Coming off of an amazing Australian Tour, Claus Terhoeven and Stefan ‘Bossi’ Bossems, better known as Cosmic Gate, hit Miami like a Hurricane moving at full force. Pool parties at Juicy Beach, their own private yacht party, and of course, the Expedition ASOT 600 Stage. I met up with the guys at their bayfront hotel during Miami Music week and we soaked up some sun as we chatted about their plans for 2013, their thoughts on pirated music, and of course, the new Wake Your Mind Deluxe Album that is officially available for purchase. Hit play on the Soundcloud player below and enjoy their tunes while you read the interview!
AFM: What have you guys been up to since you arrived in Miami?
We just had our Cosmic Gate boat party which is always one of the major highlights for us during our time at WMC. The vibe is really incredible because you have 400 people together on one boat that are truly there for the music and they love it. They sing along to the tracks, they know what’s going on and they come there for the music we play. Its like a big family meeting. You know faces you’ve seen from other crowds and people that have been following you for years. It’s also great to meet our fans who we consistently see on social media. ASOT is also another huge highlight, the club shows are great, but nothing really compares to the fans and the atmosphere at the ASOT stage in Miami. And not just in Miami, we also recently played for 25,000 fans at ASOT 600 in Kuala Lumpur and the fans were just going nuts.
AFM: I don’t think anything really compares to ASOT. That being said, would you agree with the statement that Trance fans have a deeper connection, or more passionate emotional connection with their choice in music?
People that love House and other genres, they listen to it, people that love trance, they consume it, they love it, and that might be one of the things that’s helping elevate it and allowing it to become more popular.
AFM: Tell us about the Australian Tour? How was it hosting your own ‘Wake Your Mind Stage’?
Australia was amazing! Go and take your time, travel around and really explore the different cities because each has a lot to offer. We did our own Wake Your Mind Tour where we invited some of our friends to come tour with us and the reaction from our fans was just awesome. We did a tour there about 10 months ago, which was a solo tour, but this one had full production and really brought the experience to the next level. Needless to say we can’t wait to go back!
AFM: That leads us into the Wake Your Mind Deluxe Edition Album, which is out now! What can fans expect from that album?
There are some massive completely unreleased remixes that will be coming out on the album as well as a remix of each track we have, and the original album, so it’s really a two in one thing for fans. 26 tracks in total! A great tool for any Cosmic Gate fan 🙂
AFM: So heading into the future, what are your big plans for the rest of 2013? Back into the studio? Touring?
We are constantly on tour, maybe even too much, but the next big thing is a new a album production. We have already got started on it and we are planning on taking maybe two weekends off, something we have never done, to get some quality time in the studio, but we definitely also produce on tour. You have to these days; otherwise you would only come out with like 1 album every ten years haha.
AFM: What do you guys use to produce?
Logic, and everything apple. Started in cubase in the early 90’s, before moving into logic in the late 1990’s.
AFM: Since you brought up the 90’s, and you started spinning on vinyl, I’m always interested to know, do you feel like the transition into CDJ’s has taken away from or added to the art of DJing?
Of course in the beginning we were always missing the vinyl, that always happens with new updates, kind of like peoples issues with Facebook updates haha! But then, I have to say, we really like it, the Pioneer CDJ 2000’s are really amazing. The only thing we don’t like about it, is that people lose the experience of having a CD or vinyl in their hands, and when that happened, music simply lost its value. When you have this cover, and the record in your hand, it’s a value for you, an mp3 you downloaded somewhere and stored on your phone or your ipod, it’s different. This is maybe one of the negatives, but that’s how it is, and you have to deal with it. But on the other side, you have have hundreds of tracks on one usb stick, which is much lighter than a record box with 70 vinyl’s and doesn’t get lost when you’re traveling!
AFM: Do you see an immediate solution that loss of value?
Well if you get your bread for free on the Internet you don’t go to the bakery anymore. People just need to realize that artists are working hard and need to make a living and I don’t think $1 is much to ask for a piece of art. When you bought songs on vinyal they were $15! And we would do that with every track! When you appreciate music, it’s sad that there are a lot of artists that can’t do their art because they have to make a living and illegally downloading music is simply stealing. And it hurts the fans because they end up paying double or triple the price of the concert tickets. Maybe if the records companys would have recognized the trends earlier they could have come up with a solution. In the end iTunes had to digitize it.
AFM: I remember the first trance CD I bought, ‘The Perfect Trance 1.0 mixed by Suzie Solar; I played the damn thing till I burned it out, that cd was the experience, it was everything to me.
And you know, you probably won’t say that in 10 years when you just download everything. I will never forget buying Bronski Beats small town boy. I loved this tune to death, but you know, that’s simply how it is.
[youtube id=”9Xa79n1CdKY” width=”620″ height=”360″]AFM: My oh my, how the times have changed. But one thing in your illustrious career has stayed the same: Cosmic Gate continues to be, and always has been, one of the most talented Trance duo’s to grace the genre. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy WMC schedule to talk with me today, and thank you for all of the hard work and dedication you’ve put into creating such beautiful music for us.
Connect with Cosmic Gate
Originally posted on www.onlythebeat.com
