1. Please tell us your full name & a date of birth (it's an astrology thing)
Well for those of you that are interested (it's a sceptical thing) my full name is William Bryan Halsey and I was born on the 18th. day of July in 1962.
2. Tell us something about your musical background?
I've been a fully professional musician for about 11 years now.and semi pro for about 5 years before that. That was in my previous incarnation as a session guitarist. I did some international tours, some T.V and radio and played any and every style of modern music, though my passion was Jazz. At the height of that part of my career I had managed to blag my way onto the stage with some of the most talented singers and musicians on the London Jazz scene and had the pleasure to play some great music with some incredibly talented musicians. Great though it was, after a time I began to notice that something wasn't quite right, something to do with the fact that especially with Jazz, somehow the music becomes more about the individuals playing it, rather than the people listening to it. It has to be said that around this time I also played with some very sad bands just for money. Only the other day I had to pay £500 for an photo that someone had taken of me playing the Okey-Kokey at a Working Men's Club in Preston.
3. How did you get involved in trance music?
My brother Mark turned me on to trance music. He kept playing me these mainly German 303 based trance records which I thought were wild. But what really turned my head around was when he sat me down and said you've got to hear this record, gave me his headphones and cranked up "LSD" by Hallucinogen. After I took the headphones off my life had altered. I looked up just in time to see my Fender Stratocaster flying out of the window, followed closely by a large collection of jazz records. I thought it was one of the most powerful and evocative pieces of music that I had ever heard full stop.
4. What kind of music do you do, at the moment exept trance [if any]?
The only other musical project that I'm doing at present is with a friend of mine called Leslie. She has one of the most unpretentious voices that I've ever heard. And she writes profound lyrics. She has absolutely no ambition to be a star or do live gigs, although she will sing for her friends, and she writes songs for her own pleasure. It was my idea to record her, she didn't ever consider it. That makes her an absolute treasure. As far as I'm concerned, there is a universe of difference between singing to be a star (so that people will like you, for money, status etc.) and singing just to sing. And that intention comes across in the sound. The sound posesses an integrity. I'm using a pretty sparse, acoustic guitar backing and playing a little clean electric guitar, but the focus is definitely the voice.
5. Can you live only from making music?
Yes. And I did for a good 10 years before I got into making electronic music. I'm a bit of a hippy too, so I have a pretty simple life and inexpensive tastes, which helps.
6. Do you have an agent at all?
Yes, an agent called Lunar Promotions for d.j. gigs and P.A's. The last thing I want to be doing when I'm halfway into writing a tune in the studio is hustling gigs. I pay a percentage if he gets me a booking.
7. How often do you have gigs?
This summer coming is pretty busy. In June so far we've played in Copenhagen and I'm d.j.'ing Israel in Jerusalem on the 20th. and we have a live P.A. in Singapore on the 28th. June. On the 11 July we have another P.A. at the Return to the Source Album launch in London. On the 15th. July we leave for a week in Colombia, though only one date as yet. There's talk about Estonia and Russia on the 24th and 25th.July. I'm d.j'ing on the south coast on 8th August, a P.A at a festival in Wales on August 9th. London at "Otherworld " on 22nd August, Cologne, Germany on 23rd, Berlin on the 30th August, Munich on the 6th September. It goes on.......
8. When and why did you start DJ-ing?
Because I like to hear my favourite tunes being played at the parties. And if I'm putting them on, then I get to choose. Also working with the labels as I do, I have access to lots of music before it comes out.
9. Do you consider your self a good DJ?
For me, the main ingredient is tune choice; of what to play. And I think I'm good at that. My technique is not as good as some. Although on a good night I can pull off some good mixes.
10. Does the word Goa trance bother you?
Only in so much as it focuses a media spotlight on Goa and the community there really doesn't deserve a bunch of Ibiza style poppers and lager boys descending on their doorstep. What the term Goa Trance has come to mean for me and others that I know, is kind of Psychedelic trance with lots of 16th note melodies in the phrygian scale, and it goes: diddle-iddle-iddle-iddle. Which I do actually like every now and again as a colour, but not as the basis for a whole track. A little while ago it seemed to be the basis for every track and started to become very formulaic.
11. Is tempo of trance tracks getting slower or faster?
Maybe nine months ago it seemed to be getting faster and faster. Although I'm happy to say that it seems to have stopped that now and has settled down to around 150bpm as a general maximum with around 145 as an average. What I think was happening was that a cheap and easy way to put excitement into a track is to make it faster relative to other tracks, So some artists began to speed their tempos up to make their tracks stand out. Problem is, before you know it you are making Gabba. It's far more challenging to create the power in a track by crafting the groove, creating those sounds and shaping those envelopes to make it irresistable to the mind and body.
12. Do you think that it's getting a little bit minimalistic these days (trance of course)?
Generally, no. Some artists are experimenting with less layers and using more space, Lorenzo from Amsterdam springs to mind, but I like that, it gives the sounds more room to breathe and I like experimentation, it inspires me to compose in different ways. I like variety. It's all part of the rich sonic tapestry of Electronic, Psychedelic Dance Music. minimalistic, maximalistic, hedonistic, holistic, supercalifragilistic, I like all the takes, all the angles. The bottom line is, is it any good? If it's gets my neurons firing and my joints-a-jumpin', then it's good. To quote Duke Ellington "There are only two types of music; Good music and bad music."
13. You've been almost all around the globe, where are the best parties?
Some of the parties that I've enjoyed the most were ones in particularly beautiful surroundings. I remember one that I went to in the sub tropical eucalyptus forest in Byron Bay, in the Australian bush, where Ollie Space Tribe played all night. Which was completely inspirational. Also one I went to in Wangamata on the East coast of New Zealand in a house with 25 people and a 2k rig on New Year's eve. Life altering. One in Goa with Chrisbo playing,and Indian madness happening all around. an absolute peach. A summer solstice party in Gloucestershire England, hosted by the Dying Winos (Flying Rhino) Superb, I was buzzing for days. I have been to some really great indoor ones too, but they do lack that extra dimension that parties outdoors have. And I do have to say that people seem to really know how to enjoy themselves at psychedelic events in London.
14. What is your best DJ/live act experience?
I think playing a P.A. and then a d.j set at an outdoor party both in the forest at a place called Unicorn (watering) Hole near Mullumbimby near Byron Bay, Australia. It was the night of the Harmonic Convergence (it's an astrology thing ) Apparently this particular alignment of planets happens once every eon or something. It was due to happen at 2.42am local time. After that time we were officially into the Age of Aquarius. And that particular part of the world being what it is; the home of every tarot reader, white witch, crystal gazer, freak, space cadet and fluoro hippie (I love it by the way), everybody knew all about it. They were having large scale all day group meditations in the local community centres, radio programmes about it, public talks, discussion groups. And it was a full moon. So we played our P.A. I was vibed to the max, people were vibed to the max and going crazy, dancing like lunatics under the full moon to the psychedelic mayhem. As our last tune came to a close and was fading fast, something strange happened. The dat player that had the first tune of our D.J. set lined up mysteriously refused to work. After much frantic fingerpokenbuttonpushen there was no music at all and all that I could hear were the frogs in the forest and some cicadas that we'd woken up and were joining in with their own frequency manipulations. It was a strangely relaxed silence. A woman then walked up to the decks and said "Thats amazing that you should stop right now, do you know what the time is?" I said, "no I don't have a watch" and looked up to see her showing me her watch. It said 2:42 exactly. The DAT player suddenly sprang into life, and in came the intro of the first tune in our D.J set; which just happened to be "The Frog" by X-Dream, which has a full 30 second intro of recorded frogs croaking that got the real frogs in the forest croaking back in response, which then built up to a kind of amphibious crescendo. The forest came alive, cicadas were chirping, leaves started rustling...Then the groove kicked in, and everybody was off, dancing all around. Frogs, fluoro hippies, insects, trees and all....Several times that night I harmonically converged, In fact I think that I had multiple convergences ...
15. We heard that you are now in charge for choosing music that's going to come out on TRANSIENT?
Yeah that's right I'm doing a little A+R scouting for Transient.
16. What should tracks that you say "THIS IS IT, GUYS!", must have?
For me it has to have a great groove. I like those grooves where you have no choice on the dancefloor. It picks you up and throws you around and spits you out at the end. Originality is a major one for me also. It's quite difficult to quantify that one. I'm afraid it's back to Duke Ellington.
17. Are you a person with very sofisticated taste?
You tell me now you know a little bit about me.
18. What are your current TOP 5 tracks?
They change from day to day, so here's 5 I like today in no particular order:
Freak - X-Dream
Function Junction - Process
Slugfest - Slug
Flight of the Pteredactyl - Nick Taylor
Human Oscillator - Synchro
19. What is your favourite track [done by you]? What is your favourite goa track ever?
Well I always liked Gift of the Gods. But these days maybe it's Reality Check or Tapu or possibly even the tune that I'm just finishing now thinking about it. I'll have to wait until it's mixed to really tell. Favourite track ever, now that's a difficult one. No, I've got it. It's that track that is always playing in your head after being at a great party where you really enjoyed yourself.
O.K. that's it! Thank you for doing this interview! If you want to add anything you want to say, anything we didn't ask, DO IT! Also if you want to ask us somenthing DO IT! :)
Sorry it took so long guys, I had my head stuck in the machines. I hope it was worth waiting for. Keep up the good work with the magazine. If you are ever in an event where I'm playing, promise me you'll come and introduce yourselves. See ya, Love and peace.
Bill