‘Contact’ – the ninth studio album from one of dance music’s most legendary producers
Interview : Dan Prince
Andre welcome back to DMCWORLD. Where are you today?
“Hi Dan, I’m just on my way to Poland as I will have a press and interview day in Warsaw. My new album CONTACT entered #1 of the official album charts so there are a lot of requests as you can imagine.”
You celebrated the day after Valentines Day in Dresden in Germany – doesn’t sound very romantic, was it??
“Dresden is a really romantic city with a fantastic old town. Unfortunately my wife Anna wasn’t with me, but of course we had a romantic Valentines Day on Friday. On Saturday I drove to Dresden with some friends and had a fantastic CONTACT tour stop at Kraftwerk Mitte, an amazing club at the centre of Dresden. The crowd went crazy and we had a lot of fun till the early morning. It is always a pleasure for me to play in my home country of Germany, even if I don’t get the chance to play here that often. But I’m sure it won’t be my last gig in Germany in conjunction with the new album this year.”
An exciting time for you at the moment, a wondrous trip to Australia around the corner and more importantly, a brand new album ‘CONTACT‘ out now on Kontor – your ninth studio album! 26 brand new tracks spread over two CDs featuring some vocalists we are familiar with on your work, some not.
“Yes, with every of my albums I always want to present new, unknown voices for example Boss & Swan or Taylr as well as well known ones like JES, Stanfour or Sean Ryan. Vocals are an essential part of my music, as they make a good track complete. I’m very proud about the album and really happy that it runs so well. After all it entered the official sales charts in a couple of countries. In Germany alone, it entered rank #5 of the official album charts. This is unbelievable and the highest ranked entry for an album of mine.”
You draw on your worldwide touring as inspiration for your productions. Tell us about some of the places that have influenced this outstanding album…
“There are definitely too many. I have had uncountable, awesome and unique gigs all over the world the last three years. They have been in fantastic locations with fantastic crowds, especially at my ATB IN CONCERT US tour 2013, where I celebrate my tracks live with thousands of people. But also gigs like EDC Las Vegas where I played in front of 100.000 of people were simply amazing and gave me a unique feeling I transformed in studio into music.”
You played at A LOT of festivals in 2013. Was the name of the album ‘Contact’ relevant in any way to how far you have been DJing from the crowds…these stages are so far from your public!!
“This album title is really important for me in various ways. Ever since I have been making music, direct contact to those listening to my music has been essential. I could go so far as to say that, when I am asked in interviews whether I prefer to play at a festival or in a club, my answer is that I want to be as close as possible to the crowd. I need this immediate contact to the people, I need to see them and them me, so they can feel what I feel and I can feel what they feel in the music. So contact in every direction is unbelievably important for me, essential even. That apart, I just find CONTACT a great title. Short, snappy and it sounds good as well.”
I have asked around the DMCWORLD office for people’s favourite tune, and here they come…please give us a few words on these beautiful pieces of music that are digging our office…
When It Ends It Starts Again
“Also one of my favourite tracks and of course part of every of my sets. The instrumental version of the track celebrated its world premiere as opening track of my set at Nature One Festival 2013. But to be honest, the track is only complete with the vocals of Sean Ryan as they are simply amazing.
Straight To The Stars
This track has a real magical feeling. It fits perfectly to the vocals of Sean and every time I listen to it, I get goosebumps.
Red Sun
One of the slower ambient tracks on the album. I love working on these songs, which usually come to life in the more peaceful moments of my day, or rather the evening. I sit down in my smaller second studio and simply start to play.
Hard To Cure
For more than five years I have wanted to work with JES as she’s a fantastic vocalist. Finally we managed to do it and I’m really happy with the results.
When Angels Travel
I produced this track together with Stefan Erbe, great producer. Once a year we’re do a very special ambient show together at the planetarium in Bochum where we play live ambient music for the show. Yesterday we just started with the pre-sale for the next show, which will be in May and it’s already as good as sold out.
Face To Face
An amazing cooperation with the guys of Stanfour and also the first single release of the album. It was clear from the off that these guys were passionate about making music, we were immediately on the same wavelength.
Raging Bull
One of the great new discoveries for me on this album is Boss and Swan. I heard one of their tracks quite by chance on an in-flight movie soundtrack on the way back from Asia and spent the following days tracking them down. When I found out that their music had not actually been released, I spontaneously flew them in from Canada to Germany and we spent a week collaborating in the studio. They are brother and sister and unbelievably talented. What we came up with together is simply amazing.
Everything Is Beautiful
First time I heard the voice of Taylr I was kind of wary, but in the end, the track turned into a fantastic dance track and fits perfectly to her high, very clear voice. One of the favourite tracks of my wife, Anna.
Walking Awake
Another great cooperation with Boss & Swan.
Together
With this track I wanted to present kind of breakbeat with fluent musical elements. Combined with the voice of JES it’s simply magical.
Contact
The introduction to the second CD of the CONTACT album. It’s a good mood track you can listen to to come down from the daily routine and relax. It has a touch of holiday.
Sunset Girl
A really old track from my album “Addicted to Music” back in 2003. It’s more than 10 years old, feels like yesterday…”
…now be brave! Stick your neck out and tell us your favourite tune from the album…
“Well, this always depends on my current mood, but “When It Ends It Starts Again” is definitely one of my favourite tracks.”
Who out of the selection of new vocalists you worked with on the album really surprised you in the studio?
“All in all I’m really happy about all of the results, otherwise I wouldn’t release them on the album, but to work with Boss & Swan in the studio was a very creative process. I was really impressed with Ava’s voice, the singer of Boss & Swan. Of course I know her voice from their productions, but to hear it live in the studio for the first time, was a magical moment.”
Did you work in the studio with all of the vocalists or were there any internet highway work going on?
“When I produce a track together with a vocalist I really prefer to do it together at studio, but unfortunately this is not always possible due to (lack of) time. For example the cooperation with JES, who is living in the US and has got a really full schedule we organized via internet. But I also had some great direct studio sessions for example with JanSoon, Stanfour, Stefan Erbe or Boss & Swan who came the whole way from Canada.”
How long has the album taken to create?
“All in all I worked on the album for three years, but of course this also includes the process of collecting ideas, searching for vocalists, creating new sounds, etc.. After all the total production process took about a half a year.“
As I mentioned earlier, this is your ninth studio album. Man, that is a lot of albums. How difficult do you find it to keep developing your sound but not lose your identity. That must be tough?
“Of course it is extremely difficult, but I think my musical character comes naturally, it comes from something I love doing, it comes from the heart. Whenever I produce an album I want to make something new, I want to extend myself. Still, I have to be careful not to lose my old musical feeling as I develop. So the greatest task is to make each album sound new and different without losing that feeling which I and the listeners like so much. It starts with simple, but essential things. On this album, for example, I definitely wanted to produce more striking beats. The result sounds very much like ATB but the beats sound more sophisticated, very much of their time.”
“The good thing about EDM music is that it’s always changing and developing and that’s very interesting to me as a DJ”. Who are the producers that are doing it for you out there at the moment?
“Well, this is really hard to say as there is a lot of good stuff out there at the moment, but for example I currently play a lot of the stuff of Calvin Harris.”
A great quote from you…”In my dream, I always wanted to show people that electronic music is not just coming out of a computer. Electronic music is still made my humans.” Discuss…
“Yes, this is a quote I made in conjunction with my ATB IN CONCERT shows and I think this is a very important topic in our digital world. Of course it’s very easy to produce an electronic dance track today and this is also the reason why the number of electronic music releases explodes. But, most of these tracks are simply faceless and you don’t know who’s behind the track and what’s the work behind it. With my ATB IN CONCERT show I presented last year for the first time in the US, I want to show the people, that electronic music is made humans. It’s a real special concept where I performed my music live with a band consisting of drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboarders and of course the original vocalists. It gives me the possibility to get even deeper in contact with my audience than ever before. The singers, the band, me and even the whole backstage crew got much more possibilities to interact with the people. And of course it shows them that electronic music is much more than just pressing a button and you got a finished track.”
What is on an ATB rider in 2014…?
“I’m always giving 100 percent when I’m on stage so Fresh towels are a must have on my rider. After my gigs I’m always that soaked…”
You received your first recording contract in 1993. You travel the world all of the time…you spend days in the studio. Hand on heart, has there ever been a time when you have thought, wow…I have to slow down here..?
“Yes, definitely. I mean, I’m 40 years old now, not 20 as in the beginning of my career. So it’s really important for me, beside all the touring and studio work to have free time to relax and recharge my batteries.”
What do you do away from music to chill out?
“As I’m currently a lot on the road for the new album, I’m happy about every minute I get with my family and friends. For example I have a gaming evening with my best friends once a week where we’re playing video games.”
Away from dance music, who are the artists you are listening to at the moment?
“To be honest mainly I just listen to the radio as I always want to have a wide range about music apart from dance music. So it’s really mixed beginning from rock to pop over to dance music.”
And finally, gotta ask…when was the last time you played 9PM (Till I Come) to a dancefloor?
“Last Saturday on a gig at Kraftwerk Mitte, Dresden. Fantastic CONTACT tour stop with an amazing crowd at my home-country Germany.”
Thank you sir. As always, appreciate your time…
“Thank you Dan!”
New ATB album CONTACT our now on Kontor Records
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