Page 36 - DemoZone Magazine Summer Issue 2020

Hi John, thanks for talking to us. Could we
start by going way back, and finding out
what your fisrt musical memories are?
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to chat to me. My first musical memories were from my childhood. Both my parents were amateur musicians. My mum plays piano, whilst my Dad also played piano and was also a conductor. My mum had an amazing collection of classical records that, although I cant remember the particular pieces, I always remember classical music playing in the house when I was a child.
What were your first steps into music
yourself?
In my mid teens, I was seriously into 90s indie music thanks to my sister's musical tastes wearing of on me, so therefore really wanted to be in a band. That ambition went as far as buying a drum kit, and selling it roughly 6 months later. Then, Exit Planet Dust came out and that changed the whole thing for me. I was instantly hooked to the big beat sound of the late 90s, and through that I went sample hunting and that opened my eyes to the world of rare groove, funk, soul and disco.
What came first, Dj'ing or production?
I was working in a bar at the time, and managed to blag a residency playing those records. It was a great time, playing every saturday night, but also because the records I was playing were so cheap in the shops. I could easily get 10 new albums for £20 back in those days.
As time progressed, I ended up playing breakbeat in a now defunct duo, but managed to play some amazing shows back then. Festivals and clubs across the country and beyond.
After that I went solo as Wax Hands, and that's where the production bug really kicked in. I managed to get my head around Ableton live and Propellerhead's Reason but was very confused at the start as to what my “Style” of production was, and what music I wanted to make. I ended up releasing 2 albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs as Wax Hands, but by the end I was realising that I was spreading myself out too thin as such in terms of my sound, and needed a change.
So what was the main idea behind
SONAS?
I found that my last album, Bad First Impressions, was moving in a direction I wanted to go, but that was too far from the sound people had become to relate Wax Hands to, so I put Wax Hands to bed, and launched 2 new aliases. One was Probably Shouldn't, under which I write disco, jackin house and house music. And then SONAS would allow me to explore a more ambient, soundtrack side to music, aswell as more melodic sides to house and techno.
SONAS has allowed me to strike a happy balance of music for the club and also music to listen to elsewhere.
How have your first few releases gone so far?
I decided early on that I wanted the first release to be as far away from my previous work as possible. I released a 3 track EP with a great label based in Stockholm called Little Struggling Ant Records, who have been really supportive. Sequences was a bit of a state of intent, 3 tracks with no real drums as such, or structure at all. It was very organic sounding with the emphasis on chord structure, and using strings and pianos as well as synths. After that it was the Scarlet EP next, which was half a progressive house track, with an ambient mix of the track on the B-side. Then Altitude was another peak time progressive house number.
With that I was also lucky enough to get a couple of remixes under my belt, notably for Novablood on their debut EP Keep me in mind. Not bad for the first year.
"
________________________
You can buy Credence on SONAS' Bandcamp page: https://sonas-music.bandcamp.com
It's an incredibly interesting time for electronic and dance music at the moment. The tragic situation with covid-19 has obviously had a profound effect on the music scene as a whole "
36
ZONE-MAGAZINE.EU