In one week, New York City will be graced with the presence of two front-runners in the world of progressive house, Jaytech and Farius. Pride Week NYC welcomes these two amazing artists to play glorious sets at Pandamonium’s own presentation, No Labels. Saturday, June 29th is set the be a night where there are no boundaries, just good music and good company.
In anticipation of this event, we spoke with Jaytech and Farius about the scene, their upcoming projects and plenty of other interesting topics.
FMF: You are both icons in the realm of progressive house music because of the records you’ve produced. What inspires you to create such amazing productions while you are in the studio?
Jaytech: My tracks have always served as a musical reflection of whatever has been happening around me in my life; whether it be fun adventures when travelling or special times with friends and loved ones. Our music tells a story, and with mine there is always a personal meaning for me as well as an external story to convey. With dance music, my hope is to always give people a sense of inspiration and hope about the world around them and the future that lies before us. It never hurts to write something that will make a lot of people dance either!
Farius: That’s a really difficult one to put my finger on! To be honest I take inspiration from a lot of different things. I’ve always said that for me, time spent out of the studio is just as important as the time spent inside — i.e. if you spend 16 hours a day locked away for five days a week on your own, chances are the music you write won’t be that inspired or your best. Travel helps me take a break and I’m lucky enough that this job takes me around the world. I take a lot of inspiration from seeing and hearing other DJs play too, as well as listening to a total cross section of music from drum and bass to classical to draw inspiration from.
We’re certainly glad that you guys are doing what you do now. But, if you hadn’t gotten into DJing and producing, what career path would you have taken?
Jaytech: That’s a hard question to answer because I’ve always operated in the realms of electronic music in one way or another. If I wasn’t doing music, I would probably be working in the area of linguistics and personal development. In fact, that’s kind of what I’ve ended up doing with my music anyway. I’m a language nut, having lived in Germany for six years and learned to speak the language (mostly) fluently. I’ve also dabbled in a lot of other languages, and I see a lot of parallels between the world of music and linguistics. The more you learn music, the more you can say with it and that has a great impact.
Farius: I was always in music from a really young age – singing in school choirs and playing percussion/drums in school bands — that was my full focus throughout school. I then went on to music college to complete my degree there… So to be honest if I wasn’t DJing and producing now, I would still be somewhere in music but probably on the label and management side of things.
On Saturday, June 29th, both of you are playing the No Labels show in NYC for Pride Week. The theme of the party is ‘No Labels’ , which pertains to both music and sexuality. What does it mean to you to have ‘no labels’?
Jaytech: It wasn’t until I started travelling the world that I started to see first hand the scope of the oppression placed on the LGBT community. All around the globe, I have met people who grew up with unfair expectations placed on them about who they are supposed to be. I realised that many cultures unfortunately place an incredible sense of limitation and guilt on people to try and force them to be something they’re not, and it is never a good thing. With time, the world is waking up to the fact that love comes in all shapes and sizes. If you have the courage and strength to be who you are in the face of adversity, life will ultimately be very rewarding for you.
Farius: When the opportunity came up to play a show during Pride Weekend in NYC, I was totally down. I think pride remains a hugely important celebration for the global LGBT+ community and I’m super excited to experience my first New York Pride. I think the ‘No Labels’ concept is really cool. I guess it just kinda does what it says on the tin; it doesn’t really matter who you are or what you are, everyone is welcome to party under the same roof. And isn’t that the way every party should be anyway?
You’ve both performed here in the US and abroad already this year. Where else can we see you in 2019?
Jaytech: I’m super excited for my NYC return at the end of this month — it’s a city that’s always been good to me with a great crowd. After that, I’ll be playing shows in Miami, LA and Seattle, before hunkering down in the studio for a while to finish my new album.
Farius: I’ve got some cool stuff on the horizon, some more shows in Europe this summer and then a return to the states in September for a show in Phoenix and a few other cities too — details are just being finalized at the moment, but keep an eye on my socials for a full announcement soon.
You both have had a great year so far, filled with new music. What else do you have in store for us this year?
Jaytech: We’ve just signed some great new artists to my indie label, Positronic, so keep an eye out for those releases in the coming months. I’m also excited to report the musical and lyrical elements for my next album are nearly complete, which means it’s time for the final detail production. It’s never easy, but ultimately a rewarding process.
Farius: More music! Loads more music. I’ve got some more releases forthcoming this summer on Zerothree, a debut on Enhanced Progressive and a remix for a big trance act on a super cool label… watch this space!
*Featured image via Jaytech and Farius*
