the other big jocks?

I’d love to one day! It’s so much work though. At the moment the most important thing is productions for me. Eventually a mainstream show would be perfect!

Interview: M.A.N.D.Y

Well, I'm officially back from holidays and more tired than when I left (more on that later). Saw Zabiela play a four hour set last night (review up soon) and nearly fell asleep at the end.

Anyway, here's a nice interview I did with M.A.N.D.Y regarding their excellent new Fabric mix. It got a bit silly towards the end, but only because I knew in advance that these guys have a great sense of humour!

Regarding the new Fabric mix, why did you decided to cram 25 tracks in? Was it because they were all just too good not to include?

The poor fabric guys cleared [for copyright] one hundred tracks for us because we couldn’t decide. It’s very difficult to put everything you want to present on one CD. We play long sets and they vary quite a bit, so we tried out a different approach.

How do the two of you go about compiling mixes like this? It’s hard enough for some DJs to do it alone. How do you prevent clashes of ideas?

For some reason it works out very fine. It’s very nice to discuss and interact while doing a mix. One finds this amazing record and the other finds another which fits perfectly and so on. This could take a very, very long time.

In choosing songs, are there ever songs that you keep secret or discover independently of one other, or does the fact that you work and party together mean you have a mutual knowledge of new tracks?

Quite a lot actually, as we have different sources where we get our records.

How do you think having such short track times changes the dynamics of the set, as opposed to having perhaps 15 songs only?

While playing a set, we would play the tracks longer of course, but on a CD you have a serious time limit, so it’s much more about thinking and testing which records fit well with the following and how long you can listen to it without being bored.

Was the Fabric mix done on Ableton, or on decks?

Half half. Normally we always do mixes live and then edit the tracks in Ableton. We like the dynamics and little mistakes you hear in live mixing, it makes it more interesting in our ears. The first half was done in Ableton as had a serious time issue at the end.

How do you work your mixing? One transition each, alternating?

When you do a mix in a tiny little studio it needs to be only one doing it. Selection is done by us and then one goes to the studio and does it, though the other one is always around as well.

Why is it you often tour separately?

We very often have only two hours play time and even alone it’s sometimes not enough.

How do you decide where you go, is it based on the reputation of various cities and how good the scene is there?

You always know somebody who has played there already and you get your information, especially about cities where you have never been and where you are not sure about the club situation or security etc.

[Side note: for this reason it’s hard for cities to break into the dance scene and get decent acts to play – few will come unless the place has a good reputation]

What do you get up to overseas when you’re not actually doing a show?

Same like here [at home], trying to enjoy the place where I am. Maybe go to the beach, museum or just walk around the city. Last time in Argentina we went to the countryside and did some horse riding for three days.

What’s it like DJing at home for the first time after many months touring?

It’s super nice and super tiring at the same time, as you see a lot of your friends and you want to talk to them, but of course you have to play as well…

Do you guys live together in Germany, or do you have separate places?

We both live in Berlin in separate apartments, but we have lived together several times too.

Why is it that although Booka Shade have co-written most of your releases, “Body Language” is the only one with their name in the title?

We sort of knew it was going to be bigger than the other tracks we did together, so it was totally normal that we share the credit.

Have you ever thought about doing a joint tour with Arno and Walter? It would be natural seeing as the four of you are such good friends.

We did it already a lot of times. Not a whole tour, but quite a lot of gigs. We love it, it’s always best to tour together.

You guys have been in the music scene in Germany now since 1990 and before! On a large scale, how has it changed since your early days?

Obviously it has changed a lot. A bit too much to explain all the development since then, but of course the whole digital issue is the biggest challenge the music business has ever experienced. Especially for the majors it’s a sensitive time.

Has it gotten better or worse? Where do you see it headed in the future?

There are always two sides I believe. It’s good that people now all over the world have access to the same music and are not depending on 1-2 big compilations which come out twice a year.

I believe that more and more labels are trying to sell their music and merchandising directly to their customers [Kompakt is a good example here]. To keep all the rights to yourself is seen at most independent labels.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding “Body Language” being sampled by Will I Am. Why did you decide to release the sample for use, and what is M.A.N.D.Y.’s opinion of the finished track?

The question is why shouldn’t we? He’s a respected artist and did some good songs in the past. It’s not our favourite song of all time, but that’s ok.

You guys used to be ravers, which is funny because the scene you are in now despises trance and is generally considered a lot cooler. Did you guys ever do the whole “big pants and glowstick” thing?

When we say we were ravers, we were totally hooked on that music and everything [in life] was related to this. We bought records like crazy, did 1001 tapes at home, hung out with friends at home after crazy party nights to play all the weirded records we didn’t hear all night. Every weekend we drove somewhere where we knew there was a good DJ.

[By that definition I’m a raver through and through.]

But no big pants and glow sticks for us.

Why did you both make the decision to leave that scene? (Maybe your brains were too fried?)

We never left it, but you can’t really do anything else if you live this way, so it’s obvious that you have to calm down a bit in order to get your life moving.

What do you think of the trance scene back then, how would you compare it to the tech-house scene?

Honestly, it’s all the same. At the time, it was called trance and everybody was listening to it; the whole Frankfurt scene with the Omen and the Dorian Gray with all the ravers that came from different countries. You can’t really compare it with trance nowadays. At the time, it was new and groundbreaking. Now it’s called tech-house, minimal or electro-house. It was just the music of that time.

Do you still listen to trance at all? What modern and older artists do you like?

There’s only good and bad in our eyes, however you call it, but for sure we are not aware of the actual stuff that is going on in the trance genre.

You’ve often joked about M.A.N.D.Y. being named after a woman. What would she look like if this really was the case? Or, alternately, which female celebrity would she be?

She would look like us of course. Maybe without the hairy face.

You’ve stated that some people in Australia actually thought M.A.N.D.Y. was a single female DJ until they saw you play; have you ever thought about bringing an outrageously good-looking supermodel to gigs and passing her off as such?

Not really, but of course we like to take them with us, just not in the business sense.

Is Philipp related to George [Jung]?

My mum tells me “no”, but you never know…

You guys are known for your crazy “lust” parties back in the day, which were used to have fun, not make money. Obviously everyone got pretty loose, and some wild stuff went down. Tell me about it.

We were living in Frankfurt and we needed a place to play our own records, as nobody wanted to book us, so we did our own parties. We had some older guy who was in the underground art scene and he helped us, always finding these very special locations. Also, we always invited performance groups that appeared in the middle of the night doing really crazy stuff. Everybody was really shocked, but there were always nights you had some good memories.

Interview: Darude

Last month Finnish maestro Ville Virtanen, a.k.a Darude, released a new album entitled Label This!, which he describes as fresh-sounding but still identifiable as his own unique work. I spoke to him last week about this, touring, the now infamous Sandstorm, and what the future may hold for him...

First up, the new album. Starting slowly with a more rock-influenced air, it builds through various BPMs, eventuating in the simple, uplifting trance that Virtanen is known for. The album has been an ideal chance to show off a plethora of carefully honed production skills, with a wider range of genres rearing their head than ever before. Vocals play a greater part than in previous work, and it’s interesting to note that although all tracks are self-contained, they are mixed together, which reflects Virtanen’s extensive experience and love of DJing. As one would expect, the name of the album is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that people are all too eager to pigeon-hole Darude into a certain sound, when all he really cares about is producing “dance floor-aimed electronic music”. In his own words; “the goose bump factor matters, not the category”.

While the casual listener may not notice it, this album has been a huge step for Virtanen, as it is the first release made without the help of friend and mentor Jaakko Salovaara, a.k.a JS16, who originally launched the Darude name back in 1999, as well as fellow Finns Bomfunk MCs, who produced the massive hit Freestyler. “Jaakko is a proud father of two sons and he’s concentrating on his own JS16 material at the moment” says Virtanen; however it’s clear that the challenge of completing his first album alone was as much by his choice as it was Salovaara’s. Virtanen is gracious in regards to is mentor’s help over the years, simply stating “he made me”.

Signing Virtanen to 16 Inch Records in 1999, after meeting in Turka, Finland, Salovaara produced the first two Darude albums, as well as being involved in several “Darude vs. JS16” remixes. Virtanen describes their relationship almost as one made in heaven, in that Salovaara’s knowledge is slightly lacking when it comes to new technologies, but compensated for by his classical music training, while the younger Darude was always up with the latest production methods. “I’ve learned so much working with him, both technical and artistic stuff. In turn, I believe Jaakko has learned a lot of technical stuff from me”. Rounding out his emphatic and glowing praise of Salovaara, Virtanen proclaims that “he could have the lowest-end gear ever and he’d still make unbelievable sounding music”.

Label This! has a slightly updated sound can be traced to Darude’s extensive touring between 2003-2007, in which he played both live and traditional DJ sets around the globe, but mainly in the United States. He attributes his time spent in America partly to “a great agent”, but also to the huge fan base he has established, who he describes as enthusiastic and open-minded to all kinds of electronic music. Although excited about tours that are currently being planned in other locations such as Australia, Asia and South America, he describes these gigs as a little more stressful, involving “one-offs” or long weekends, which increase jetlag and logistical problems. In comparison, the US has more large cities and smaller travel time between shows, allowing for tours that can last anywhere between a fortnight and two months.

Darude’s first live performances on stage consisted of a Korg Karma synth, a Korg Triton Synth, a Yamaha RS7000 hardware sequencer as well as the usual CD players and mixer, but these days, like a lot of DJs, you will find him using a MacBook Pro, Ableton Live and a midi controller. However, in keeping things unique, Virtanen also employs live singers, guitarists, dancers and percussionists, as well as a Video DJ (VJ).

VJing forms a significant part of the Darude spectacle, with visuals being controlled by a close friend, also named Ville. WhiteWater Oy is a multimedia company owned by the two of them and another acquaintance, which is used primarily for making commercials and other films for clients, but which doubles as a production studio for VJ footage. This is a bonus in that Virtanen never has to deal with the copyright issues associated with footage, something he has been vocal about when it comes to music itself. Although a majority of visual footage is not selected by Virtanen, he has strong opinions about what should be used, and tends to prefer “actual real-life images”, as opposed to the “3D tunnels and smileys that every techno party since the beginning of time has had”. It’s clear from this and other comments that Virtanen is intent on producing the most unique and memorable experience he can with his shows; “I have a fish-eye lens on my shoulder and usually a handy cam pointed at the crowd, the stage, or both, that my VJ mixes in whenever he feels like it”. In addition, Virtanen positions a microphone over the crowd, waiting to sample their roar and feed it back to them.

On the topic of Sandstorm, I just couldn’t help myself, but Virtanen doesn’t seem to mind being known as “that Sandstorm guy”. When asked if perhaps he “created a monster”, instead he says that he’d do it all again in an instant:

“I was a regular guy who studied, had a part-time job and made music as a hobby. I had a low-end PC, one synth, a crappy stereo, and my kitchen doubled as my studio room. My biggest dream was to hear a local DJ play my track and get to be in the corner checking out how the crowd goes nuts. Although I naturally loved the track, you know it being my original piece and all, I had no idea that it would/could break internationally, let alone internationally, so yeah, I was more than surprised when it all happened. I’m still extremely proud of ‘Sandstorm’ and play it in some form pretty much every time I play out. That track started my career and I’ll never get tired of it. The only thing that bothered me at some point is people always comparing everything I do to ‘Sandstorm’ and its success. To me that’s a bit unfair because it became a phenomenon for whatever reason (and I know I’m bold saying that myself), it’s not a regular track but a happy accident that snowballed, so it’s a little far-fetched that I could just decide and make another one just like that. I’m not thinking little of myself here either, I know I can make great music, but it takes a lot more than a great track to gain that kind of success. Timing, partners, working my ass off, the right direction of wind…”

Yet still…

“My flyers pretty much everywhere still say “creator of Sandstorm” etc. These days I’m fine with all of that, because, you know, it’s cool if some people come to my gig in 2007 because of ‘Sandstorm’ in 2000 and I get to update their view of me [by] playing what I play today. Mission accomplished.”

While Ferry Corsten created Punk in a mere five hours, Virtanen says that Sandstorm was two years in the making, though actual production time was a lot less than that.

“In 1997 I was making another track when I came across this cool sound and I made a little melody with it and put it aside because it didn’t go anywhere at the time. Two years later I went through some old projects and found the melody again. I heard something nice in it, and especially after putting it through a distortion unit, it sounded amazing to me. I got very inspired and it took me maybe a day to get the basic track done and about a week or so to tweak things before I burnt the first demo to CD and took it to some local DJs and eventually Jaakko.”

While some may say that the track is a bit Euro-dance, a bit too epic, or plain not like it, few could deny that it uses a set of unique sounds rarely heard anywhere else.

“The original melody was made in a tracker program called FastTracker2, from where I exported it to Cubase, where I put the track together using Korg Trinity Rack synth sounds and Propellorhead ReBirth drums. When Jaakko got involved we updated most of the sounds except the original lead melody using the gear in his studio; Clavia Nord Rack 2, Roland JP8080, JV1080 and Ensoniq ASR10. You might also want to know that it was, as was the whole first album, sequenced with Cubase on an Atari ST, mixed with a Mackie 24/8 and recorded to DAT [tape].”

Virtanen states that unlike some producers, after Sandstorm broke, he didn’t feel a lot of pressure to produce something just as big, partially because Jaakko Salovaara was shouldering a lot of responsibility, producing and co-writing tracks as well as dealing with paperwork. In addition, the follow up hit, Feel The Beat, was already a finished product before Sandstorm ever made it big.

“People often think that we did ‘Feel The Beat’ and used the same sounds because ‘Sandstorm’ was a success and we just wanted to ride the wave, but that is not how it was: we simply were working on those tracks one after the other and we liked what we did with ‘Sandstorm’, so it was natural to use similar sounds in the next track too.

As for the Sandstorm film clip, you know, the one with the briefcase and the James Bond-ish chase scene?

“We had a production company write a couple of plots of which we picked the chase one. It was shot in Helsinki, Finland in two days. I didn’t have too much input in the first three videos because I was so inexperienced and felt that it was better to let the pros do their job!”

Although Virtanen enjoys the filming process, he also calls it “tedious and tiring at times”. Regardless, recently he has been more involved in the creative process, writing plots himself, and taking a bigger part in the acting process. In recent clips Virtanen has played ice-hockey and snowboarded.

“I had a blast heli-boarding on the highest peak of the Alps, we were dropped somewhere near 4500m… unfreakingbelievably cool. Words can’t describe that powder surfing nirvana I had that last day of shooting”.

Unlike many other people in the industry, Virtanen is unique in that he has stuck to just the one production identity, Darude, despite stating that he has an undying love for all forms of music, both electronic and traditional. Humbly, he states that he “hasn’t been his own producer until recently”, and tends to rely on production partners when it comes to releases. However, this has changed with the release of Label This! and we will see Virtanen digging up some old material on his hard drive and diversifying his sound.

In spite of several #1 hits, and playing to crowds as large as 100,000 people across the globe, Virtanen still he sees new things ahead of him, starting with a few collaborations; he has dreams of working with both with famous and as yet unheard of musicians. Strangely enough, Madonna is one name that he nominates, wishing to follow in Stuart Price’s footsteps.

“Above all I want to achieve longevity” the thirty-two year old muses, citing plans for more Darude productions and the opening of his own label, Ooops! Records, in a quest to find more music that suits his own DJing style. Like BT, he also envisions himself making music and perhaps sound for movies.

“I don’t see myself quitting what I do now but sure I can see a time when I’ll take it a little easier for a year or two, you know, travelling less and concentrating maybe more on my future family and other social life. I could produce full-on 9-to-5-like and live in the same rhythm with the rest of the world for some time.”

Unsurprisingly, he also sees himself passing on his knowledge to others as a mentor, just as Salovaara did for him. In twenty years he still sees himself touring, and imagines that “someone like me should be quite valuable for new artists”. However, like all true aficionados of music, he never really sees himself quitting, perhaps because after over a decade, it’s become ingrained in his psyche.

“I know I want to ‘settle down’ but there are several examples of that not meaning you need to change playing out and producing to knitting socks or pullovers..."

Interview: Nikola Gala

Hailing from Greece, Nikola Gala, real name Nikos Galatsopoulos, first broke onto the scene in 2003/4 with a blissful re-make of Perasma's Swing 2 Harmony, teaming up with fellow countryman John Con, and receiving copious play from acts such as Gabriel & Dresden and James Holden.

In the four years since, the twenty-seven year old has piled on a string of quality progressive house releases, proving that quantity doesn't necessarily have to be sacrificed for quantity, as well as initiating a career in DJing and founding his own label.

I caught up with him last week to see what's happening...

Where are you now? At home in Thessaloniki or out on tour? What have you been doing?

Currently I'm at home, working on my next EP for my digital label, Escada Music.

What is the music scene and clubbing like in Thessaloniki? How has this influenced your tastes in music and production?

At the moment the city has a couple of clubs full of events featuring guest and local DJs. Sometimes the clubs are packed, and some others are not so busy. I wouldn't say that the local scene and clubbing has influenced me much; I get most of my inspiration from listening to music in my studio, single tracks or mixes.

You’re coming up to almost two years now since you started you own label, Escada. How has this affected your life?

Escada was something I wanted to start much earlier but I wasn't able due to some reasons, but anyway now I am really happy with it. I can release my own music the way I want it and this is the main reason that I've started the label. While I was releasing my own music, other artists spotted the label and started sending me music, some of the tracks were nice and so I decided to release them.

What steps were involved in setting up your own label? Was it hard financially?

First of all you need to have some music in your hands, this is the basic requirement, and then to find a distributor. I had the music and then I made a deal with Beatport, which is one of the best download stores for underground dance music. Hard financially??? I wouldn't say so, especially for a digital one.

Besides the obvious advantage of being able to release your own music, what are some of the positive and negative aspects that you have encountered in running Escada?

I get a lot of music from other artists who are looking for a label to release their tracks and this is a big one. I get in touch with new people all the time. I can't find any negative aspect running Escada so far, I am really proud of it, as it gets better and better all the time!

Which producers releasing on Escada are you excited about at the moment? Which elements of their music interest you the most?

One of the last releases was "Steve Mill - Exacta" including a remix from Scope. Both artists have made some really really nice techy/housy/clubby tunes that I have included in my sets and I am happy that I have them on board.

It would be fair to say that from your first to your latest releases, your music has arguably become a little shallower, using more hooks and funkier bass lines than your early progressive releases, which were quite deep. What has fuelled this change? Was it a conscious decision?

Yes, that's true. I try not to push myself make music that has a label or that will fit in a specific genre, I just listen to music, get some ideas then will mix it with some of my own ideas, beats and sounds and make a track. Through all these years, I have listened to many new and older artists (and I keep doing this) and I believe this made me work on some different kind of sounds. I hate sticking to the same sound all the time; I prefer to evolve.

Following on from this, where do you see your music headed in the future? Is there a certain type of sound that you like or dislike at the moment?

For sure I want to keep it clubby, so people can dance to it, or sometimes deeper, sometimes techier. I feel like modern house music is big for me at the moment.

Any upcoming DJ tours abroad that people should know about?

As far as I know there isn't something confirmed so it's a good chance to sit in the studio and work!

...and finally, the token question. What’s your favourite 12” of all time?

That's a tough one but I think it's "Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island".

Interview: Rex The Dog

At the conclusion of 2006, I was lucky enough to interview one my favourite artists, Rex The Dog, for a local street press magazine. Here is the result:

What are you working on currently? Tell us about your new album.

At the moment we’re making some new music towards our album. We’re trying hard to make our album something that is not headed directly for the trash can, we don’t know yet if we succeed.

In between working on the music, we’re traveling around a lot to play at clubs. This is fun fun fun, but very tiring and makes us late for everything all the time!

Your primary production instrument is the Korg 700s Synthesizer. This gives a lot of your production a pure but dance floor-orientated electro-pop sound. What is it about this particular piece of equipment that draws you to it?

Our main instrument has for a long time been the Korg 700S.We also use the ARP 2600, another synth from the 70s so we are not 100% loyal to the Korg.

‘Prototype’ was made only with the Korg, mainly because it is so simple and yet so powerful and alive. Also we didn’t have anything else at the time.

For a long time after the release of your first hit, Prototype, you worked in relative obscurity, letting your music do the talking.What made you decide to begin co-operating with music media?

We haven’t taken any big decisions either way, but to talk is never our real favorite thing. We do this interview because we met you and you seemed nice.

At what point did you decide that you could not speak through your music alone and why?

This again makes it sound like we took a big decision. The truth is that we met you and said yes. And always in life it is bad to say ‘yes’ and then change it into ‘no’.

Who, other than similar electro-pop groups The Knife and Depeche Mode, have you been inspired by?

We get inspired when we go out dancing. The club Nag Nag Nag in London has always been a favourite for us. Jo Jo De Freq, who is their more ‘techno’ DJ, used to let us come down and hang out. We heard a lot of fresh stuff there. We also like lots of music from 1980s, some music that it is not too cool to like!

Why did you originally decide to sign with German label KOMPAKT, and how did it come about?

We heard their records, the first ones for us being ‘Yes Sir I Can Hardcore’ (Michael Mayer Remix) and ‘Homogen’ by Justus Kohncke. When we heard these we were mesmerized because they mixed a genuine love of synths with a sense of experiment, and also real party times.

We sent to KOMPAKT a CDR of ‘Prototype’ with a drawing of me and Rex. They emailed back about 6 weeks later saying they were feeling it! Rex ran around in circles when I told him.

What makes a Rex The Dog set?

Good people in the crowd is the most important. We like people at the front who scream!

The animations that feature in your shows are a unique element. Who creates these, and how did they come about?

We make them, they just come from doodles and sketches. We like to draw. Well, I do, Rex likes to eat paper which is not the same thing.

What is the best gig, in your opinion, that you have played? Why?

They all have something good, there haven’t been any that were a waste of time. The best ones are when the people go crazy or are really hungry to party. Sometimes people make their own ‘Rex The Dog’ T shirts or even underwear (!). This makes for a special party as you can imagine.

Rex's debut album will be released in April 2007.