We were There Again! Video interviews at Tomorrowland festival in Belgium. When the best natural scenery meets the best decorations, the best party crowd, the hottest DJ’s and the loudest sound system, then the result can only be the most successful dance festival in the world ever, this is of course Tomorrowland. This year’s festival is significant because many exciting things happened for the first time, like the extension of the festival to 3 days. Until now, the majority of the festivals lasted for two days. Tomorrowland proved that festivals can go on for longer, and be packed and sold out. The commercial success, when it comes along with the artistic success, and cultural significance, makes an even louder impact on the society. Tomorrowland provides an experience that music, dancing and fun, are the main focus point. BUT there are many other interesting things to do the whole day, like eating a
meal cooked by award winning chef.
On Saturday 23rd of July, Above and Beyond returned to Tomorrowland, not as guests on another stage, but as the main force behind their own Group Therapy stage. Amongst the artists who performed on this stage, which was always jam packed, was DJ Tab - from the successful Finish duo, ‘Super 8 & Tab’. Only
a select number of modern Trance artists can convincingly say they are taking the sound to the next level. Although the humble, softly spoken duo, would never shout it out themselves, Super8 & Tab are undoubtedly amongst them.
Renowned for their innovative approach and intricate production values, the Finnish producers have stealthily pushed themselves to the front of the Trance pack since coming together in 2005. DJ’s like Armin van Buuren, PVD, Above & Beyond & Ferry Corsten, regularly smash their tracks both club-side and on the radio, while global dance bibles such as Mixmag and DJ Magazine laud them with 5 star reviews.
Through their own energising DJ sets, Super8 & Tab themselves have conquered some of the biggest club brands in the game. They headlined the ‘Future’ stage at this year’s Trance Energy, recently played Australia’s ‘Future Music Festival’, and have also rocked Trance totem poles like The Gallery, Mayday, Godskitchen, Trance Energy and A State Of Trance. On home turf, they command a legendary residency
at Helsinki’s legendary ‘Hallmark Club’, and also find time to hold down a regular spot on the monthly Anjunabeats Worldwide radio show.
Now an integral part of the Anjunabeats family, Super8 & Tab first caused fervour with the breakthrough success of tracks like ‘First Aid’ and the definitive ‘Helsinki Scorchin’. Since establishing themselves as the label’s best selling artist behind Above & Beyond, the Finnish trailblazers have delivered Trance of the highest quality ever since. Their ethereal epic ‘Suru’ was picked out by DJ Magazine as “the tent-pole
release of Anjuna’s summer”, while ‘Elektra’ conquered the download charts and festival stages with equal aplomb in 2008.
In 2009, their star rose further still when German Trance godfather, Paul Van Dyk, requested them to remix both his ‘New York City’ anthem, and the equally large ‘Nothing But You’, while Ferry Corsten requested the magic Super8 & Tab touch on his vocal anthem ‘Made Of Love’. Crowning a year of unchecked success, it was little surprise when Super8 & Tab broke into the DJ Magazine Top 100 for the first time at #82. They then followed in 2010, coming in at a massive #60, up 22 places from the year before, making them the highest ranking Finnish artist in the poll.
With the arrival of their debut artist album ‘Empire’, Super8 & Tab elevated themselves to the grander stage they were always destined for. Drawing on the diverse vocal talents of Jan Burton, Betsie Larkin, Alyna and Julie Thompson, ‘Empire’s’ 11-track journey sees Super8 & Tab stamp their distinctive skills on deep, brooding vocal anthems, classy down tempo excursions, and futuristic Trance fusions – with plenty of their trademark forward-thinking melodic sound besides. On the day of release, the album went straight to #1 in the Finnish and #7 in the US iTunes dance charts. An instant classic, it prompted Mixmag to say “It’s a rare and wonderful thing to be blown away by an album on first listen. And that’s exactly what Super8 & Tab’s debut artist album does.” With comments like that, maybe they don’t need to sing their own praises after all. At the end of this summer, Super 8 & Tab released the remix edition of Empire, with remixers included such as Lange, Maor Levi, Kyau & Albert, 4 Strings, Gareth Emery and many more.
On Saturday 23rd of July, Above and Beyond hosted their own Group therapy stage. At their backstage, we met with DJ Tab from Super 8 & Tab, and we did a great interview. We asked about their Empire Remixed album which is out now on Anjunabeats, their collaboration with Betsy Larkin on her new album, and their radio show, as well Super 8 & Tab Radio. It’s fun to watch it, Enjoy!!
Interview was conducted and edited by Dimitri Kechagias
Camera and Sound Engineering: Paul Aldridge – 1mix radio www.1mix.co.uk
Many thanks to Debby Wilmsen, ID&T Belgium and Getinpr for giving us press accreditation to attend this fantastic once in a lifetime experience and conduct these great interviews.
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