Peetu S is one of the most exciting names in today’s trance music. His sound is a unique combination of uplifting and dark melodies, killer basslines and rhythms which are strongly influenced by techno music. Passionate and hard working are the correct adjectives to describe Peetu as an artist and his tracks have seen a lot of deserved support from many of the world’s most established DJ’s.
When you have a chance to see Peetu S behind the decks, his energetic performance will definitely keep you on the dancefloor. In his sets Peetu melts trance, tech-trance and techno into energetic masterpiece which blow roofs in the clubs and make the clubbers go crazy.
His latest release Catch The Groove is serviced on the top trance imprint FSOE headed by Aly & Fila. We are super happy that he accepted our challenge to reply to our questions in such a fantastic way. You can read his answers and buy Catch The Groove straight away.
Find Catch The Groove here https://fsoe.streamlink.to/catchthegroove
1-Dimitris: 2023 is evolving but it will be cool to let us know how was 2022 for your career. Let us know about achievements or goals achieved that you are proud of.
Peetu S: Year 2022 was probably one of my best years when looking at the quality of my productions. I feel like my sound has evolved, especially over the last year, to a point where I can be pretty happy with it. Of course, I can't feel too good, I want to get better and better all the time.
2-Dimitris: Do you have already some concrete plans for 2023 and if you are allowed to announce them to our readers please tell us what you are preparing for us in the coming months regarding releases and performances in gigs/festivals.
Peetu S: I try to keep the pace of 7-9 releases a year and it will come true this year as well. What I can tell, there will be original releases from established and big labels as well as a couple of remixes that I'm very excited about.
3-Dimitris: It would be fantastic to talk about Catch The Groove released on FSOE. Please tell us how this track came about and what was the idea behind it.
Peetu S: I was born in the 80s, so oldskool house, rave and hardcore have influenced my music a lot. In 'Catch The Groove' I wanted to combine today's modern techno groove with trance vibes and bring something from old rave/house music. A good happy piano melody gets me energized, so I thought why not combine all these elements.
4-Dimitris: How long it took you to produce it and can u describe the production process in simple steps?
Peetu S: I've been planning to make this track for weeks, but the production phase didn't actually take that long. According to my project files, I used about 10 days doing the track, a couple of hours per day. These days, like this one, I usually start everything by building a solid kick + bass line and percussion combo. Then I had a piano melody in mind, which I transferred directly to the piano roll. The breakbeat, vocal chops and other melodic elements followed naturally and quite quick. I wanted to continue the melody in the break with house/rave chords, but that was the main idea of the song, so it wasn't difficult at all to create the perfect sound. Once all the main elements were in place, all that was left was to build the structure of the track and tweak all the sounds to fit the song perfectly.
5-Dimitris: Did you had any particular difficulties accomplishing that particular track or any specific production challenges.
Peetu S: Perhaps the challenge was to find the perfect kick and bass combination. I didn't have any major difficulties with it, but I had to sit, tweak and listen, sit, tweak and listen... as long as I was 100% satisfied with it. And this is important to do in the beginning. If you change either the bass sound or the kick when you've built more elements around it, the whole dynamic of the track changes. Uusually not in a good way.
6- Dimitris: Which music composition software or hardware you prefer and why? What is your opinion of the latest movement to produce music with more analogue equipment and with less or without any digital software?
Peetu S: I currently use Cubase with software synthesizers. This is the perfect solution for me, it saves space and money. But believe me, I would buy all the analog gear if possible, 100%. I love analog sound, you just can't reproduce that perfectly. There's also a retro vibe with analog gear, like when comparing playing vinyls and digital DJing.
7-Dimitris: Do you prefer instrumental dance tracks or you adore vocals?
Peetu S: This is a tricky one with no simple answer, so I choose both. I love those Aretha Franklin styled soul/r'n'b vocals on techno tracks. It's usually not my first idea to use vocals in my tracks, but if there's a good singer who is looking for a producer, I'm always interested in doing a vocal track. During these around 20 years, I've done some vocal projects before.
8-Dimitris: If you really like to produce vocal tracks which vocalist/singer or lyricist on electronic dance music you aspire to work with?
Peetu S: In near future I haven't actually thought about making a vocal track, but now when you asked... ;) There are many good singers out there, so I could and would like to work with many singers. Regardless of the name, as long as the sound is good.
9-Dimitris: Do you believe that artwork on your latest track is good and do you believe that artwork can attract listeners or record buyers? Can you mention the best artwork of a track ever released?
Peetu S: Future Sound Of Egypt has a really cool and recognizable style in their artwork. I like it and it will definitely attract record buyers. "Snap! – The Madman's Return" vinyl cover came to my mind first, it's really cool. But if I have to choose my releases, maybe 'Halloween', 'The Mission' or 'The Man From Earth'.
10-Dimitris: In which label your latest release will be? Tell us your opinion about that particular label and your connection with them.
Peetu S: 'Catch The Groove' was released on Future Sound Of Egypt. This was my first release on FSOE so I'm super excited about it. It's one of the biggest labels and I have a lot of respect for them. Everything they do has a very professional feel to it.
11-Dimitris: Do you have your own record label? if yes tell us when did you set it up, the reasons behind this decision and your top 3 releases on the label so far plus 2 or 3 releases that we should look after from your label.
Peetu S: Not yet, but I've been thinking about this.
12-Dimitris: Are you planning to complete an album or mix compilation soon? if yes please give us all the details about regarding tracks and how will look and sound like?
Peetu S: I've never done an album or a mix album, but there might be something coming up. ;)
13-Dimitris:How much time do you spend promoting yourself in your social media and you see this as essential tool for self promotion and getting bookings too? Which social media is the one that seems to work better for you?
Peetu S: When you spend a lot of time in the studio, it doesn't leave much time for socials. I'm also really oldskool with social media, but I try to post something at least a couple of times a week. Social media is an essential tool for promoting records, otherwise people probably wouldn't be aware of new songs. But getting bookings through social media, I can't say it has helped me significantly to be honest. Facebook and Instagram works the best for me when promoting records.
14-Dimitris: From the gigs/festival performances confirmed so far for 2023 in which ones are you most excited to perform and why?
Peetu S: Earlier this year I played at the big Utopia indoor festival in Finland, it was a really cool experience. But it doesn't matter if the gig is at a small club, an underground venue or a big festival, even after 25 years I'm still excited about every gig. I love seeing people enjoy music and when I can bring energy and good feeling for them.
15-Dimitris: Please share your most funny and most serious incident that happen to you during your DJ performance?
Peetu S: The technique has failed a few times, that's normal, but I have a funny story from one of my trips. Years ago I had a gig in Eastern Europe and we had a long drive back to the airport. We were a little late, so the driver had to speed up the drive a little. Well, of course the police stopped our car. But we didn't drive too fast, only 110 km/h in a 40 km/h speed limit. The clock was ticking and I waited in the back seat while a couple of guys from the crew talked to the police outside. A third guy from the crew, who studied at secret service school or something, sat with me in the car and called someone. After speaking for a while he carried the phone to the police and voila, we were good to go. I asked what was going on and he replied: "My instructor talked to the police and we gave them some money for coffee (around worth of 10 €)." I arrived to check-in around 20 mins before departure, and they still checked me in! This is still probably the best and most memorable trip for me. I also had a little souvenir from the trip: Burned ALT+F4 vinyl caused by the fireworks during my play. Lol :D
16-Dimitris: Are you enjoying to visit music conferences and do you have any plans to attend any of them in 2023:
Peetu S: I haven't been to that many conferences and haven't confirmed any for this year yet.
17-Dimitris: Do you have an agent that organize your performances and gigs or are you taking care of them? If you do have one agency please tell us what is so special and you work with them.
Peetu S: At the moment I organize all the gigs myself.
18-Dimitris: Please note for all the new talents that read this interview to get some inspiration from you any technical tips in relation to your DJing or music productions. Also any piece of personal or music business' advice that has helped you to progress even further and is worth telling to the new upcoming talents.
Peetu S: When you produce, learn different techniques. I recommend first that you learn how to sample and mix your production properly. Don't take the easy way out. If you learn a good base, you will benefit from it in the future. There is not only one way to do things, use your imagination.
When DJing, leave out all the beatmatch and other automation stuff. Practice until playing is routine and learn your songs. I learned how to play vinyl's properly and I can still rely on those skills.
If you want to be successful in this industry, it is not going to be easy. Be prepared to put in a lot of work, face many rejections and face people who want to take advantage when you're doing well. The music industry is a business like any other, and if you think only with your heart, it won't get you anywhere. Get connected, be smart and build a thick skin around yourself.
19-Dimitris: Is there a club classic that you would like to remix or rework in 2023? Do you attempt often to do your own bootlegs of classics?
Peetu S: I can't say just one. There are many classics that I would like to remix officially and happily do them. I actually make a lot of bootlegs to play in my sets and I always have a couple of new bootlegs of classics in production.
20-Dimitris: Vinyl sales are rising and there is strong demand for vinyl releases? What is the reason behind that trend and do you see it as a positive development?
Peetu S: That's definitely a positive thing, vinyl just sound great and people seem to like retro. When you buy a song on vinyl, you have something tangible. Also, when playing vinyl, it feels completely different and you really have to play. I started producing when there were still mainly vinyl and I have to say I really miss those days. Releasing songs on vinyl would also definitely increase the song's lifespan.
21-Dimitris: Many artist right now attempt to come closer to their fan base and use the meta verse in order to offer exclusive content to their most dedicated followers. Do you have any plans to do the same and what is your opinion about this plan to grow on metaverse?
Peetu S: I haven't got time to look into it, but it sounds interesting. We are nothing without our fans and they deserve all the extra we can give. I can see also that this could be one of the next big things to be commercialized in music industry.
22-Dimitris: Do you believe that music genres or styles are still relevant today? What is your opinion about hybrids and artists attempting to mix influences from various genres in their tracks?
Peetu S: Genres of music are important, but it would be nonsense to stick too hard within the boundaries. I've always mixed techno and trance together and sometimes I spice up my sets and productions with surprising stuff. Bringing some elements from, for example, techno to trance music refreshes the genre.
23-Dimitris: Finally tell us if you are able to make a leaving out of your music business (DJ/producer/label owner/teaching or mastering tracks) and if not what other jobs are you doing in order to make a decent leaving?
Peetu S: I have never made music for living, but sometimes I secretly wish so. On the other hand, the pressure to make money with music might eventually affect the passion. So I love what I do and will continue as long as I love it.
Dimitris: Your message & wishes for Flux Bpm Online readers.
Support your favorite artists, but also do a little searching. There are many really amazing and talented unknown artists in the world. Buy music when you can, consume and enjoy the music and come see us at gigs. Thank you for the support, I hope you enjoy the grooves. Have a wonderful year. :)
Thanks so much to Peetu S for this exceptional interview with so many insights and tricks for upcoming talents.
Thanks to Paul Thomas at FSOE for arranging this interview
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