His third studio album, "Pure" heralds the frontline return for DJ, producer, singer and songwriter, Solarstone (a.k.a. Richard Mowatt). A thirteen track collection of new music; it features musical co-productions with artists like Aly & Fila and Giuseppe Ottaviani, and vocal team-ups with singers including Betsie Larkin, Clare Stagg, Billy McGruddy and Hannah Magenta.
Solarstone (Richard Mowatt) highly-innovative 2009 “Electronic Architecture” compilation album was nominated for an International Dance Music Award, and prompted Tilllate to say that it was: “magical blend of music, art and design”.
At the forefront of trance music’s nu-cool, his “Touchstone” album prompted DJ Magazine to say in his March 2010 interview that: “Solarstone’s new artist album will shake up expectations of what trance should be”.
In 2011 he continued his IDMA nominated compilation concept with “Electronic Architecture vol.2” with considerable success and worldwide recognition.
He is also fantastic DJ, as he spins regularly at clubs around the planet, and for globally-recognised names like Cream @ Amnesia, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher & Full-On-Ferry. He is a talented A&R for his labels Touchstone, Solaris, SolarSwarm, Crashing Waves & Molecule, manage to find their niche in the already saturated EDM market.
Solarstone is also an amazing radio host to listen to week after week. His radio show; Solaris International, is broadcast across many stations worldwide, to thousands of listeners worldwide.
I’m glad that at least once a year we manage do an interview with Rich about his projects. I’m very happy and honoured that he has found time in his busy schedule to reply to my questions and give his opinion. He never tries to sound superficial or nice for the sake of it. So it’s definitely an informative and entertaining interview, well worth the time needed to read it while you check out his fantastic album. "Pure" is an album title and mission statement rolled into one. Taking its producer back to his grass roots, in the process he has distilled its sound. This is pure trance and "Pure" Solarstone. Let’s talk about it with Rich Mowatt aka Solarstone.
Interview was written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, Radio/Club DJ and Music Journalist
Dimitri: First of all Rich, many congratulations on releasing your latest album Pure. First of all, I would like to ask why you named the album this way. What does this title signifies to you, and what kind of message will it convey to your growing fan base worldwide.
Solarstone: The name ‘Pure’ simply means that the album is ‘Pure Solarstone’; it represents what I love about electronic music, the grooves, melodies and emotion that I always try to convey with my music. Interestingly, my ‘Pure Trance’ movement also began gaining momentum when I was finishing the album, so the title ‘Pure’ gained an additional meaning, in that the 4/4 trance music on the record is produced in that ‘pure trance’ style. ‘Pure’ trance is, for me, about the feeling conveyed in the music, it’s more than a tempo or production style, it’s about a feeling, a way of life. If it needs to be explained to someone then they probably will never understand it.
Dimitri: Why did you take the decision to work on this album with Black Hole recordings? Do you remember the kind of reaction and feedback you got from the Black Hole recordings team when you sent them the first ever copy of the album to check out?
Solarstone: I sent Arny (Black Hole’s head honcho) each track as it was completed, it would be been rather presumptuous for me to send them a ‘complete album’ in one go – it’s a lot to absorb and when you are a record label who are financially backing a project, you do need and expect them to have a certain amount if input / criticism of the ‘work-in-progress’. Arny’s input was very helpful actually – but as a rule I don’t invite third party criticism of my work. The worst thing you can do as an artist is change your work at the behest of another person’s personal opinion – too many cooks spoil the broth! But technical criticism is welcome sometimes – for example, in ‘Pure’ (the title track) there was a bell sound, which has a resonance that was out of tune. And I had heard the track so much that I failed to notice it! Arny pointed that out, and I fixed it. Sounds bizarre, but sometimes this kind of thing happens.
Dimitri: Is it possible to pinpoint the differences or similarities between “Touchstone” and “Pure”? Do you feel that you have changed and that you have matured even more as an artist on Pure?
Solarstone: ‘Touchstone’ had one ear on the ‘at-home-listen’ – ‘Pure’ is to all intents and purposes, a club album. Of course there are some down tempo moments on there, as you would expect from an album, but it’s me producing the kind of music I like to play in the clubs. I don’t know whether I’ve ‘matured’ on this album, it’s just a different approach. I wouldn’t say ‘Pure’ was better than ‘Touchstone’; it’s just a different album.
Dimitri: How long it did take you to complete the album and did you have a certain deadline that you had to meet, or did you have the freedom to deliver whenever you were ready?
Solarstone: I work better to a tight deadline, if you have no deadline and an open ended approach you tend to procrastinate in the studio, which can be counter-productive. I gave myself exactly 1 year to record all the tracks (which I beat by approx. 6 hours), and the seguing and editing of the album took another 2 weeks to finish.
Dimitri: Is it possible to tell us which track was the easiest and quick to produce and which one was the hardest to finish, and why?
Solarstone: ‘Voyager’ was one of quickest to produce; about 4 days altogether, sometimes all the sounds just come together very easily, and when the song is ready complete in my mind, it’s just a matter of translating that to wax. The most technically challenging track was ‘Jewel’; there are loads of harmonies, a string arrangement, production tricks and eq. techniques applied in that track. It went through a lot of stages. The Bass guitar layers took a lot of editing, there are lots of different instruments used in ‘Jewel’ – it’s also my favourite track on the album, I love it.
Dimitri: Have you done any considerable upgrades lately in your studio, and if possible can you tell us the main hardware and software you used to complete the production of Pure, and give its distinctive sound and flavour?
Solarstone: Not really, however I am using a computer new system (Windows 7 64 bit), which has speeded things up a bit, but all the main things I use are the same, my guitars, piano etc. To be honest I don’t put so much store by the newest plugins and production techniques, it seems to me not to have much to do with music, it’s more to do with procrastination. I don’t really care what I use to make a sound, so long as I like the sound I’m making. I hear so many tracks with wow-zap-pow production techniques, but no musical value at all, no melodic hooks, nothing that makes you sing along or give you goose bumps from a beautiful chord change, just technological masturbation.
Dimitri: Are there any unforgettable events that happened during the recording process of the album that you would like to share with us?
Solarstone: Meeting & working with Clare Stagg, she is incredibly talented, and it would have been a very different album if that hadn’t happened.
Dimitri: It would be awesome to give us a short comment about each track on this top album, and tell us about your collaborations in them? From where did you get the inspiration for them? The kind of influences that are included within this album?
Solarstone:
01. Pure
This is ‘pure Solarstone’ and opens the album. It’s melodically intricate and represents the Solarstone sound really nicely. It’s not so ‘obvious’ musically, probably something of a ‘grower’. It’s got a great ‘middle bit’, which my manager really likes.
This is ‘pure Solarstone’ and opens the album. It’s melodically intricate and represents the Solarstone sound really nicely. It’s not so ‘obvious’ musically, probably something of a ‘grower’. It’s got a great ‘middle bit’, which my manager really likes.
02. Jewel (with Clare Stagg)
This was the second track Clare and I recorded together, it’s very melodic with many layers and instruments. Richard Elson played the bass guitar. I think ‘Jewel’ has the most uplifting chorus on the album, very pure sounding, and very emotional.
This was the second track Clare and I recorded together, it’s very melodic with many layers and instruments. Richard Elson played the bass guitar. I think ‘Jewel’ has the most uplifting chorus on the album, very pure sounding, and very emotional.
03. Shake The Demons (with Bill McGruddy)
The only track I have ever composed on an aeroplane! Usually I find it impossible to write anywhere other than in the studio, but the musical idea for this came to me on a flight to… actually I don’t remember where it was to, so I sketched it in Ableton on my laptop on the plane, then finished it back in the UK. I love the old school house bass line in this, but the driving deep trance arrangement and 303 lines are very modern. Bill McGruddy is an old friend with whom I’ve worked on previous tracks like ‘Electric Love’ and Z2 ‘I Want You’; I think his vocal is fabulous on this track, very visual and evocative.
The only track I have ever composed on an aeroplane! Usually I find it impossible to write anywhere other than in the studio, but the musical idea for this came to me on a flight to… actually I don’t remember where it was to, so I sketched it in Ableton on my laptop on the plane, then finished it back in the UK. I love the old school house bass line in this, but the driving deep trance arrangement and 303 lines are very modern. Bill McGruddy is an old friend with whom I’ve worked on previous tracks like ‘Electric Love’ and Z2 ‘I Want You’; I think his vocal is fabulous on this track, very visual and evocative.
04. Voyager
This one was fully formed in my head when I woke up one morning, so the production didn’t take very long. It’s got one of those neat ‘question & answer’ structures in the melody that I like so much. I sourced the vocal sample from rare Nasa footage; it’s pretty cool.
05. Where Do We Go From Here (with Betsie Larkin)
This is a very personal track, I originally sang the entire vocal on the song but someone suggested it be a duet. I was scratching my head at whom to sing the female part, and when Betsie Larkin was suggested I wondered why I hadn’t though of her earlier, I love her voice and we had recently worked together on ‘Breathe You In’ from her album. I think her voice and mine work together really well on the track. It took me a few years to become comfortable with my own singing voice, but I don’t mind it so much these days.
06. Fireisland (with Aly & Fila)This one was based upon a demo I’d recorded around the time of Electronic Architecture 2. I liked it musically but the production was crap. I sent it to Fadi and they added their own production stamp to it, also coming up with that neat plucked lead line. It was the first ‘over the internet’ collaboration I have done. To be honest, it’s not my preferred way of working, it took forever to do which was very frustrating, but people do seem to like the end result. I definitely prefer to be ‘in the room’ with other musicians. This ‘over the internet’ way of working is ok if one of you has a definite musical hook in place (as with Fireisland), but I would hate to try and ‘jam’ with someone over the internet, it seems illogical to me to work that way.
07. Requiem (with Clare Stagg)
This was the first track Clare and I recorded together, the words and melody were from a song of hers called ‘Silence Killed The Mockingbird’, but it didn’t really have a ‘proper’ chorus until we morphed what was there into ‘Sing a Requiem’, hence the title. This track has a huge moment in the breakdown, where everything stops for 2 bars. Clare loves that bit. I love the bass guitar in this one.
This was the first track Clare and I recorded together, the words and melody were from a song of hers called ‘Silence Killed The Mockingbird’, but it didn’t really have a ‘proper’ chorus until we morphed what was there into ‘Sing a Requiem’, hence the title. This track has a huge moment in the breakdown, where everything stops for 2 bars. Clare loves that bit. I love the bass guitar in this one.
08. Falcons (with Giuseppe Ottaviani)
This one was way more enjoyable that the ‘Fireisland’ collab, probably because Giuseppe is very fast, efficient and a good communicator. You can definitely hear his parts in this track, his trademark synths really make the track for me, and it sounds amazing played in a big club. This one actually ‘grew’ on me, which sounds weird for something I was 50% responsible for producing! Giuseppe uses a lot of hardware, which gives him a unique sound, I like his approach.
This one was way more enjoyable that the ‘Fireisland’ collab, probably because Giuseppe is very fast, efficient and a good communicator. You can definitely hear his parts in this track, his trademark synths really make the track for me, and it sounds amazing played in a big club. This one actually ‘grew’ on me, which sounds weird for something I was 50% responsible for producing! Giuseppe uses a lot of hardware, which gives him a unique sound, I like his approach.
09. Please
This one is, I guess’ ‘classic Solarstone’, I used the synth / guitar hybrid sound which I’ve used in tracks like ‘Touchstone’ and ‘Seven Cities’ for the lead instrument. The spoken word sample was taken from an interview with Jim Morrison.
This one is, I guess’ ‘classic Solarstone’, I used the synth / guitar hybrid sound which I’ve used in tracks like ‘Touchstone’ and ‘Seven Cities’ for the lead instrument. The spoken word sample was taken from an interview with Jim Morrison.
10. The Spell (with Clare Stagg)
This was based upon Clare’s song ‘In The Spell’, we didn’t change a single part of the actual song for the Solarstone version, it was perfect as it was. The vocal suggested a dark and driving ‘Pure Trance’ production to me, running arpeggios and raw sounding percussion. It was quite surprising to me how popular this song proved to be, with something like 5 plays in a row on Armin’s show, partly because it is lyrically very challenging – compared to most of the ‘oh baby lets fly away’ nonsense that passes for lyrics these days in the EDM world! But people seem to get the underlying depth of Clare’s lyrics.
11. Lovers
Another personal one, I wasn’t sure about placing this on the album at all if I’m honest, as it is quite different to everything else, but I figured I’d be brave and put it out there. Production wise, the main elements of this track are the guitar and piano, run through a myriad of effects, it’s got a great ‘end section’; very rousing and emotional. I would love for Will Young or the singer from Keane to record this song some day.
Another personal one, I wasn’t sure about placing this on the album at all if I’m honest, as it is quite different to everything else, but I figured I’d be brave and put it out there. Production wise, the main elements of this track are the guitar and piano, run through a myriad of effects, it’s got a great ‘end section’; very rousing and emotional. I would love for Will Young or the singer from Keane to record this song some day.
12. Presence Of The Past
One I wrote with my friend Neil Cowmeadow, the whole track is based around a simple 4 bar guitar melody, it is a very chilled and Balearic piece of music, the rolling breaks and warm summery bassline fuse really well together.
One I wrote with my friend Neil Cowmeadow, the whole track is based around a simple 4 bar guitar melody, it is a very chilled and Balearic piece of music, the rolling breaks and warm summery bassline fuse really well together.
13. Swansong (with Hannah Magenta)
This one was based upon an orchestral piece that Bill McGruddy and I wrote for a play which never materialised. I took the original composition for piano, guitar and cello (which was in triplets) and turned it on its head, and made it purely electronic. I wanted to achieve something like Vangelis’ ‘Rachael’s Song’, and Hannah Magenta with her angelic tone-perfect voice made that possible. Hannah is amazing to work with in the studio; she can do vocal acrobatics but is a really good laugh too.
This one was based upon an orchestral piece that Bill McGruddy and I wrote for a play which never materialised. I took the original composition for piano, guitar and cello (which was in triplets) and turned it on its head, and made it purely electronic. I wanted to achieve something like Vangelis’ ‘Rachael’s Song’, and Hannah Magenta with her angelic tone-perfect voice made that possible. Hannah is amazing to work with in the studio; she can do vocal acrobatics but is a really good laugh too.
Dimitri: One of your finest moments as a remixer for me was your Pure remix on Orkidea’s trance classic “Unity”. Can you tell us how you ended up producing this remix, and did you expect its big success? Are you going to carry on with more Pure style remixes in the near future, and can you reveal any of your remixes that will be released soon?
Solarstone: As any of my fans would know, Orkidea and I love to work together, and I was rather pleased when he asked me to remix for the re-release, as it’s one of my favourite ever tracks. He asked me to make ‘my best ever Solarstone remix’ – so no pressure! It worked out really well. My ‘Pure Trance’ sound is an on-going project, but I’m not giving away the details before they need to be announced!
Dimitri: Are you going to support the release of the album with a world wide club tour?
Solarstone: I’m working on something else actually, which is all about the ‘Pure Trance’ sound, people will be hearing about that soon.
Dimitri: When you started with Black Hole recordings you had your record label Touchstone recordings. Can you tell us the motto that describes the releases on this label and can you choose some of the releases coming in the next few weeks that we should look out for?
Solarstone: I’m working on something else actually, which is all about the ‘Pure Trance’ sound, people will be hearing about that soon.
Dimitri: When you started with Black Hole recordings you had your record label Touchstone recordings. Can you tell us the motto that describes the releases on this label and can you choose some of the releases coming in the next few weeks that we should look out for?
Solarstone: Latest release are from Walsh & McAuley and Elfsong, all the info about them is on the Touchstone Recordings website:
http://www.touchstonerecordings.com
I have other forthcoming releases from Jahawi and Ahmet Atasever too.
http://www.touchstonerecordings.com
I have other forthcoming releases from Jahawi and Ahmet Atasever too.
Dimitri: Are you going to put on hold your other labels Solaris, Crashing Waves, Solarswarm or Molecule or will you carry on releasing on these labels?
Solarstone: No, they still continue of course! Each label has a specific intention behind it, and its own sound. I don’t like to have all my ‘eggs in one basket’ and have different partners with the different labels, for example Black Hole look after ‘Touchstone’ for me.
Dimitri: Of course at the moment you work with Ben Lost for your side project ‘Federation’ which has the label of the legend Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Fluoro signed it on. Would you like to tell us why you took the decision to start this quite dark “gothic” trance project and if you enjoy performing your Federation tracks live?
Solarstone: I felt that the trance scene was missing something dark, and also there really is nothing ‘live’ like Federation at all, the trance scene is so sterile and ‘clean’ and ‘shiny’. DJs just pretend to be doing something half of the time, they are expected to be ‘performers; when largely they are simply mixing tracks together for people to dance to. I’m not interested in stupid gimmicks like throwing cakes into the crowd, or wearing a stupid hat, so together with Ben lost we created something which is truly live, with a mission statement and some attitude, proper songs and a real live performance that engages the audience. Our debut gig at the o2 in Bournemouth was really good fun.
Dimitri: Your radio show Solaris International is going really well and has considerable success, and you even release a bundle of tracks that are the highlights of each month. How long does it take you to prepare your radio show? Do you find it easy to compile the tracks that you will feature in each episode?
Solarstone: The show takes me about half a day each week. I recently slimmed the show down to one hour a week rather than 2 hours which was demanding far too much of my time. Unlike many of my contemporaries, I don’t have people around me to pick the music, mix the music and script the whole thing, I do it all myself. I am very ruthless when it comes to listening to the promos, if there is not something which engages me in 5 or 120 seconds it goes in the bin, there are so many artists and labels releasing music these days, which is average at best, you have to demand a higher standard in the playlist. I still enjoy recording the show each week though, it’s a good way to connect with the fans especially now with the weekly broadcast on ah.fm and the live twitter feed via @richsolarstone.
Dimitri: Many thanks for answering this interview. Please give us your message to our readers by choosing your favorite verse from your favorite track on Pure.
Solarstone: At the moment, it is ‘Jewel’, but next week it may be something else ?. Thanks Dimitri!
I must dedicate this interview to Paula van der Waerden, Rich Solarstone’s manager as she is one of the most hardworking women in the EDM industry.
Thanks very much Rich for responding to this interview, and I hope he enjoyed replying as much as I enjoyed asking.
Many thanks to Jeroen Polak at Black Hole recordings office for his fantastic support in organising interviews
Many thanks to Mark at Black Hole recordings office for his ongoing support with great music
Many thanks to Paul at 1mix radio for proofing the final version of this interview
Please check it on 1mix radio web site as well, Click here
Please check it on 1mix radio web site as well, Click here
Solarstone Pure tracklist
01. Pure
02. Jewel (with Clare Stagg)
03. Shake The Demons (with Bill McGruddy)
04. Voyager
05. Where Do We Go From Here (with Betsie Larkin)
06. Fireisland (with Aly & Fila)
07. Requiem (with Clare Stagg)
08. Falcons (with Giuseppe Ottaviani)
09. Please
10. The Spell (with Clare Stagg)
11. Lovers
12. Presence Of The Past
13. Swansong (with Hannah Magenta)
01. Pure
02. Jewel (with Clare Stagg)
03. Shake The Demons (with Bill McGruddy)
04. Voyager
05. Where Do We Go From Here (with Betsie Larkin)
06. Fireisland (with Aly & Fila)
07. Requiem (with Clare Stagg)
08. Falcons (with Giuseppe Ottaviani)
09. Please
10. The Spell (with Clare Stagg)
11. Lovers
12. Presence Of The Past
13. Swansong (with Hannah Magenta)