| Interview with Solarstone ( 29.03.2008 - 15:20 GMT UTC )
Rich, it is a great pleasure to have an interview with an artist that has so much history in the Electronic Music Scene. Over the years you have released hit after hit and your experience and passion for music shine through your productions.
Solarstone: Thanks for the kind words. Thanks for having me.
1. We are anxiously awaiting your upcoming album entitled “Rain Stars Eternal” which is due to be released on May 5th 2008. Can you tell us more about the feelings and emotions that this album conveys ?
Solarstone: The title of the album came to me long before I began recording the music and dictated how it should go. "Rain Stars Eternal" describes what I have always strived to achieve with the Solarstone sound: beauty, emotion, melody, euphoria, poignancy, longevity. I had a very concise vision of how the album should begin, develop, and end, and I am incredibly happy with the way it is turned out.
2. I have noticed that you have worked with a few vocalists on the album such as Julie Scott, Alex Karweit, and Elizabeth Fields, and also some lesser-known talent such as Essence. What is your history with these vocalists, and how did you arrange to collaborate with them ?
Solarstone: Elizabeth and I met years ago when we were both 18 and working in a pub in England together – she has always been an inspiration to me, I love her "English Rose" voice – she is a brilliant guitarist too. We love working together, but it doesn’t happen that often. She is a music teacher by day so is always very busy! Julie Scott is from Germany, we met through Ronski Speed, she sings a couple of lines on one of his tracks, and I fell in love with her amazing voice when I heard it. We are planning an album together in the not too distant future. Alex Karweit I met in San Francisco at a birthday party for a famous American songwriter, he is a proper Rock dude, who write incredibly personal and emotional songs – he is going to be a big star. We worked across the Atlantic which is not the ideal situation, but the tracks we have produced together so far are amongst my favorites.
3. Which track will be released as the first single on the upcoming album; and are there any other singles to follow ?
Solarstone: Well "Rain Stars Eternal’ the single is of course the new one, which came out on March 24th. We are not sure about the next one yet, but album track "4ever" will likely form part of a 2 track release. This is the most "classic Solarstone" track on the album, and there is an incredible buzz building on the track from select plays by myself and Robbie Nelson at our recent gigs. We are also planning an "X" disc version of the album – which will be a Solarstone dj mix featuring a bunch of remixes of the album tracks by other artists.
4. Do you have any plans on touring to the United States in the future ?
Solarstone: Of course – there is an American leg of the ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ World Tour being put together right now – full details will be posted on my website very soon. The tour kicks off at Cream in Belgium at the end of April.
5. Can you tell us why you seem to alternate turns with Agnelli & Nelson for the Deep Blue Radio show, and is there a certain schedule that you follow or does it goes according to availability ?
Solarstone: Well – this is because I wanted to do a weekly show but because of dj commitments it is impossible for me to be able to the show every week - Rob and I are great friends and I asked him if he wanted to co-present the show. We cover for each other when one of us is away touring – for example Rob was recently on tour in Australia for a month so I presented all the shows. Robbie used to be a radio dj which is partly why he does such a good job. We share the same sense of humor which keeps the show consistent.. so many EDM shows are incredibly boring and have no personality.. I think the DB show bucks the trend in that regard! I love doing the show, it’s a great time to check out new music for my sets, also we have the "forum favorite" thing now where fans can vote for their favorite track of each show.. kind of like "Trance Aroind the World" but Deepblue style :)
6. Can you provide any links with the complete track listing archive for the Deep Blue Radio Show ? It seems that the listing on your site only begins at Episode 23.
Solarstone: Ah well – those really old shows were from back when it was a monthly show – I don’t know what happened to those old track lists.. if they turn up one day we will post them on the forum. People could do with knowing that the show is now available as a podcast via iTunes – we have put a "subscribe" link up on the radio page of the site Deep Blue official website, to make it easy for folks to get the show. Also there is a player on that page too so fans can stream the past shows and check the track lists.
7. Are you currently seeking new artists for Deepblue Records ?
Solarstone: Of course – but we are very picky about what we release – we have stopped signing new material for a while unless something is incredible – because we built up a backlog of unreleased stuff, and I always feel terribly guilty about hanging on to tracks for a year or more before releasing them – it is frustrating for the artists. The thing is – they are very keen to sign to us.. but forget that many artists are also keen, and we only release one record each 4 weeks – over a year it is not that many releases! We have to stick to a schedule. If artists get too frustrated they can always have the rights back, we try to be fair in that regard, unless of course we have invested a lot of time and money into something in which case we need to recoup our costs.
8. Which aspects of the business do you and Andy handle in regards to Deep Blue recordings ? Is it a shared responsibility or do you each handle separate tasks ?
Solarstone: Well I handle the A&R and promotion – basically anything involving listening to the music and it is artistic direction – I am after all the one who fly’s the Trance flag! Andy deals with the business side of things and also runs the publishing company.
9. Can we expect any forthcoming releases under your alias "Young Parisians" ?
Solarstone: Maybe one day.. that is saved for special projects!
10. In your marvelous track "Seven Cities" at one point in the breakdown a small vocal sample can be heard (a very short few words that most people wouldn't even notice) what is the lyric for this vocal and what does it mean ?
Solarstone: Well thank you very much! It is actually a sample of some phonetic chanting – it doesn’t mean anything, I just thought it sounded cool back in 1999 when I recorded the track.
11. Are there any other projects you would like to tell us about, or any other comments ?
Solarstone: Sure, my other label "Insatiable Records" is doing quite well – I am planning on relaunching it later this year as a neo-trance label – obscure term I agree – but to me this is a form of Trance music which has more in common with early '90s trance – slower tempo, warm gentle electronica in a trance style. I am looking for demos in this style, so please – any good productions, send them over! The website address is www.insatiablerecords.com and I would also like to take this opportunity to ask any fans to vote for me each month at www.thedjlist.com which is a great chart – and apparently not rigged!
Interview made by Zaneta Soroko (TranceSound.net forum general moderator)
Links:
Solarstone official website
Solarstone @ MySpace
Solarstone @ TheDjlist
Deep Blue Records official website
Insatiable Records official website
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