This one was made live with Niklas at Burn Enegy Night In Saint-Petersburg in July.
Q: Hello, Niklas. So, is it your first time in Russia?
A: No, I’ve been here before. I played in Saint-Petersburg back in 2003, in December. I can’t remember the name of the venue, I just remember it was very cold, it was -10 C degrees, but the party was really good.
Q: How do you like this city?
A: It’s really good, I really like it, especially in summer because you can walk around, see allays, and all the bridges, see downtown, so I really enjoy it.
Q: And the main question we all are interested in – when your tracks Blue Circles and Ice Beach will be released finally?
A: Blue Circles will be out in August. And I don’t know about Ice Beach yet, but Tilt just doing a remix, so probably in September or October.
Q: On Armada?
A: On Marcus Schulz’s Coldharbour.
Q: You make your own tracks. And did you get any offers for remixes?
A: Yes, I got a few from Armada, and I will probably work on it, but nothing I can tell yet, will see.
Q: Can you please tell us about your studio. Do you produce with software or hardware?
A: I produce with software, I produce with Reason, just use my computer and MIDI keyboard
Q: Your tracks really sound like a Reason stuff wink.gif
A: Yeah, I know smile.gif
Q: We said a word about Armada. What do you think about Armada, Armin and A State Of Trance? They celebrated 4 years of the show broadcasting not a long time ago
A: I think the whole label is going stronger at the moment, and ASOT is getting more and more fans, and that’s why Armin is so close to the top of Dj Mag list. And Armada – they are really friendly, all the managers... and that’s pretty cool.
Q: And what do you think about ASOT moving to DI.FM and all that stuff with paid streams?
A: That’s too bad. Of course it’s much more fun to listen to the hi-quality stream of free...but... not much to do about it...
Q: Do you really think Armin deserves to be number 1 dj in the world?
A: It’s hard to tell. It’s a top competition. I think he is doing a lot of work this year to be number 1. So, why not...
Q: Who do you think is the best producer of this year so far?
A: This year so far I think Andy Moor.
Q: Yeah I think the same.
A: He’s been doing some really-really good stuff. And my tracks are inspired by Andy Moor’s stuff, I really like his style.
Q: And what about Gabriel and Dresden? They rocks this year too.
A: Gabriel and Dresden doing some good stuff, they changed their style to a bit housey, bass line housy, groovy style. And I think it’s really cool, I started to play more that stuff myself.
Q: Gabriel and Dresden play with Ableton Live, Paul van Dyk plays with Final Scratch... What do you think does the vinyl have a future?
A: It’s hard to say. We have all that different kind of programs recently... And in many cases it lays on djs – someone prefer CD’s, someone prefer vinyl... it’s pretty much up to them
Q: And you prefer vinyl, right?
A: Yes, vinyl and CD. That’s a list so far, but you never know what’s gonna happen in future.
Q: So, how did you feel yourself when your guestmix was playing in Global Dj Broadcast? Was it some kind of breakthrough for you?
A: I know Markus Schulz pretty well by know. And he gave me a lot of favours playing my mix and it was really good exposure for me, because I know a lot of you Russian talk about it, just like ‘Oh, I listen to the Global Dj Broadcast’ smile.gif and it’s really good
Q: That mix was my favorite for a long time last year.
Q: What about trance scene in Denmark? How big is it there?
A: It’s really bad. We didn’t have any trance parties for a long time, just house parties mostly.
Q: It’s strange – you are so close to Netherlands and you don’t have trance parties?
A: Yeah-yeah, exactly, it’s too bad...
Q: What was the biggest party you played at?
A: I think probably in Holland, I played at club [didn't catch a title], it was a big crowd there.
Q: And know do you have any offers for big parties?
A: Not yet. I’m working on it. I’ve been talking to the Blank and Jones manager and he gave some stuff in Germany... and other guys I talked to... so hopefully very soon...
Q: Your show on ETN.FM it’s usually so melodical and so soft... And you played a lot of hard stuff tonight.
A: My radio sets are big different from my live gigs. It’s really depends on the crowd. If they need to get warm... I can play some pumping stuff to get the people going
Q: On our forum I started the topic for questions for djs playing here tonight. And one for you was like “I don’t think Niklas production is very special – just usual samples, usual beats... so-so music”. Actually I don’t think so, but what can you tell on this?
A: It’s a matter of taste I guess. I like what I do, and I do it for fun and I really enjoy it, I spend a lot of spare time on it. Some people like techno, some people like my music... just a matter of taste
Q: I love your tracks wink.gif
A: Thanks.
Q: So good luck, I will wait more new stuff from you. And feel free to join our forum at uktrancealliance.com. Thank you.
A: You’re welcome, thanks.
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Interviewed By : SergS