The quiet before the storm. The future trance sound of Egypt is here…
Interview : Dan Prince
Guys welcome to DMC and congratulations on a superb new album ‘Quiet Storm’. Please give us a few words on each of the tracks…
“Thanks for having us and thanks for the kind words about the album. Here we go…
‘Running Out Of Time’ – Chris Jones’s vocals are mesmerizing.
‘Mysteries Unfold’ – Feeling the emotion!
‘Speed Of Sound’ – It really takes you on a nice journey.
‘Fireisland’ – Loved making this track with the legendary Solarstone.
‘End Of The Road’ – We would love this road to continue.
‘Daydreaming’ – Exactly as it says, sit here and close your eyes, listen and daydream.
‘Mother Nature’ – This is a very deep track.
‘First Sun’ – Takes you on an emotional trance journey, possibly our favourite track on the album.
‘Your Heart Is Mine’ – Loved doing this collaboration with John O’Callaghan.
‘Quiet Storm’ – The album is like a Quiet Storm – brewing early on then the storm is unleashed.
‘City of Angels’ – If there was a City of Angels, we are sure they would listen to Trance. Trance is a very angelic sound.
‘Brilliant People’ – We made this track with Giuseppe Ottaviani – when we were deciding on a name we searched online for relations between Egypt and Italy and the first description we saw was about ‘Brilliant People’…so that’s how the name was found for the track.
‘Without You’ – Was great to have Susana in the studio with us to record this track, she has a great voice.
‘Tula’ – A very emotional track, works really well on the dancefloor.
‘Where To Now’ – Was really great to have this as the outro for the album and we have started using it as last track in our sets recently.
How long has the album taken to create?
“The album took three years to make.”
What is your hope for the album regarding when people hear it for the first time?
“We are hoping that the audience takes time to listen to the album from start to finish and see the journey and diversity on the whole album.”
The album features collabs with some very talented producers and vocalists. How did the whole creation take place with these people dotted all over the world?
“Now that we are in the 21st century, forms of communication have gone through the roof with Skype, Whats App, Facetime, Emails and Facebook. It helps a lot for files to be transferred between us all, we can be in Tibet and we can get a file to a vocalist or to a producer who is other side of the world in say Englan. It really helps the process to become smoother.”
Who surprised you the most in the studio?
“Susana was really cool to work with in the studio, but everyone was easy going and fun to work with to be honest.”
Okay let’s rewind a little. Tell us when you first started to fall in love with the trance sound and who in particular caught your audio attention?
“In the 1990’s and our main inspiration from a musical point of view in this genre was Paul Van Dyk.”
Was the initial idea to produce or DJ together?
“Both.”
What did your families think of your new career choice?
“They were and still are very supportive, they are our rocks!”
You have always commented on how important and influential your fan base is to you. Do you think the trance community has the most loyal supporters in dance music?
“100%. The trance families across the world are amazing and with the help of Social Media it is growing every hour of every day. They are taking control of their trance communities and they are even hosting their own events in their countries which is fantastic to see. Trance Will Never Die.”
Aly – tell us about the ear injury you sustained 6 years that keeps you from performing live…
“We were at a gig and the monitor blew my ear. The dosctor said that if I continued to DJ I could lose my hearing, so when me and Fila are in the studio together, we keep the volume at a low level so it does not effect my ear.”
Wow! Who have been some of the biggest supporters from the superstar DJ fraternity to you over the years?
“Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten , John O’Callaghan, Paul Van Dyk to name but a few…”
How much have you learnt in the studio since the release of Rising Sun?
“We feel we have matured in the last three years as producers. With Quiet Storm you can tell the difference between both albums. Well we think so!”
The Future Sound Of Egypt 300 World Tour is nearly upon us marking another massive milestone for you. How difficult was picking the locations?
“Extremely difficult as many cities campaigned for the events to be hosted in their cities. Unfortunately we could only choose five, so in 2014 maybe we can host FSOE 350 in the other cities.”
Where are you especially looking forward to hitting?
“All five cities to be honest, they are special in their own way and will have different crowds, and we also have different line ups in each city.”
Tell us about the studio process. Who brings what to the table, who excels where?
“We both work in our own studios then merge together in our joint studio to finish off the track, we both like to work on different parts.”
Best trance record ever made?
“Paul Van Dyk – For An Angel.”
And finally, you spend so much time together. If you could change one thing about each other, what would it be?
“Nothing about each other, simply we would like to change working crazy hours in the middle of the night. We need to sleep also..”
‘Quiet Storm’ information…
Download from iTunes: http://bit.ly/AFQuietStorm_iT
Listen on Spotify: http://bit.ly/QuietStorm_SP
Get a physical copy in the ArmadaShop: http://bit.ly/AFQuietStorm_Sh
For more info visit:
http://www.alyandfila.com
www.armadamusic.com
www.twitter.com/alyandfila
www.facebook.com/alyandfila
http://www.youtube.com/alyandfila
