Artist: Chi-Ad

[Insejn]

Artist: Chi-ad

Date: 01-02-01

By: Children

 

Q: First of all, why "Chi-ad" ?

A: Well - CHI is..........................................................and means the body's inner energy or life-force and A.D. is for Anno Domini which is Latin for "in the year of our Lord". The A.D. was added for legal & contractual reasons. It's actually pronounced chee and not Chai as many people seem to think.

 

Q: How and when did you start to make Goa ?

A: After releasing quite a few underground tracks under various guises my first real Goa project was the 1997's Virtual Spirit album. The project was intended to mix some of harder and more abrasive elements of Acid Techno - which I was initially involved in - with the more uplifting and melodic elements of Goa Trance. CHI-A.D.'s music has always been about trying to capture that really good rushing feeling at a great party. It's about the energy behind and within the music.

 

Q: Do you project to release a new album ? When would it be released ?

A: We will be recording a new album in Winter 2000 which will probably be released on Nova Tekk (velvet Inc.) in Jan/Feb 2001. About 7 or 8 of the tracks are already finished. Musically the album will see a return to the more uplifting and melodic musicality of tracks like "Eye am the I" and "Celestial". In the meantime we have been looking into releasing an album with Nova Tekk which would feature remastered and remixed versions of many of the tracks which have featured on compilations. (see below)

 

Q: Half of the people who reviewed your albums on our site think the Tracks you release on compilations (like Biocandy, Exit Eternity, Astral Warrior Rmx or Eye Am The I) are much better than the ones on your albums, the other half also like your albums a lot . do you have a clue to explain such different opinions about your albums and so similar ones about the Tracks you release on compilations ?

A: Yeah they are good tracks.........Ha Ha...........It just worked out that way that the tracks in question ended up on compilations rather than on albums. Sometimes it's a question of timing and record company decisions:- for instance "Purity" and "Spirit" were originally intended to be on Virtual Spirit but Nova Tekk initially wanted to release these as a 12" and then didn't release it, ,,,,,,,,,,,,so what can you do. Tracks which were written in the spaces between albums usually ended up being licensed for compilations

I personally think the albums follow a much broader musical spectrum which take in a lot more elements of "Trance music" in general than what we have come to call psy-trance. They are more of a listening process and were definitely intended to be more of a musical journey following a theme from start to finish....... rather than a collection of 12" 's - which was definitely the intention with Virtual Spirit. Both albums weren't really intended to be 'Banging Psy-trance' cos that was what everyone was releasing. Having said that "Anno Domini" did perhaps suffer due to combination of a denser production sound and the fact that it was mastered In one respect it's good that people like different elements of the music and that it has raised such a broad debate. However, we don't want to alienate the fans who are into the tracks you have mentioned and have noticed that people definitely seem to prefer the 'classic' CHI-A.D. sound to follow the tracks you have mentioned.............we are hoping the new album will be collection of Killer tunes which will work both on the dance-floor and as a listening experience.

 

Q: A rumour says you would release a collection of old Tracks released on comps, like Tim Schuldt did for his first album . is it true ?

A: We did speak to Nova Tekk about this in the middle of the last year. A lot of people were saying it would be nice to get the compilation tracks on one album. The thinking behind this was to collect all the 'hard to find' and cool compilation tracks (which had never been released together) for our fans and give them a full album of these tracks, re-mastered with perhaps a couple of remixes and unreleased tracks to give value for money. It would also give our fans something in the spaces between "official" full length album projects. This never materialised however,...... it's still a good idea we would be open to offers from any labels out there!!!!!!!

 

Q: Why did you name the Track " Eye Am The I " instead of " I Am The Eye " ? Are you planning to do a remix of this Track, or more generally some remixes of your old Tracks ?

A: Andy normally names the tracks unless I really put my foot down...... Not very often ........Ha Ha. He's into Plays on words and stuff...............we knew when the track was finished that it was a pretty cool one so we thought the title should be a bit memorable.......I think it worked.

 

Q: Which of your own tracks do you like the best ?

A: I like all the trax , but I do have a soft spot for Healing magic , Celestial ,pathfinder and Eye am the I

 

Q: Your favourite psychedelic Groups & Albums ?

A: Most things by Astral Projection, X Dream, Oforia, Cosmosis, Tim Schuldt, the odd track here and there such as Johann's "Stranded - the delta remix"

 

Q: Where does your inspiration come from when building a Track ?

A: I draw my energy from Nature , and her many mysteries.

 

Q: What kind of equipment do you use to make your Tracks ?

A: Main synths used on the tracks are Korg Triton, Novation Nova 2 (recent additions), Roland JP-8000, Korg Z1, Roland SP-808, Roland JV 1080, Yamaha AN1X

 

Q: Future projects ?

A: Much more CHI-A.D. If the new album is well received it should prove the catalyst for some great new tracks..................I'm much happier with the production which has definitely retained the musicality in the new album tracks. we've always had a problem before where the production seemed to suffer due to the musical structure of the tracks. I think this new album will definitely go a long way to resolving this. More parties hopefully, for some reason we don't get to play many parties at all - 1 or 2 a year but things look to be changing. Hopefully, another CHI-A.D. album by the end of the year if all goes well - and perhaps a couple of mystery side projects.

 

Q: Is there another artist you'd like to work with ?

A: Peter Gabriel (???????????) should get them talking

 

Q: Do you play DJ sets in parties ? If so, what kind of stuff do you play as DJ in parties ?

A: Don't do the DJ thing ..............I leave that to the DJ's

 

Q: When & where was your best party ? And your worst one ?

A: Medium records party in Germany , realy good atmosphere and sounds. Leicester UK Where we played to one person !!! I think was the worst.

 

Q: As you're in psytrance for many years, what do you think about the evolution of psytrance in the last years on a musical point of view ? Have things gotten better/worse according to you ?

A: It appears to have become a bit too fragmented for such a small scene. Much of the original energy seems to have been lost. Not too keen on the more progressive side of the music, good for DJ's but the music isn't as exciting as the early Goa/Psy releases.

 

Thx a lot and good luck for this new year ;-)

Love , light n spirituality

Take Care