As a team, Gabriel and Dresden have worked together for seven years producing, remixing, and DJing. Their list of accomplishments is quite impressive - producing the international club smash Motorcycle "As the Rush Comes," remixing the works of Paul Oakenfold, Way Out West, Depeche Mode, Madonna, and Tiesto, achieving #20 on the DJ Magazine list, and winning the International Dance Music Awards for Best DJ two years in a row. After WMC this year, the two have decided to take a break and work on solo projects. I caught up with Josh and Dave during Winter Music Conference to talk about their work together and their future plans apart.
RS: I've heard through the grapevine that there's going to be some
changes in your professional life; would you care to elaborate?
Dave Dresden: We both were growing apart as artists. Josh wanted to
go in a more tech-ier direction where I'm into making the big vocal
anthems with dramatic and emotional changes which we've become well
known for. I think this can be best exemplified by Josh's recent solo
single "Summit". We will most likely come together again one day and
follow up our debut album, but until then, we're both going to
exercise our musical musings and enjoy the time apart as much as we
can.
RS: Do you think you've accomplished everything that you wanted to do as a duo?
Dave Dresden: Yes and no. I feel that we could have moved into the
world of producing bands and working on the artists we found as a duo,
but you cannot force great art, and if we're both not 100% happy with
the direction we're taking, why force it?
RS: When you started working with Josh did you have any idea that
this relationship would last so long and it would be so fruitful?
Dave Dresden: From the moment I started working with Josh, I felt a
magic spark that I had never felt before in the studio. The studio
bored me and the process was too long. He made it fun and the results
made me proud and happy to work with him.
RS: How did you two meet up?
Dave Dresden: We met at the WMC 2001 when I was working for
grooveradio.com and also as a scout for Pete Tong, giving him a good
ear to the bountiful talent that exists in the USA. During my tenure
with him, I found many tracks that did well for him both on his radio
show, "Essential Selection," and the label he was head of at the time,
ffrr.
RS: When the two of you collaborate in the studio together, what role
do the two of you play? Or is there a defined role?
Dave Dresden: Josh and I wore many hats in the studio. Whatever he
did I made better and vice versa. It was one of those relationships
that just worked and neither of us questioned it.
RS: What are you most proud of during this time period or what
achievement are you most proud of?
Dave Dresden: There were many, but in the summer of 2003, having the
two biggest anthems in the trance scene, Motorcycle's "As the Rush
Comes" and Andain's "Beautiful Things" - then watching Motorcycle go
from club anthem to #11 in the UK pop charts and a performance on "Top
of the Pops." Going in higher on the chart than the current Beyonce'
single really said big things to us and our potential for the future
as producers and writers.
RS: What are you working on right now?
Dave Dresden: I finished a single with Chris Cox recently that got
played on Pete Tong's essential selection on April 4th 2008. I'm also
working on a remix of Serge Devant's cover of The Beloved's "Sweet
Harmony" with Trent Cantrelle. In addition, lots of doodles in Ableton
and Logic that I plan to expound on once I recover from the shoulder
surgery I just had.
RS: Who else are you working with?
Dave Dresden: In addition to the above-mentioned names, I've got some
other collaborations in the works for the near future. I'd love to
work with as many producers as I can, to soak up new influences and
maybe find someone whom I have a chemistry with like I did with Josh.
I also have a goal of starting and finishing an original song myself
within the next year that rocks the floor. That would be really
awesome to me.
