The Thrillseekers: Trance Is Not Going Away
Author: Jonty Adderley
Sunday, September 8, 2002
"The media mean nothing to me, I don't care what they say about trance, because what matters is the punters," Steve told Skrufff's Jonty Adderley this week.
I also DJ and I know when I play trance people really like it, even when it was a dirty word for a while in the media. It's all nonsense. Trance, ultimately means electronic music with a melody and it's never going to go away. People need a tune to sing along to and that's what I provide."
Steve's latest single Dreaming Of You (featuring vocals from Alexis) does exactly that, and is out now on Ministry offshoot Data Records.
Skrufff: Ibiza looms large on the press release for Dreaming Of You, did you make it with Ibiza in mind-
Thrillseekers: "I suppose it's quite important to have a track available out there over the summer. People are there on holiday and hopefully when they come back, they'll buy a copy, I guess that's how it works these days. I've been out there once this year and tend to go every year. Research in my job means going out clubbing so I go to Ibiza, try to soak up some of the atmosphere and recreate that when I'm home in the studio."
Skrufff: I understand you're based in York (Northern England, near Leeds), have you ever been tempted to move to London-
Thrillseekers: "I spent four years in London and four years living in Oxford, where there are a lot of producers, particularly trance producers. I'm from York originally and it was the girlfriend who brought me back here (chuckling). I always planned to come back; the plan was that when I reached thirty, I'd come back home and settle down."
Skrufff: Have you settled down-
Thrillseekers: "Well, I'm getting married at the end of September so yeah, I guess we have."
Skrufff: Is your fiancee also in the music business-
Thrillseekers: "No, she hates music. We're chalk and cheese but she keeps me 'on the rails' (disciplined/ focused). She doesn't come clubbing with me either, we've been clubbing together just twice and she hated it both times."
Skrufff: Does she like your music-
Thrillseekers: "Err, to be honest, she doesn't like music at all. Music isn't part of her life and that's good for me because I can work with music all day long then when it's time to switch off I've got something totally different to do and talk about."
Skrufff: You release lots of tracks on lots of labels, how aware are you of which ones are more commercial than others-
Thrillseekers: "Thrillseekers started off as a club project and because we had success with Synaesthesia getting into the charts, I decided to keep my more commercial productions for that. Dreaming Of Me is intended to be a commercial trance record, that's also hopefully credible at the same time. We've also got the dub mixes."
Skrufff: You're happy to still label your music as trance, despite all the media abuse the term got in recent years, how do you feel about the term-
Thrillseekers: "At the end of the day, the media mean nothing to me, I don't care what they say about trance, because what matters is the punters. I also DJ and I know when I play trance that people really like it, even if it was a dirty word for a while in the media. It's all nonsense. Trance, ultimately means electronic music with a melody and it's never going to go away. People need a tune to sing along to and that's what I do."
Skrufff: Are you still making drum & bass and techno-
Thrillseekers: "No! (laughing out loud). I think I was trying to find my style a few years ago so tried a bit of everything. Trance was the one thing I could make money out of."
Skrufff: Why did trance attract so much media h Tags