Powerplant have crept onto the scene with a couple of monster releases which have quickylbeen picked up by Bill Hamel. They have aspired to the demands and met the faultless talent which makes the cut from being in the background to in the limelight. They are going from strength to strength..and there is more to come!

Powerplant consists of: Kiki Stewardson and John Morgan.

Firstly, if you could give us a little bit of background, where you grew up ect..

John - I grew up in a small town on Vancouver Island listening to Howard Jones and AC-DC.... it was a bizarre place to be in the 80's.

Kiki- I was born and raised in New Westminster- which is a suburb of Vancouver-and had a very wide range of musical tastes as a kid and teenager. I listened to everything from musical theatre to hip hop to Skinny Puppy

How did you both get into "progressive" music? how have your own personal style and tastes evolved?

Kiki- I went from listening to Ministry and Front 242 to the Chems, Prodigy, Model 500, Fluke, and Ceasefire. From there I found Techno and House and then I heard Northern Exposure....and I knew right away that this was what I had been looking for.

John - I've been making electronic music since 1986, so it's been more of a natural progression for me. I did live PA at a rave in 1992, which was pretty underground for Canada at that time. The first "Progressive" music I heard must have been around 1996 - possibly seeing Sasha dj, or maybe listening to the first Renaissance CD. I didn't really know the difference between the genres till way later though - it was all just music to me, and I was still really into Detriot style acid techno.

Who have been the most influencial people on your careers to date?

Kiki- S & D are probably the one who have shaped my musical taste the most, but I really like those who take a step into the unknown, doing something different. I am a huge Creamer and K fan as well as Satoshi, Nukem and Chab.

John- LFO, Orbital, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Tangerine Dream, Howard Jones, Eno, Spice Lab.... old school stuff like that - that's what influenced me to really make electronic music. As Dj's though, I get inspired all the time - several Vancouver locals have sent me off the deep end many times, and I seem to get more out of it if I have a personal connection with the DJ - friends such as Kevin Shiu and DJ Jeffree have spun some epic sets that are burnt into my consciousness.

How did you both meet? and why did you decide to collaborate?

Kiki- John and I met a at huge outdoor party called Summer Love. He and talked for a couple of hours about dj'ing and making music. We exchanged phone numbers and a couple of months latter we making music together.

What were you both doing before 'Powerplant'?

Kiki- I was working in a electrical distribution warehouse by day and dj'ing at night, which I still am, and now shoe horn in producing...it's amazing that I still have a girlfriend(Olivia...your the best!!)

John- I work as a sound designer and composer for Electronic Arts. I've been making video games for almost 5 years now, and my latest stuff can be heard on EA Sport's SSX Tricky. Before that I was a tour keyboardist for the heavy metal bands Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory.

Do you both work as solo producers as well? and have you any other alias'?

Kiki- I do have a solo track that is almost done and have yet to decide on a artist title for it, cuz "Kiki" just sounds kinda weird to me. The track is called OILY and is very deep and dark. I wrote it as to set the mood for a dark nasty prog comp.

John- For the last 5 years most of my stuff has gone into video games. On my even darker side (?), I have a fairly successful industrial band called Unit:187. We actually have our 3rd studio album coming out this fall, with studio collaborations from Anthony Valcic, Hiwatt Marshall, and Chris Peterson (FLA Delerium). It's an absolute monster of an album, and I think it's going to do really well.

How would you describe your music style?

Kiki- We are pretty much straight up progressive house, maybe a little on the darker side.

John- I think we're starting to ride the fine line between deep progressive and tech- house. It's kinda where I want to be, and living in Vancouver once again has had an interesting impact on our music. People here are weird, it rains alot, and I think all this helps boil over a unique underground electronic sound.

Bill Hamel has been quick to pick up on your tracks, what do you feel has been the most successful to date?

Kiki-"With or Without You" has done really well, in fact it sold out, which is really cool and with Creamer putting it on his Bedrock Comp there will be a repress. But the remix that we did for Simon Noble "Closing In" sounds really good...that's my personal fav

What labels have you been signed to in recent times?

Kiki- We just signed a track to Release Records called "Overcast" and had a friend of ours Jay Tripwire do the b-side remix.

As Powerplant, what have you got coming up in future months?

Kiki-We are putting the finishing touches on two new tracks.

Away from producing, do you both DJ also? if so can you briefly describe some of the highlights to date? Where you have played? most memorable moments?

Kiki- I have been spinning for 4 years now and was the resident with a production company here in Vancouver so I got to play some pretty big shows in front of 5000 people, but the progressive house scene is very underground so I have yet to have some real special moments behind the decks, but that will come. The biggest thrill for me so far is that we are going to be on a Bedrock comp...that's the shit!

John- Although I've been doing live PA for over 10 years, I've only been actually spinning records for about 2. One of my favorite live PA shows was at a party last year called 'Technosaurus'. My friend John Tennant and I rocked a peak time crowd of about 300 to some really cool breaks and techno. On a bigger scale of things, opening up for Ozzy in 1997 at Giant Stadium was rather epic in nature - I think I puked before I went on stage. My most memorable moments are generally small tight parties with all my friends - every year we go off to this small island near Vancouver and throw an amazing party with all our local DJ friends.... bbq'ing, swimming, loads of great music, 3 days under the stars and all your friends... what more could you ask for!

On a personal note, what are you future goals/aspirations?

Kiki- We want to be on a Global Underground comp, to have our tracks being hammered by the top boys, pretty much the same as the other artists, but we want to do an album. Not just Prog house, but some down tempo and nu skool breaks as well. We have so many different styles of music that we like that it would be really interesting what we could come up with. We have been approached by Nettwerk to do something like this for them in the future.

John- For me it's just to continue to make music for a living and to learn and grow as a producer and artist. If you can manage to do this and stay true to your music, good things will come as a result.

DISCOGRAPHY:


Tek008 - Powerplant ' Angel' featuring Medway and Hamel Remix

Tek010- Powerplant feat. Machineries of Heaven - "With or Without You" - Featuring Blackwatch remix

Sunkissed 026 - Simon Noble pres. Redbak - "Closing In" - Powerplant Remix

Release 008 - Powerplant 'Overcast' - featuring Jay Tripwire remix

For more MP3's and studio pics check out www.rephluxlabs.com

Many thanks to Kiki and John, im sure we will be hearing more from them in the very near future!