You’ve remixed tracks from some of the biggest names in the dance scene. Which of these remixes are you most proud of?
When a remix or a production leaves our studio we at least like it and are happy with it, otherwise it will not leave the studio. Sure, there are some mixes that we are more proud of when they perform great than others, like our remix for Vincent de Moors’ “Fly away” for example or Tiësto`s “Suburban Train,” to mention just two.
Your latest album features your original tracks being remixed by a host of top-notch producers. What was the intention behind the release?
The idea behind Back 2 The Future started when we still wanted to play the old tracks in our DJ sets. But the sound and style of these early works simply does not fit the feeling of our current sets anymore! For these reasons, we decided to first do some new versions ourselves for festivals we played in. Seeing the great reactions from the crowd and people asking for these new mixes over and over again, we thought maybe its time to rework the old tracks, and make a whole CD for the fans. The result is remixes from Rank 1, Wippenberg, Markus Schulz, Arty, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Alexander Popov and Robbie Rivera, to mention only a few.
Cosmic Gate is a name synonymous with trance … what about the genre appeals to you?
For us trance is the most emotional and touching electronic dance music. When we talk of trance, it starts with house or progressive beats with only trance-y pads; this is trance to us already. It goes from melodic to more uplifting tracks using melodies and harder basslines and all this is what we like in trance also. It’s a very wide genre and we try to pick the best out of it and include it together with our own productions for a real Cosmic Gate set.
You seem like a perfect pairing when playing and making music together but sound so different when playing separately.
Actually the music played by us individually is about 90 percent the same as when we play together. So musically, there’s not much of a difference. Of course the performance is different—two guys behind the mixer look different from one DJ performing. Also, there is more time to party with the crowd and the visual impression is different when we play together.
How was last year for you?
2010 was maybe our busiest year ever. We clocked half a million air miles, played about 120 gigs, got nominated in the International Dance Music Awards, were Beatport award winners, and we had the pleasure of remixing the title song for Avatar! A really fantastic year for us!
What can we expect on your return to Zouk?
Zouk is really one of our favorite clubs worldwide, plus it’s Bossi’s birthday night, so we will party extra hard, spin a lot of tunes from our Back 2 the Future compilation plus the best of current trance and progressive. Don’t miss it!
Join perennial trance leaders Cosmic Gate on Feb 26, 10pm, Zouk, 17 Jiak Kim St., 6738-2988. $28-33 includes two drinks.
