Andy Moor Interview.

[Nicktalopia]

Ibiza Nights: Hi Andy, welcome to Ibiza Nights. Thanks for coming on the show. How you doing today?

Andy Moor: I’m good thank you. How are you?

IN: Good. From what I understand you’ve been on tour lately. How’s that been going for you?

AM: It’s going pretty well, all the touring’s been good. It’s been a bit tireing, haven’t had enough time in the studio, but it’s been good.

IN: We here at Ibiza Nights are big proponents of dance music in the U.S. but we’re obviously fighting an uphill battle promotion wise. What do you think of the progressive/trance movement in the States and where it’s going?

AM: I think it’s heading in the right direction. I mean more and more people are moving over to electronic music I think as time goes on, you know, more and more people find out about it either through the internet or through friend or through other means. So I think people . . .there’s still a big divide between the people that understand what its about.

IN: Do you think trance has the potential to grow or perhaps even eclipse hip/hop or modern rock eventually?

AM: I don’t think so really just because hip/hop has a certain commercial element in the States. Dance music is predominately seven to eight minutes long and I don’t think it can have the same impact as a song that’s three minutes long.

IN: Explain to the listeners out there how you got into making dance music. What inspired you?

AM: Just so many different things really. The actual dance music around at the time, that inspired me obviously but also, things like synthesizers, just the sounds of synthesizers just certain sounds and the way it combines energy and emotion at the same time, that was something that interested me when I first started out.

IN: Now did you start off mostly producing or DJing?

AM: Both pretty much side by side. I was still quite young at the time so I was probably doing them both badly at the time.

IN: What’s your creative process like in crafting one of your songs?

AM: That varies so much for each song. It can be a chord sequence, it can be a particular bass sound, it can be some nice drums. Every track I do it starts off in a different way.

IN: Which programs do you usually use?

AM: I use Logic on the Mac as the main sequencer. And then lots of other things.

IN: In case our listeners don’t know you also have your own record label. How are things coming along with that?

AM: it’s going pretty well, we’re just moving the whole management side of things over to Armada label group so they’ll be taking care of that side of things from now on. Things are going well, we’ve got some good artists signed. Next year should be a good year.

IN: You’ve been treating us with some slick singles these past few years like “So Much More”, “Fake Awake”, “Air For Life”…Do you have your own album in the works?

AM: Yes I do.

IN: That’s exciting. Do you have any planned guest appearances or a timetable for when it might come out?

AM: Hopefully it will be out about the second half of next year. I’m actually with Lange at the moment producing a tune so it should be quite good.

IN: Thoughts on being voted the number 18th best DJ in the world by the fans themselves?

AM: It’s nice to know that people appreciate whats going on and what I do. SO obviously, that’s a good thing.

IN: We know you’ve worked with among others Markus Schulz, Above & Beyond, and Delirium. Who has been one of your favorites to work with?

AM: Ah I don’t think that’d be a nice thing to say to pick one out, but everyone has been equal in their own way. I just enjoy working with somebody because it’s a bit more motivational than working on my own.

IN: Let’s stick with Above & Beyond for the moment. “Air For Life” is to me, probably one of the greatest trance/progressive songs. To this day, I still haven’t come close to hearing anything like it. What’s the story behind this track?

AM: Basically there’s certain people in the music industry who are quite close together and you speak to people a lot so it was just, very simply, a group of people, me and them, deciding to make a tune and that’s what happened. I think sometimes people try to look into it and find a deeper meaning behind something that really isn’t there. It’s a simple fact that we decided to do a tune and that’s what happened, there’s no meaning to the lyrics or anything like that, it’s just something that happened.

IN: Who do you think has been one of your biggest influences over your career?

AM: Again that’s a…. sorry my daughter is singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” in the background. I’ll let you hear . . .

Daughter: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”

IN: You gotta’ get her on one of your tracks!

AM: Haha. Yeah, a lot of people ask that question but again, there hasn’t been any particular people, any particular musicians of sorts, it’s just been inspired by anyone and anything. It doesn’t have to be music.

IN: You very much have your own unique sound with that distinct bass line and those ethereal vocals. Where did these influences come from?

AM: I think it’s just influenced by the style of music I like to make. It’s just what happens. I can make a tune, try to make tune in a particular way, I always end up making people know its my production.

IN: Do you prefer DJing, producing, or do you like them the same?

AM: Well I like them the same. I always say depending on whatever I’m doing most of at the time, I like to do the other one. So if I’m constantly on tour, then obviously I wish I could get into the studio. And vice versa.

IN: When you DJ a party do you have strategy or a sequence of tracks you like to play?

AM: No, what I normally do is I have a lot of pairs of tunes I know. I like to think I start off a certain way and have some sort of idea but [it] never turns out like that. You always end up going in a different direction. I like to play completely different sets depending on what type of crowd there is, what type of club it is.

IN: This past year you’ve had a pretty big year, as we stated earlier you were voted number 18 in the world for best DJ’s. Do you have any particular memories or highlights?

AM: Yea there’s been a lot, been a lot of good festivals in the summer time. I think most of the highlights were in the summertime, with the sun shining and the music obviously creates a certain kind of feeling.

IN: Where do you think the future of trance or progressive music lies?

AM: The future-phew-who knows? Hopefully, there’s a lot of new producers out there at the moment and if they keep developing the way that I hope they will then the future is in a bigger variety of music so that hopefully it will be more varied. You do a lot a more variation in the styles of music that people are playing

IN: Also in case our listeners don’t know you have a particularly well-supported podcast. How’s the response been to that?

AM: It’s been a lot better than I’d ever dream to be honest. Obviously it’s free, it’s easily accessible to a lot of people. As you can probably tell, I don’t really have a radio voice so I kind of shy away from that side of things, my main thing is making them (the pdocasts) play music so that’s what I concentrate on.

IN: Alright Andy we know your busy, you’ve got your daughter in the car, we just wanted to say thanks for coming on and we hope to see you soon here in Atlanta if you decide to come by.

AM: Well thanks a lot and I’ll catch you soon.