Radio Schizoid – Trip in

Dear friends,

      Brain Driver ( Fractal Records / Dropland Recodings / France ) joins us today for an interview with Ishikawa ( Angad Kumar Kapoor ) .

[ishikawa] hi sylvain! thanks for joining us today. please tell us more about your self and how you came into contact with psytrance?

[Brain Driver] More about me hummm… I’m 34 years old and i live in the south of France. I’m addict of electronic music since 1995 date of my first raves in south of France.I start djiing on vinyl in 1997 but in this time i was more inspired by techno/Hard Techno & Hardcore sounds héhé. I start to produce my own sound in 2001 under various pen name.
My first contact with Psytrance was in 2004 during a party organised by the famous french organisation “Hadra” in France. It was a real musical shock for me, this music and its power have fascinated me. After a lot of try with cubase, i ve decided to create my own project in 2006 : Brain Driver.

[ishikawa] what is the story behind your chosen name ‘brain driver’ ?

[Brain Driver] Not really a story, i just try to find what was the effect I wanted to bring to people on the dancefloor with my music…and the name of “Brain Driver” is coming héhé.

[ishikawa] could you describe the typical creative process behind one of your tracks? what equipment do you use in studio?

[Brain Driver] I haven’t got any typical creative process. I can start a project with a lead, a voice sample or just a kick/bass. But there is a think a like often doing, it’s to start with a title. it’s always cool to start with only the title of the track and create a real story around, it often give you the guideline of the track.For the exemple, i’ve doing this for the track “Demon” who is coming soon on V.A. Pranava Mantra compiled by DJ Vishudha on Fractal Rec.
For my equipement in studio, i work on PC with Cubase 5, a master keyboard E mu Xboard25, RME Fireface400 soundcard, Synth Access Virus TI Desktop and Focal Solo 6be Monitors.

[ishikawa] your music has gained popularity alongside a number of other new french acts like mesmerizer, biokinetix, and jaws underground. what do you think is pushing this new wave of french artists?

[Brain Driver] I really don’t know, like Mesmerizer said in a precedent interview, it’s just like this héhé “The french touch”. We are all good friends and we often collaborate on tracks and projects, so we share some tricks, presets and skills. But all of us have his own approach of the music and especially his own personality.

[ishikawa] you have worked alongside and collaborated with a number of talented acts and recently announced your new project ‘azerty’ with biokinetix. how is the creative process when working someone, and could you tell us more about your new project?

[Brain Driver] Me and Fabry (Biokinetix) are good friends, i meet him at a Hadra party where we played together. Then, we had often collaborate on projects (remix, compilations…). We made our first track together called “Welcome to the real world” on his last E.P. “Origin” released on Geomagnetic.tv in 2011.
We recently collaborate on another track “Pure Evil” who must be released on my upcoming V.A. Beats Bluster on Profound record. We are now signed on Profound records and we actually work on our debut E.P. for them.
Our process of work is simple, we decide of bpm and note of the track and after we work together with samples packs because we don’t work on the same Software.

[ishikawa] i have heard a number of your remixes including abomination – secret sands, principles of flight – the escapee, and more recently the awesome remix to shift’s ‘pump’. what in your opinion makes a good remix and how do you normally approach making one?

[Brain Driver] Making a remix is always very exciting for me, i really like this exercise. Each approach is different all depend of the track i remix, but the most important things for me is to keep the guideline and the essence of the original track. After you let your imagination and your tastes operate to create something different and personal.

[ishikawa] on that note, you are actually amongst the winners of the Pump Remixes contest that Shift held – congratulations! How does it feel to have won, especially with the awesome Shift judging the whole competition?

[Brain Driver] héhé thank you, to be honest, i didn’t expect to be on top 3, it was a very good surprise for me and of course a big honor that a master of psytrance like Shift has judged and selected my remix as one of the winners of this contest. I’m a big fan of his music since his starts so it means a lot for me.

Shift – Pump (Brain Driver RmX) by BRAIN DRIVER

[ishikawa] you are responsible for compiling ‘v/a – beat bluster’ soon to be released on profound records.please tell us more about the compilation and the label.

[Brain Driver] I had this project since long time. This compilation is a massive collection of 10 originals tracks produced by some of my favourite psytrance artists , be ready for a real dancefloor devastation héhé. I thank all artists for their awesome tracks, my friend from Fractal Records LOTUS aka Dj Vishudha for his great job on the artwork and Sidhartha for the mastering who bring the final touch to this great compilation. Very happy about the final result, i hope you’ll like. It will be available on 25th May 2012 on all good digital shops.
And i really want to thanks Profound records for this opportunity. This new label from India is very promising and recently signed a lot of great artist in the team. Keep an eye on the next releases, a lot of good surprises are coming…

[ishikawa] over the years, you have toured and played all over the world including places like Switzerland and Portugal. What is your favorite party destination?

[Brain Driver] I really enjoy to play in Switzerland, parties there are totaly amazing and and people are very warm and friendly. Always a big pleasure to go and play there.

[ishikawa] what has your craziest party experience been?

[Brain Driver] I think it’s definitely in Israël, i’ve never seen parties like this. It was my first international gig and i’ll never forget the energy and the people i’ve meet there. But i can’t describe, you must go and test yourself héhé.

[ishikawa] before we end our interview, do you have any final shout outs?

[Brain Driver] Thank you for the invitation and the interview my friend.

Thanks Sylvain :)

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http://schizoid.in/schizoid-prog.pls

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Cheers :)

Tags: brain driver, dropland recordings, fractal records, france psytrance artists, radio interview, sylvain brain driver