| Interview with Kyau & Albert ( 06.09.2007 - 16:20 GMT UTC )
Thank you for agreeing to have this interview with TranceSound.net
1. Can you tell us anything about your upcoming tour dates ? I heard you may possibly have an upcoming date in New York City and it would be a pleasure to have you here.
Ralph: Besides playing nearly all over the world, right now we have a big focus on the US and are keen to come to New York City, because we have never been there before. We know that our manager is trying to bring us there as soon as it suits into the schedule, but we don’t have detailed information yet.
Steven: Best is to check out our Myspace or our homepage from time to time. All 100% confirmed gigs for the following weeks are published there.
2. You were formerly known as Kyau vs. Albert and recently changed that to Kyau & Albert; what brought on this change and what does the difference mean to you ?
Steven: There’s no change in the way we are working together. The main reason was that the term versus isn’t well known everywhere in the world and alot of people in non-english speaking countries were always asking what it means and how to pronounce it. So we were talking about this many times, also about the name Kyau, which isn’t really easy to pronounce too when you see it the first time.
Ralph: Last year mainly for the release of “Worldvibe” we finally decided to make it easier and name us Kyau & Albert.
3. Euphonic Records has recently celebrated their 10 year anniversary, what do you feel are some of the key ingredients in a long and successful presence in this industry ?
Ralph: When we started the label we just wanted to have a platform for our own productions and for our friends too. In 1997 I already known Mirco de Govia for a couple of years and at this time we met Ronski Speed and Sonorous, who had just started to make music. In the beginning it wasn’t easy to find a distributor and we weren’t happy with the support of our first two distributors. At that point we signed a deal with Discomania back in late 2000 all came onto another level and our sales exploded. Additionally the singles we signed to Warner Music were successful and went all into the official Top 100 singles chart in Germany.
Steven: First the label was a pure hobby thing. We all were at the university and very euphoric about the whole club music movement in Germany. The chance to have full creative control about our music and artwork were really tempting and Ralph had some little experience about record labels through his first releases. So we tried it out and from 2001 on we could live out of the music and became professional.
Ralph: An important reason of the success of Euphonic has been the good relationship to our artists. We were honest to each other about the music, were helping with equipment in the first years, shared our know-how and always tried to stay critical to ourselves. It was important to stay down to earth when the first success came and it was right to invest that money again in our studio and the label structure.
4. What are some of your favorite artists to work with; and who do you look forward to working with in the future?
Ralph: There are always coming songs and remixes in different genres of EDM we really like, but only one production can’t tell you so much about an artists. These days there are not so many big names in the Trance scene anymore which are able to surprise as producers. Of course that’s a matter taste. When I think about the scene, I have huge respect for Gabriel & Dresden and Markus Schulz. They are great musicians, who always tried to be innovative. Also Sander van Doorn and Gareth Emery bringing constantly fresh tunes. For me personally the name Trance is a bit outdated anyway. Do you know what’s strange? At the moment I like the term Neo Trance alot. This term is wicked and sounds way fresher, although some people in Germany started to use Neo Trance for music which is more related to Minimal than to Trance. Exactly this makes it both funny and mysterious when talking about Neo Trance. People start thinking, which is good. For me the Trance scene really needs a euphonic mood again. However, it seems now that genres get mixed more and more, and I wish it’s getting more exciting in the next time. Let’s hope for a big surprise. That’s exactly what we like. A few people who only knew our singles were surprised the first time when listening to “Worldvibe”. It was clear for us, we didn’t want to make a pure club album.
Steven: In general the really great thing about making an album is that you can try out so many things and just don’t have to think about the success of a track compared to making a single or remix. But coming back to your question, except with Euphonic artists we don’t want to work with other producers at the moment, but we are definitively open-minded to work with new singers.
Ralph: In the future I can imagine we’ll possibly do a track with Marc Marberg again.
Steven: Our next big project is to start working on a new album, but this will need time, because we worked nearly two years on “Worldvibe”. We recently made a few new ideas and will now more focus our energy on straight composing for the new longplayer.
5. Out of all of the tracks on your “Worldvibe” album, which tracks are your personal favorites ?
Ralph: This question is not easy. It’s changing also a bit from time to time. Maybe “7Skies” and “Kiksu” for me.
Steven: “Hide & Seek” and “Teddybears” are my personal favorites.
6. What track do you feel is your most successful track to date ?
Ralph: The biggest sellers worldwide were “Made Of Sun” and “Are You Fine”, but of course we had some more tracks which were successful too, for example “Walk Down” got alot of radio and video plays all around the globe. Although the video was super cheap it was aired by major TV stations like MTV.
7. When do you plan on releasing your next single “7Skies” which was recently played on A State of Trance from your “Worldvibe Album” ?
Steven: The single is out now on vinyl, CDR and as download including the extended album version, the new club mixes and a Cressida remix.
8. What are some of your favorite destinations to travel to and perform ?
Ralph: This is one of the questions we get asked very often. I personally like New Zealand, Australia and most parts of North America, because the temperature is not too hot and everybody understands you. Also Eastern Europe is always very exciting to perform, especially Poland.
Steven: If you believe it or not, I have no preferences and no problems with hot temperature. For me the most relaxed gigs are our own Euphonic nights in Germany, when alot of friends are around us.
9. I have visited your website recently www.kyauandalbert.com and I was wondering if you were going to add a web forum sometime in the future for your fans to engage in music discussion ?
Ralph: We haven’t thought about it yet, but it’s a good idea.
10. Do you have any closing comments that you would like to share with your fans out there ?
Steven: As a special Myspace event we are offering our fans the chance to send those burning questions directly to us. Just ask away. Indeed, whatever is on your mind, all you've got to do is to send those questions over to the email address ask@kyauandalbert.com. We'll pick out the best 20 around late September, and publish the questions and answers at www.myspace.com/kyauandalbert then.
Interview made by Zaneta Soroko aka Euphoria (TranceSound.net forum moderator)
Links:
Kyau & Albert official website
Kyau & Albert @ MySpace
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