TF Archives

Adam Beyer- Sweden's Top DJ Talks Prohibition & Techno

Author: Benedetta Ferraro
Saturday, July 27, 2002
"There aren't many drugs around in Sweden anyway, not like in the rest of Europe, so people drink. The Swedish drink a lot, and it's not uncommon to see people falling over totally pissed."

Despite (or because of) the fact that Sweden has the harshest drug laws in Europe, the Scandinavian country has become a centre of techno excellence, with Adam Beyer being the biggest recognised name among a community that includes worldwide figures like Christian Smith and Cari Lekebusch. Chatting to Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro this week in a down at heel Brixton office, the both friendly and articulate producer admits he's unsure about why Swedes love techno.

"Why are there so many producers and techno artists in Sweden when there's no scene, no interest from the media, no press- I've often wondered," he (rhetorically) asks himself.

"One of the reasons may be that we have numerous recording studios and we are the second biggest music exporter in Europe after the UK. I also blame it on the long, cold winters. What else is there to do apart from sitting in a studio twiddling knobs-"

In London for several days to promote his (excellent) new album Ignition Key, he'd avoided making the trip to Berlin Love Parade, despite Germany being one of his most successful countries. With just 400,000 turning up to the street party instead of the 1.5 million of previous years, he looked to have made the right decision.


Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): What do you make of the low turnout at the Berlin Love Parade, given that Germany one of your key territories-

Adam Beyer: "What I've been hearing lately, is that the whole dance scene in Germany has been going down in the last six months. For three key reasons: firstly the introduction of the Euro, which has raised all prices up of 20%, so people don't spend anymore as they used to. Then, electronic music and therefore techno don't seem to attract so many fans anymore. I don't know why, but record sales have been going down dramatically. The last factor is that the Berlin Love Parade has become old news. It has been going for twelve or thirteen years, nothing new has come along, so people perhaps prefer to go elsewhere or even staying home."

Skrufff: Are the clubs you're playing in suffering too-

Adam Beyer: "Yes. Club owners have been noticing a drop in people attending, which is quite frightening especially for Germany, which has been at the forefront of dance music for a long time."

Skrufff: How much do you still align yourself with the term 'techno and what does it mean to you-

Adam Beyer: "I think the term techno has been used and abused, still I cannot find any other word to describe my music. It's become just like the term electronic music, which incorporates many musical genres, good and bad. For example, techno in Sweden is synonymous with bad, commercial music. Nevertheless my music can only be described as techno."

Skrufff: The press release for your new album describes you as "the biggest selling artist in the techno world". How much have commercial considerations affected the music for your new album Ignition Key-

Adam Beyer: "Not at all. I didn't even have the full concept for the label ready, when I made the album. I started and finished the album during a very intense couple of months in the studio, maybe even less than that. I think this album will probably sell less than my usual harder, loopy stuff, though many people around me seem to like it a lot. Commercial considerations haven't come into play at all."

Skrufff: There's lot of melodic strings on the record, how much did you actively design it for home listening as opposed to been played in a club-

Adam Beyer: "Every single track is inspired by the different types of music I usually listen to at home, so yes, I did write the music with that in mind. The whole concept for the label is in fact, based on music for listening to, concept albums, high profile projects as opposed to 12" and DJ tools
Tags