Our EDC Orlando pre-show coverage keeps on rolling in!
It's not everyday that a legend in the trance community gets to take the stage at a festival. With Insomniac, however, that's a different story. They utilize their resources every year to make sure they bring the best show possible to their attendees (A.K.A. headliners), which is why they've chosen trance artist Simon Patterson to be the closing artist at the Neongarden stage at this year's EDC Orlando.
We recently spoke with Simon earlier this week about his most recent track, "Apex", what he'll be bringing to the stage at EDC Orlando this year, and much more.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the track ‘Apex’. I really enjoyed listening to it. When you’re writing and subsequently mixing a track like this, that has quite a bit going on in it, what’s the biggest challenge? (You can be technical and talk about DAWs, plugins, sound mixing, etc.)
Well the most important thing for me is sampling. There is approximately 15 major samples in ’Apex’. Some of which I'll probably get in trouble for including in the track. Then I go for randomness. I want to blow peoples minds with the arrangement and random drops. That's what grabs people's attention. Then the kick, bass and percussion have to be tight, crisp and driving. ’Apex’ has it all which is why it took 6 months to make.
In terms of the other tracks you’ve released this year, how would you say that the writing process on ‘Apex’ differed in comparison to tracks like ‘Time Stood Still’ or ‘Drop The Bass’?
Well ‘Drop The Bass’ does have the randomness but the detail in ‘Apex’ is on a different level. ‘Time Stood Still’ was all about the vocal and breakdown. I do love ‘Time Stood Still’ and the drop is decent but to be honest all my tracks take a tremendous amount of work and effort from me and all my team who are equally as fussy as me.
You’ll be at EDC Orlando this weekend. When fans attend a music festival like this, they’re getting music and a number of other distractions thrown at them left and right. In your opinion, what do you think sets you apart from the other artists that will be performing that day? Essentially, what do you think will make fans say “guys, let’s hang here and check out this set for an hour?”
Very good question. I take risks and won't be found playing the same as everyone else. I mix it up with emotion, craziness, psy, techno and trance. It's a journey and it’s fresh. It's an honour closing the stage and playing for Insomniac again. It's going to be the place to be come 10PM on Friday. I can't wait!
I also noticed that you’ll be playing Dreamstate in SF this January! This is a massive trance event. Based on the fact that this is going to be a show in an arena-type setting,what do you think this says about the state of trance music in the modern day?
It's massive. So is Dreamstate LA in a couple of weeks. Both will be huge events. Once again trance is back and Insomniac have taken the risk to push it again. All credit to them and all their teams for constantly putting together fresh line ups with cutting edge production in amazing venues. They give the fans exactly what they want and continue to set trends.
This is the last question that I ask to every artist that I interview. It’s broad, but what does music mean to you?
It's emotion. It's life, blood, sweat and tears. It runs through every part of my body. I’m so grateful it's a part of my life and I'm able to do this daily.
Be sure to catch Simon Patterson headlining the NEONGARDEN stage on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 at EDC Orlando from 10:00 PM to 12:00 AM.
For more music and info on Simon Patterson, visit www.facebook.com/djsimonpatterson
This has been another Shameless Promotion.