That sounds like quite a contrast to the super-urban music you produce. Do you feel the serene surroundings add a kind of balance to your sound?

“Yeah, it’s a surreal kind of balance. I got so complacent and used to the city landscape and the sounds of the city. You know, looking outside the window and seeing certain activities take place. It sort of got stale. Now this quiet, laidback environment is kind of surreal. When I’m listening to sounds, I’ve slowed down a lot more; I take my time in my musical approach and try to really focus more. Things that go on in the city can be a distraction. It’s almost like being retired here, I feel I have all the time in the world to concentrate on music.”

You’re working on your Omega album right now. Can you tell me about this?

“Actually, the project is finished. It’s this long-time vision I’ve had in musically interpreting the movie. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the original movie with Charlton Heston?”

Yes, I’ve seen the movie.

“And there was the remake with Will Smith, I am Legend. But I’ve had this vision of doing this project even long before that. You know the story: Charlton Heston plays the last person on Earth, everyone has died. This man is running out of hope, running out of faith. He is this kind of Messiah type figure. The music I’ve done is sort of a loose interpretation of this precept. I just imagined myself if I were commissioned to do this soundtrack. What would it be like? And so, this is what it is.”

“We’re heading in the direction of extinction, we’re killing ourselves and each other.”

So, you plan showings of the movie in combination with live sound?

“You know, I was just thinking it over, what kind of images and what kind of live show or presentation I would do for this album. I haven’t made up my mind but it has peeked my interest to maybe combine scenes of I Am Legend with scenes of the original movie.

What drew you to the story in the first place?

“Faith. Let’s say, you’re the last man on Earth, and there was this opposing force of people threatening to wipe out the last remnants of humanity and progress. You know, the white people with the hoods and the white faces, I don’t remember their name [The Family]. They were trying to kill the original character, Charlton Heston. He who represented the last of humanity. I asked myself: What would I do? How much hope and faith would I have? Faith in God, faith in restoring humanity? Ever since I saw that movie as a child, it has haunted me. [In particular the scene] where Robert Neville [the Heston character] creates the serum, this antidote for this sickness. He was like this Christ figure and that has resonated with me over the years.”

Do you see the movie as a metaphor for our society, and the need for it to heal its wounds?

“Exactly. That’s exactly it. The sickness and the illness in this world. With viruses, HN1 and AIDS and man’s sickness and man’s hatred towards one another. We’re heading in the direction of extinction, we’re killing ourselves and each other. So, this original movie lays out where we’re headed, an extreme vision, sort of like a Twilight Zone episode made into a movie. This is where we’re headed: Man’s greed and lack of humanity. It is definitely metaphoric and if we don’t heed the signs, this is were we’ll end up.”

“We live in a society where we just consume. We just take. We live to consume, we live to take. We don’t operate on the concept of giving. When we go to raves or on holidays, we see it only as an opportunity to consume, but not to give input.”

When you DJ in front of drugged-out rave kids: isn’t that an image of a sick society?

“Yes, it is. We live in a society where we just consume. We just take. We live to consume, we live to take. We don’t operate on the concept of giving. When we go to raves or on holidays, we see it only as an opportunity to consume, but not to give input. You were talking about the consumption of drugs at raves: that creates negative energy. You know, the techno culture is a positive energy, it’s a God-given vision, but we look at it in such a perverse way. We think about the weekend as just a chance to explode and self-destruct instead of going to participate in something that is higher than ourselves. We’re living just as in the Matrix, and that’s another good metaphor as a movie. We’re walking like zombies through our lives and we really don’t know what abundant life is about!”

You seem to relate to the Heston character, in a way that you are alone as well, in that you have been following your solitary path over the years…

“Absolutely! It’s a very lonely path that I tread. Both in my walk with music and God. I’ve taken a different road than most. That’s just a different reality. It’s not something I chose, it was my purpose. To not approach things in a conventional manner even in this unconventional scene, techno. And I liken myself to David from the Bible. This field-hand was overlooked first. And then he was pulled in, to fight against the Philistines, the giant and the lion. The methods he used were unconventional, he didn’t use armor, he used a stone and a slingshot, so that’s the same approach. Like I said, sometimes I’m misunderstood, it’s a solitary path that I’m taking.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.