Miguel Ramirez
The Trance hero on developing the Driftmoon sound, ATLANTIS and provides great advice for Australia’s upcoming producers.
Every so often a sound comes into trance music, a sound that seizes the audience from the first listen and encapsulates the entire meaning behind the genre. In this case the sound is conjured by the exceptional talents of Driftmoon.
Driftmoon is made up of Juraj and Miikka, a pair who first met online after 10 years of producing their own material, soon came to realise they shared a passion for the true ethos of trance music and from then, it was a natural progression into the world of artistry as their creative formulas combined and the seductive sound of Driftmoon was born.
We caught up with Juraj in an in-depth phone interview that took place last week in our Sydney office and fired away with questions on the development of the Driftmoon sound, what trance truly means to him, the ATLANTIS tour and we find out on two artists who inspire him the most.
We first asked Juraj to share his excitement about the Aussie debut of Driftmoon and if he’ll play any new material throughout the ATLANTIS tour.
“I’m speechless! I remember when my manager first told me there would be a new party in Australia, and I would be playing there…I was like cool I’ve always wanted to go to Australia! Then when I saw the lineup, I was like wow – why am I there?! It’s exciting!”
“I will be playing mainly recent tracks and there will be 6 or 7 world premieres at ATLANTIS! Hopefully 7 or maybe even 8 if I manage to get it done by then.”
Driftmoon will be sharing the stage with trance legend, Paul van Dyk at ATLANTIS. Taking place on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, ATLANTIS will be an event to never forget…grab your tickets here.
“I will absolutely freak out when I see Paul van Dyk in person for the first time! He’s the man who actually got me into Trance with his set back in 1999 at The Gallery, Turnmills in London.”
“Paul van DYk has inspired me through the way he builds his sets. I remember his older sets were absolutely phenomenal in their own way, and no one could really reach his level back in the day.”
Driftmoon recently debuted on the sub-label ‘Who’s Afraid Of 138?!’ with their latest track, ‘Lights Will Guide You Home’.
“If I’m correct, the full idea of ‘Lights Will Guide You Home’ was in Mikka’s head to make another uplifting track and we started creating it in October – just in time for summer, and it turned out really great because we tried to use many new techniques. I incorporated many new vocals and tried to make it very eerie, special and memorable.
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We found out which artists inspire Juraj the most.
“Mark Sixma and Arisen Flame! I really like how Arisen Flame creates his melodies and Mark Sixma is a technical genius when it comes to making the track as heavy and punchy as possible for the dancefloor.”
Aussie producers and DJ’s listen up! Juraj has provided tips and advice.
“Stick to your sound, create what makes you happy, and don’t believe the hype. If your music is good enough, it will find its own audience. It all takes time. It took us years to develop the sound we have now, and you reach a certain point and then it all just clicks in your head and then you just know how to produce a track.”
We also found out how Juraj first started producing music and how Driftmoon formed.
“I started DJing when I was 15 years old and started producing when I was around 16 year old. I went to U.K. to study music and met people who taught me many tricks and I can see now that they sped up my career, otherwise it would of have taken me years to work it out on my own.”
“Music is just feelings and emotions inside you, it’s really not technical. You just make music, you don’t really think about it.”
“Mikkas was a huge uplifting producer back in the day and we met in an online forum that has some of the best sounds and samples for producers. Driftmoon originally was three of us but then only Mikkas and I took over because we had the same vision, the same sound we wanted to produce together and we developed it hoping people would like it. It’s turned out amazing!”
Is there a Driftmoon album in the works?
“An album is something people keep asking us about. There will be an album, absolutely! I can’t say it will be this year, because we try to experiment as much as possible with our sound. We try to incorporate many new techniques. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but every release is different from the previous one. Different samples, different sound.
“There are 8 tracks signed which are waiting for release right now and around 10-15 new originals which are almost finished! You will have a blast in Australia with all those tracks, trust me!”
Juraj shared his thoughts on what trance means to him.
“For me, it’s not only about the music, it’s about the people I meet. Trance is like Nokia, it’s connecting people and all around the world, the people who listen to the same music as you, feel really connected. They are there for the music. You can always talk to them, they are friendly anywhere around the world and share the same emotion on the dancefloor.”
“I don’t understand all those discussions where people don’t know where trance is heading. You can always make trance music the way you want…you don’t have to reach the whole EDM world to be popular these days. Yes it’s faster and quicker, but sometimes the most difficult path is the right one.”
He shared his amazing experience in Israel.
“I remember when I was in Israel, the whole crowd was singing with me ‘Sun & moon’ by Above & Beyond and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had as a musician.”
Juraj finished the amazing interview with a few words for his Australian fans.
“I’ve heard so much about you guys. I’ve heard amazing things that you are one of the best fans of trance music in the world. I cannot wait to go down there and connect with you all through the music I love to make and you hopefully love to listen to, and I promise you it will be an unforgettable experience.”
Time to start the countdown to what is set to be one of the biggest trance events in Australia…Get ready to experience ATLANTIS, a truly special evening with Driftmoon and fellow trance hereos Paul van Dyk, MaRLo, Mark Sixma, and the incredible Roxanne Emery.
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