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• Simon Posford
• Mad Maxx
Simon Posford aka Hallucinogen
Simon Posford aka Hallucinogen met Marge from Looney Moon \ Purple Hexagon Rec. on on May 3rd 2008, when he came to play at Looney Moon \ Maitake Production Space Distortion party at Ranch, in Torino, Italy.
 Since Shpongle’s first album, chill out music and culture have gone a long way...In what do you feel they have changed?
 Simon Posford: I don't know if chill out music and culture have changed, it depends where you are, who is playing, what kind of party it is. But I suppose it is true that there are more and more chill out artists getting bigger and bigger. In fact, the first time we did Younger Brother, we did our gig at Brixton Academy in London, a very big venue. That was more of a show, a concert rather than a set in a chill out room.
I suppose ten-fifteen years ago, people just wanted trance and just wanted to dance to it. Now people are more opened to a bit of everything, as long as it is psychedelic and interesting. Of course it depends what you mean by Chill Out music; for instance, Brian Eno's music is very ambient and he does art installations as well. His work is far away from a psychedelic trance party. I don't think psychedelic music has to be trance. We are doing our Shpongle gig at Halloween in 2008 this year and there is no going to be any trance music there and Shpongle is a chill out act. Chill out covers such a wide range of music that it encompasses normal shows and gigs...
You've been travelling a lot, what is your favourite crowd?
SP: I always love Japan, Japan is fantastic. I love the culture, the people, the parties, the food, everything about it really. They are so technically brilliant as well, the sound is always good, the equipment is always great. Many artists will tell you the same thing, people love Japan.
Shpongle has not played together very often. How is it to play as a live band?
SP: It is a fucking nightmare! The Shpongle music is very layered, there are a lot of instruments and is very technical. We are privileged enough to work with some great musicians; in the studio we have them down to play, we then edit it heavily and chop everything up. For them to replay it is often quite hard. Luckly, all the artists who work with us are technically brilliant.
We don’t do Shpongle live a lot, just because it is so difficult! We need so many people...For the Halloween show that we are doing in London in october this year, there are going to have two singers, two drummers, a bass player, two guitars, a cello player, myself, Raj...I mean, that’s ten and that won’t even cover what is on the record!
Also the feeling of playing live is a fucking nightmare, because I am always terrified that it is going to go wrong at any moment. Luckly the musicians are great so normally they get it right, but I don’t really trust myself and Raj. We are the weak legs! We make the music in the studio, but playing it live is different. I am not really a performer, I love staying in the studio, creating music and trying to challenge myself artistically. Playing live does do that, the challenge is itself very exciting, but I am also a bit shy of being up there in front of a huge crowd of people.
Your solo project: Hallucinogen. Is there ever going to be another album?
 SP: There will be another album. I am not consciously working towards an album, for the last few years my other projects have taken up my time, Shpongle and Younger Brother particularly. As an artist, what I want is to challenge myself creatively and that has been the most exciting challenge for me, collaborating with people. When I made the first two albums I was much younger and I was much more of a control freak and I did not necessarily want other people involved. I enjoyed making music on my own, whereas now I enjoy the chemistry of working with someone else. I enjoy someone persuading me not to do what I would naturally do. However, after a few years doing that, now I swing the another way. Firstly because I feel there is a gap in the trance market, all the trance music that is coming out lately sounds very similar to me. I have only ever made music to excite myself and I think I am ready now to go back to Hallucinogen. I wasn’t before, in the last few years I have not been so interested, just because the trance music I hear at the parties I go to sounds very generic, not something I really want to do myself. If you go to gigs and people want to hear that, if that is what they expect and what they think trance music is, then it is not really my arena.
However, as an artist I need to make music and as I want to do something different than what it is around now, I am definitely going to do more Hallucinogen. It is all about a sort of personal quest.
If you had to choose a movie to make a soundrack to, what would it be?
SP: My music is very visual so I guess a very visual kind of movie, the one that immediately springs to mind is Baraka. Maybe something with not so much plot to really explore the sonic and the visual sound scapes together. That would be pretty interesting to do. I would also like to make music for a proper movie, with a plot and everything, because it would be just a challenge to try, it would be different, something I have never done. For sure I would be interested in doing any movies.
What are your favourite synths and plugins?
 SP: I am a big fan of the 101, I use it in all my live sets. It is a great synth because it has a knob slide for every control and this is great. I can look at the 101 and instantly see what sound is going to come out, as long as it is in tune.
I like all the native instruments, but synths wise I actually don't use a lot of software synths. This is because I am after something that is more characterful, it does not necessarily have to be better. Analog synths aren't necessarily better, in fact the plugin synths and the digital stuff often sound cleaner and better produced in a way. It is very easy to get to what people consider a good level of production because they make a nice, big, clean sound. However, it all sounds a little generic to me and so what I really go after is character. All those analog synths don't sound the same. I have got an OSCar, I also have the software version, the impOScar, but I hardly ever use it because it is so predictable. You turn OSCar on and it does not make the sound you want, it drives you crazy...it only works half the time. But when it does work you get something unique and truly characterful. And that's what I really want to hear in music.
Is your music influenced by the dreams you make when you sleep?
SP: A dream can really stay with you, it does affect daily things, of course. It affects your making music, but actually anything affects your making music. Your music will be affected also if someone calls you on the telephone while you are working.
Dreams, real life and fear of death. Have you ever felt scared because you were in a powerless position that you could not control?
SP: Every time you take LSD you feel that you have to “abandon” yourself to it. You don’t know what is going to happen and you really have to give yourself up to the universe. As for facing death, I went to hospital last year to have my gallbladder removed. Before the doctors understood what those spots shown in the scan meant, I had to wait for hours in the hospital waiting room next to a guy who would not stop vomiting. My mind started thinking about all sorts of things...I am not afraid of death, but when you suddenly get confronted with your own mortality, it does make a change...I am not scared of dying because we don’t know what happens when you die, but I don’t want pain or a long suffering. This is what scares me.
Let’s talk about life now. What are the three things you like best in life?
SP: The first two have to be music and sex, for sure, and drugs...(laughs). I love food, I love wine, I love pleasure. Creating or hearing a really good tune gives me a lot of pleasure. I also like sleeping, I sleep a lot, as Bill Hincks said “I need at least eight hours of sleep a day and also ten hours at night”. Can I have pleasure as one of the things? So music and sex are pleasure. So, my three favourite things are pleasure, happyness and fun!
If you reincarnated in someone or something, who would that be?
SP: My life is pretty good, I would not mind living my life again but better! If I reincarnated in an animal it would be a bird, because birds have the flying thing, which is pretty cool. Or dolphins have the swimming in the ocean thing, so both of these animals I guess. If I reincarnated as a plant, it would be cannabis, because...I am so familiar with it! A lot of people get cremated in the end anyways...
Interview conducted & edited by Marge
Pictures by Davide Gomba aka Allume
Mad Maxx
Purple Hexagon met Max at Shivaratri Festival in Nagarkot, Nepal, in March 2008...
 After Sirius Isness, you are now on a solo project, Mad Maxx, and your first album, "Afterworld" is coming out soon...
 Mad Maxx: I started my project Mad Maxx in the beginning of 2007. That's when I started making tracks for compilations and started finding my sound. After Sirius Isness it had to be a different sound and I had to work on that a lot. I took some time and then started making my album after the summer, after the festival season. It took me four months of full work and concentration to make it. It was a very busy time, because I was writing the album and doing all the bookings as well. But it was a lot of fun and a good challenge.
I called the album Afterworld because I was very much into the issue of what is going to happen after 2012. I did some research and all the tracks have something to do with what is going to happen after 2012. And of course the movie Mad Max has a lot in common with what is going to happen...End of the world etc… All ties up to this. Behind the album there is the theory of the planet NIBIRU which is supposed to fly by or hit the earth in 2012, it all has to do with the end of the world as we know it , and the beginning of a new era. But with the idea that there is going to be a new world after, some kind of evolution afterwards.
On the cover there are spaceships, the earth, and all the elements to give you the hints to what is about to happen. I have always been into aliens, I wanted to put it all into one CD and I tried my best.
Has your music changed compared to the previous project?
MM: Music-wise there is definetely a development, an improvement in production because you always evolve and you always learn new stuff, new techniques. Last year there was a lot of evolution, a lot of new people in the front scene. This was good because music really took a step up. All last year I was discovering new techniques, listening and mixing new stuff, so my music has changed, maybe not a lot, but it has changed in a nice way.
Can you define your style?
MM: Some people make more electro-trance, others more dark trance. I like to make Goa trance with a new edge, because that is where I come from. I have always liked psychedelic Goa and I like to keep that going, but with a new edge, new production, new ideas always keeping "the happy vibe". When I say “new edge” I mean that there is always something happening, it is never depressing, there is always some positive stuff going on in the music. I think that if there is positive stuff in the music, people will have a nice journey. With my music I always try to create a journey in which people can dream about other worldly things. You can do it when you mix other people's music, but with your music it's very different. I have always looked for that feeling, that's what I wanted to create and transmit to people who listen to my music. Maybe there are some who do not know trance at all, but they feel something, the positive vibe inside the music.
What do you think about people downloading music for free? What about the future of labels producing Goa Trance music?
MM: Right now many people are getting music for free, it is not top quality, but at least many have access to it. I don't think it's a bad thing. What you can do, though, for people who want to have top quality music in WAV, is to make it available on a website. In this way people can listen to the Mp3 and buy the file in WAV. You can already do that, although there is room for improvement.
The future, in my opinion is a net label, to have the label online. But you can still buy Cds, also because I think that if you are an artist, you need the Cd, you cannot just sell your stuff online for the moment. It is too early to do that. You still need something concrete. Even if you only make one thousand copies. People need that and you need that as an artist. I had the choice if making or not the Cd and I decided to make it. As a solo project and as a first album, I needed the Cd. It s your business card in this scene.
We are looking forward to listen to Afterworld, can you tell us something more?
MM: My Cd was released April 7th in Japan and May 7th in Europe on Phantasm Records. An interesting thing... There are ten tracks in the album, but there are only nine on the Cd, because I didn't have enough space to put it on the Cd!,So, the tenth track is free and will be available on the Phantasm's website before the release. It is possible to listen to the track, which is part of the whole trip and could not be left out of the album. You can download it at www.phantasmrecords.co.uk
Thanks a lot, and enjoy the tunes!
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