Chris Liebing- Techno's Healing Power

"Electronic music brings people together from all social, racial, religious, and political backgrounds like no other music has ever done before. And isn't that the role music should have- It makes us aware that even if just for one specific moment in time, we're all looking for the same things and we're all trying to achieve them using the same strategy."

Chatting down the line from his Frankfurt studio German techno hero Chris Liebing's enthusiasm and warmth is infectious, as he outlines the philosophy behind his new album Evolution and his own impressively thoughtful approach to life.

"Maybe that's the role dance music has; to bring everybody in the whole world back to their roots, to make them realise that we're all in this together and we all want the same things in life."

Highly intelligent and equally passionate about his music, Chris Liebing is a shining example of the positive powers dance music possesses, transforming him in ten short years from being an unknown employee of Sven Vath's legendary Eye Q Records, to become one of the world's most popular and successful techno DJs. Touring the world and even inventing his own sub-genre (Schranz) along the way he's released numerous 12 inches and mix CDs, though now has actively stepped up a gear, recently unveiling his first ever artist album Evolutions. Inspired as much by his own experiences as the nourish worldview he's picked up on his travels, the record presents a dark, almost apocalyptic vision of the future, underscored by his underlying optimism and pragmatic, considered common sense, plus musical clips from Billy Idol and Kim Wilde.

Skrufff (Benedetta Skrufff): Your press release says you saw no purpose in releasing an album, until changing your mind two years ago, what changed your mind-

Chris Liebing: "Somehow I managed to find a connection between dance music and what I do with the rest of my life which encouraged me to become active again. I'd previously always looked at dance music just from the angle of seeing people jumping up and down on a dance floor, and looking back, perhaps I was a bit stupid. But now I've finally found that through electronic music you can express much, much more."

Skrufff: How much do you still actively align yourself with techno-

Chris Liebing: "That's a hard question to answer. Right now, I tend to see electronic music as a whole entity rather than just concentrating on one part of it. I've always felt that the electronic music community can live with or without me, but as it goes I am still part of it and I'm happy to continue contributing."

Skrufff: Does 'techno' have any more meaning than 'house' or 'rock'-

Chris Liebing: "Well, if anything it's more difficult to express thoughts through techno, since there aren't any lyrics in it generally. Sometimes I feel jealous of hip hop artists just because of that reason. But I suppose techno is about evoking feelings through the music and the sounds and in some ways that could be seen as an advantage since you have more room for interpretation."

Skrufff: Your album press release says 'in the following 70 minutes Chris portrays the imminent apocalypse', how much have you been affected by 911-

Chris Liebing: "I can't judge the extent by which it affected me, but it has certainly accelerated my thoughts about why things like that are happening, the human behaviour on this planet that's prompted it, and more specifically, to ask what have we done to these people to make them react like that. Ultimately it comes down to something very simple: how are we behaving towards the planet and towards other human beings- As far as the apocalypse is concerned, I think the threat has been there since World War 2 when the nuclear bomb was invented. I'm a positive thinker though and I believe that if we have made it so far, we'll be able to go on. On the other hand, maybe we need these threats, because they increase our sense of awaren Tags