trance bunnė: I've read that you first got into electronic music in the 80s. Who would you say influenced you the most when you were first starting out and in addition where do you find your inspiration now?

skylab2000: I guess it began from going out to clubs and undergrounds back in the late 80s. I used to live in London, England and went back every year after moving away, so I got to see the beginnings of the scene over there. The bands got more and more into dance music and I was an indie kid who just got dragged along into the future... It's hard to say where you get inspiration from, because it comes from everywhere. Sometimes you see a band on TV, or maybe someone playing guitar in a coffee shop or maybe a great DJ doing something new and unusual. I guess the most inspiration comes from traveling, because you see music so far from what is normal for the small world you live in every day.

trance bunnë: Do you remember what the first party you performed at was called?

skylab2000: The first big party we did was called Circa 94. I guess it was actually our first event although we played a small club by our house just as a dress rehearsal under a false name. I think we learned a lot from the dress rehearsal, because a month later when we did the big show it went really well and we got a lot of attention. It was pretty scary to have never really performed publicly and then suddenly play a massive bill at peak hour.

trance bunnė: What if any differences do you see in the scene a few years back vs. now?

skylab2000: In some form the scene has existed here on the West Coast for almost 20 years now, so obviously there's been massive changes. At first it was a tight knit group of people who just loved to get together and dance and hang out. Then the scene got bigger and bigger and people joined for many different reasons. People were all wide-eyed and optimistic initially and everybody seemed to love the same music, but as any scene matures some people get jaded, some people joined for questionable reasons, and people get very specific in their musical tastes. I guess now Candy kids are the closest to how the scene felt when it first started when we were all young and optimistic and so excited to be there week after week.

trance bunnė: What do you do with your free time outside of going to events? Is there any hobbies you enjoy outside of creating music?

skylab2000: I like hanging out with friends, traveling to fabulous places, and sometimes photography. Back and forth on that one as the gear hasn't gotten good enough for what I want to do. I like reading too. It's really nice to get away from clubs and music since I do that every weekend. The steak every night syndrome. I spent last summer in Asia and I avoided Western music for a month, and that's pretty refreshing.

trance bunnė: Are there any styles you like to experiment with outside of what you bring to the rave scene?

skylab2000: Dub step is really cool. Jungle can be really amazing, and I guess I'm partial to sexy house. I live in California where it's warm and sunny, so uplifting sexy house tracks just feels right.

trance bunnė: What is your favorite event to attend or perform at?

skylab2000: Burning Man. Each year it gets a bit bigger and away from its original ideals, but it's still a unique event and feels like being in a giant social experiment. People really go all out and create an amazing city. If you give it a week, it just might change your life. I also like to see live musicians. Bands like Underworld or Daft Punk or Groove Armada really put on a good show.

trance bunnė: You have such a unique musical expression. I myself have tried to see how you do what you do on stage to no avail. What do you use on stage? Can we have some technical specs? ;)

skylab2000: There's nothing really magical about the gear I use. Most of it is old and not particularly expensive. I think people get bogged down in what gear is used. You can see great music being created with nothing. A guitar in the right hands is pretty incredible. Nobody much cares what type of piano a pianist uses. The most important piece of gear is your mind.

trance bunnė: How do you deal with creative blocks? What pulls you back out and gets you innovating again?

skylab2000: There's no solution to creative blocks, nor any logic to when they occur. The only consistent trick in getting past them is to try something new. That new could be writing a different time of the day, it could be taking a few months away from music, or it could be going to see some live music. Really anything just to shake up your routine. It's like any job. Some days you love your job. Other days you don't. Sometimes there's no reason why. You're just not in the mood.

trance bunnė: Does all the traveling wear you down? How do you center yourself when you're touring?

skylab2000: Yes traveling is hard. At first it sounds very luxurious to fly around the world and I guess it is. The hard part is mostly the tedium of sitting on airplanes all day long. From leaving my house to arriving at an event on the East Coast is normally about 10 or 11 hours. Then you play the event, sleep for a few hours, and then travel another 10 or 11 hours home. It does take a toll on your health sometimes when you don't get to sleep enough. It definitely was easier when I was younger and invincible! LOL.

trance bunnė: Any tips for new djs or performers trying to make there own niche in the scene?

skylab2000: In nature if the creature wants to get attention, it does something special. Peacock's feathers are an example. If you are just a competent DJ, what makes people want to choose you? Be something special. Be the next Donald Glaude or Carl Cox or Dieselboy.

trance bunnė: What's your favorite color glowstick?: (had to ask) :)

skylab2000: I'm not sure I have a favorite, but I used to wear a glowstick at every single show. I always rotated the colors and I guess was partial to the new colors since we had standard green way back in the day.

skylab2000: Burning Man, which I mentioned above, seems to have the highest concentration of really talented Poi people. I saw two girls this past year that were the best I've ever seen. It's hard to say where the best glow sticking is, but I can tell you where it isn't. We brought some glow sticks with us when we went to Istanbul, Turkey a few years ago to play a big festival there. Nobody had glowsticks and I'm not sure they even sell glow sticks in Turkey, based on people's reactions to them. My girlfriend taught some people glow stick tricks, and may have kick started the Turkish glowsticking scene.

Awesome note to leave off on... lol. Special thanks to Dennis Barton!

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