Progression project interview with Scott Richardson

[who is imperial]

In the lead up to Scott Richardsons three hour feature set at Progression
project at the Phoenix on April 25th, promoter Imperial caught up with
Scott to have a chat.


Q1: You’re a busy man Scott, with djing at some of Australias biggest
clubs and events, running a record label on top of your job as a
graphic designer and a new baby. How do you find time for it all?

A1: Firstly I have to say that I feel very lucky to have all these
wonderful things in my life. I guess you could say I'm busy. Really my
life is fairly non stop - but this is a good thing honestly. I've grew
up as an athlete so I was always training and trying to achieve a
result in my races. I think that has largely contributed to the way I
approach things these days. In reality, I rarely play more than 1 gig
a week, but for every gig I play, I spend days preparing. Honestly I
have no magic recipe for making it all fit in one day, it sorta just
does. I have a fantastic wife who supports me endlessly with my music
and DJ'ing, a great job that has flexible hours, and a great business
partner with whom works with me on the record label. I think really,
it's all just fallen into it's own natural place in my day to day
life. I couldn't imagine life without these things keeping me busy.



Q2: What’s been happening with Trancetribe recordings lately?

A2: The label has seen some fairly big changes this year. Fellow
trance DJ and close friend of mine, Rossco and I decided to relaunch
the label in January with an aim to refocus the label towards
Australian productions or remixes. We had over 90 tracks on the label
previously, but 90% of that was by artists from around the world.
While this in itself isn't a bad thing, it really wasn't the best
thing we could be doing. There's already hundreds of small trance
labels out there pushing sounds from international artists, and
Trancetribe.com's original plan was to support the local Australian
trance scene, so it only seems fitting that we do the same with the
label. Since the relaunch, we've integrated the label into Trancetribe - Electronic Music Community
, as well as launching a myspace page and put out 9 great releases by
Australian artists. We're excited to be not only working with great
Aussie talent of whom includes of Mike Nichol, Patrik Carrera, tyDi
and [p.e.g], but we know our efforts are going towards helping get
Australia more recognized as a source for quality trance music. Our
newest release by Polaroid Girl is going nuts on Beatport at the
moment, and we have some awesome stuff by tyDi coming out in a few
weeks which we're really excited about.



Q3: Have you been working on any new projects/ productions you can
tell us about?

A3: I have a brand new track coming out in a few weeks called
'Incandescence'. I originally wrote this over Christmas when I was on
holidays, and it turned out to be a sort of deep melodic trance track.
After hearing some great feedback from Armin, I decided to write a 2nd
version of it as more clubby version. There's also a couple of remixes
that will be released with it from Patrik Carrera and another new
Aussie artist named Rodskis which are more progressive
interpretations. Aside from this, I have a bunch of new productions in
the works, none of which are finished, but they're all close. To be
honest I start ten times the amount of tunes I actually finish. I
usually get bored and want to move on to something new!



Q4: Why do you prefer trance over other styles of music? Where do you
find your inspiration?

A4: Ahh the venerable 'why do you like trance' question. I have tried
to answer this in various ways over the years, but I think there's
only one real was to describe it. I don't think I found trance to be
my preferred genre, rather, it found me. I know that sounds pretty
korny, but hear me out. When I would warm up for races in athletics,
I'd have my headphones in, listening to 'dance' music. Every so often
a track would come on that would really lift me up and put me in a
really good frame of mind for my running. It would psych me up really
well. Turns out those particular tracks were trance. I think
ultimately the objective of good music, aside from entertainment or
relaxation, is to strike an emotional chord in the listener. To evoke
a response, or to trigger a certain mindset or mood. Of all the styles
of music I have listened to, it's trance that evokes the most feelings
and emotions, and does so with much more intensity than everything
else. Add to that the fact that you can dance to it, and have fun, be
with your friends. Those emotions it makes you feel are good, happy,
uplifting ones, and when you are feeling that and sharing that with
your mates on the dancefloor, I think that's something really special.
You know, in a world with so much shit going on, it's nice to be able
to completely remove yourself from war, terrorism, hatred, racism,
money... and just be completely connected to one, happy thing, the
music.



Q5: What do you think of the current state of the Sydney trance scene?

A5: It's definitely getting stronger. Over the past 6 years, I've seen
hard trance kinda fall away, and seen normal trance become more
popular. I think tech trance really helped by bringing a lot of fans
of the harder sound to like more of the normal trance sounds. Add to
that you have guys like Tiesto and Armin doing massive shows that draw
a lot of attention, such as his White Party last year, and his Armin
Only tour this year. When clubbers and music fans see the 'World's no.
1 DJ' coming to play, it get's them interested. He has to be good,
right? He's number 1! Then people go, and they're exposed to good,
quality trance music. What's more, there seems to be this really
strong resurgence in smaller club nights that play this sound. Between
these small events, the big clubs like Sublime supporting more normal
trance, and the massive superstar DJ tours, it's really looking good.
For once, I feel like the general public is starting to notice trance
a bit more too, and this can only lead to more people liking it....
what's not to like?!?



Q6: Are you looking forward to playing the new night Progression
Project?

A6: Most definitely. Nothing beats playing at an intimate club venue.
You usually get your really passionate, educated punters coming to
these events, and they're always fun to play for. It's events like
Progression Project that keep the true trance sound moving forward in
Sydney. For me, I'm excited about this event because it all just
reminds me so much of when I was just getting into the trance DJ'ing.
You have Cameron O'Shea and Muli on before me, who are two guys who I
looked up to in many ways while I was first starting out. I think the
best thing is that I feel the passion for the music and the scene
being pushed through this event, and I really want to be part of that
and support it in any way possible.



Q7: What can we expect from your upcoming 3 hour feature set at
Progression Project?

A7: Hrm... 3 hours of good music
play a longer set like this is something I have been wanting to do for
quite some time. In fact I would prefer if all trance DJs were given 3
hours at every trance event. I feel trance, more than many other
genres, lends itself to longer sets. As a trance DJ, we don't really
have to do all that much technically, so our skills are more about
track selection and set programming. This is something I like to think
I do well, but if you're given short sets, there's only so much you
can do. I often see a lot of trance DJs stuck with super short sets,
which generally means they throw progression out the window, and drop
all their best tracks so as to impress the crowd. With the 3 hour set,
I hope to spread things out a lot more. I want to transition from each
form of trance smoothly and build bigger peaks in the energy. As for
what tunes I'll actually play, I think I'll be playing a bit of
everything from deep, melodic, tech, and uplifting



Catch Scott Richardson at Progression project on April 25th at the Phoenix.
Check outMySpace.com - Progression Project 25/4 ft. Scott Richardson 3hrs - 23 - Male - AU - www.myspace.com/progressionproject for more info

[Dj-Amo]

Scott rocks
nice interview by the way.
will be there hopefully so see you