Torsten Fassbender was born in 1970 in Velbert, a small and placid German town. Markus Geisberger was born in 1972 in Mauerkirchen, a small village near Salzburg, Austria. These two very different personalities met back in 2009 and understood that their musical future can only be together as members of Wellenrausch, the project that Torsten started years before working solo or with various other music partners.
At the end of 2011 Wellenrausch present their own and very Personal Epos. A magical album that includes quality electronic dance music that the word Trance is rather too small to contain. With influences from wide variety of Music and not strictly dance you are pretty sure that you deal with an album that can easily migrate from the cold basements of the underground EDM to more mainstream audiences and I hope this to happen soon because the labor of such hard work should reach as many listeners as possible. Personal Epos is an album that can transform any environment that will be played. From large clubs and festivals that well known djs like Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz and M.I.K.E. will play in their sets to small intimate living rooms or your beloved car while you drive around your city preferably in the night. As I noted at the end of my review of this album: Press play, switch off the lights and enjoy Personal Epos as a soundtrack of a yet to be filmed movie.
But before indulging in your couch to listen this great album I invite you to take a hot cup of coffee to read the interview that I conducted with Torsten and Markus. Their answers reflect their inner values as personalities and most importantly their quality and integrity as artists. I hope you will enjoy reading this and you will get in contact with them via facebook or twitter to let them know your thoughts about their answers. Cause any interview is important if it can become the starting point of an ongoing, creative and fruitful dialogue. Believe me most artists in the EDM scene carry on producing music because of their fans dedication, feedback and encouragement. Be there for them if we want to Be there for us producing wonderful music that will give us the courage to carry on our life and get through the good and the difficult moments. Music is a mystery after all and Wellenrausch maybe hold the key to resolve it. Read this interview carefully and let them know your thoughts and suggestions….
Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, radio/club dj and Music Journalist.
Dimitri: First of all I would like to take you back in time and ask, did you grow up with parents that had any connection with music or any other arts; Did you had the active encouragement from your parents to follow your heart and get involved with music or did they want to see working in a normal office kind of job;
Markus: My parents aren't musicians. Although I remember that they were often humming some songs to themselves, and still do. When we, my brother and me, got this hook on music and said we want to learn guitar and bass, my parents had nothing against it. My father bought us some instruments. I was 16, my brother 14. Pretty soon my brother and me started playing in bands and played the first gigs. My parents would come to the gigs or, as long as we hadn't a driving license, drive us to the gigs whenever they could. A lot of years and a lot of bands and gigs later, when I finally decided to quit my job and move to Berlin for musical reasons; my parents had their doubts about it. It was like moving into the unknown, into the uncertain where nobody's awaiting you. The safe way would have been to stay at home and keep up the job. But I think that's the way it used to be.
Torsten: Wow! Time-travel., I like that! Well, my parents’ aren´t involved to music or any other creative work, besides the fact that raising 2 boys is always kind of creative work, isn't it? (Laughs) I am very thankful, as my parents supported me perfectly. My parents, somehow, understand that all this is my destination; they supported me in that time a lot. While testifying myself with making music on limited computer systems, my parents send me to piano and guitar lessons. Especially my dad was told me more than once "son, if you want to do music, learn it by the right way". Thanks to that I know how to use the notes in a track. No need to randomly move notes, I can hear them and I know how to place them. On the first side I learned harmonics, but at the same time the computer system let me experiment and improvise. But at the same time it was important for my parents that I got a proper education, to find a good job. Money rules the world, and you can’t eat enough food just by playing the strings on a guitar.
Dimitri: a) Torsten you have experimented for many years with various software and hardware to compose music for various purposes. Can you tell us how hard or easy was the music production for you in those years by making a contrast with today’s all digital music production that everything is composed with just one computer even only a laptop.
Torsten: Oh dear, for me the old days of making music were funny and for sure limited. I have to start here the early days. Listening to music was my first full love; i still remember all this experiences I had when listening to the early works of Jan-Michel Jarre. In that time I also become a computer nerd, everything around that was so magic for me. First my experiences were limited but with the come-out of the commodore 64 around 1984 everything changed. Making music on a different, new level became reality. My brother said in that time "my bro is crazy, spending hours and hours in front of that little brown box starring on a television screen.". But even with this little beast I was able to create the tones "near" the ones from my electronic heroes like Jarre and Kraftwerk. So doing music was (and is) a progression, every technology gives the new inventions a hand. Every century technology goes softly into the other. Same time I had these lessons in piano and guitar I was going deeper and deeper into music technology and harmonics. When I reflect these times with today, I must say that the creative process never changed that much as the technological process. I can remember hours and hours I spent to make a proper kick-drum, today this is way more easy, but you can’t just open a plugin, load a sample and voila: you have that mighty kick. Today’s tools help you to get faster to a good result. I still recommend everyone to even learn the basics. To learn by the old-school way is never wrong. With the tools and my experience I can today produce a proper track with just a fast computer, audio-interface, a screen and a keyboard. It’s the experience that matters or you have to be a genius talent. I must say that in my opinion, I am doing the best music now with a small setup where I know every bit and how to tweak the sound. Just learn the tools you have.
Dimitri: b) Markus you started as a band musician within the independent rock music scene. Can you recall any funny or maybe serious incident that happen in that period of your life and as a result of it your loved even more your involvement with music?
Markus:There were a lot of funny and serious things. But just to tell you one: quite a few years ago, I played in a band that often used to play at motorbike meetings. And this time the meeting took place in the middle of a wood. So when driving to the venue, the car and the trailer full of gear, we felt like being on an expedition into a no man’s land. While trying to find the way, it started to rain so heavily that you couldn't see what’s in front of you. Suddenly the windscreen wipers stopped functioning, so i had to turn down the window and put my head out in the pouring rain in order to see where we were going. Finally, after a long search we arrived somewhere which can only be described as somewhere. We set up all our gear and prepared for sound check. Not only the sound-engineer didn't make it to the gig, but also the local power generator almost didn't make it. It turned out that it produced too few powers for the whole sound system. So we had to minimize the setup for this open air and do the mix ourselves. As if not enough the microphones didn't work the way they should and we risked an electric shock when singing. That gig stretched our nerves. But it didn't matter. We laughed at each other and focused on music. We moved on. We played for 4 hours, took our gear from up the stage at 3 am in the morning and arrived at home at 4 am, remembering a pleased audience and looking forward to the next gig. So most of the time we were musicians, roadies, sound-engineers and managers at the same time. So you learn to improvise, you learn to rely on each other, to go on no matter what happens, to become almost "MacGyver"-like, you know? Fortunately there were also gigs at some venues where you could concentrate on just being a musician. Whether you play in front of 3 or 300 or 3000 people, it didn't matter and it doesn't matter. If you can please 3 people, you can also please 300 or 3000. The focus is always on music. Automatically, Having gone through that, you get to know almost every situation that can happen when being on the road and playing to an audience.
Dimitri: Each one of you can you tell me the 5 artists such as DJs, music composers, poets, authors that have influenced a lot the style of music that you produce or the style of singing or the style of writing lyrics;
Torsten:Of course there are my all-time chip music heroes like: Rob Hubbard, Jochem Hippel, Martin Galway and of course Maniacs of Noise. When talking about real music, my influences were: Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Visage, Jarre, Vangelis, Sven Väth, LSG / Oliver Lieb, Markus Schulz, Paul van Dyk, Enigma, Schiller. I also had a rock-music time and in that time one band influenced me very much: Dire Straits with their front-man Mark Knopfler. All of them had/have that special touch to me, some influenced me bigger, some smaller, but all that them formed me as musician.
Markus: Sting, Jim Kerr from Simple Minds, Bono, Johnny Cash. Just to name a few. Although I have a pool of lyrics written over the years it's mostly the Wellenrausch sound and the Wellenrausch arrangements that trigger a certain style of singing or lyrics. Nowadays, there are so many great producers out there whose sound and music really are an influence. Markus Schulz would definitely be one of them. Paul van Dyk would be another one. I really love to dive into these sound-worlds.
Dimitri: a) Torsten why you decided to go under the name of Wellenrausch. Where the name came from? Is this signal something very strong for you personally? From that period that you had this project as solo artist can you pin point to us the tracks that you have produced and you love most and why?
Torsten: Ha-ha, I expected that question about the name. A lot of people ask us. First of all, "Wellen" is the German word for "Waves", "Rausch" is the German word for "Rush", but the meaning is kind different, as in German it’s also a word game. In my idea "Wellen" stand for the "sound-waves", and "rausch" for the state of mind when listening music and falling into "trance". This can happen without drugs, just by listening to music. All the first techno had this effect to me. I started with "Wellenrausch" solo in the year 2000, before that I was producing more stuff in the house scene, but 2000 trance become again my love. But working alone was never my fully intention, I was always in search for another soul in that project, so I made in 2003 with a friend the track "on the run", which was very successful and heavily supported by a lot of top jocks around. Times raised, and there were times with two guys in Wellenrausch and times with me solo. But I tell you what; all these times are meaningless since Markus joined Wellenrausch. This project got a complete new focus, a new view on music. Markus changed my life as producer, completely. Wellenrausch is now a BAND, two guys on one mission. To produce good and special music, so that everyone who listens to music can immediately say "hey this track is from Wellenrausch, right".. We are not hunting for a special zeitgeist, we found our signature. This is so important for every music maker, become an own signature. You can copy small amounts, like there has to be a standard. A dance track without a proper kick is not a dance track. But music consist of so much elements, there is plenty room to find your own spot.
Dimitri: b) Markus is it possible to tell us why you decided to move to Berlin and if at the end of the day Berlin is the city of arts and culture as many commentators mention in their reports?
Markus: Well, in 2007 I reached the point where I had quite a few ideas recorded on my 8-track, and all these demo-songs seemed to ask me: O.k. that's nice, but what now? What are you going to do with it? I had this vision of the future, that all these ideas could become part of something new; appear within new sounds, getting merged with other musician’s ideas. I knew that if I wouldn't do something, if I wouldn't breathe new life into it, nothing would happen. So it was definitely a question of "do or die". Every musician knows that Berlin has an incredible music and art scene and that people from all over the world come to Berlin to pursue their creative activities and try to connect and create. Torsten was one of them. I was one of them.
Dimitri: Each one please tell us if you can remember how did you met up and if from the first time that you have met each other it was clear that you are going to work together for the next years? Any funny or serious incident occur when you met or the first sessions that you worked together in the studio?
Markus: When arriving in Berlin I didn't know anyone. As I wanted to connect and push myself into the music scene I started to advertise in the internet on different musician sites. A few weeks later a Norwegian musician and producer answered that he would like to meet and see what happens. He had his studio in the same house as Torsten. He and Torsten sometimes met outside the studio for a coffee-break and he was giving my demo-songs to Torsten. My Norwegian pal told me next day that Torsten really liked the tracks and that we should come over to his studio. Torsten played a couple of his tracks to me and I was stunned. Above all he did a bit of production work to my own demos and they appeared in a whole new light: there were the sounds that really could draw me in. I had to take a little while to realize what was happening there, but it seemed that the wheel of fortune was turning forward. There was only one thing to do: start working together. It was really amazing from the first moment on.
Torsten: Well Markus said everything that happened in that time perfectly. I have to add, that I was before more like a hardcore coffee junky. Most of the studio time i drank coffee, instead than to make music. Markus has saved me absolutely here!! (laughs)
Dimitri: In 2009 No Superstition was released on Afterglow and it was large club smash. I wonder if you can tell us how you met up with Elef from Afterglow and give us a comment about him and his label Afterglow?
Torsten:I know Elef for a long time due to his massive activities in the computer demo scene. He was releasing a sound-module nearly per day, and I was always wondering how the hell he find all those motivation. I dig Elef a lot, his work, his person, his character and of course his old-school view of things in the music biz. This man looks clearly for quality, not for quantity. Afterglow was our top choice to send a demo to right in that time when Markus and I started this "new" Wellenrausch. I was part of other labels and Afterglow is the first one where we can feel like being part of a cool and huge family. This is in my opinion outstanding in the scene! We are blessed to be part of such great artists and REAL people. I needed 15 years to find a place like afterglow, and we are proud to be finally part of it!
Dimitri: Personal Epos, your brand new album with many jewels inside just released and I was left speechless about the quality of your productions. How long it took you to complete the whole album and what are you going to remember each one of you forever from the production of this album?
Markus: We recorded Personal Epos from end of July 2010 until December 15th 2010. From the extended DJ versions we had to edit and cut out the radio edits, which took us another couple of weeks. Including album mastering and artwork, the album production was finished by the end of April 2011. When i look back now on the album recording I must say that this was an incredible time. We had a run. No "writers block". Absolutely no need for a break. No creative blackout. Almost like in a rush. No weak compromise. Each track was raised up from 15-seconds samples. Some of the vocal lines and lyrics I had written years before fit perfectly, others came on the fly. And I remember Torsten sitting in his chair and building up the sounds almost like he was sleepwalking. It was incredible to watch this. Musically and lyrically there was no arguing. We had no doubt about anything.
Torsten:Yeah, fully agree with Markus, and I remember that situation he meant with "sleepwalking". In that magic moment (and to be honest, we had a lot of them while working on the album) I was nearly fully in "trance". It felt like a internal automation, strange to describe... And no…. we don't use drugs!!! (Laughs), While working on the album everything was so clear to us, magic times! Like walking on a street and every crossing street was the next song. No need to step back, just pure progression. I don't have this before, not one time in the 15years before!! Every step was logical and it had to happen like this. Amen! (Laughs)
Dimitri: Did you produce the album by going in the studio with a tight release schedule in your mind or you recorded tracks when you had an inspiration or an idea around it?
Wellenrausch: We met in July and had 14 demo tracks, each one a 15 seconds sample. Then I started to "vocalize" each idea, giving it a first direction. Then Torsten would take over again and started to build on these new ideas. This was the procedure for every track. That was all. We had a one-week-per-track rule. Our Afterglow records boss Elef said we could take our time, giving us no album deadline. As soon as the track was finished we sent it over to Elef and he would give us some feedback.
Dimitri: I believe that your album is quite dark and spacey and that is quite cinematic like a movie that is not actually filmed yet. Did you have a lot of inspiration from movie soundtracks and if there are any movie soundtracks that have influenced you the most and as a consequence if you are thinking to compose music for films if you had the chance?
Wellenrausch: There are some incredible movie soundtracks out there. Especially the work of Hans Zimmer is truly an influence. Movie soundtracks are definitely on our list. We both have quite interesting material. As soon as we've got time for it we'll start with the production. Yes, we do like it dark and spacey, but we also want to have light parts breaking through. You know the Wellenrausch thing (laughs).
Dimitri: Can you describe us detailed as possible the process of writing a song. What you do step by step from start to finish. What you do first for instance? You write the lyrics and you produce the music around it or you produce the sound-bed and after the vocals?
Torsten:The tracks for Personal Epos were all 15 seconds samples in the beginning, each one of them. The final tracks were all folded in these small sound-samples. Songwriting and arranging is like unfolding the seeds of inspiration and letting them grow. Sometimes one special sound or harmonic turnaround can trigger a verse or a certain word, or the title, and sometimes only one verse, or only one word can trigger new harmonic turnarounds and give a demo track the right direction. So it's really this kind of symbiosis we build on.
Markus:Sometimes I find words or phrases in songs I have written some time ago, and they fit perfectly. Sometimes I start from the scratch. It's the same with music. I record some "dirtyvox" over the demo track. This is a task for hours or even days. Listen to it, improve it, and try to hear what works and what doesn't work. We'll take that to the studio and listen to it. So we build on that. Defining the beat and the sounds, adding harmony lines to it, developing chord progressions. Although we're working very hard on every track we really have to say that not few harmonic turnarounds came along in these special moments, when it seems that the track wants to reveal itself, moments that you go through almost sleepwalking. When writing lyrics and vocal melodies for a track or a half written track I have a basic rule: When I can still hear every single sound and every single effect while doing the vocal recording, then I have the right words and the right vocal melody. When I don't hear all the sounds while I’m doing the vocal recording then I know that I’ve kind of "destroyed" them. Then I must find other words or sing it a different way. I want lyrics and vocals that bring out the sounds and the ambience that a track is transporting because then the track brings out the words and vocals. So it's a very fine line. This is how it is for me, anyway.
Dimitri: Please tell us the kind the of studio that you are working at the moment? What kind of equipment you use to produce it. Your favorite kind of software and hardware that is very handy for you and you enjoy using it.
Wellenrausch: You won’t believe us: the room we worked in was 2*3m small, no extra vocal booth. But this little room has optimized acoustics and 2m thick walls. We recorded the whole album in this little room, that’s what I can "minimal"! That’s real underground, eh?? (Laughs) This kind of workflow is truly part of our dark tracks, so when we move to another bigger room (and we will) we going to have the problem to recreate that atmosphere. Perhaps we need some extra walls inside the new bigger studio to make it smaller and darker?? (Laughs)
Our hardware studio setup is even quite simple, a mac pro with 2 screens, an AKAI midi keyboard, MOTU Audio-interface and my beloved KRK VXT8 Speakers. On the Software side we work with Apple´s Logc9 and masses of Audio Plugins. As a side tone I want to mention that I have wrote a production tutorial book "The Trance Experience" for Waves Audio. So these guys are supporting us very well with their fantastic tools. Commercial break stops here (laughs)
Dimitri: It’s time now to take us on a short virtual tour in the album and with your own words to give us your comments about each track of the album. This can be about the inspiration behind each track, influences, difficulties or maybe funny stories that happened while you produced it.
Wellenrausch: 01 – Tonight
An unstoppable beat that grabs you and sucks you in from the first bar on and won't let you go.I remember that drop chaw moment i had when Torsten triggered this classical guitar in the breakdown.And i remember that drop chaw moment that Torsten had when i presented the main power-part as a last minute surprise.One of our all time favorites. One of 14 favorites of course (laughs)..
An unstoppable beat that grabs you and sucks you in from the first bar on and won't let you go.I remember that drop chaw moment i had when Torsten triggered this classical guitar in the breakdown.And i remember that drop chaw moment that Torsten had when i presented the main power-part as a last minute surprise.One of our all time favorites. One of 14 favorites of course (laughs)..
02 – Shape Of Berlin
Dark to light. Dark and light. Nothing more to say.Even the Berlin S-Bahn can be heard in the intro.The central turnaround in the middle was an inspirational highlight.
03 – Citylights
We always imagine driving a car along a city river, shaking our heads to the groove,then stop the car, get out of the car, the city lights mirror in our eyes, and finally ride on and leaving the city lights behind. Maybe this is our personal highway fantasy. Or just a possible storyboard for the video.. groove on!
04 – Everybody Loved
"Everybody loved" was released as the second single of Personal Epos. The more we built on the breakdown and The power part, the more we wanted to call the style of this track "symphonic trance". The first version had much More lyrics in it, but it didn't feel right. So we decided to cut out certain passages and "reduce it to the maximum".And what remained was the essence: "Everybody loved". Less is more. And when New York City's renowned M.I.K.E. called it one of the best tracks for months, we felt like blown away.
05 – Echoes In The Night
This was the first track we recorded for Personal Epos. When starting recording "Echoes in the night" we Initially had our doubts if the track would fit into the ambience of the album and if we should save it and work on it later, but these doubts were blown away quite fast. Fortunately.
06 – Schφneberg
An instrumental gem and homage to the part of Berlin that became the Wellenrausch home-base.
07 – New Day Sun
The melancholic breakdown, that reminds you of an old Irish traditional and could be also starringan old Irish flute, is leading into a power-part where a new day sun will rise and where there will be nothing in disguise. No disguise: "new day sun" contains a lot of hope, musically and lyrically. The amazing orchestral outro underlines this and lets you see this small glimmering line on the horizon.
08 – Overload
When listening to the original 15 seconds sample of "Overload“we must say that it’s really funny. What a huge transformation some tracks undergo. The rather poignant and haunting vocal melodies. Combined with this holiday sun terrace chill-out groove are the basic ingredients to this special track.
09 – Night Falls
Torsten had this haunting synth theme and this power kick that you just can't get out of your ear. Within the breakdown we let the night fall very epically and finally setting the beat free.Each time we listen to this track we always hear a bassline that we didn't record. We always laugh when we hear "the bassline that isn't there". But don't worry about us, maybe you hear this kind of "Walking bass" too...
10 – No Superstition
Towards the end of the recording of Personal Epos we both felt that we should do a new version of this track. We call it the official album version. "No superstition" was first released 2010. We could have also called this version "No superstition 2011". We wanted to have a version that perfectly fit into the sound of the album.
11 – Sanctified
Our first single from Personal Epos. Dark and spacey. We stood there like thunderstruck when we heard that Markus Schulz Loved this track, played it on GDJB and picked it for one of his compilations. This was the best beginning for the album we could ever get.
12 – Vertical Horizon
We had a 10 seconds sample in the beginning. A simple turnaround that was churning around in our heads all the time. It’s a very poppy track. We built this long intro with this little synth solo and vocal interplay. The lyrics for the verse were written to paper the moment the playback was running. Torsten added some synth harmonies at the same moment.
13 – Where Night Turns To Day
When started recording Personal Epos end of July 2010 we decided to do this as the last track because it definitely matched the concept of the album: From dark to light. This is the time and the place when light is taking over.So we saved this one as the last track to work on. We sent it to Elef on 15th of December. And when he wrote back: "Great work! We're through" this marked the end of the recording process for Personal Epos.
14 – Drifted Out Of Sight
Very epic. Very emotional. The closing track of the album.After midnight is truly a perfect time.
Dimitri: Markus you are singing in the album. I wonder if there is a difference between singing and writing lyrics for a live rock band and singing and writing lyrics for an EDM project?
Markus: Yes there is. Definitely. Anyway, this is how it is for me. In the early days, when playing in different bands, there has always been this volume competition. There was this main task of singing as loud an powerful as you can, just screaming out every word. Now it's definitely totally different. And I was looking out for that. Definitely. I exactly wanted these sounds and the ambience that draw you in, I wanted to lean into them, let the vocals fly like a wave on them and communicate with the sounds within the track, letting the sounds and the ambience guide me through it. You have to be much more careful not to destroy a song. Singing much more dynamically and embedding the vocals in the track. It's funny, but I feel like a "guest within every track", somehow the track lets me be part of it, and this is the opposite to all I've done before. And that's what I love.
Dimitri: Are you going to start a tour in clubs all over the world to promote the album and if yes what exactly are you going to do? Are you going to perform a DJ set or a live performance with computers and live performance of the vocals?
Wellenrausch: Yes, we do plan a Personal Epos Tour as an album promotion next year. Of course we would like to play all over the world. We're ready to play wherever we will be booked into. This will be the task for the next weeks and months. Live we will have a typical DJ-Setup (including a master-keyboard) and live vocals. We're looking forward to it and can't wait to give the audience a memorable night full of sounds and ambience.
Dimitri: Are you currently producing any remixes for other artists and if it is possible to reveal which ones? Also please tell us if there are any artists that you would like to do a remix for them and if there is an all-time trance classic that you would like to rework or remix?
Wellenrausch: We recently did some remixes for big artists, but we can’t give you any closer details, we have to respect the label policy in that case. All we can say is that all remixes are already approved and will be released 2012! There is no real trance classic we want to remix, as we think all originals (when speaking about cult classics) are perfect as is. No need for us to remix them! We kind of love to hear them! (Laughs)
Dimitri: As artists how do you understand that the development of electronic music is going to be? For instance do you see people consuming music digitally by buying mp3s or to just listen to them through services like spotify or even listen to music through their music videos on YouTube. Can you give us your predictions about it or what your instinct says about this issue?
Markus:If there is a potential market, then there will be an offer. This is how it works. We can and must talk about every kind of distribution system. There are too many different personal preferences in music consumption: download, listening online, buy a CD, DVD and so on. That's all ok. But the first and foremost task is to stop any illegal download facility. Because this is definitely like stealing a product out of a shop. Imagine if it would be your own shop and people walk in, grab the products you offer, leave without paying and finally put them in their own shop for free. What would you do? How would you react? I would appreciate a form of respect that goes like this: If I like it, I buy it. If I don't like it, I don't buy it and I don't download it and I don't distribute it. That's all. It's a matter of mutual respect.
Torsten: Completely agree to Markus words. Don't steal, that’s it! If you download illegally music, just think twice. Do you like the track you hear?? Buy it!! Support your beloved artists.
Dimitri: Do you use actively the social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google plus etc? Do you see as vital for your career to be present and visible within these media?
Wellenrausch: Yes, of course. These are all potential marketing instruments. We have contact to people from all over the world, and people from all over the world can follow us, and we can inform them and give those who are interested the latest news and updates. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace! You can find links at the end of this interview! We need support, so we need YOU!
Dimitri: Do you have your own radio show? If yes please give us the details about it and do you believe that those radio shows like ASOT for instance is really influential for the community and is important for any Dj to have his own radio show?
Torsten: I had a radio show long time ago on ETN.fm but to "just" mix some cool tunes was not satisfying to me. These days we leave this to DJs who love their job. We are fully focused on our Live Gigs!And we think that this is also niche for us, a place where we can experiment and do a proper show that the most audience can´t have
with a DJ in front.
Dimitri: There are many talented artists out there searching for ways to attract attention and become well known and successful? Can you give your piece of advice to all those young hopeful producers who would love to get release on a record label? What steps they should follow to accomplishing their dream?
Wellenrausch: There are too many things that you simply do not have any influence on. The best thing to do is to use your enthusiasm and focus on that thing you do. The more enthusiasm, the longer you breathe. Become your own worst critic and your best fan, become your own manager and your own creative director, do your own artwork, try to connect and collect feedback, take the small steps, take the small stages, become part of a team and work together. There is no algorithm, no recipe to attract attention or to become well known and successful. Just keep in mind: there is no other way than your own way. So be enthusiastic, because everything else depends on that.
Dimitri: Please give us your message to the people who will read this interview. Why they should purchase their copy of Personal Epos?
Wellenrausch: We believe that once you've heard it, you want to hear it another time!
..And if the extended 8 minute versions of the Personal Epos tracks are too long for you, You’ll probably love the 3:40 radio versions! Amen!
..And if the extended 8 minute versions of the Personal Epos tracks are too long for you, You’ll probably love the 3:40 radio versions! Amen!
First of all many thanks to Torsten and Markus for accepting my request to reply in this interview in such wonderful, informative and detailed way. Those answers prove that behind quality tracks are quality artists like Torsten and Markus maybe not easy to find in the younger generation of artists. It’s a long journey to read it but is worth taking the challenge for it.
Many thanks to Elef at Afterglow headquarters for offering me the chance to review Personal Epos and helping me to organise this interview.
Additional info:
http://www.wellenrausch.comhttp://www.facebook.com/afterglowrecords
http://www.facebook.com/pages/tool-records/101134103260874
http://www.facebook.com/wellenrauschmusic
www.youtube.com/weareafterglow
www.toolrecords.net
