RS: That's amazing. When you're in the studio working on music
what do you use?
Josh Gabriel: Ableton Live, Logic, and a bunch of vintage synths.
RS: Such as?
Josh Gabriel: Korg Mono/poly, Jupiter-6, Moog Opus3, Solina String
Ensemble, Korg Poly Ensemble and New Moog Voyager, and then a Fender
bass and electric guitar.
RS: So you play guitar as well?
Josh Gabriel: And a Wurlitzer electric piano, yes.
RS: A question from the past, will there ever be an Andain artist album?
Josh Gabriel: We're working on it right now. We've been working the
better part of a year on an artist album and that should be done
hopefully by June.
RS: The tracks on your solo album, are they mostly instrumental
or are they vocal tracks?
Josh Gabriel: On my album, it looks like they'll be about six
instrumental tracks and four vocal tracks, but it could go either way
at this point.
RS: The vocal tracks, do you have a top line writer or do you
write the lyrics?
Josh Gabriel: No, I write everything.
RS: Are you singing on it or do you have guest singers?
Josh Gabriel: On two of them I'll be singing.
RS: What's it like working with your own vocals?
Josh Gabriel: Well I did it before with "Alive" and "Without You
Near" and it's disconcerting, because I don't feel like I'm the best
singer but I feel like my voice has some kind of feeling and some
emotion. I spend all day deciding what sounds good out of somebody
else's mouth but when I point that lens at myself it's scary.
RS: Will there ever be a time when your tour, DJ, and sing at the
same time?
Josh Gabriel: No, there will never be a time.
RS: What's the significance of the date March 30th?
Josh Gabriel: This was our last gig as Gabriel and Dresden, that's
our Beatport gig. So after that, my next gig was a solo gig.
RS: What effect do you think Beatport has on the distribution of
your music?
Josh Gabriel: I think Beatport is the distribution of our music, so
I'd say in that sense it has a lot to do with it. I mean we also sell
stuff on iTunes and we do sell records that we actually press vinyl of,
but Beatport definitely seems to be a hub and a finger in the wind as
to what's working and what's not working for people, so I think it's a
good thing.
RS: When you made the song Motorcycle did you have any idea
it'd be as big as it was going to be?
Josh Gabriel: Well, no. We knew it was good but you never know. You
think everything's good and you push it out of the studio and then you
see what happens with it and that just, right time, right place, right
song.
RS: What was your favorite remix of that track?
Josh Gabriel: Probably Markus Shultz.
RS: Who are some of your favorite producers right now?
Josh Gabriel: Steve Angelo, Eric Prydz, Oliver Hunteman. Francis
Preve. Christopher Norman. There's a Swedish Guy, Style of Eye that I
like now. There's just so much good music out there.
RS: Do you think Beatport with so much access to music
distribution is watering down the quality of music that's out there?
Josh Gabriel: No, I think it's doing the reverse, I think it's
bringing up the quality of music. Because there's a central place for
people to go and it feeds.
RS: Do you think DJs need to produce and producers need to DJ?
Josh Gabriel: If you're going to make music for the dance floor you
have to DJ otherwise you can't really know the dance floor. That's
not to say that it's not possible, I would say it seems inevitable. In
this day and age being a DJ is really just a live performance as an
electronic artist, so I think it's further and fewer between that
you'll see DJs succeed that don't make music. I can't think of
anybody that's succeeded in the last five years that wasn't
music-based.
RS: What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Josh Gabriel: I'm looking forward to getting on the road and playing
my music for people, so I'll see you soon.
Posted April 8. 2008