Adam Beyer Interview.


Alongside Stockholms Cari Lekebusch, Joel Mull and Jesper Dahlback, Adam Beyer has become synonymous with the techno sound of Sweden, which has quite literally shaken the world since the mid-nineties. From the driving percussive force of his Drumcode label to the more open electronic miasma on his current Truesoul and Mad Eye imprints, Beyer remains one of the biggest and most influential producer/DJs on the planet. He plays LWE on Sunday April 8th for 6 hours at a secret location, so we caught up with him for more.

How has the last 12 months been for you? What has stood out?
The last year has been great. There has been a lot of good feedback to my radio show which has been running for about 18 months now. My labels – Drumcode and Truesoul – are both running great and we have done some really amazing Drumcode parties with the 15 Year Anniversary tour we did last year.

And have your tastes evolved much recently?

I have been playing a bit more pure techno sets recently. Of course I play a bit different depending on which city I am in but I have been playing more techno than I did for a while but maybe that is evolved as it is more looking back in time. I do try to keep an eye on all genres depending on how much time I have but as far as techno goes I think there is in general a lack of quality techno right now. A lot of the current output is too plastic or too out-there and anal.

Now the label has passed 15 years will you do anything differently?

Well its actually the opposite for me as I am trying to not change too much about what has made the label successful. The essence of the label has always been a tightly defined sound and high quality control so we have pretty simple rules that we always try to stick too regardless of how old we get.

What sort of projects are you working on for Drumcode right now?

Well, we have just released Alan Fitzpatrick’s new EP and the next release is by myself and Joseph Capriati with a three-track collaboration EP and then there will be a 12” from Ben Sims. After that there will be a various artists compilation with tracks from artists who have released before but not big stuff so I want to introduce them a bit more and also include a few new Swedish producers who I have found. Then looking further into the future I am planning my next release to be Drumcode’s 100th release which will come after the summer.

How long do you spend A&Ring for the label or are you happy with the family you have now?

I am happy but I am always looking for new stuff. To be frankly honest though there are just too many demos being sent for me to realistically listen to everything.  The main focus is on the artists who have already released on the label. For example, we have projects in the pipeline now from Jesper Dahlback and Slam who have both been a big part of the label so far so that takes up most of our energy.

If you could change anything about your job, what would it be?

The only thing that gets really repetitive is the travelling so if I could beam myself to places that would be cool but there is nothing for me to complain about with what I do and I am very aware there is always going to be someone somewhere who has it worse than me.

You tweeted the other day about the new Swedish sound – house (!) were you taking a pop at the SHM per chance?

No. It was not directed towards anyone in particular. More like Sweden as a country. It seems it has suddenly dawned on the majority of Swedish people that dance music exists and now everyone seems to be in to it. At the time I wrote that tweet Avichi was about to do three sold out shows here in Stockholm with 8000 or 9000 people at each show so there was a lot of talk in the media in general. It just seems that house music is becoming the new pop music, that’s all I meant by it.

Do you ever get tempted to produce or play lower tempos?

Techno has slowed down a great deal, like 124 BPM, so I don’t really want to go slower than that. Most of what I play is 126 and 129 BPM. I do really enjoying playing some deep house or minimal or tech house as when I go out to just listen to music that is what I like to listen to. More musical stuff, not so much banging techno. When it comes to producing I don’t really think about what I want to make. What comes out, comes out. But more recently I have made a few slower, more funnky tracks but maybe that’s because I am getting older.

Plain and Simple are running an amazing competition to win tickets to see Adam play for 6 hours at an yet to be confirmed London warehouse party on the 8th April. Pop over to the competition page here. 


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