VIRB

Principles of Flight was one of the good psytrance related surprises I had in 2006. Their debut album is a long journey into the realms of imagination, packed with dance floor effective tracks and classic interludes that enhance the understanding of the concept behind the music. In this interview both Pierre and Remy, the guys in charge of the Principles of Flight project, talk about their next releases and share their opinions about many psytrance related issues.
Enjoy!

fullonline: Who is "Principles of Flight", where you are from and what is your musical background? Why do you choose this name to the project?

Remy Pierre = Principles of Flight Live

Remy: Hello, Principles of Flight is composed by 2 members, me and Pierre. I was born in Sweden but I live in South of France since I was 10.
I started making music on computer when I was 14, before that I had never been in a band or played any instrument so I had no musical experience.

Pierre: I was born in France, and I currently live in Paris. I started music around 13, computer music, with sound trackers. I had no other musical experience before that. I then started to play with a rock band. At first I did the recording and sound engineering, but after a while I played keyboards and sound effects with them. This is when I started getting seriously involved into electronic music and production.

fullonline: How and when did you discovered psytrance and ambient/chill out music?

Remy: I discovered psytrance in 2001 with Astral Projection and Infected Mushroom, before that I was mostly listening to house and techno.

Pierre: I discovered psytrance around 1996, when Goa was really popular here in France, when it even had commercials on TV. I can remember the first track I listened and liked, was Hallucinogen's Gama Goblin, it must have been a trigger for a lot of people! I was only 14 but I really liked that music. Then I started listening to a lot of electronic music in general: techno, house, drumnbass, trihop etc... I rediscovered psytrance around 2001 when Infected Mushroom.

fullonline: What is on your CD Player right now?

Remy: Right now I have a copy of RAM - Killerbyte's in my CD player, it's one of the only trance CD's I stand listening to at the moment.

Pierre: "We are the Night" from Chemical Brothers, their production is unbelievable... I also have Teenage Bad Girl "Cocotte" in the other deck. It's French electro, very rock influenced. I really love French electro these days.

fullonline: Which one of your own music do you like the most? Does it have a special meaning to you?

Pierre: My favorite on the album is "Never talk with Strangers" I really like it because it's the first track in the album that has a dark side. The general mood changes to something darker, almost apocalyptic with the choirs, but yet pretty jumpy and bouncy like a gloopy.

Remy: My favorite tracks are always the latest one's, but on Night Time Lullabies it's Harky's Swarm and A Heavy Responsibility, they where also the 2 tracks which where remade the most.

fullonline: What other music style do you listen to?

Remy: Well I listen almost only to classical music, mostly film scores, my favorite artists are, of course Danny Elfman but also Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson Williams, John Williams. I also like the big classics such as Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi and many more...

Pierre: I listen to everything, and as long as the production is good, I really like it. These days, I really really like French electro: band like Vitalic, Daft Punk, Sebastian, Kavinsky, Justice. The Justice Album is amazing, you should try it! I also like indus and heavy metal, like Nine Inch Nails, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Bogir, I guess I like the gothic influence.

fullonline: What Psytrance artists would you like to work with?

Remy: Well definitely Simon Posford would come first, but also Infected Mushroom, Misted Muppet, Talpa, Scorb and NRS.

Pierre: Same as Remy I guess! But I also like working with Phonic Request, another French artist, we did a lot of tracks together and started a French electro rock side project (Krugger Flaps).

fullonline: Is there any equipment you think can help you produce better music?

Pierre: Hehe... I'd like to work with analogic equipment. I would definitively love to have a 24 channel ATB analog mixer with BM15 monitors and lots of old analogic modular synths.

fullonline: Do you prefer to play at parties at any specific time?

Remy: My Favorite time to play is at 2 or 3 in the morning, I like when we make sets that goes more and more aggressive, when we play in the morning we have to make the reverse and honestly I'm less comfortable on stage when we do that.

Pierre: Yes night is great, there is so much energy on the dance floor at night (and our album is called "NIGHT time lullabies" isn't it?) But I also like it in the morning, when the sun rises, and people smile at the sun... it's really enjoyable. Personally I prefer outdoor festivals, when the location is really nice, like a beach for example. I prefer many days festivals, because you also have more time to meet more people, visit the surroundings, etc...

fullonline: Your debut album Principles of Flight - Night Time Lullabies was released in the end of 2006 through Boom! Records. Why you choose this name to the album? How would you describe the music inside it?

Principles of Flight - Night Time Lullabies

Pierre: "Night Time Lullabies" Hum... we chose this title because it represents all sides of our music. Night Time because our music is intended for the middle of the night. "Lullaby": a lullaby is a small song you sing for children at night to help them sleep, it represents the fantasy side of our album and the fact that it tells a little story (which can be read in the booklet). It also represents the softer classical interludes.

fullonline: I noticed your album does not have any spoken samples, like those usually taken from movies we are used to hear on many psytrance tracks. Why is that?

Remy: You are right, there are very little samples in our tracks. I think that for the concept we put in our music putting samples from movies just wouldn't fit in.

Pierre: Yep Remy said it all. Moreover it's not because everybody does it you have to do it...

fullonline: I heard some people saying that "The real infected sound is now being released by Principles of Flight" and "their new album remind me some of the old Infected Mushroom style". What do you have to say about it?

Pierre: Infected Mushroom have led and influenced the trance scene for almost ten years. Even if their sound is quite different now, they have shaped modern psytrance. If they were to be compared with a huge beach of sand, we would only be a tiny sand corn.

Remy: Correction, if Infected Mushroom where the Sahara desert we would be a sand corn next to them...

fullonline: Your album Night Time Lullabies is different from most releases today, for example the bpm ranges from 134 to 147, and comes with an 8 pages booklet detailing the concept behind the music with pictures and a story. What were your influences to produce such diverse music?

Remy: Well technically the bpm range is more varied then that, if you count in the classical parts and the drum'n'bass part at the end of a heavy responsibility the bpm range goes from 62 to 170. I think that music should not use constant bpm, I think music sounds more alive if you put more variation in your speed and tempo, it has a down size though, it becomes less mixable by DJs.

Pierre: And we wanted to produce an album as a whole, with ups and down, like a movie score, not just a "ten 145 BPM tracks album". The different styles also represent our different musical influences: techno, classical music, electronica, DnB... It is really interesting to work without boundaries, rather than saying to yourself "oh no, the BPM is not 145, it's not going to sound psytrance anymore". You have to take it as a whole, an artistic creation, that includes music, drawings and story telling.

fullonline: I heard you're going to release "digital only" versions of some tracks from your debut album. Can you tell us a more about this project?

Remy: Yes, this summer we are going to release with BooM! Rec, Night Time Lullabies Extended DJ Versions, as you said it is going to be a only Digital Release, with only the 4 most dance floor tracks of NTL, which all have been modified to be more easily mixed by DJ's.
Something important to point out is that the tracks have not been remix, but the beginning and the end are modified so that DJ's can mix them with more finesse.
We got the idea for these DJ version because after our album was released we had got numerous emails of DJ's who liked the album but thought it was hard to mix, so we thought that this idea of digital extended DJ version release where the DJ's could buy only the tracks they like online would correct this problem.

fullonline: What are your future releases, and what are the labels you're currently working with?

Remy: After the DJ Versions have been released we are going to release Night Time Lullabies The Remixes again with BooM! Records, I cannot give the exact date at the moment. We are going to have Remix competition before this release, where young artists would get their chance to Remix the track "The Escapee" from NTL. Other then that we are going to have 1 track that is going to be released on a v/a compiled by Phatmatix and Digital Talk on Yabai Rec, the release is set to beginning of next year.

Pierre: We also have a track done with Phonic Request that just came out on Sonic Motion's compilation Motion Sensor.

Principles of Flight remix contest

fullonline: What do you think makes a good remix? How would you describe a remix? Should we expect a remix from you in the future?

Pierre: A good remix is when an artist understands the message in the track, and gives his interpretation of the message but using his vision. In other words, you have to recognize the track through the remix, but you also have to recognize the artist that made the remix.

Remy: For me a good remix should incorporate aspects of the original track but with a different approach. Of course you should recognize the track but it should as different as possible.

fullonline: What do you think about people sharing music through mp3 instead of buying it?

Pierre: Hehe MP3.... I guess it is useless to point out that it IS completely destroying music industry and disc sales... everybody knows this. When international artists hardly sell over a thousand copies of their albums, but are known all over the world, there is a problem... Moreover, the MP3 format is a disgrace to music, for me it is really unrespectful to listen to poor quality MP3 when an artist has spent hours to improve his production.

fullonline: At your webpage www.principlesofflight.com we can find a lot of info on your projects and new music by you. Do you have feedback on the site? You think it is a good way to present your work and keep in touch with fans?

Pierre: Internet is a fantastic way of promoting music nowadays. You can have cheap worldwide promotion using mails and internet pages. Moreover, it's a way to keep people informed about latest news concerning us.

Remy: Yeah, I think that for any professional project having a good webpage representing the style of ones work is necessary.

fullonline: You also have a Myspace page at www.myspace.com/principlesofflight, where we can find new music by you. Do you think it is a good promotion and way to test the new tracks? You got feedback on these tracks? What is your opinion about Myspace? Do you think it is a good promotion and way to test the new tracks?

Remy: Having a good looking myspace is definitely something that is also necessary these days, everybody has a myspace.

Pierre: ...and myspace is easily up-datable. Though it is not as complete and accurate as a full webpage, it can provide numerous interesting informations. It is also a trend. Everybody has to be on myspace and therefore it is a fantastic way of promotion.

fullonline: What equipment you have at your studio? You think hardware is important to achieve unique sounds, or these days with the right software you can do most sounds you want?

Remy: I have laptop with a motu sound card and a pair of fostex pm2 monitors, I have some hardware synths and effects, but I don't use them anymore because they are either broke or shit.

Pierre: I have a PC with a Motu soundcard, a powercore card and a Yamaha 01V mixer. FAR OBS 1 monitors. I have a Nord Micro Modular, a Redsound EleVata, a Korg M1R and an Alesis ION synthetisers. I think it's important to have good equipment, it brings a unique sound. The Alesis for example, was used to make many of the sounds on "Night Time Lullabies", it has many original sounds, and great filters.

fullonline: How do you prepare your Live Acts? What you usually change in each different Live Act?

Principles of Flight Live Pierre: Our live set equipment is basically: two laptops with soundcard and midi controllers. One of the laptop is used as the main soundsource. We use Ableton Live software in which we have our tracks in 4 differents tracks, so we can modulate the sounds live, it is also used to play loops of lead sounds at different moments of the Liveset. All our tracks are specially modified to be played live: a lot of leads for example are played live, and their structure is adapted to have a smoother mix. The second laptop is used as a synthesizer: with different VST played live for pads and sound effects.

fullonline: You prefer to play a DJ set or a Live Act? Why?

Remy: With PoF we only do Live Acts.

Pierre: I don't want to mix because I know I don't have the technical level people would expect, and I don't have the time to listen to much trance. A good DJ has to be up to date with new releases, I don't have the time for this...

fullonline: What makes a good party? You think decoration is important?

Pierre: I think the most important thing in a party is first the location, especially if it is an outdoor party. Then the soundsystem. It has to be powerful but not aggressive, deep, but clean, and it has to respect the music's dynamic. A bad soundsystem can ruin a party, even if the location is nice, people are nice etc... Then I think it is the lineup: it has to be homogene. The decoration is important of course but I think it's part of the location. If all these ingredients are gathered, then people HAVE to be happy, and their is always a good vibe. I think it's the party itself that makes people's mood, not the opposite.

fullonline: What do you think people should do to make a better scene? Any visions about the future?

Pierre: I think there is an overdose of productions and projects these days. Too many releases and only a few have originality and quality. This has lead to a general boredom. Too many productions sound the same, people are in lack of originality, they want new stuff, this is why they turn themselves over Electro and Progressive. But the same is going to happen with these music also... I believe that in a near future, psytrance, after having an awful "melodic" period is going to tend towards more techno and minimal sounds. Teck-trance will come back!

Remy: Any visions about the future%u2026 hum%u2026 Well I think in most musical genres popularity goes in waves, like stock options goes up and down. Psytrance is pretty low at the moment and its normal due to all the bad releases there is out there and all the amateur labels that makes crappy compilations with shitty artworks... But it will turn someday and psytrance will become "killah" again, it's just a question of time.

fullonline: In which other psytrance projects you think we should keep an eye?

Pierre: As I already said, I don't really have the time to keep myself up to date with new releases... appart from french projects, I don't know much. I can't think of any newcomers right now... but I can't wait for a third hypothetical Hallucinogen album!!!!

fullonline: How long does it take for you to make a new track, from the ideas and inspirations to the dance floor? Any hint for a person who is starting making psytrance?

Remy: Well from the moment where we have started with the kick/bass until the track is finished, it can go from 4days up to 10months, of course we don't only work on one track at a time when it's that long, we usually like to work on a track then leave it on the side for a moment and come back to it later. It gives more variation in the sounds inside, if you make many tracks after each other they almost all the time end up sounding the same.

fullonline: What is your favorite psychoactive molecule?

Remy: Psychoactive molecule, hehehe. Well the official PoF drink is pastis, it is Gloopy's favorite drink also, Gloopy is so funny when he gets drunk he can make soup bubbles in all shapes with his mouth.

Pierre: I'm a sex addict....

fullonline: We all know that all kind of weird stuff happen at psychedelic gatherings. Can you tell us something different/funny that you saw or happened to you in a party?

Remy: My favorite weird moment was when we where playing at Fusion Festival in 2006, right in the middle of our set some paramedic guy is hitting me on my shoulder and is yelling something to me in German and I couldn't understand what he was saying cause obviously the sound was very, very loud and my German is very, very bad... So I'm starting to freak out in my head and thought maybe something has happened like a big accident and he wants us to cut the sound or something. So I'm getting a bit upset and scream to him, in English, in English, and the guy replies to me, what is this music? So I say this is a live set, it's our music; he asked if we had an album out, I said it'll be out in December and I gave the guy our card and off he went. He really scared the shit out of me.

Pierre: It was also at fusion 2006: after a night full of partying, I was on my way back to get a bit of rest and sleep. But I got attracted by strange sounds coming from a scene: there was a band playing death metal at 8 in the morning, I stayed there and banged for an hour, it was great!

fullonline: Any last comment, message and/or promotional link?

Remy: Yes!! Please buy our album, we need the money to buy chops of wood to build a new house for Gloopy, it was destroyed by a fire 2 weeks ago when Glapizo the towns painter threw a cigar next to it.
Pierre: Gloopy we love you!!

fullonline: Thank you!
Respect!

Principles of Flight Live

Source:

http://www.fullonline.net/archives/2007/08/principles_of_f.html