A brand new EP from one of our finest techno and trance pioneers
Welcome to DMCWORLD towers. You have just had a hugely busy summer festival schedule – what have been your highlights so far? Did you get stuck in the mud or lose the plot anywhere?
“At Glade we had a wondrous time and were very lucky with the weather. Beatherder was a total blast but extremely muddy! But this did not seems to dent the enthusiasm of the crowd, who incidentally had the best fancy dress we’ve ever seen at a festival. Ozora in Hungary was fantastic, apart from a big police raid on one of the days.”
There’s more festivals to go and a tour of Japan – what are you looking forward to?
“Still Solfest to come where they have a fantastic dance tent, and then five shows in Japan which is a place we truly love and where we are always excited to go. Also while in Japan we are going to do some recording with Japanese band Rovo for the Phoenix Rising project. When we come back we have a major show in London at The Garage on October 4th.”
You are releasing a new “Passion EP’ and can you tell us how this came about?
“We were toying with various ideas earlier this year and this one came out, with Miquette beautifully voicing the word “Passion” in her breathy French accent. With a phat pounding tech-trance groove we felt this one was a winner! Tried and tested on various gigs and is out right now.”
How do you manage to keep it fresh, new and I guess, vital. Do you feel pressure as DJ/Producers to always be one step ahead in the EDM scene?
“We don’t actually use the term EDM as we associated it with David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia whose ethos is far distant from ours. We’re not really competing with other producers – our pressure comes from ourselves and our wish to stay true to our creative aims and to deliver consistently good quality tracks. You are only as good as your last mix or your last gig…”
Is there anyone or any track that you’re particularly proud of from your catalogue as you’ve worked with some really amazing musical talents? What do you see as the your greatest musical highlights so far?
“We’ve had many musical highlights in the 20 plus years we’ve been doing System 7. One that stands out is the track ‘Alpha Wave’ with that amazing Plastikman Remix that never seems to sound tired. We dropped it from our set for a couple of years, but have just stated playing it again and it still works. Our label A-Wave is named after this track.”
Are you psyched about any new stuff upcoming?
“We’re excited excited about the hybrid rock/electronic album we’re doing with Japanese band. Rovo called ‘Phoenix Rising’. We have a taster of this on our forthcoming ‘Passion EP’, with our System 7 club mix of Rovo’s track ‘Eclipse’. Later this year we will be writing a load of new material for new albums by System 7 and Mirror System.”
You are joining forces with Banco Da Gaia to play The Garage on Thursday October 4th, and how do you feel about being united with your fellow ambient pioneer and what can we expect from this new live show? Do you have any secret weapons you can share with us?
“We played with Toby (Banco) often in the 90s at Megadog and other events, and more recently at various festivals. It’s good to come together at the London event. Toby also plays regularly at the inSpiral Lounge in Camden, London where DJ Aliji is the main resident. We’ve also played on numerous occasions with Aliji and Josko DJing, including our UP parties in Berlin and festivals like Boom, Sonica and Ozora. So for our London show we have the A team!”
What was your first break – was it your first big record and did it set you on your path?
“I wouldn’t say we really had a big break at System 7, but it was a good moment when Virgin Records in 1989, after pestering me for years to make another rock album, agreed to support our new dance music project. Meeting Alex Paterson and Derrick May at that time was also important because we created enduring relationships that last to this day from which we learned a lot and made some great tracks.”
What are the major influences such as key people, DJ’s, producers or clubs etc on your musical career?
“My number one all time musical influence is Jimi Hendrix. Meeting and working with Alex Paterson, Derrick May, Carl Craig, Laurent Garnier and others has had a profound influence. We’ve never had the opportunity to work with Jeff Mills, but he also has been a big influence. Spending time in Ibiza at both the big clubs like Pacha and Space and the small clubs like Underground has been big for us, as has playing at massive trance parties like Universo Paralello in Brazil and Boom in Portugal. More recently spending time in Berlin has had a major effect, and experiencing clubs like Berghain/Panorama Bar with DJs like Ben Klock has rocked our world!”
How does it feel to have been on top of the scene for the twenty years or so that you have been working as System 7?
“We love what we do and as long as we keep having fun, learning new things, and meeting interesting people we will continue onwards and upwards.”
And what does the future hold for you?
“We’ll be spending November and December in Bali, including the much discussed end day of the Maya calendar 21st December 2012. I’m not really into all the apocalyptic stuff – looking forward to a wicked “we survived 2012” NYE party when we get back to London on 31st December 2012!”
And before you leave us, can you tell us something you think we should all be listening to before we head out the door on Thursday night?‘
“Raise it Up’ by Leisuregroove and Kevin Andrews on Hotfingers.”
System 7 release the ‘Passion EP’ digitally on September 28th 2012 on A-Wave Records. They play their 1st London date of 2012 on Thursday October 4th at The Garage, Islington, supported by Banco de Gaia and DJ’s Aliji (resident at inSpiral), and Italian tech-house, DJ Josko. Tickets at http://www.seetickets.com/Event/SYSTEM-7-LIVE-/The-Garage/635489
System 7 official FB page:- http://facebook.com/System7page
System 7 Live clip @ Glade Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qK_DI3jHD4
System 7 ‘At Last track from ‘Up’ album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzikCznTay4&feature=youtu.be
http://soundcloud.com/system7/sets/system-7-passion-ep/
