interview

Interview

who are you, where do you live

We are 2 people. Cujo & Barney. (20 & 21)
We are based and live in Copenhagen, Denmark. Where we have been living all our lives.

what are you doing when you´re not playing music

Cujo: Im working right now, and then im attending some music classes at an
evening school, so i can pass the test to get into conservatory, as
Tonemaster.
Barney: Im also working, but im a carpenter. I have no plan of getting into
the musical school like Cujo does, but since im a carpenter i have a lot of
time off and then i have a lot of time to make the small fittling, that this
kinda music needs.

how did you come to music, did you play other instruments/music before you
came to psytrance

Barney: I used to be a small time drummer and guitarist in a small rock band,
that was not very serious, so then i got some progs. for my computer, then i
just quit the "regular" music scene 100%.
Cujo: I used to play guitar when i was a little kid, but like Barney i liked
hard rock and dark death metal, and my guitar skills are not evenly close to
that. So right after school i stopped the guitar thing 100% and just turned
on to rebirth and fruity loops for a while. :-)

what is your style, how and when did you come to trancemusic, to producing and to your first gigs

Our style, i think is very indefinable. we have always been interested in an
industrial sound, a dark and hard sound. but we have also tried to make some
dark and psychedelic Drum'n'bass, without any succes. and then if we are in
the mood we make some really weird and dark chillout music.
we have been producing since right after school. since high school started,
and we got our first gear when we where 18. so that's 2 years ago, and we
just started to get gigs around 1 - 11Ž2 year ago.
We have always been producing a 4/4 beat, hard beat. mixed with some psy-
trancy sounds and stuff, but i would not define it as psy-trance as most
people call it. but we cannot define our own style.
People usually say it's psy-trance, so i guess that's what we are making ...
though i would prefer it was just called electronic music. :-)

what is going on in your local scene

The local scene here in Copenhagen, is very much up and down. there is only 1 official club left, and it's not very good. the music of course is great, but
the vibe and the people is lacking a bit.
We do have a small underground scene, that does some forest parties and some official parties, but luckily the official parties that they throw are not
yet beeing overrun by the usual Copenhagen Trance People.
There are hardly any gigs in Denmark, we have only played a few times at that local club, usually as dj's and once as a live act, at a Leviathan Label
Party, Together with Zerotonine.
Then with we have played live alittle more around the country, as TENKA
(Cujo's side project with Neotone), which seems to be getting alittle more
attention on the live scene.
The scene in Denmark is also very influenced by internet and mp3. a lot of
people don't buy any music as all so getting a good reputation and making a
good vibe around your music here in Denmark is really difficult, we only have
2 real psy- labels: Iboga & Ayahuasca Records. and iboga is changing their
sound, and ayahuasca has just started. but they both have huge problems with
music copying here in Denmark. Also i don't like that people have my tracks,
unless we gave them away ourselves, sometimes we experience people here in Denmark that we don't know, have our tracks and say they are good, which is a good thing. but this means that they will not buy it when it gets out. the mp3 promotion is not really functioning as it should, by making people
interested and buying the music. if they get ahold of a good mp3 copy, they
would nevet ever buy the cd.
So the scene in denmark, is kinda dead, compared to other places. mainly
because the scene is so small and the mp3 copying is killing it. of course
germany and other countries has the excact same problem but they also have a much bigger scene in general to support. :-)

what does trancemusic mean for you, how importand is trance for you, where do you use it for

Cujo: To me, trance music is something i listen to everyday. Something i
really feel with. for me to dig a track I have to be able to follow the ideas
and the feeling of the composer. tracks can be so well made, and with killer
sounds and all that, but if i can't follow the ideas, the tracks just seem
hollow.
Not that trance is a science to me, but it's something really really special,
that is on the stereo nearly 90% of the time.
Barney: Trance music to me, is just the electronic sound i prefer. like Cujo
i dig nearly all electronic sounds, but trance is just the thing for me. That
is on the stereo, in the car, at the office, all the time.
At home i also listen to dark & deep house, industrial, d'n'b, semi-melodic
trance, and chill out.
So to me it's jus electronic music, but trance is the thing i prefer. and i
also think that all kinds of music can be good, as long as i can follow the
idea of the composer and the artist.

what do you think about our scene and where do you think are we going to

The scene in Denmark, from the Iboga side. Is becoming more and more housy, and with some, IMO, boring techno elements. it's just the style changing and there is nothing to do about it if you don't like it. :-)
But luckily we have noticed here in Denmark, that all the people going away
from Trance and into other styles are coming back as other people. Other
people from other styles are also changing like us, so we have noticed a lot
of Drum'n'Bass people who has started to listen to psy stuff, and started to
show up at the parties.
This is actually a good thing, as we have had this non-commercial iboga scene
for a long time, and some changes could be used.

what are your releases/events until now

We have actually only released one 12" with Leviathan Records.
There was supposed to be released a second 12" with leviathan in september
2001, but it's been delayed and we have no idea when it will come.
Then we have 1 track on a Leviathan Compilation.
And the next compilation, is delayed just like the 12" so we have no idea
when we will release more with Leviathan. but we are hoping everything will
be fine with Leviathan, as we are making our album for leviathan now, and we
don't want it delayed.

what are your futurities, upcoming releases, upcoming events

we have made agreements with: Pinwheel records for one 12" (Go Griner / Toys & Masks)
Also one track on the next Creamcrop Compilation - Bugs In My Acid. Co-
Produced with Yukio Bergholt.
One track on the next Com.Pact compilation - The Knowledge Of How To Jerk Off.

Then our side project HANDBUCH will release it's first track on the next
Pinwheel Compilation.
Also side project TENKA is releasing 2 tracks, on compilations from Leviathan
& Traktor-Schalllabor.

what was the best, funniest or strangest experience in your carreer

The best experience 100% was playing in Bochum @ COSMIC BREEZE, with Etnica & Tim Schuldt. great party , all night. we did a great morning set, people where screaming & asking for more in the end.
Strange & Funny experiences we usually have, every gig is a new experience,
and a nice one usually. if we are angry because of some problem we just play
harder, if we are happy we just play what we like. in general you can easily
hear what mood we are in when you listen to us play :-)

ok, that´s it for the fhirst if there is anything else you want to tell
please feel free
In general nothing :-)
just keep up the good vibe :-)

Interview by Frank Frehse