Interview with Dag Wallin aka Human Blue who is just releasing his new album called "Electrolüx" ... 1) You are going to release your 3rd album – how do you thing it is different from „Electric Roundabout"? Well, first of all I think that my two years of succesfull gigs on clubs and parties all over the world has changed my way of thinking alot. I know now that the trance scene is quite different from place to place and I think that this knowledge in combination with the way I’ve developed my way of producing trax is one thing people will feel is a great difference between the albums. This development is naturall I guess and happens to most of the artsits who get to travell around. 2) How long have you been working on it? Hard to say cause I haven’t been focusing on "just an album". I’ve kept on producing trax the way I’ve always done, maybe trying to focus a little bit more on the quality and the progression in the trax. This has of course affected the time it takes to produce each track but I think it’s worth it because it lifts the overall quality. 3) You are going to release it on Spiral Trax records again – how is the collaboration with Anti? To work with Anti is really easy I think. He’s honest and really good with the paperworx. (Sometimes a bit lazy with payments but who isn’t!?) Sometimes, when I come with some new trax for example, I can be really surprised about how easy he pix the right one’s. We have pretty much the same taste but sometimes it differs a lot. We don’t have any problems with this though, most of the time we can discuss the matter and get an agreement. One of the trax on the Electrolüx album, "Demon dance", wasn’t supposed to be there at all from the beginning. It wasn’t even on the first master but I really wanted the track on the album cause I think it "widens" the Human Blue concept a lot. We took another track away, last minute really, and both me and Anti were satisfied. 4) There is already a 12" with Rollercaster / How Far You Can Go tracks in shops. Do you have any feedback for this record? Not excactly feedback but I can tell you a story about Rollercoaster. The thing is, the studio I was working in at the time when I produced Rollercoaster was situated close to Swedens biggest amusment park. It’s called Liseberg and it’s really the place to spend a nice summer evening at. Last winter they started to build this MONSTER rollercoaster and I could see how it developed from my window in the studio. I then started to work on the "Rollercoaster" track, without knowing what name it should have. When they finally opened up the gates for the season on Liseberg I was one of the first to ride "Balder" as they named their new "baby". Directly after my ride (the craziest ride I’ve been through…) I went up for a working shift in the studio. I was in a very excited, happy mood after my little experience with Balder and I then built the whole end of the track. (From the place in the track where the kick stops..) It took me the whole night but it was worth it. The break in the second half of the track (where the melody and the harmonies change) is for me a description of how it can feel when you fall down a steep crazy slope in a small crazy train together with a bunch of screaming crazy people in a …. +++ROLLERCOASTER+++ 5) What gear did you use for it? That will be my secret… 6) And what gear do you use live on stage? That will also be a secret… ;-) 7) Do you have any favourite project in psytrance/progressive scene? No, not really. There are always some trax you like and some trax you don’t like. I’m not that interested in who the artist behind the track is. If I’d been Dj’ing more I’d probably be more interested in who did what and how. 8) Do you also listen to any other kind of music? Yes, I listen a lot to other styles than trance. The funny thing is that I mostly listen to older stuff. I don’t know why this is but I think that most "new" music being released today is really boring. The soundscapes are often very stiff and digital and some of the melodies feels like they’ve been played hundreds of times before. Same with the lyrix by the way… 9) What was your most memorable gig so far? I have a lot of memories from gigs, some of them are nice, some of them not. I remember an outdoor party outside of Frankfurt where this man was "guarding" me the whole liveset. He was probably older than 50 yrs old and a little bit scary. Another memory is when I played the "Carpe diem" track in Brazil and a girl started crying from happiness on the dancefloor. (This has happened with rollercoaster too…) I remember a guy in New York who asked me for autographs after my set. I said yes, of course and asked him if he had a pen and some paper. He said no, but I would like you to sign those, and picked up all the vinyl’s I was ever released on AND about 10-15 compilations. That’s what I call a true fan if you know what I mean. 10) Are you planning any tour to present your new album? Nope, I have some gigs booked in the future already but I’m just trying to be prepared for things to happen after the release. After my two other albums a lot of bookings started to come just after their releases and hopefully this will happen again. 11) What do you think about the evolution of psytrance music in last few years? You mean from "Goa trance" to "proggresive trance" to "full on"… Just kidding. One thing’s for shure though. During those last years the computer way of producing trax has changed things alot. Today, much more people can try their "skills" in making music and I think this has affected the scene very much. There’s been much more coming out on the market in the passed five years than the five years before that. This is probably good for the evolution of the scene cause it opens up for new styles and ideas around trance music. I’m just hoping it’s not too much new stuff coming out on the market cause that’s not good either. What people want is quality, not quantity and this is something I’m really trying to give them. Tricky question to give a complete answer to! 12) What do you think about the mp3 phenomenon? Both good and bad. One good thing is quite obvious I guess. The MP3 format is a brilliant tool for shrinking music without losening to much quality. The bad thing comes with the good thing. The ease of exchanging music today makes pirate copying much easier and this will affect the overall buisness over time, there’s no doubt about that cause it’s already started. The only thing that could change it is a new way of buying/selling music. I don’t personally have any good ideas at the moment but I hope someone on our lovely globe gets a bright idea one day and comes up with something that worx. Maybe we should change the whole way of thinking about music. Maybe music should be free for all… It’s a nice thought, and it’s probably how it all started once but I don’t think it worx today. Besides, the people who produces music must be able to live as well as the people who want to listen to it and to live in this world one HAS to have money. It’s just a fact and if I could, I’d be the first one to grab a keyboard and go to the gasstation, play a little melody to the guy there and for playing my melody, get a full tank on my car a pack of cigarettes… 13) What is your job besides music creation? At the moment, this is all I do but next autumn I plan to finish my studies at the university. 14) What are your plans for future? I don’t know really. As I said in the last answer, I will finish my studies (to become a teacher..) at the university. If this album worx nicely, I will probably keep on producing music half time and work as a teacher half time. I really hope that now when my third album is being released, my fans will keep on enjoying my music like they always did and maybe, just maybe, I will get some new ones too. I know that it’s been quite silent around Human blue for a while but this doesn’t mean he has died, he’s just been a little bit more focused on what he’s really doing, trying harder then ever to make it better. ;-) Thank you very much for the interview. Questions by Slater slater@psytrance.cz slater@chaishop.com http://www.humanblue.se http://www.spiraltrax.com