What's the first question a stranger on the other side of the world should ask possibly the worlds biggest Trance superstar?
"Would you like a drink/smoke/shag?"
What do you think when your called a superstar?
By who? I don't have either the lifestyle or the bank account of a superstar!
I live in a quiet village in the English countryside - more recluse than superstar!
How long have you been producing music for?, electronic or otherwise &
What musical instruments can you play, & at what age did you learn them & how?
I taught myself piano, aged 8 by watching a friend of mine who was somewhat of a child prodigy...
he also learned drums from his older brother, and so we formed a band and did a gig at
school...
kiddie stuff, like 'the entertainer' and the theme tune from the banana splits.
My grandad was a composer in the forties, so maybe there was something
genetic......
but I would say it had more to do with the fact that, as a child, our house was always filled with
music....
Donna summer, Elton john, queen etc... one day my parents came to school and I took them to a piano,
and said "look what I can do!", and so they said "well, I guess we should get a piano!" then
I had piano lessons,
thereby killing any passion I might have had for the instrument. As I got older,
I was in various school bands....
I was always the annoying guy in the band who said "let's have a go on your drums /
guitar / bass.."
so I picked up a bit of them too.....I hated playing keyboards (very hard to look cool, with a keyboard!
Did the keyboard player ever pull? NO!)...drums are much more fun to play...so physical....
until I got into the 'ozric tentacles', and hearing joie's mad sound-scapes, thought "yeah, keyboards can be wicked!
Far more psychedelic and mind bending!"
How long have you been Dj'ing for?
Well I still don't really call myself a DJ, 'cos
I think for that you have to mix vinyl or something, apparently.....
but people have been asking me to come and play some of my favourite tunes over huge sound systems, for about 4 years.... sometimes they pay me too!
I'm still waiting for someone to suss me out!
I play off DAT, and although you can't change the pitch of tunes , you can still beat mix...
but I think it is more about mixing vibes than beats.
What other musical history do you have?
I worked for virgin studios as a tape op (therefore invalid as a human being) for a few years,
learning the craft of engineering... Virgin was a good place to do it,
as you were always working with some of the top engineers of the country.
Highlights were doing a K.L.F session, lowlights were listening to Carol Decker
from t'pau
complain about the cup of tea I had made her, (can you guess what I did to the NEXT one?
hahaha!)....
Though even the K.L.F could be difficult - they wanted to Astroturf the live room, and bring in some real sheep,
to gaze at through the huge control room window.
Eventually I met youth, who was setting up a studio in brixton, and wanted an engineer.
I was getting frustrated at not being able to make my own music or have a social life,
and when youth offered me the job, I remembered John Lydon's words,"never trust a hippy!",
but when I heard that he had thrown cold pizza in Hugh Padgham's face,( the same producer who earlier in the
week had asked for me to be taken off a session, for making a suggestion.... even though he had asked the
room,
"what can I use to fatten up this keyboard sound?" (a rhetorical question,
apparently....
but I was told,"what does anyone think?" means "what does anyone but YOU think?"), then
I thought,
" I could work for this guy!" and since youth was also offering me a chance to make my own music, how could
I refuse?
So I worked at butterfly for a few years, and got a record deal for my band 'purple om'. we recorded our album at butterfly,
and mixed some of it at a posh studio (I was tempted to go back to virgin! hehehe!), but when we finished it, the record
label said we had spent 120,000 pounds, and couldn't afford to release it in the way they wanted, so they dropped us...
meanwhile I was starting Hallucinogen.
So where & when did the Hallucinogen & CO as we know them begin?
At the end of the 80's and early 90's I was going to a lot of free parties and festivals. there was no criminal justice act,
and there was little that the police could do. the music was basically ecstasy music.. we didn't know or care who the DJ's were...
It just all good mad fun, necking yer Mick mills, and havin' it all night. then when
I started working at butterfly,
I was hearing tunes like 'the age of love', the jam n spoon stellar mix, under the influence of a dangerous acid punch,
wondering if I could make this brilliant style of music that had such a devastating effect on the dancefloor.....
so I made 'L.S.D' and 'solstice' as my first attempt at something like it, and just sorta carried on really....
meanwhile, there were loads of party people passing through butterfly, hence the collaborations with
Ollie wisdom from space tribe, T.I.P, slinky wizard, Green nuns of the Revolution, doof etc...
and I developed a good working relationship with Raja Ram from T.I.P, culminating in the shpongle album.
(and the obvious question) What have been your major influences throughout your life as a musician?,
what sort a music did you grow up with?
Well all sorts of things influence me, not just music, but
everyday experiences in life, books, films, cartoons...
Bill hicks, Robert Anton Wilson, but I guess my musical influences would include pink
Floyd, Jimi, ozrics, satie, Holger czukay....
err I had quite a 'cure' phase as a teenager, a distinctly dodgy heavy metal phase, and a moody
Goth phase.
Do you believe that people are born musicians or become musicians?
A bit of both, I expect, but I do think everyone who is exposed to a lot of music, especially at a young age, has the potential. Someone once said to yehudi menhuen "you know, you are so lucky to be able to play as well as you do." and he
replied
,"yes it is funny....the harder I practice, the luckier I seem to get."
The Psychedelic Trance scene has been in full swing for a long while now,
being one of the creators how have you seen it change
& what do you believe is in store for the future?
Well it seems less melodic these days, and faster too, (although it is slowing down again). a lot of tunes are just noises and FX,
with a kick drum and a bass line, usually one of 3 or so. I mean I love it too - my newest tune doesn't have one melody in it -
unless you call a processed donkey a melody - but I think people will get bored of these similar sounding tunes.....
but with all the computer software and increasing number of plug-ins available,
I think the sound will become madder and madder.
Will the world end on Jan 1st 2000? (will the world be in any state to remember Jan 1st!)
No, of course not.... 2000 is just a number chosen by some people in the world,'cos a man died on that day 2000 years ago.
It is not a new millennium in the Mayan calendar, or the Gregorian calendar, or even the
Chinese calendar,
and there are loads of them!(chinese people..)
Where will you be on Jan 1st 2000?
South Africa.
Shpongle is probably the most intelligent piece of music I've ever heard- What the fuck were you guys thinking?
I dunno where that one came from! it was inspired partly by our experiences on D.M.T... but also for each track,
we would talk for hours before switching the computer on, conjuring up visual scenes, like a shimmering lake in the sky,
or a journey through the waterfall into the cave of silence.....then we would work to these very graphic images.
What is your interpretation of Psychedelic music?
Hallucinogen and shpongle are my interpretations of psychedelic music.....
Where/how do you get your ideas for new music?
This is always a weird question..... where do ideas come from? I guess from my life experience. sometimes I will start with a spoken word sample or a sound or something that will give me an idea, but working in a studio has to be a fluid, fairly unrestricted process.
What's all the fuss about drugs?, Do you think drugs are a necessary part of psychedelic music appreciation?
No I think altered states of consciousness are achievable without drugs, but something like DMT can replace 30 years of serious yoga and meditation, in one deep breath! but I would never recommend DMT at a party...
What has been the strangest experience you have ever had at a party?
At one party in the English countryside
I was tripping out. I had fled to the neighbouring field and I heard someone shout 'police!'...
I looked back at the party, and saw this blue flashing light they had on top of the barn...
I went beyond sound, so didn't recognise the strange noise resonating round my universe, and
I thought the party was burning down and the police were just rounding everyone up with nets!
I emptied my pockets on the spot..... and nearly my bowels!
What have you got planned for the 'Rainbow Serpent Festival'?
Some magic tricks!
Other than world domination what's the future for Twisted Records?
Our own airline? (twisted will help you fly!) maybe not....we could start with tristan's album -audiodrome- also a new compilation....
Whats your life like?, fast women, fast cars, fast cash?
Well, think of Austin powers, and multiply it by 100! you wouldn't even be close! yeah, baby, yeeaaahhh!!
How do you feel looking back at your career so far?
Like an affectionate dad with over 50 unruly kids, who wants 100's more....
And last but not least when can we expect more fun & games to be released by Hallucinogen?
Hmmm 23 questions, eh? that damn number again....and
I thought the illuminati were following me home tonite....
well I just finished a new tune, working title,"beautiful people"...and a shpongle
trance remix, which will both be coming soon.
I will do less gigs next year and buckle down to my album.
You can find more info on
Hallucinogen at http://www.shpongle.com/simonp/
and Twisted Records at http://www.twisted.co.uk/
listen to a clip of "Deranger" by Hallucinogen here
Interview by Lisa Hylan - taken from Techno Renegade Magazine - Dec 99