UK Hard Trancing gurus Neo & Farina have been causing a bit of a stir across the trance scene in Europe and has caught the eye of Blutonium Records. They talk to i:Vibes about how they came to be and their upcoming views.

Dave & Tris aka Neo and Farina have been at it for much of the past couple of years either by themselves or as a duo and they are no newcomers to dance music.

Having been taken in as part of Dirk Adamiak's growing Blutonium family, they've pushed forward with some nice tracks for 2002 and here's a bit about them.

i:Vibes: So guys, you two got to produce together with the arrival of hotdecks.com and have since been pushing your music to the frontier of trance. How did you guys choose to produce under the style you play now and how would you define the music style your productions and remixes lie under?

Neo & Farina: We both like euphoric & uplifting music with progressive sounds & felt that trance had a more worldwide appeal. After producing the first four tracks on Blutonium, we now feel that we have found our sound & are a lot more comfortable with what we are producing. We will continue to produce harder edged material for labels like Blutonium under our guise "Wav Assassin".

i:Vibes: Blutonium snapped you guys up earlier this year with the release of UK EP Volume one released not too long ago. How did you encounter Dirk & the Blutonium team and how has that developed since then?

Neo & Farina: Dirk is a sound guy that is easily approachable & is very open to new/up and coming acts. The label is going from strength to strength as a worldwide name in hard style dance music & with the with the likes of Le Brisc & DJ Virus as producers & remixers it is now licensing a lot of material outside Germany.

i:Vibes: On your first release, you've already pushed on 4 smashing productions (Azure, Modena, Retribution & The Phoenix), so what is to come on the Blutonium imprint from the two of you in the future?

Neo & Farina: We are looking forward to producing more hard style dance music for Blutonium.

i:Vibes: It's not particularly common that UK artists get placed within a German label, or a mainland European label for that matter. Have you had a chance to taste the European music culture and how do you compare the UK and European scenes?

Neo & Farina: From personal experience we are surprised that there aren't more UK producers on European label's, as they give you more feedback on your productions & are more approachable when communicating. We would very much like to taste the Dutch/Belgium scenes in particular from the quality productions that come out time after time.

i:Vibes: Wav Assassin is the new guise, which puts forward a harder edge to your productions with the first track being pushed for a release shortly. But how did you come up with both names Neo & Farina and also Wav Assassin? Just hours of thinking? Or is there meaning behind it?

Neo & Farina: Neo was born from trying to think of a name quickly to put onto our first production "Azure" (which funnily enough was named after a local bar across the road we used to play in). *Dave's long scary black coat make's him look like "Neo" the character from the film "The Matrix"* & Farina comes from the latter part of the name "Pininfarina", the Italian stylehouse famous for their Ferrari designs. Wav Assassin just sound's good!!!!! Don't you think?

i:Vibes: Will there be any focus in the near future of solo productions from either of you like Dave has in the past or is it going to be Neo & Farina all the way?

Neo & Farina: Neo & Farina..................All the way baby!!!!

i:Vibes: And in terms of DJing? What are your scopes on that front?

Neo & Farina: Believe it or not! The main reason for starting to produce together was from the lack of seriousness toward a lot of up & coming DJs by clubs, pubs promoters etc. Although it was a long shot & new it wouldn't be easy, it would definitely take less time to be taken more seriously with an established reputation on the producing front, eventually leading to what we intended.

i:Vibes: You have also got a couple more tracks coming out in the near future, including "Someone" which is a blinding trancer appearing on the latest Gatecrasher CD & double A side to "Binary Refined". Also remixes of Solar Factor's superb "No Return" & "Mona Lisa Overdrive's" "Born To Synthesize" on Platipus. Are there plans for more remixes in the future and what are the plans for 2003 at this time? Perhaps an artist album?

Neo & Farina: We are well up for remixing tracks we think will suite our style, let's face it we all must have dreamt about listening to a tune in the past & how you would have liked it to sound. To be given the opportunity to make a track sound like you intend, is taken as a great honour to us whatever it is. Our greatest honour so far would have to be remixing "No Return" by M.I.K.E. in his Solar Factor disguise due out on the new "Platipus Euro" label in December & hopefully an album late next year, time permitting.

i:Vibes: A collaboration that came about recently was the one with Marc West of Passion fame. How did the collaboration come about and are there plans for more joint work with Marc or anyone else?

Neo & Farina: Marc has got to be one of the soundest guys you could ever meet. His ability to read the crowd & know what to drop & times when there is a talent unspoken. We met Marc through another good friend & rising dj, "Ray Phillips", who had been spinning our productions off CDR for a while. Marc had very strong ideas of his own, so we asked him if he would like us to help write & produce a track of which he accepted. That track "D2FOP" has already been licensed to Combined Forces for inclusion on the "Capital Compilation" mixed by Misja Helsloot due out in November. http://www.misjahelsloot.com. CD2 Track 9 "Familiar"??. As for further productions, you'll have to wait and see.

i:Vibes: What are the big tracks which don't leave your record box at the moment?

Neo & Farina: There are so many, we would run out of boxes, but the one's that really shine through would be as follows:

Pulser – Cloudwalking -Original Mix
Sholan -Can You Feel - Thrillseekers Remix
Oxygen-Am I On Your Mind - Lustral Mix

i:Vibes: And the producers / DJs which leave striking impressions on both of you?

Neo & Farina: Lange, Andy (Pulser) Perring, Armin, Ferry, Thrillseekers, M.I.K.E., Signum & Hemstock & Jennings. Who could forget JFK & Marc West @ Passion. Everytime we have been there, they have never failed to deliver!!!

i:Vibes: Finally, what words of wisdom would you like to pass onto the readers?

Neo & Farina: Never give up! We know it sounds cheesy but everyone used to laugh at us when we said we had sent tracks to the likes of Judge Jules etc. "If you want to be the best & you want to beat the rest, dedication's what you need!" - Roy Castle!!!!!!!!!

http://www.hotdecks.com
http://www.blutonium.de
http://www.platipus.com