Page 8 - Zone Magazine Issue 020

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How do you feel Trance has evolved over the last decade?
For me Trance music is about expressing my feelings and telling musical stories. The ever improving music production software is a great help for that, the workflow and creative abilities of those tools get better year by year and improve the process of creating my very own music. So for me trance music has become purer, even more fun and more creative over the last years. Maybe it’s important to note that there is the danger to become a slave to all that technology and get distracted by all the possibilities rather than using them to express your feelings. That could be why some of nowadays music doesn’t seem to have a soul anymore like the old music had, when people had limited production tools and therefor focussed on the musical ideas.
What inspired you to get into production? Describe, in your own words, what it feels like to complete a track and then introduce it to a crowd of crazed trance fanatics for the first time?
The inspiration can come from any kind of experience in life. Whenever I have a rather intense time with lots of action and emotions going on, I feel a strong urge to go into the studio and turn all that ‚input‘ into musical ‚output‘. For me this is a subconscious process, so I don’t even have think about what I want to ‚say‘ with my music, it just comes out naturally and it’s a great feeling to let it flow and experience how the production takes shape over time. Sometimes the end result is something beautiful and euphoric, sometimes rather dark and angry. I’m often surprised by myself, realising that the finished music is what I wanted to express. Seeing the reactions of people on a dance floor then makes the whole communication process complete. It’s a great feeling when they seem to understand what I tried to tell them with my music. I often see people’s faces and believe they really do understand what I tried to express and they feel similar emotions as I feel/felt when listening/creating the track.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you? What every day things/people motivate you?
Wow! what a great and challenging question! Especially recently I’ve been getting so many great responses to my music that I sometimes even daily have the thought ‚wow, that’s really the nicest thing I’ve ever read/heard‘. Sometimes it can be rather sad things like someone had a very bad year and my music helped them to get through the struggling times. But maybe that’s exactly what it’s all about with music. Having it as a support to feel our emotions, the positive and the negative, and let the music carry us through the ups and downs. At least for me this seems to work very well.
Name a track that has the ability to reduce you to tears upon hearing it?
Will Atkinson’s ‘Numb The Pain’ is one of those. It is so melancholic and euphoric at the same time, a real emotional rollercoaster for me. I’m not even sure if that track numbs my pain or rather enhances it while I’m listening to it. But afterwards I feel relieved anyways.
Summarize 2017 using only 3 words.
Exciting; Fulfilling; Intense.
What kind of studio set up are you working with at the moment? How much time do you spend in the studio per week? Or does it vary week by week?
I’m working on a PC with the software Reason, a couple of nice studio speakers and that’s it basically. Depending on mood, inspiration, flow... it can vary between 0-14 hours a day, averaging at about 8 hours maybe, and that’s 7 days a week, when I’m not touring. I really love doing this, so I spend as much time as possible, but still trying to keep it on a healthy level.
very now and again, our trance scene is graced with genuine raw talent – the type that generates hype, the type of hype that impacts on an astronomical level – a rarity; Cold Blue is a primary example of this. He is an artist that is currently dominating every aspect of the trance world, one that’s being talked about and yet completely leaving us speechless. He has landed upon us like a meteorite causing colossal damage with releases that arouse an
awakening of the senses, invigorate the soul and captivate the heart. The German phenomenon has sparked excitement within the scene and amongst his avid and infatuated fans universally.
To break it down into simpler terms, his ascension to fame has completely escalated in a matter of a year. Rewinding back to February 2017 when his track ‘Fall into Dusk’ released on Damaged records was debuted on episode 797 of A State of Trance radio, it’s been relentless ever since. Comparing statistics from January ’17, Cold Blue ranked 78th in the Beatport Artist section, by September ’17 and 6 releases later; he was sitting at a whopping 18th position. As well as making a bountiful of debuts; Dreamstate Socal, Ministry of Sound, Subculture Argentina, Coloursfest and Kinetic Trance Gathering to name a few. Music First main man Neal Scarborough nailed it with a quote stating that ‘Cold Blue has a big role to play in shaping the future of Trance Music’. I couldn’t be prouder to have had the opportunity to peel back the layers of such a tremendous and inspirational artist like Tobias and to be given a mere glimpse into how he sees the world through those beautiful blue eyes.
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