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 With the exciting new album, 'Rain Stars Eternal', coming very soon from Solarstone, i:Vibes thought the time was right to sit down and have a chat with the legendary trance producer/DJ...
Solarstone Back With ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ Album
There are maybe a handful of club tracks that can be considered the real trance classics that have moved the majority of the trance scene, with Paul van Dyk's 'For An Angel' surely making the list and not far behind is 'Seven Cities' from Solarstone, which has the ability to squirt out a tear of emotion upon hearing the track. Rich Mowatt, the man behind Solarstone, has been cranking out hit after hit since 1997. His first hit was 'The Calling' in 1997 and since then he has released huge hits like 'Speak In Sympathy', 'Solarcoaster' and 'Like A Waterfall'. He has kept busy over the last few years releasing 34 tracks, and 38 remixes including ones for renowned artists like Energy 52, Cygnus X, Matt Darey, Conjure One, Jan Johnston and Paul Oakenfold. He has released six albums including the 'Anthology One' in 2006. On the side he co-runs the hot label Deepblue Records, which had the huge hit 'Jump The Next Train' from The Young Parisians in 2004. He also recently started the up & coming trance label Insatiable Records. He also hosts the Deepblue Radioshow, which is broadcast to over 40 FM and web stations world wide. He is also a DJ, and he travels around the world presenting his sound. He will release his sixth album, 'Rain Stars Eternal', on May 5th, 2008. This promises to be another stellar album that covers all areas of the trance genre. He has collaborated with vocalists Elizabeth Fields, Julie Scott, Essence and Alex Karweit. His track 'Late Summer Fields', where he has added his own voice, promises to become another trance classic. The tune has been played by all the top DJs and has given ravers around the planet new club moments when hearing the track. The top DJs have been raving about the album including #1 DJ of the world Armin van Buuren who said, "Solarstone set the standard for the best in Balearic dance music, I've been playing his music for more then 10 years now.". i:Vibes had the chance to chat with Solarstone about the new album...
i:Vibes: Hi Rich, How are you? Thanks for taking some time to chat with i:Vibes.
Solarstone: Well thanks for inviting me... I’m fine thanks, today I’m in the office arranging the promo for the next Deepblue release from Haris C.
i:Vibes: What was your childhood like and what was the defining moment, where you knew that music would play a huge role in your life?
Solarstone: Phew – that is a big question… my dad is a well known traditional jazz musician, so of coarse I was surrounded by music and musicians from the word go. Strangely he never pushed me into music, as a result I didn’t become proficient on any musical instruments which is something I regret, but since then I’ve learnt to play the piano, guitar and bass by teaching myself. I’d love to have the ability to just pick up the guitar and launch into a whole load of classics at a party... but the CDJs are as close as I get to that particular whim!
i:Vibes: You have been involved with producing tracks since 1997. How did you get started in the music business?
Solarstone: I moved from the countryside in Wales to the city when I was 17 and formed a band called ‘Emission’ with two friends, and everything grew from there really... it really is a slow process getting established in the music industry, you learn a lot from making the wrong decisions. You need to be a musician and a business man to get anywhere these days.
i:Vibes: You name The Pet Shop Boys as one of your musical inspirations. What was it about their music that inspired you to go into music? What Pet Shops Boys track is the perfectly produced track where you just have to shake your head and wonder “How did they make that?”?
Solarstone: Ha well... I always loved the precision of their programming, the warmth they managed to conjure from synths - their music was never cold. ‘Being Boring’ is my favourite track... it is an incredibly emotional record... the Pet Shop Boys were definitely the soundtrack to my teenage years, maybe that is why they influenced me... I’m not sure they influenced the music I make much, but who’s the judge of that?
i:Vibes: When you were starting out in the late 90’s, which current artists at that time in the dance scene inspired you?
Solarstone: I have always taken my inspiration from artists outside the dance scene as far as production goes, but DJs I was listening to at the time like Sasha and Paul Oakenfold definitely steered me towards the big room trance sound that I love so much.
i:Vibes: Solarstone has been so massive for ten years running. How has your sound developed in the last ten years and what was the most important thing you learned in the studio that has helped you develop your sound?
Solarstone: That one is easy to answer – I take my time, try to create new sounds, draw influence from the world around me, don’t settle for the first idea that comes to me, I go over and over things a hundred times to see if I can make them better in some way. I try to create space in the mix... sometimes what you don’t put in is as important as what you do.
i:Vibes: ‘Seven Cities’ is one of the true trance classics. Do you still get goose bumps listening to it today?
Solarstone: No – but there have been some emotional times as a result of that track, for example, a girl approached me at one of my gigs to tell me that ‘7C’ was her and her boyfriends ‘tune’ – and he had died... And that track had been played at the funeral... that was pretty heart wrenching to say the least. On a happier note, a couple at one of my gigs recently told me it had been played at their wedding – which was also a big compliment. But ‘7C’ is just one track; other tracks mean things to other people. I’ve had some beautiful messages from fans about ‘Late Summer Fields’ too since that was released.
i:Vibes: Was ‘Seven Cities’ a difficult track to produce? It has an anthem-like break and melody. What was the most difficult part of getting this track right in the studio?
Solarstone: Not at all – the melody and chord progression came to me overnight. I think the importance of that track is more about the fact that is captured a moment in time for a lot of people, rather than the track itself. The guys at Hooj Choons at the time questioned the ‘big breakdown’ which was something of a novelty at the time – but Paul Oakenfold was given a copy of an early version which caused mayhem when he dropped it at Cream... So it stayed as it was.
i:Vibes: You have released your sixth album ‘Rain Stars Eternal’. It has received thumbs up from all the big DJs. Were you surprised how well the album has been received?
Solarstone: Not surprised, but pleased. These guys have been supporting my stuff for a long time... so I think if I had made an R&B album they may not have liked it... but it really does encapsulate the Solarstone sound throughout. I’m really happy with the result... it has been a turning point for me... a new ‘year one’ some might say.
i:Vibes: Did you have a specific goal when you entered the studio to make this album or did you just go in and start playing around with sounds?
Solarstone: Well, the title of the album came to me long before I began recording the music and dictated how it should go. I had a very concise vision of how the album should begin, develop, and end, and I'm incredibly happy with the way it has turned out. I agonized for a week just over the running order, because I had too many tracks due to a creative splurge and a couple of collaborations happening unexpectedly - my friend and business colleague John said it is like “deciding which of your kids to send to the orphanage” - and that is so true. But I've always believed that a great artist album should never have more than 10 or 11 tracks on it, so when we sat down and allowed the emotional journey of the album to dictate its own course, we were left with 10 great tracks that worked together as a whole, and then I created the intro for the album as a homage to one of my favourite bands, Pink Floyd. I always loved the way ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ began, with lots of tape loops of bits of different tracks from the album overlapping and evolving into a crescendo - so this is what I tried to create with the intro to ‘RSE’... it was great fun to do.
i:Vibes: The album has many stunning vocal tracks. I guess nowadays it is not modern anymore to make just an instrumental album. Why have vocals become so important in the last years?
Solarstone: Well some choose to just make instrumentals – but I like to do both. I don’t think vocals are any more or less important than in the past… it’s fun and more interesting to do both. I think that girls like vocal tracks more than guys in a club... at least that is my experience from my DJ gigs – I play vocal tracks for the girls mainly... and when the floor is full of girls, the guys dance too! It’s all science…
i:Vibes: Every one knows ‘Late Summer Fields’, which was a huge hit last year. What prompted you to sing vocals on this track?
Solarstone: Purely the emotion in the music... Alucard sent me the original instrumental and I fell in love with it, I had written some poetry when my wife and I first met, and these fitted perfectly with the music. I have sung before on my releases… Young Parisians - You Write the Rules was the first one I sang on. What stops me usually singing on stuff is my lyrics... usually they are terrible and I get embarrassed about them... but ‘LSF’ really meant a lot, so I did it. I didn’t expect anyone to like it. Maybe it works because it comes from the heart rather than being contrived.
i:Vibes: ‘Late Summer Fields’ is really a beautiful vocal number. Was this a difficult track to produce? What was the studio session like when you were making this track?
Solarstone: The Deeper Sunrise version was wonderful fun to make... I took some of Alucard’s sounds and worked them into a Solarstone production, it took about 3 weeks to finish. It was about 3 years from the original idea to the final release... long even by my standards!
i:Vibes: The vocal number ‘Part Of Me’ with Elizabeth Fields is a beautiful piece of music. What was it like working with her? Did she get freedom with the song writing process or were you pulling the strings at all times?
Solarstone: Liz and I are great friends – we worked in a pub in England together when we were both 18, so we have a great relationship in the studio. The vocal melody for ‘Part Of Me is actually based on a traditional gypsy song called ‘She Moves Through The Fair’, and the lyrics are about our children. We both had kids at the same time, so it inspired the song completely. Elizabeth is a brilliant musician, I don’t know why she is not a bigger star... but she is very choosey about what she does musically, which can only be applauded.
i:Vibes: ‘Spectrum’ is an incredible instrumental track. When working on instrumentals, is there a certain pattern you stick to? Some producers look for an atmosphere, or look for the perfect bass line. What do you do?
Solarstone: I wanted to recreate the vibe of the kind of thing Sasha or Nick Warren used to play in the mid to late 90’s – big room trance – but with a modern angle. My tracks always begin with a melodic idea that works on the piano, and then I build it from there. The intense ‘middle bit’ came from a feedback loop I created in the studio by accident, it almost blew my monitors at the time, but I managed to record it and then sequence it.
i:Vibes: Besides the obvious like the PC, what is the most important piece of equipment in your studio that you could not live without?
Solarstone: My piano of course! It really is essential; it has been in my family for over 100 years.
i:Vibes: Will you be going on a tour to support the album? Will some of the guest singers accompany you on the tour?
Solarstone: Of course – there is a full world DJ tour beginning in Belgium at the end of April and ending up in Australia in September. I’ll be playing a lot of tracks that no-one else in the world will have. As far as a ‘live’ show goes, to me, nothing is more boring than one guy and a bunch of keyboards, so I’m not doing that unless there is a big enough budget to make it interesting.
i:Vibes: You also co-run Deepblue Records. What releases can we expect from the label in 2008?
Solarstone: We have some beautiful records lined up – we’ve actually stopped signing new material for a while to clear the backlog of records that have built up. We have the ‘Balearic Sessions’ coming out in the summer with some stunning deeper tracks, there is a new Forerunners single and plenty of other great stuff in the pipeline. Also, ‘Deepblue Vol. 1’ is on the cards too.
i:Vibes: You have released incredible trance anthems in the last ten years. However, you don’t get big press like other DJs. Does this bother you or do you like to be in the shadows of the other guys?
Solarstone: To be honest, this is really the result of laziness on my part – the big guys all employ press & PR agencies to ensure articles in the press. I was always more concerned with just releasing good music – but I have since realized that if people don’t know about your music, they can’t buy it – so I have recently decided to step-up the press campaigns and tell people what I am up to – hopefully this will result in a bigger public profile for Solarstone in 2008.
i:Vibes: With what artist would you like to be stuck in the studio with and why?
Solarstone: Julie Scott – she sings on two tracks on ‘RSE’... she is beautiful and exceptionally talented... a very inspiring songwriter... we’re planning an album together next year, so being stuck in the studio would be a good idea if we are to get anything done!
i:Vibes: What are your five all time favourite tracks?
Solarstone: New Order - True Faith
Vangelis - La Petite File De La Mer
Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
Pink Floyd - Great Gig In The Sky
Sunscreem - Love You More
i:Vibes: What are your hobbies?
Solarstone: Haha – like I have time for hobbies?!
i:Vibes: Rich, thanks for the chat, and good luck with the album!!
Solarstone: Thank you!
http://www.solarstone.co.uk/
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