s- Alright so this is Chaishop Music news and I have here on the phone Boris Blenn from Electric Universe. Well, hi Boris, how are you?

b- Hey Sam, very good, how are you doing?

s- Also very nice. So yeah, Electric Universe has a long history and were actually the second release on Spirit Zone records in 1994. That’s already 12 years ago now and at that time your sound manifested the new born Psy scene. How did you actually start to make Psychedelic music when there was no one to teach you?

b- Well its quite a story actually. I already enjoyed Acid House and Techno music before Psytrance was born, I just enjoyed this Techno music thing and I ended up partying at the first big VooV Experience where just suddenly “Wow”, I had such a mind blowing experience there it was clear that this is also the kinda music I want to do. I did some tracks before and I was playing around a little bit with a few little machines like an Atari and a little synthesiser and a sampler, but being on that party everything came together and it was clear “hey this is where I’m gonna go”, and so I quite had to figure it all out on my own actually.

s- What machines were you working with at that time?

b- I had a little Atari ST computer as a sequencer and I got a Roland JV800 synthesiser and after a while I had a tiny mixing desk and then one day I put all my money together and got another Roland sampler. That equipment was actually pretty good to make the first tracks. It was much harder in those days, today you just get a PC with Cubase and you have a whole studio running already. It seems much easier to get access to good sounds and good quality production then it was then.

s- Alright, you were making some great tracks at the time and they were played at all the parties and for some time Electric Universe was a really big name, but then it got a little bit quiet. What happened then?

b- Yeah, I must say I went out on parties for 8 years or something like this and a few things happened. First of all I got a father I have a little boy now in my life to take care of, but the times you’re talking about is like around the change of the millennium so like 2000, 2001. I was a little tired of partying that much to be honest and I just had to have a little break from doing all the same stuff all the time and so I got on with other things. I didn’t release much music and around that time I wasn’t very inspired by the parties I’d visited and the music I heard. However this actually changed in the last 2 years again.

s- Ok

b – I found the last year incredibly inspiring music wise and also I got invited to really great parties where I found the spirit that was missing. Maybe I was in the wrong places or maybe I was not in the right mood for it, I don’t know what it was in the end, but this is why I started full on producing again last year again I’m having much fun at the moment and a lot of output these days.

s- Cool, so can you somehow see any change in the music or in the scene that some how called you now or is it just that you feel it and cannot really figure it?

b- Good question. It’s very subtle, sometimes there is a party where everything seems to be nice and the setup is good, but it just doesn’t really get me. And then there’s some other parties where there’s just such an incredible spark and a spirit and the togetherness of the people. That’s basically the reason why I started doing this music and going to these kind of parties, the spirit and the special vibe of the people… the special certain new kind of consciousness I would say, a celebration of life. People treating each other good, no fights, the women are treated in a nice way, they can go there and express themselves without being afraid and this is basically the reason which for me made the trance so important and beautiful. I don’t know for me last year somehow there was a change I don’t know I can’t really say if it’s my personal story or just also in the Trance scene things changed again I don’t know really, but I just see there were great parties and very good new music also.

s- That’s great to hear for sure, to see some positive thoughts about the scene right now. And on the label side I mean now Spirit Zone is dead and you’ve just started to make your own label as an artist label. At what point would you suggest to other artists to found their own label to release their own music?

b- Actually at the moment it’s a kind of a big question mark standing over me in the whole record industry which makes the whole situation very unpredictable. For me it was just that I was checking out different possibilities, I had different offers, but somehow I just always found myself being thrown back to doing it on my own, which is something I had in mind for quite a long time. I just know through my project which is quite known, I had a lot of gigs last year and through the history I have a good background to have this risk to just do it on my own for now. For an unknown artist ja, its just the question how can you… how to make people know (08:00) that you’re there and your product is there. And ja everyone should just really see what is the best way, if there is a good label to give good support ja its definitely worth checking that our, or if there’s the other possibility to do it on their own, ja also. I mean the interesting thing is just also that the whole internet download story is just…I mean also and then the whole CD sales go down that much in the last years and are still going down, that ehm, we don’t really know where this is whole going to go really ja.

s- Ja, ja, ja, alright that’s interesting, so uhm, you’re also saying a little bit like you are a big brand so in your case you are the brand, you don’t need the label brand, but if the artist is young and unknown and is not the brand yet, the label could be the brand so that the label would support him, ja, and it would be better to opt for a label.

b- Yeah, it could help, I mean my belief is that in the end really good quality will always find its way. I think that’s the first thing to start with and these days the production quality is at such a high level that I think the artist in the first place should take care that the content and how the tracks work on the dance floor and the production quality that they are really there, like 100%! I think that’s the first thing and from there I think the music will find its way.

s- Ok, wow, that’s a great thought to go like that. Well, talking about quality well your new album is coming out, it’s called ‘Silence in Action’, and maybe you can tell us some words about that.

b- Yeah of course. Ja this album actually is a bit of a diary from this last year that I have been talking about, like, um, I gave myself a lot of time to produce this album, much more than ever before, like I worked like 1 and a half years on this album and I also did many other tracks in between, but I had a certain… yeah, just a certain frequency a certain feeling I wanted to have as a thread through the, through the whole album. So I just gave myself the time to get 10 tracks together that I just feel really comfortable with as a whole album in a way and like I said me and my partner Roland we played a lot of gigs last year and we played a lot of open air parties and it was very inspiring and I had a lot of possibilities just to go straight from a good party into the studio and to transmit the feeling and the energy of the dance floor into my computer in my new production. Also I could just test every track on the next event again so they got a fine tuning and in the end I could see how the people react and if it’s really working or not. So for me it’s a very special album because it’s kinda tested all the way through. Every track is really working in its place and I’ve never been that happy with my own work before.

s- Wow, cool. And about Roland, what’s his position in Electric Universe?

b- Yeah he is, first we met, he is a guitarist, he’s been playing a lot of heavy stuff a long time ago and we met… ‘99 and we ended up doing a track in the studio and this was the ‘Meteor’ track which came out of that which we both didn’t really expect getting that big and played that much. I mean we were surprised because, I’m still… When I’m going out on a party and when Roland and me we go play, people just come and “ Ja, but you have to play Meteor”, it’s just a running gag already in a way, because this track is now like 7 or 8 years old and people still ask for it, I mean that’s pretty crazy actually. And through that we just hooked up and we played some gigs together and people just love having a guitar performance on the stage and we did more guitar tracks and he does some cooperation, he comes over to my studio from time to time, we produce some tracks together, he gives of course his guitar lines which are always really, really great and ja, that’s the position, playing gigs together, having productions together, and the guitar section.

s- ok cool, and ja talking about collaborations there’s also a new collaboration that you’re working on together with Olli Wisdom who is somehow like the Psytrance protagonist from Australia. Maybe some words about this?

b- Of course. Olli and me, we started producing many years ago, it was in Ibiza also when he came to my studio and we did I think it was the Acidtest our first track we did together in like 98 or something like that and from the very first moment we had a very good connection to each other and we really enjoyed also on a creative level, we just speak the same language and we have a very good workflow and through Olli being a bit more in Europe the last months it somehow happened that he came over to my studio a few times and we just realised “wow man this is just flowing so easy” that we decided to put a collaboration album together. and this went just really easy, I mean like being two people having the same direction in production skills and ideas where the tracks should go its just like ja, the speed of the production and the whole creative output is just very much more intense then being on my own for me and just when the other person always knows when its just right there and you don’t have to go any further. So we came together for like these nine tracks now and they came together very easy and it was a lot of fun.

s- Wow, so that’s finished now then?

b- The album is finished ja, and it will be released in the end of June. This will be on Space Tribe Music then. In Japan through Solstice Music and ja. Actually Olli’s coming over next week again and we go on with our collaboration cause it’s just so much fun to work together.

s- Cool, super and this is going to be called Electric Universe & Space Tribe am I right?

b- Yeah that’s right, I mean on the records will be Space Tribe & Electric Universe. We’ve been thinking about a collaboration name and our..the lets say working title of the project is ESP which is standing for Electric Space Phenomena and this is also the title from our first album, but we also just put our artist name on there for a start so that people really just know…

s- …who is behind it.

b- What’s behind it,exactly

s- Yeah, ok, cool, so yeah, one…,my last question, um, as you said before you’re also a father now and so what do you think? How does Psytrance, the Psytrance party scene go together with being a father and having children?

b- Ja, (chuckles), that’s a very good question, I mean for me it does very good actually, I see just about the personal responsibility what you do out of your life I think, I mean.

s- Is this something like living 2 different lives or integrating your child into your Psytrance life.

b- No. For me its absolutely integrating and I see, it also brings a lot of advantages for me, I can work in my studio at home so I’m much more available and much more flexible in my time schedules, which is for me a big advantage for me being with the little one. Like I said it’s also about the personal responsibility I mean not to be too in anyway spaced out or kinda of, ja just to take the responsibility of having a kid. I think everyone should be clear what their position is in there.

s- And kids on parties?

b- Ja, that’s a very sensitive topic I find.

s- Okay (chuckles), lets not ask this question..

b- No, no, I mean again its up to everyone what they think and feel is good for their kids, but I think on a full blasting party in the darkest night it’s not the place to let a kid run around on their own, ye know. This is my personal view of that…but on the other hand on a nice open air party in the day time where people are really enjoying themselves of course it’s a good place to play with the kids also. That’s my viewpoint ja.

s- Ok. Any hints that you would give to other parents?

b- (Laughs) No, not really.

s- Ok cool, I have asked my questions, if you have anything to shout out to the public anything else then you’re very welcome to.

b- That’s it so far now.

s- So yeah, Boris, thanks for the interview, really nice

b- Thank you also, very much

s- Good luck with your projects with your own release which comes out end of May

b- 22nd its out in the shops in Europe

s- And of course also with the release together with Olli and I’m sure we’re gonna hear from you again sooner or later.

b- Absolutely, ja, one little thing I forgot actually is the further projects which are planed for the moment. At the moment we will start to do a remix album, this is maybe also quite interesting, cause there are so many old hits from over the last years, which basically probably people these days don’t even know any more because it’s a long time ago

s- Electric Universe tracks?

b- Electric Universe, exactly, so right now I’m in collaboration with Planet Ben Records , we are checking out to give remixes to different artists and put on a remix album together. That’ll probably be quite interesting.

s- Ok cool, so if there is anybody interested from the musicians out there to participate in this is it interesting to contact somebody?

b- Absolutely, my email is on my web page which is also under construction and there will also be some things for the remix which might be interesting for people, so everyone just check it out there.

s- Ok, cool, so this website is electricuniverse…

b- eu…dot eu or de, both are possible

s- A new one, European citizen huh,

b- Absolutely… World citizen

s- electricuniverse one word ok cool.. Boris so have a nice day and bye bye

b- Thank you very much, bye.