The story of Jezper Söderlund aka Airbase begins in 1994 with the obtaining of a music creation software pitched by a Finnish cousin. During a few years in the late nineties, he produced a huge amount of tracks. One of the first breakthroughs was Airbase – Emotion, which caught the attention of the german label Alphabet City. The first contract was signed, and the track was released. During the time of promotion and mastering, a new Airbase single was produced, Genie. While waiting for the Genie release, other labels were showing interest in other tracks produced since the conversion, and all of a sudden the schedule was filled with remix assignments and other releases. Now there are signatures on contracts with labels such as Alphabet City, Armada, Platipus, Mondo Records, Kompressed Records, Gesture Music, Be Yourself Music and some others. Remixes has been done for high profile artists like Above & Beyond, Iio, Envio, Matt Darey, Mike Foyle, Blank & Jones and Alex Morph, to mention a few. Recently Jezper surprised us with his new release Escape / For the Fallen, which has been played by all the topjocks. Also a new album is coming up, so about time for an interview…

Q >> Hi Jezper - thanks for taking the time to speak with us! How’s life in Sweden?

Hello, how are you! Life in Sweden right now is hectic. I’ve tried to spend the Christmas holiday just chilling, but it’s hard, always things to do. I’m off for a week of skiing soon, so maybe then I can take my well deserved rest.

Q >> Your new release is quite a bomb; it has been played by all the top jocks and got a number 5 quotation in the ASOT Top 20 for 2005 even before the release. Did you expect it to become that big?

Not at all! The track was made one day in a couple of hours when I just felt bored and played around with some pads trying to write a melody. Once I pinned that one down, I just knew how I wanted the rest of the song to sound, hence the short time of finishing it. I liked the track but thought it might be a bit to chilled to have an actual audience. Boy was I wrong. Everyone seems to love it and all the jocks I grew up admiring are playing it. It feels great!

Q >> Because of the single release of Escape/For the Fallen, your forthcoming album is now incomplete again. Are there any plans for completing the album on short term and can you give us an impression of the new CD?

Yeah, that’s true. Thing is, Escape was the last track I made for the album, the rest was complete (including For The Fallen). I even thought of Escape as a filler track for the album, but again I was wrong. Anyhow, the two tracks were lifted off the album for a single release and yes, the album was incomplete. I had been discussing with labels to release the album and was almost about to sign a contract for it, but decided to pull out in the very last minute. I gave the album like a million listens, and came to the conclusion that this album didn’t reflect where I was at right now. So I actually scrapped the whole album, and right now I’ve put the plans on hold. I still have a lot of thinking to do to find out what would really define an album. I mean, if I am to make an Airbase album, it would be to finish chapter one of my career, and I wouldn’t be very nice to my fans if I didn’t make the album in a style that reflects what I’ve actually become known for, the melodic stuff. I still love melodic music, even though the kind of melodic trance I’ve been doing under my Airbase alias is a bit dated. The thing is I feel very strongly for the tech stuff that comes out today (like Sander van Doorn), which confuses me a bit, especially when I try to produce. Sorry for ranting, but that’s where I’m at right now; no album in my calendar so far.

Q >> Back to the past now…; you started producing since you were very young; can you describe how your sound developed through the years?

I’ve been listening to dance music for a long time, longer than most trance fans in my age, and I was so amazed of all the stuff I bought without having any thought of actually trying it out myself. As mentioned above, I got the stuff to make atleast something around 1994, but it wasn’t until 96 or so I really came obsessed with making music. I got some nice trance records that just blew me away even more than the stuff I had loved for so long (I was really into Euro Techno, Happy Hardcore, Rave stuff and even Thunderdome material). We had some basic equipment at the school I started in around the same time, and that’s where I learned the basics for Cubase. Anyhow, it was when the careers of Ferry, Tiesto and Armin started to take off that I realised that is what I am trying to do.

I was so far behind its ridiculous to even hear my older stuff on my own. The inspiration has kind of always been those three guys, even though I find my direction nowadays parting from theirs. New artists pop up every year that inspires me, so now I just go with a mixture of this and that from other artists that I really enjoy.

Q >> Referring to your youth; when was the first time you knew that you wanted to become a DJ?

I still don’t know I wanted to become a DJ, it just kind of happened. At the school mentioned, we also had some Denon CD decks and a Technics turntable, and we (me and two friends) spent a lot of time in that place, long after school was out for the day, just trying to learn mixing. I don’t know why we wanted to learn it, we just loved technical stuff, and making one record go into another one seamlessly was kind of a satisfactional payoff that you knew what you were doing. A year or two later I was at some seminar, I don’t know about what, but I met a guy there who ran a DJ agency in our very town, and I said I could DJ, so then I got some gigs from them in some small but also some of the most popular pubs and clubs in town. A few years later I started to release records, and then bookings of the real kind came; playing trance. I then quit my job at the DJ agency in town and got myself a real job and having the music producing and the DJ-ing on the side, and that’s still where I’m at right now.

Q >> Well, becoming a DJ is just a dream for many of us; you need talent, hard work and some luck. Was it hard to get into the scene in the very beginning?

I’m not really in the scene yet. The problem is there are so many good DJ's and producers around at the moment, you really need to be something out of this world to break thru the masses and gain recognition. The big jocks of today don’t have their Djing skills to thank for being top jocks, they were just at the right place at the right time. Of course they are great DJ's but when they started out, they kind of invented trance as it sounds today, and they had the whole market to themselves. That makes it quite a bit easier to go places.

Q >> Being settled in the scene for a while now, could you name some pro’s and con’s of being a DJ?

I’m really really really really bored of airports. I mostly travel alone, and that really stinks. Sometimes I have company and that makes it much nicer, still I’m so sick and tired of airports. The pros are definitely meeting the audience, the fans, the people that actually knows my work, to meet new people who are on the same page as you and know what you’re talking about when talking music, that’s wonderful. At home, among my friends, I’m just a regular dude, and most of them don’t listen to trance or even dance music in general, so its hard to get the feedback of the stuff you make from them. They try, but they probably don’t know what to listen for, and even if they do, they are going to say nice things because they’re friends no matter what.

Q >> You produce under many aliases; Airbase, Mono, Ozone, Rah, Scarab. How do all these projects differ from each other?

Most of them don’t differ at all, its just a contract thing that I have so many aliases. If I could choose I would just stick to a few, like Airbase, Parc, Scarab and One Man Army, but hey, labels want you to have an alias that only that label are guaranteed to use for my releases.

Q >> Recently you finished a new single under a new alias named ‘Parc – Silver Cell. Any comments from your side on the Parc project?

Parc is a new alias that I’ve created on my own terms, I’m not licensing it to any label as of now, I’m going to use it for remixes mostly, and maybe when the time is right, a real release. Silver Cell is an exception as I decided to give it away for free on my website www.airbase.nu. The basic principal of the Parc alias is to make techy stuff with a twist, whatever that twist might be. I want to make stuff that could be considered a bit odd, yet appealing. More Parc stuff to come, I guarantee you that.

Q >> A couple of months you switched your production software; Ableton Live for Reason. Can you tell us something about the differences and the possibilities?

I’ve always loved Reason, it’s a great software with loads of potential. I’ve always envied those who make music with hardware, because there are so many good sounds to be found in hardware synths and modules. But after a while I realised, I know nothing about music hardware, absolutely nothing. I’m destined to stick with software. And with software, I’ve always envied those who use vst synths, because they sound so great too. I had a gig in Ungary about 9 months ago, and I visited Shane 54:s place, and he showed me the basics of producing with Ableton and I instantly fell in love with the software. It really is amazing. Its as easy as Reason, but with all the power of vst synths and effects. I tried it out at home and I was hooked instantly. For The Fallen is by the way the first track I made in Ableton Live.

Q >> Many people are complaining about that Trance has gone very commercial and they miss the times as Trance has been more underground. What’s your opinion on this?

I wouldn’t say trance as gone commercial, however I think progg trance has made itself seem like a nicer and finer form of trance, which I think is silly, there is nothing that is finer or nicer when it comes to genres, its all in the eye of the beholder. Trance don’t need to be more underground, and it might not need the commercial interest (as that might affect the quality of the music), but one thing is for sure, few trance artists are today able to live from their producing alone, and I cant believe there is a single producer out there who don’t want to be able to live from what they make on things they love. Trance definitely don’t need to become more underground. Money is never fun to discuss when you’re an artist, but you really need to earn something to be able to afford making it (studio stuff aint cheap).

Q >> What is your opinion about the wide use of mp3's?

I download mp3s. Everyone does. I don’t get angry when others download my stuff either, BUT:

If what I download is nice, I purchase it. All of it, everything I find good and that I want to support. That’s the only way I can justify the fact that I’m myself, as an artist, download other peoples work. Mp3s wont go away, and there will always be illegal downloaders, but my message to all of you would be; fine, download as much as you want, but if you find something you like, please have the decency to pay the artist the little support you can by buying the record, vinyl or download, it doesn’t matter. Trance labels are on their knees nowadays, and people need to realise there will not be much more music coming unless people start making right for themselves. God, am I the preacher one? J

Q >>Do you think that there is still a future for vinyl?

I’m one of the biggest believers that vinyls are the completely wrong way to go. Trance should be released on CD singles since years ago. It’s way over due. It’s a crappy medium with a extremely narrow market of interest. Trance wont get any further than it already has as long as vinyls sticks around. They are extremely expensive, they wear out, and the sound quality, no matter how you put it, is worse than CD.

Q >>You are experienced in producing, remixing and doing your thing as a DJ. Any tips for upcoming talents on UKTA?

Believe in what you do, and try to do your own thing. I get tons of e-mails from people who wants me to listen to their music, and most of it is most often just replicas of other artists and tracks. There is nothing wrong with getting inspired by others, but somewhere in your music, remixes or your djing, there must be something that sounds “you”. Something that people will recognize, which defines it and labels it as “your” sound. Think of your favorite artists, you will be able to identify the artist of a new track quite easily as they probably have “their” thing, that kind of shines thru no matter what they do. Think of Airwave, Push, Vincent De Moor, Marco V. You can always or almost always tell if they are involved in any new track you hear.

Q >> What will be the sound of the future? What’s your vision about trance in this coming year 2005?

It’s gonna get techier. That’s a punch in the face for the 99 trance fans. However, I don’t know if there is a market for it, but I have plans of going back a bit and try making what I do the best, or atleast what I did the best back in 2001 and 2002, the melodic uplifting stuff. People miss it, I’m fully convinced. Hopefully the labels will realise this, and then there is a whole new trance scene to come. The 99 kind of trance still feels a bit cheesy and dirty, and that’s to blame progg for I believe. They have spent so much time making progg such a nose up kind of music, everything else seems to be considered less kind of trance. I don’t know, something like that?

Q >> Is there anyone in particular that you would like to work with in the future?

I’ve always wanted to work with Airwave or Vincent De Moor, but also lately I’m really curious what would come out of a Sander van Doorn vs. Parc session.

Q >> How about your contacts with other DJ’s in Sweden or in the scene?

I know most of the Swedish trance producers and Djs, as its quite a small country. I’ve met most of them and its all a bunch of nice guys with basically the same attitude to trance as I have.

Q >> You are the initiator and ex head administrator at Trance.nu. How important are sites like UKTA, Trance Addict and Trance.nu do you think?

Very important. I believe EDM fans have the strongest connections to each other thru internet. I don’t know for sure, but something tells me no other genre has more dedicated fans that loves to hate and debate and make friends with the same interest. I’m sure its because its such a small scene, we wont find our musical friends around the corner. Internet though, is the biggest corner there is, and everyone is hanging around it.

Q >> What would be your top 3 of productions at the moment/2005?

This is going to be tricky, I don’t usually listen to trance. There is so much trance in my head already when producing, Djing or preparing for a dj set, that I usually spend all other time listening to other things. However, I’ll give you two top 3, one for trance and one for everything else:

Q >> Trance Top 3:

Sander van Doorn – A.K.A. [Sam Mix] [Genious production with 100% energy]
Bigtop – Sub [Crazy track that works so well on the dancefloor]
Mark Otten – Serene [Menno De Jong Fierce Dub] [Beautiful track!]

Everything else Top 3:
Imogen Heap – The Moment I Said It [Magic!]
Shpongle – Beija Flor [This is IDM at its best, completely crazy track]
Carpark North – Human [Beautiful rockish track with an amazing video]

Q >> Best track(s) ever?

Easy: Imogen Heap – The Moment I Said it

Close follow ups:

Sarah McLachlan – Fear [Hybrids Star Collider Remix]
Gouryella – Tenshi
Vangelis – Conquest Of Paradise

Q >> Best DJ?

The DJ that has impressed me the most is Gareth Emery. Perfect mixing and perfect choices of tracks.

Q >> Best club to play?

The Citadell club in Budapest, damn what a location.

Q >> Greatest DJ experience?

Passion in UK. That’s one hell of a club, and I got to meet so much nice people, and there were like all the big name Djs everywhere. Got to meet a lot of them, all my big idols from late 90:ies. Amazing night, also I met a really nice girl there who I still speak to occationally. (Hello Helen J)

Q >> Any other music taste/hobbies?

I’m such a total sucker for movie scores, but also, I listen to just about anything. I love music, no particular style, just good music. “Good Music” should be a genre. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Britney Spears song or if it’s the latest Jeff Mills production, if its good, I listen to it.

Hobbies I have quite a few, I hate to be bored, so I try to keep myself busy. I love riding motorcycles, and I love sailing. I have big problems with sea sickness so it was really a surprise to me how much I enjoyed sailing. Now I got a license and I cant wait to get out and sail this summer.

Q >> What are your plans for the future; are there any new things coming up?

You know, I have no clue. I make tracks when I least expect myself to do, and when you constantly surprise yourself like that, it’s kind of hard to plan ahead. I’m just gonna give it my best and still aim upwards, lets see where I end up.

Q >> Which hardware/software do you use for producing tracks and doing your thing as a DJ?

Ableton all the way now for producing. For Djing I’ve always been playing vinyls and cds, but now I got all the equipments I need for Djing with Ableton, so soon I will take this on and use it, just need to prepare myself some more before I do.

Q >> Would you like to say something to all UKTA-members?

Happy new year, and please keep the faith and support in trance and things will be just fine. All the best! // Jezper

Visit the beautiful site of Jezper and take a look at his own Mp3 storen on www.airbase.nu!!

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Interviewed By : < Magik >