Eryk Orpheus Interview

Hi all!

Hope you had good weekend. Here is a perfect way of chilling at home: read my blog and listen to good music! Especially that now I present you next big interview: Eryk Orpheus! The man is a big player in the freeform scene and has created string on quality releases on for example Nu Energy records. It was sad day when Kevin Energy closed the label, but his reasons were understandable.

I've been into freeform for quite a long time now. I think it was Säde parties that got me into it or Fury, can't remember which one, but it was almost a decade ago. The scene has really gone back to underground since then, which might be good thing, but sadly there aren't too many parties where you do hear freeform these days. But without further delays, here would be the interview. I proudly present: ERYK ORPHEUS!

What was the first record you bought? 

Wow, now that’s a toughie, as I started buying records when I was about 8 years old! I’m fairly sure the first ever 7” single I bought was “A wonderful Time Up There” by Alvin Stardust in 1981. I’ve still got all the records I bought as a kid stashed away somewhere and there are some real gems in there, although the Alvin Stardust certainly wouldn’t be classed as a gem!!!

What got you into electronic music? 

I originally got into electronic music through listening to groups like Depeche Mode, The Human League and Yazoo when I was really young and then when I was a teenager groups like Pop Will Eat Itself, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry were about so I really got into the whole industrial and sub-pop thing. I didn’t really get into dance music until a few years later, but once I’d discovered synthesisers and sequencers and how to use them I was hooked on all types of electronica.

You have been in the scene for a long time. How much has it changed over the years? 

I think because it has mainly stayed underground there hasn’t really been much of a change in momentum and there’s probably the same amount of Freeform happening now as there was 10 years ago, although with the closure of Nu Energy and Freeformation there is less representation of Freeform at the bigger Hardcore events. Artists like Thumpa and A.B. are doing their best to push the Freeform to the larger raves, but it is still very much under-represented and takes a back seat to the other Hardcore styles,

Where does inspiration for tunes come from? 

Inspiration comes from all over the place really so it’s hard to pin down a particular influence. I do tend to avoid listening to genres that I’m writing though, so if I’m going to write a new Freeform track I’ll avoid listening to Freeform for a couple of weeks to make sure I’m not being influenced by something else I’ve heard. I also listen to a lot of non-electronic music so I probably end up drawing on inspiration from that a lot of the time.

What kind of equipment do you use? 

I started back in the day before computers were powerful enough to run DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) so for many years I had a room full of synths, as well as racks of processors and effects, but as technology has evolved I’ve nearly sold all of my outboard and pretty much just use Logic Pro X on a Mac with a few select plug-ins. I’ve still got my Virus and a few nice sounding processors like pre-amps and compressors, but I mainly do everything in the box and I have to say I much prefer working that way now.

If we think of dj side of things, what would be your most memorable gigs? 

I have to say Adelaide in 2009 is still one of my most memorable gigs, as it was absolutely mental. By the time I’d got 15 minutes into my set the room was rammed and there were even clubbers on the stage with me, as the dance floor just couldn’t hold any more people. I also really loved playing for Fantazia on New Years Eve in about 2010 because I was doing a back to back with Sharkey in the Hardcore room and then Scott Brown came in to see if he could join us as there had been a problem in the room he was playing in and they’d cancelled his set. So in the end I was doing a back to back with Sharkey and Scott Brown and it was absolutely amazing, in fact we played for an extra hour, as the room was packed so they kept it open.

Freeform has gone more underground and lot of labels have closed. How do you see the future of the genre? 

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that it has gone back underground again, as it is giving the scene a chance to regenerate itself. After Kevin stopped the Nu Energy labels a few people tried to keep the momentum going, but personally I feel that some of the quality control was lost and there was a lot of generic sounding Freeform being played. Recently however there have been a few new artists and labels and there has been a bit of an injection of life back into Freeform with people producing some different sounds rather than sounding like Nu Energy circa 2008. Greg Peaks’ Tesla Tracks is putting out some cool stuff and I’ve had some bits through from the Digital Commandos, who have also been producing some great Euphoric Freeform. Funnily enough it’s the FiNRG artists who I always go back to, but that it probably more to do with the style of Freeform I like, as I’ve always preferred the Finnish sound.

How do you feel about digitalism? I do miss vinyl. 

I must admit I occasionally fire up my 1210s and will have a bit of an old-school mix, but I’m such a massive gadget geek I absolutely love using the new technology, as it allows me to do far more than I can with just a pair of vinyl decks. I’ve gotten really bored of the whole vinyl/digital argument, as they both have their merits, but I’m particularly bored of people banging on about sync buttons, as they seem to think that DJing is all about getting records in time, which it’s not. Djing is about reading your crowd and keeping them happy with the right tune selection. It’s all very well being able to beat-match perfectly, but if you’re not choosing the right tunes and keeping the dance floor going then you’re not doing your job!

How is the scene in UK? Over here you almost never hear freeform. 

Unfortunately, for some reason, the UK is still dominated by Happy and UK Hardcore and although some of the bigger nights like HTID will place a token Freeform DJ in the line-up, it is still very much an underground genre. However, I don’t see this as a bad thing, as it means that promotions like I Love Hard Beats do really well when they put parties on and it means that the producers writing it are doing it because of the love and passion for it rather than for the motivation of fame and fortune.

Has the rise of hardstyle affected the scene? 

I don’t think so, but I do think it has probably had more of an affect on the Hard Trance and Hard House scenes, as they were suffering a decline in popularity anyway and like all genres of music there is always going to be a cycle of highs and lows as the various styles take turns being popular and then not.

What got you into djing? 

A mate used to DJ at an indie music night in Canterbury in the early nineties and when one of the other DJs stopped doing it I took over. It was about the time when Bigbeat was popular and artists like The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim were doing remixes of music by bands like The Charlatans and Primal Scream. I was getting really interested in the electronic side of music and would tend to mix the remixes rather than use the originals and it wasn’t long before I was beatmatching. By 1997 I had started getting into Progressive House and Hard House and it wasn’t long before I started my own night at a venue I was sound engineering at, so I really first started DJing dance music there. Because I was already working as part of a live PA I started getting a few bookings off the back of that and the rest, as they say, is history.

What are your plans for the future? 

At the minute I’m in the final year of my degree, which is why I’ve been fairly quiet and not written or played out much for the past couple of years, but once that is finished in September I’ll be back in full effect writing, remixing and gigging. I’ll also set a bit more time aside to do The Pressure Technique project that I do with a mate. We’ve already played at a couple of festivals last year to test the tunes out and we’ll hopefully be at more festivals next year with an album to promote too. First though I’ve got a backlog of Freeform remixes to do for people, so they’ll take priority and will be done by late October and I’ve also been promising an artist album for years so I’m hoping to finally get that done too.