Hi all,

From memory this might be my first post. So I apologise if its long, painful, generalised and a duplicate of what others have said.

Some background on me first. I am punter/bedroom DJ for fun. I go out for the music, atmosphere, social setting and enjoy most forms of electroinic music with major preference for trance. I mix all forms of trance on my PC and mixer at home, mainly AVB, PVD, Markus, Cosmic Gate, Katana, MIKE styles, anything that sounds good and makes me want to move. I have been into the scene since 2000 but only go out to see the big boys when they come down (hoping this can change). My friends are mixed, some are trance DJ's, trance punters, house DJ's and house punters.

When I first went to raves it was more a gathering. A collection of people going out for the electronic music and to dance, regardless of what it was. Now more so than ever it is split, grouped, generalised and categorised. Sorry for being harsh here, but the word trance in melbourne is associated with hardnrg, power trance, hardstyle, heavy drug use, OD's, immaturity, trash and 'skuck' as unfortunate as it is. The more mature people in the scene seem to have drifted to house. Mainly due to the crowds and higher social setting/maturity level, vibe so to speak, dressed up, etc etc.

Yesterday I went to Sunshine People to see Cosmic Gate (fantastic btw) and was amazed at what I saw. People (not all) more off chops than I have ever seen, some would not have been 17 and would even know what DJ was playing let alone what they were playing. At times I was scared to see how hammered some people were. Most of all I was ashamed and sad that the word 'trance' was associated to this environment. Apologies for sounding harsh, each to their own, not saying this should be removed from melbourne, there should be something for everyones tastes, but this image is ruining it for others like us, not to mention young people getting into the scene. Uplifting/Prog and nothing like this at all, it is magical, beatiful and emotional music which can be interpreted in a million different ways (sorry if I am getting carried away).

For a change of pace and the for the first time in years I went to a big house night last night. I went to ONELOVE at the prince with my 'house friends'. This place was going off, people happy and dancing non stop, meeting new people, socialising, picking up and kissing for f-cks sake! John Course & Grant Smillie were going bananas (mind you I did not really like what they were playing..). COMPLETELY different feel to the place. To me, the peak of the night was the DJ after Course & Smilie (don't know his name). He played house with melody and euphoric breakdowns like trance. He even played a track with the melody from Open your eyes by Koko!. This stuff had people grinning from ear to ear with hands in the air...? The place went off. Hell I was going bananas, but I was upset and jealous at the same time. It was a much more comfortable surrounding, especially considering it was a more or less a Summadayze recovery. This is what we are lacking BIG time.

When I chat to my house friends, the ladies, they hate trance. BUT. When we go through old CD's (eg Gatecrasher blue) their favourite tracks are: Push - Universal Nation, Greece 2000, For an Angel, etc. I say to them. "You know this is Trance?". "Oh is it? We love those tunes, but we like house music now". hmmmm....? Why? Very sad indeed. Makes me wonder if the house crowd at Summadayze knew they were rocking to trance when Armin tore the place apart last year.

How do we fix it? I don't know... We could start by:

- Someone organise a meeting for all interested parties (anyone and everyone from this forum) to discuss a plan for a new night/event. Perhaps with a house sales pitch? Classics. I don't know how this is best done.
- Work TOGETHER. Enough of this back stabbing, self promotion, fear of being 'beaten' type crap. Soon you will have no one to play for and will have to turn to house to get your DJ buzz like some of my friends have started doing. One of my friends has been trying to get a gig in melbourne for ages and keeps hitting brick walls. He plays a driving uplifting sound similar to PVD influence, produces his own tunes which are being played in Europe. Technically fantastic DJ, blows me away when he plays (and I am a very picky listener with a sharp ear). He has a style I have not heard much in melbourne before. Why can't he get a gig? Is it him? Is it the people/walls he is encountering? I don't know...

The key points here are that we need to work together to save our scene, or as Scott says we will be forced to wait for the big events and downloading of live sets to get our fix.

your a dickhead.


sometimes....

(better queen of trance?)

quote:

Originally posted by Dr P your a dickhead.

dont be such a wank, he has some very valid points

When I first got into edm, I was about 15-16 and listening to club escape on triple j on saturday nights (90/91?). What really blew me away lying in the dark with just the music was how different it was to anything i had ever heard before. I was hooked.
Nowadays, Saturday night radio (in Adelaide at least) the choice is more broad, but house based.
I guess the point I am rying to make is that the younger crowd are being introduced to house from an early age and little if any trance (DJ Sammy!!!- what sort of crap is that). Their tastes are shapped around music that plays for 3-4 mins, whereas a trance track is double that, and so comercial stations won't play it. Even Fresh Fm announcers will cut out a trance track just after a breakdown kicks back in at times during the day (not always).
Ministry on Austereo (goes national)
Nova has a house show .
Triple J has mixup which can be anything from hip hop to trance.
If we want the scene to grow back to what it once was, we all need to go out every weekend or close to it - I admit I don't go out anywhere near what I used to, not because "it's not the same anymore" that would be boring, but because I have other things in my life than just clubbing.
Strategies are required to "grow the audience".
And promoters need to look for and encourage new Dj's and producers. Ozzy product should be encouraged and exported, not just realy on imports. Just like economics, It is what bankrupts the nation.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr P your a dickhead. sometimes.... (better queen of trance?)

Dr P. What do you mean by this...

This is just my take on things, everyone has a different view based on their experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by skot_e If we want the scene to grow back to what it once was, we all need to go out every weekend or close to it - I admit I don't go out anywhere near what I used to, not because "it's not the same anymore" that would be boring, but because I have other things in my life than just clubbing. Strategies are required to "grow the audience". And promoters need to look for and encourage new Dj's and producers. Ozzy product should be encouraged and exported, not just realy on imports. Just like economics, It is what bankrupts the nation.

dude you are so correct. everyone loves trance - you just have to give it to them at the right time, and the right trance for the crowd. ease them into it and out of it, and they've love you for it.

I just played this new years on a rooptop in the city, 100-150 people on or immediately around the dance floor, and we went house, electro, prog, trance and psy, for 16 hours straight (complete with the jan driver mix of man with a red face as the first track after midnight, and all ten minutes of halcyon+on+on at sunrise) across 6 DJs, with lots and lots of the same peple on the dancefloor throughout. The modern day trance tracks we played filled the floor just as well as every decent track we played. eg reflekt - need to feel loved (thrillseekers mix) into hydra - affinity (thrillseekers dub), I swear if I had 20 minute versions of those tracks they'd both have been played in their entirety to a dancefloor populated almost entirely with very happy non-trance people. Here's something Max Graham, Judge Jules and Armin Van Buuren already know: people love dancing to trance, provided you don't smash them with it the second they walk in the door and continue whacking them with it until they start to bleed. Present them with a meal with all the major food groups and they'll eat it for hours. Anyone who's seen a major trance international play for more than two hours at a major day festival has seen this - I don't see why it's so difficult for the locals to apply.

*insert plug for interview ii sat feb 14, the night where, shh, don't tell, you may actually hear trance.*

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Last edited by Nyquist_Theorem on Jan-02-2006 at 18:29

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_StEviE Hi all, From memory this might be my first post. So I apologise if its long, painful, generalised and a duplicate of what others have said.

Dude you're totally correct. Why do you think Armin released Mode Hookers - Breathe, an Angello and Ingrosso (main room house boys) track on Armind (melodic trance label)? Because right now trance sets need to sound a bit like house in parts in order to maintain the affection of the munter-fearing trancephobic masses.

If your friend is seriously good and he's looking for a gig, tell him to get a CD to Ben or myself and/or have a chat with one of us at some point in the near future.

___________________
----- Area709.com - Western Canada's Progressive and Trance Portal. Interviews, Feature Articles, DJ Sets and more. My first mix of 2011, "L'Appel du Vide", is now up. -----
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Last edited by Nyquist_Theorem on Jan-02-2006 at 18:30

Heres one for you... Cosmic Gate opened with Mode Hookers - Breathe.

and also played TBA - SOS and a conjunction of other beautiful tracks. I think you guys should look into this international movement of joining the sounds we love now together for a great party vibe. cause thats what its all about right.

Cosmic Gate - Kings of Cheese... Pure awesomeness!!!

I dont fully agree with this whole 'working together' idea, Too many captains and only 1 ship.

but i'll help out where i can. i still believe that the 'Trance' scene needs to be completly reworked from grass roots. its the only way to see it work in the future.

Yes. Interview is our idea on how this should be done imo.

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Too old for this shit. But still luvin it

when i was leaving summadayze trance afterparty and just about to do a obsession flyer handout in front of metro i got stopped by the bouncer who supposedly work for bass station, the reason was 'because it is on friday night it will take away our business' and i was told to move to the end of the street...


he does have a point, but if only the scene isn't so divided... (and i can get away with murder after i bash the cvnt's skull with something heavy)

i dont want to stand there and arguing and angry and still stay smashed so i took off..

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cutting sick since 1982.

"Present them with a meal with all the major food groups and they'll eat it for hours."

Nuthin like a five course meal at a fine restaurant!!

Here's what i don't understand, you try to give out flyers for your night, but the 'competition ' don't like that so they stop you, meaning people don't find out about their choice. That means when they get bored of the same place, they just go to a diffeent tyle eg house night.
There's nufink wrong with a little competition as more choices means a strong scene, people will still go to both.

Pendulum played here in Adelaide in Dec, and on the same night they played in two different clubs, and from all accounts both sold out (or close to it) - different scene but same principles.

This whole 'working together' thing... If all the promoters got together and put on one night ie house, trance, hard,DnB, the punters would have only one choice for the night, and I bet it would sell out no probs. Just like the big day out but all stages edm. Now I'm not saying that thats gotta happen weekly, but to say it should never happen, I don't agree with.

quote:

Originally posted by Anomyst Heres one for you... Cosmic Gate opened with Mode Hookers - Breathe...

I understand what you mean by too many captains and one ship. But we are already working together. Look at the replies in this thread already, some awesome ideas here from all kinds of audiences, DJ's, punters, promoters, etc. This is what we need as a starting point.

BTW. Cosmic Gate kicked butt. Love they way they built the set, housey/prog/slow, techy, hard trance, roof raising explosive build up's, increased energy at the end. They could have played a *similar* set just about anywhere. Look at what Armin has been playing of recent, prog, tech, hard trance, driving uplifting, techno... Different to 3 years ago.

As Armin says "Don't be a prisoner of your own style!". Sometimes we need to change with the times. If the 'problem' seems to stem too deep (ie: education/house all over the radio) and the the city/clubbers want house, give them house, with your own trance influence, ease them into it, make the club unique. If we didnt change with the times we would still be playing 90's techno.

The people are who DJ's are playing for, we shouldnt be playing for ourselves. I mean, we can, but we are playing music so people can have a good time so we need to more open to the peoples needs.