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meetsS.U.N. Project

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S.U.N. Project are no strangers to New York trance parties, having made numerous appearances here over the past few years. They are back in town, fresh on the heels of the release of their newest album “Sexperimental”, which came out in May of this year. Most widely recognized for their explosive live acts, they are some of the leading producers and showmen in the world of trance today. Matthais, McCoy and Marco all hail from Hamburg, Germany. There, for a decade now and counting, they have been converting scores of rockers into trancers, helping wear out plenty of dancing shoes, pleasing the ears of even the most seasoned psytrance fans with pioneering and genre-bending music and inspiring a very dynamic open-air party scene. We caught up with them as they were leaving for a show in London and so were pressed for time; as a result some of the questions here are from previous interviews conducted over the years.

So when and how did it all begin for you, and where does your signature sound come from?

All of us have been playing in different Heavy Metal, Grunge and Rock bands before, and it seems it’s good to make music together with people that have got the same roots. McCoy was always a drummer (like now), Marco was playing bass guitar (now it’s just a synth bass) and Matthias was the guitarist (like in our concerts, now). In winter 1992/1993 we went to Goa/India just to make holydays because a friend of us had a house down there. At that time we didn't know `bout Trance parties. But one evening somebody invited us to come to a party at Bamboo Forest, and when we arrived we couldn’t believe what we saw and heard. Normally we hated electronic music but after one hour we found ourselves dancing in the middle of the crowd. All these positive vibes made us feel like we found our home. From then on we went to every Trance Party but we continued to make Heavy Metal music until 1995. That year we finally bought our first Atari-computer and a few synths. We started to copy the tracks which we heard on the Goa-parties, but they sounded different because we kept our rock influences. Antaro from Spirit Zone liked our tracks, so we released our first 12" on his label in 1996. For a first release it was very successful and so Antaro released our first album "Drosophila" in February 1997. And here we are years later, still at it…

How does each of you contribute creatively when working on new tracks and where do you draw your inspiration?

To build a track means a lot of trying out new sequences, new samples, new rhythms and weird sounds. Sometimes you don’t have any ideas until you hear a special noise and this noise inspires you to something which you didn’t think about, before. Marco and Mc Coy are working in the S.U.N.- Studio I and Matthias is working in the S.U.N.- Studio II.. Each of us have their own ideas of our future projects which we discuss in a join meeting (The most important job is to decide which parts are good enough for the song and which not). Basically Marco is responsible for the technical part (Mixing etc.); Mc Coy and Matthias are both computer freaks and responsible for the arrangements and creation of new sounds. At least we are doing the mastering together in S.U.N. - Studio I.

S.U.N. – what does that stand for? You must get this question a lot, or maybe that is the point?

It means S.tupid U.nrespectable N.oise... just kidding, it’s just a nice and positive name… who doesn’t like the sun?

For the studio buffs, what kind of equipment do you use?

Each one of us has got his own studio where he can work independently if he wants. We’re using PC and Apple computers, Logic Audio and Steinberg Cubase programs. We still use more Midi than Audio. Each one of us got EMU Samplers and synths like Waldorf Microwave 1, Nord lead, Acess Virus, Roland MKS80, Oberheim Matrix and some old analog synths. We have Tascam mixing desks and many effect machines but it would be too much to name them all. Since 1995 we have invested a hell of a money in our equipment.

When you are on the stage, tell us how the live elements of your act come into play?

With any kind of techno-music it is difficult - you can't play everything live, even if you are only three guys. So, what we do is to play to the sequencer, and make live-overdubbings with electric-guitar, electronic-drums, digital- and analog-synthesizer.

Why do you wear alien masks during your live shows? Do you believe in alien forms of life or some such extra-terrestrial power?

The universe is so unbelievable big that it would be stupid to say "there’s only live on planet earth". For sure there will be more life forms out there- It’s only a shame that they are too far away. So we try to be our own aliens! We wear the alien-masks because they look much better than our real faces. Unfortunately its so hot underneath that we have to put them off after the first track of our live show.

Recently you have been involved in solo projects or collaborations with other artists: C.O.N. Sequencer, Slap, Ouija, and Marco Menichelli. You still plan on staying together, right?

Sure we stay together! S.U.N. Project is our most precious child even if sometimes there comes a new album from one of our side projects.

They had more time before the show in new York, here it is.

1. How has your new album been received world-wide and what makes it different for you from the previous albums?

It has been received very positive, mostly. Especially in Japan the people love it and there we sold more pieces than in any other country. There are 3 tracks on the album with guitar inside. In Germany there are a few people who say that they are tired of guitars in trance-tracks but we don’t give a shit about that because we love guitars, it’s our special style, we are rockers originally and anyway most trancers love it like us ! The first track on Sexperimental is a very dark slow-tempo track which we have not made before. It’s not a easy listening track at all. I think the other tracks are typical S.U.N. Project but produced fresher and more modern than the older albums.

2. What has your tour schedule been like? Any memorable events you have played at recently?

Last weekend we have played directly at the beach of the dead sea in Israel in front of 7.000 people..that was a great view ! In the summer we have played at also beautyful sites like on an old castle in the middle of the switzerland mountains. A few weeks ago we performed in a big arena for bullfights in center of Mexico city. We play so many concerts, itґs hard to say which have been the best ones..

3. What producers/bands do you consider your influences and what is the source of your inspiration in the studio?

Our influences are from Rock and heavy metal mainly (Jimi Hendrix, old Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, old Metallica and so on. In our private life we don’t listen very much to trance music.

4. Where have you played in the States before, and will you be playing more dates here in the future?

Since 1998 have played a few times in NYcity, San Francisco and LA. Of course we want to play more concerts there but somebody has to book us :-) so we are waiting...

5. What was the idea behind the "The Remixes" project?

We just wanted some of our track been remixed by other trance artists because with expected it to be very interesting for us and for the listeners how the new versions will sound like. In the end the half of the tracks from that album we liked and the other half we didn’t like so much but the listeners have to build their own opinion.

6. As producers of very eclectic music, what would you classify your sound as?

Rocky psychedelic trance.

7. You have played at rock-style shows and at dance parties through the years. What vibe do you like better and why?

We like both but anyway we try to play every show very "rock style".

8. Do you play unreleased material during your live sets?

Yeah, 3 or 4 tracks.

9. Do you think on-line music file sharing is helping or hurting your success?

For countries where you cannot buy our cd’s anyway maybe it’s helping us that the people still can listen to our tracks and so they know us better. But normally it makes it hard to live by making music so many artists are forced to do other jobs and don’t have enough time and money to produce good trance tracks. Anyway the most of the trance labels went down because of this.

10. You have been featured on several chill-out compilations. Is this a whole other side of S.U.N.?

On how many chill-out albums we have been featured? I thought it’s not many but maybe I lost control? We at least produce 1 or 2 chill out tracks for every of our albums since 1997 but we just are not famous for this kind of trance but still we hope the listeners think that we don’t make this job too bad...? We like chill out music very much! Only it’s not easy to fall asleep during production ;-)

11. Do you think your style of guitar-fuelled trance and the type of live show that you make has converted many metal and punk fans into trancers?

We hope so and we think so! Many times people on parties told us that they didn’t like trance until they listened to our guitar trance tracks just by accident!

For more information about S.U.N. Project, including their discography and photos, log on to their Web site www.sun-project.de.

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