1. Personally, it is always a pleasure to see a mixture of world sporting events and musical performances clash together. What was your inspiration on the World Cup Tour and how did you go about planning such a special showcase?
Cosmic Gate: After so many years of absence playing in South Africa, it was a double pleasure for us to return, first for the gigs, and second of course with the chance to see some matches live, feel the special world cup vibe! and both of this has even gone over our expectations, the shows were simply awesome, the crowds were phenomenal, and the whole of South Africa was presenting itself as the perfect host for this outstanding event, we are really happy and glad this combination has worked out for us so great.
2. Were you able to see any live soccer action and if so what were some of your favorite highlights?
Cosmic Gate: Unfortunately it was not possible for us to see a German match live, but the whole vibe already of the public viewing areas was stunning, we enjoyed the whole week a lot!!!
3. Other than your home country (Germany) making it into the SemiFinals, were there any other teams that caught your attention?
Cosmic Gate: We have seen Brazil and also the winner team Spain in the stadium, awesome memories we will not forget!
4. Sporting aside, how was the depth of the South African crowd towards your performances and was there a magical moment that sets them apart from the rest of the world?
Cosmic Gate: All 3 shows were simply amazing, the crowds were really into what we did, playing new or older tracks, we have been told the trance scene is not big in South Africa, but the people that were in our shows were simply amazing, we can't wait to come back already now!
5. Now that the World Cup is under the Dj-ing belt, will there be any consideration for other world event features such as London Olympics in 2012?
Cosmic Gate: Sounds like a plan for sure, we play like 3 or 4 shows in London every year, hope we can manage to get there during the Olympics too, even if athletics is not as big for us as football, sorry... :-)
6. Are there any future collaborations or remixes in the works?
Cosmic Gate: There is a few more remixes from our last album “Sign of the Times” that will be released soon on a special edition called “Sign of the Times: Deluxe Edition”. It’s from several up and coming producers and some of these mixes we played already on our gigs in South Africa, watch out for it, its definitely worth it!!!
7. Would you mind describing to your fans and readers how the Cosmic Gate sound is defined?
Cosmic Gate: That’s pretty hard, to talk about music is not easy, specially about our own music, we think that our tracks are always kind of pumping, but always are filled with emotions and melodies, either from the sounds we use, or the arrangement we go for. Not sure if this fits to describe our sound, but we prefer people listen to it than we talk about it.
8. What are some of the equipment used to create such a driving sound?
Cosmic Gate: We do not use different sound than thousands of other producers too, e.g. the "Virus" we use pretty often in our productions, but no studio secret we could tell here, all is pretty standard...
9. Any tracks or artists that are currently on the top of your list that the world must know about?
Cosmic Gate: Some of the guys that remixed for us are definitely to watch out for, like Arty, Steve Bryan or Cold Blue, great remixes and productions they do at the moment.
10. Mash-ups are becoming quite the popular trend at the moment. From a listener's point of view they are usually that special treat we get once a month. How is the trend affecting mixing and production and is it too much?
Cosmic Gate: We definitely think it’s getting too much, only 1 of maybe 100 mash-ups is really good in our eyes, this is going too much in the wrong direction for us, and that’s why we do not play too many mash-ups at all.
11. Just for kicks, were either of you soccer players?
Cosmic Gate: Yep, we both played when we were teenagers, but unfortunately there is not much time anymore for this now.
12. Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans and readers from across the globe and here at TranceSound.net?
Cosmic Gate: We want to say thanks so much again for the amazing support we had during our 3 gigs in South Africa! As we mentioned above, the vibe during the gigs was really stunning, and hopefully we come back better sooner than later to party together again.
Interview made by Abigail Duran aka VeraNationGirl (TranceSound.net Head of PR)
Links:
Cosmic Gate official website
Cosmic Gate @ MySpace
VeraNationGirl @ MySpace
