You have been coming to Denver for a while now but have never played at the Church Nightclub which back in it’s hey day was an actual church. Is this a new experience for you?
“Believe it or not, but we actually have been playing at the Church twice many years before! It was during one of our first years coming to the US, so well more than 13 or 14 years ago, but we sure still remember it, great venue and vibe, lets do it gain!”
You have a long-standing relationship with the music community. Who are your top 3 up and coming artists?
“Some names to watch out for, sure are our German fellow colleague Steve Brian, he is signed to our label WYM and is delivering one great tune, Remix and Bootleg after the other. Rodg, he is featured with one of his Mixes on WYM is doing great stuff too, we played many of his tunes on WYM Radio and he just delivered a great Remix for our tune No one can touch you Now, which will be featured on our Start To Feel Deluxe Edition. Third artist is Alex di Stefano, he maybe produced our most fav track so far during this year, the amazing Ive got the power, such a great combination of Techy beats and a old school feel Trance break, we are sure all three will be good for way more big tunes to come.”
Trance has obviously changed since you guys first entered the scene. As trance takes off into a multitude of directions with almost every other genre that is encompassed by the EDM umbrella going through a surge in popularity, where do you see the trance scene in the next few years?
“Wow, this is hard to say. In general its true that Trance has diverted into so many sub genres, different styles, speeds and feels, but to really know which directions in general it will develop to, is really hard to predict. We sure will try to push its limits further, so much we know, add new influences, try to keep it fresh and interesting with our productions, for our sets, and of course our fans.”
Being from Europe, after adding America into the audience mix, how has that shaped how you go about business, whether that be with how you schedule tour or how you shape your music since things are a little different across the pond?
“As said before we started playing in the US basically 15 years before already, so do know how it was before the big boom with the so called EDM started. For us things back then started to change pretty quick. While the market in Europe, specially Germany drastically shrank, it exploded in the US, and since about 6 years we do have the majority of our shows in the US and Canada, resulting in us moving over to the US in 2012. It simply made most sense to live closer where most shows happened, reduce travel times by flying simply less intercontinental. In general we think that from the time we started travel international, our sound started to change, travel, different clubs all around the world, the music scene changed, we sure did as well, all this found its reflection in our sound, in our way of djing, and sure the US reflected on us as well.”
You just released your latest single “Going Home” with the stunning Emma Hewitt. The original, a beautiful down tempo arrangement, was debuted on your latest album “Start to Feel”. Do you have a specific process in translating such a gorgeous tune into something more suitable for club life?
“To share a little secret here, we actually had the basics for the club mix first, but decided not to put it on the album. The reason was the timing of the single simply, we pretty early knew we could not release it s one of the first singles, so we decided to come with a stripped down tempo version first, to keep it all fresh for the club plays now for a release more than 6 months after the release of the album. Maybe we also could surprise people as the downtempo mix maybe was not really showing Its potential as a working club version as well, so we hoped the idea worked out!”
With the launch of Wake Your Mind Records, you now have your own label to release on. Will your process of sound experimentation change now that you’re the last say on the final product?
“No, it never will, if even we will try more and different music, to do the same as others was never our thing, so when ever you think you have a track that might fit our label, please sent it to us, find the contact on cosmic-gate.de.”
Wake Your Mind Sessions 001 has an eclectic array of tracks that starts of with track from 16 Bit Lolitas and Maceo Plex. How does this reflect where you’re going as artists and for your label?
“There is no plan to start releasing deeper house now on our label, but on an all nighter set as dDJs we sure play such kind of sounds, on top we always started our mix CDs more deep, so for the progression of WYMS 001 it simply made sense again. It’s a lot great songs from great producers and they are perfect to build a vibe as we want it for our Mix. Maybe we wake some minds for different sounds, we’ll see.”
Ok. Onto some less serious questions. What do you listen to in your downtime when you’re not working. Surprise us. No pressure.
“Maybe the easiest way to understand our private taste, listen to our show Wake Your Mind, every week during the show we introduce a track that we call Private Playlist, this is our very own taste, stuff we listen to at home, then you certainly know what we do like :)”
What do you miss most about home when you’re on tour?
“For sure its most friends and family we miss, and the good German bread too, lol”
When was the last time you went vinyl shopping/played a strictly vinyl only set?
“Vinyl shopping used to be a tradition for so many years, at least once a week go to the vinyl dealer and find the newest release, but this stopped about 10 years before. Our last Vinyl set, thats sure more than 6 or 7 years ago too, we played a so called ‘remember” night show in Switzerland, strictly vinyl. It felt good and weird in the same moment to spin with Vinyl that night, what can we say, vinyl was the past, its sure more sexy than just a usb stick with music, but we sure do not miss carrying these super heavy record cases on the other side, and worst case the airline loses them – it happened often, believe us…”