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| quote: | Originally posted by DJPrototypeX
their remixes of Sandra Collins - Flutterby & Deepsky - Stargazer both friggin top...amazin remixes...i was wonderin the same...wha happened?...where they go.... |
He's moved in different directions and produces under his own name much of the time.
If anyone's interested, here is part of his reply to an email I sent him a while ago:
1) I thought your remix of Transa "Prophase" sounded way ahead of it's
time for when I discovered it in april 1996. Just how old is this remix?
And what were your inspirations for the style of your
productions/remixes of this period?
Hmmm, there wasn't a definitive influence. It was a period in my musical
career that I felt very comfortable with. If I had to say I was
influenced, I would say that it was the 'Club in my head'. That's sounds
weird I know, but I was playing at this club in Aberdeen. I knew exactly
what the crowd liked. So everytime I did a tune at that time I just
imagined the clubi with the actual faces and bodies of the people
dancing. Please don't get the yellow van to take me away... . There
were a couple of standout tunes I liked at this period, but everything I
did came form the heart and I believe this comes through to the
listener. Also trance wasn't 'Big' then, and I was also doing a lot of
techno I guess there was a bit of Detroit influence in there as well. I
still refer to my techno roots as it is my first love. When the tracnce
thing exploded I didn't like being called a trance guru by some
magazines as my musical palette goes way beyond one genre/
2) What style do you consider yourself to produce? Most people simply
label it as "trance" though I read that you felt it was a lot more than
that from a review of the "Best Behaviour" album.
At the moment I am working with a vocalist and using my guitars....YEh
man!. The stuff I am doing at the moment is for my next album. I would
say it's a Trip hop cross between DJ shadow and Craig Armstrong meets
Chris Cowie. I'm not abandoning my roots, I just grew up playing GTR so
its in me to get the old axe out. Of course I am using drum
machines/samplers as well etc. In between that I am doing my 4 to the
floor DJ stuff. I love music and have never been able to limit myself to
one style (don't like cheese however). So I will leave it up to you to
decide what style I produce.
3) How do you feel about the sharing of MP3 files on the net. Do you
think it's a good way of promoting or are you against it?
Certainly not against it. I am frustrated by the major labels slow
response to technology. When I DJ I don't use vinyl, I use a system
called Final Scratch www.finalscratch.com www.stantonmagnetics.com It
uses vinyl and turntables but in a different way. As you see form our
website we freely let people listen to our music, upload their music,
download stuff to remix etc. So I am certainly not against MP3. if you
mean the sites that have my music up there and are freely sharing it. I
obviously want folks to hear my music, but it does cut into my record
royalties. Piracy is just part and parcel of the whole thing. I'm not
rich by any means. So if you cant beat them, join them I say
4) I recently discovered the track "Avalon" and I like it a lot, just
how old is this production?
I wrote that that track in 1994. Not being big headed I hope but I find
a lot of my songs have dated really well. Compared to lets say the
proggy stuff that was happening has all but gone now. So its shelf life
wasn't and isn't very lomg. I know of some DJ's that are still playing
stuff I wrote years ago which does make me feel happy. Most dance music
has the shelf life of a sandwich and theres a lot of people doing their
music from the head and not the heart. My 'Vegas Soul' stuff seems to
have had the longest shelf life. I regularly get emils from people who
have just discovered it..coool. At the end of the day I always strive to
deveop as an artist. Some don't like my new direction, and I understand
that. But I'm now 35 and when you get older your music inherently
changes. But dance is my first love and I am so thankfull that I have
been able to do something I love for so long. Whats next...painting
maybe nah...music for me
Hope ya can take some time to answer my questions!
Cheers!
No problem
Chris Cowie
If you like his stuff try other productions on Hook Recordings by artists such as "Canyon" and Christopher Lawrence.
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X-Cabs
