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 The man behind Chab & Moogwai talks with i:Vibes.nu about his past works and his new album under the Chab Alias, now out on SAW.
Francois Chabloz is a name that may be unfamilar to some of you but you probably know his aliases Chab and Moogwai best. He has been around for a number of years, his most famous moment was Moogwai's Viola, which was released on Platipus and it became a trance classic quickly and still is a favorite among the clubbers. Chab is the more progressive of his aliases and he has just released "Dub, Edits and Whiskey-Coke" on Satoshi Tomiie's SAW Recordings. So ivibes.nu decided to sit down with the Swiss artist and ask him about Chab, Moogwai and his life.
i:Vibes: Are you surprised that people do not realize that you are Chab and Moogwai?
A: Not really surprised but rather proud, I never tried to put a link between them but never tried to hide as well. Its just two things i like
doing and there was no need to link them to help each other. Actually the only link was on one release (chab-matica-moogwai remix), which is absolutely not a moogwai sound! but the label wanted to use both names to promote, i would not do it today but at that time, if it helped its all fine for me. I'm rather proud to tell people i'm behind both projects when they know both names but not the link. Its funny, it happened that poeple
didnt believe it until they see the vinyl proof.
i:Vibes: Do you enjoy having both aliases, so that you can expand on your ideas?
A: Of course, i can't hope any better situation, having both aliases on the best labels in their style. Both labels (platipus and saw) are giving me total support to do my things without any constraints. From that platform, i can expand all my ideas like you say, experiment and learn with their experience.
i:Vibes: Did Chab become too progressive for your liking?
A: You heard the chab album, did you ? End 2003, I became too serious doing music as a job, too many releases, remixes. At the same time
prog-house became a bit too formatted for my ears and I decided to have a break and went one year in italy, cut out from any business in a countryside house. Just do music, for fun again. I worked mainly on the chab album there, as i already had most of the moogwai things ready by then, unreleased tracks i just had to mix.
i:Vibes: Do you still consider Viola your finest moment?
A: Viola remains the most beautifull melody i wrote so far. It reflects perfectly what i want to do with moogwai, non-obvious melodies but
emotional. Complex sequences Like in the Nord Song or Labyrinth are complementing with Viola the work i want to achieve. Viola alone is nice but i think it takes more sense when heard in the album.
i:Vibes: If you had to drop one of the two (chab or moogwai) and never record under one of them, which one would it be and why?
A: Uh ? with a gun in my mouth I will definitely stop every projects that leads me to this dangerous situation and start 2 new ones: cheba and
moogly.
i:Vibes: How has your sound changed over the years? Do you feel you have grown as an artist at the same time?
A: As i'm not keeping myself updated in the trance world, I would say that the moogwai sound has not really changed during the years, not been
influenced by new stuff going out. When I work a moogwai track, I still want to reach that level i first felt in my first raves. Someone said that writers are always writing the same book during their whole lifetime.. The same is quite true in music, the shape will change with technology and trends.. but the emotion you want to achieve is almost the
same everytime. I'm not sure of what "artist growing" means, i just know that for every new track or project, that strange energy is coming back and making you start the whole process again and again.
i:Vibes: What else would you like to explore music wise
A: At the moment, i'm right into what i want to explore with the chab album, i'll continue a bit in this direction this year. I'll definitely work
with more vocal, we have some common ideas growing with jd davis and will try to find time to explore it later this year (jd davis is singing on 2 of the chab album and on david guetta album)
i:Vibes: Why did you re-release Viola? More Money, did the label force you to or did you want to?
A: It was a common choice with Platipus to choose Viola as the album's spokesman. Our common wish is to release good music and let poeple enjoy it. Having a new smashing track every month, forgotten the week after, is
not the goal for me nor for platipus. You just have to hear their releases since the beginning to notice that. If some poeple discovered that track with this 2005 release and enjoyed it, than i'm happy. Like I'm happy to discover music that i like, whatever was they way i found it.
i:Vibes: How long did the album take to finish?
A: It was written periodically, from 2000 to 2004, i just had to mix and fix some bits last year, write a new one(nord song) in a couple of month. An album has always been in the plan with platipus, since the very beginning. I've spent more time on chab things but regularly did a moogwai tune from time to time, just for pleasure, and we kept those tracks safe for an album, knowing that was not able to focus 6 month in a row just on moogwai.
i:Vibes: How did you get involved with Satoshi's label, do you feel that was a good label for your first album release?
A: crossed Satoshi's road at the right time, just when i was starting doing somehow different things with chab. Labels were not queing to sign
them, but he immediately wanted them, even if the versions signed at that time were absolutely not obvious at all - none of them actualy were released in their original version! Saw is perfect for chab, like Platipus is for moogwai, giving me their full support and years of experience. Also with defmix behind Saw, they sure know how to run a label.
i:Vibes: What was Satoshi's first reaction when he heard the album?
A: Hector Romero and Satoshi supported me during the whole album building process, so its not like receiveing a complete new album in the post. But I remember when i gave satoshi the first demo (closer to me and sunrise,
in demo version), he was leaving the hotel for club soundcheck. 15 minutes later he called me and was very excited doing the soundcheck with my cd, we immediately signed both tracks.
i:Vibes: What are your opinions on the difference between the older & newer sounds, especially in trance and is it heading in a good direction?
A: Unfortunately i don't take too much time hearing what's going on in Trance field. Can you give me some names i should look for ? Oh yes, now I think, the last "trance" thing that impressed me was the holden mix of fake's sky was pink, huge! Well, Trance or not, trends or not, this music is crossing all styles, its just good.
i:Vibes: Who do you consider to be your greatest influences musically.
A: When I doing a moogwai track.. union jack, art of trance, cygnus X, der dritte raum are always in me. I'm not running after the next big thing, so my influences remains pretty much the same. I can put more influences
(pinkfloyd to daft punk) into chab music as its not well define as moogwai sound can be.
i:Vibes: When not listening & producing, what do you do in your spare time?
A: Without music, that's not a lot of time remaining? With my girl we love eating cool things in front of a good dvd.. Isn't that the best thing on
earth?
i:Vibes: There are many online communities that have sprung up in the last 5 years, how do you view them, in the sense that do they do the scene good
or harm?
A: Can't be any harm! The only negative thing is to see on some forums how intolerant we can be sometimes. You can read pages and pages of
>judgements and categorization on music, done by some kind of music elite, you know, those who were listenning everything before even it was invented, and stopped as soon as 10 others starts liking it. Anyway.. after all, i don't have to read them. Internet is so cool, i can't remember how we use to live before. Website like yours are essential to give us, music fans, new ways to discover music we may like. Keep on doing it and be proud of your objective voice! Hello to all ivibes fellows and thanks for the interest
We would like to thank Francois Chabloz for taking the time to do the interview and Chab's latest album called "Dubs, Edits and Whiskey Coke" is available on SAW Recordings.
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