Artist: Cujorius One

[Penzoline]

Artist: Cujorius One
Date: 2011-03-28
By: GagaISM


1) I would first of all thank you for taking your time to do this interview. It's been rather silent in the Cujo-camp for a while now (your last release was the “Cat In Bag, Bag In River” ep on soundmute from 2008) so this is a great opportunity to let your followers know what's going on + giving the ignorant a little history lesson.

Let's start at the very beginning. How did you get involved in the world of electronic music and what motivated you to start producing on your own?

Actually the London.Paris.Hangover.New York and Sunday To Fuck Up Your Monday, albums were released after the Cat In Bag, Bag in River EP. But unfortunately those two albums have missed the ears of many listeners.

They have only been made available online so far, and promotion hasn't been too good and hasn't worked as supposed, so I meet a lot of people who ask me why it's been so quiet, but usually it's because they actually missed this supposedly double album release. which was released as two separate albums instead.

But the Cujo Camp is quiet, things have been very hectic lately, and my day day job has taken more or less all my time.
I still work with sounds and study sound, but it's like I don't feel like making any progressive, trance, techno sounds lately. They are still in my head, all the ideas, but my heart just doesn't follow when I produce it for more than 15 minutes lately. That's usually because I have thousands of other sound ideas in my head, that needs to be made for my day job, which is Computer Game and Film Sound Design.

But to get back to the question:
I got involved in the world of electronic music back in the beginning of the 90's. Being a metal fan back then as a kid, I started listening to Techno on MTV and at the few radio shows I could find.
Being brought up in a non-Techno family in the 90's made it very difficult to get hold of any electronic music at all.

So for a long period, i said i didn't like techno. the usual "it's the same over and over again" explanation of why, when people asked, but i actually kind of liked this whole electronic sound.

When I got a little older, around 14 years old, I heard some Prodigy tracks on MTV, and that was like a kick into the world of electronic music, because that was a band I knew I could go to the local shop and buy.
Before that I just didn't feel like asking for Techno in a shop, because in my experience when people asked for an introduction to something specific in a shop, they never got exactly what they wanted, so I wanted to find the style I wanted to listen to by myself.

With those first Prodigy record purchases in 94-96, I found a record shop named Candy Records, in Copenhagen, which is now closed and another record shop has taken over. They sold Prodigy lp's, and I bought all the copies I could find. I started going to the shop every day after school- just looking at records, listening to records and buying some.
Then one day, finding some old Koxbox releases there, I asked if I could listen to them, and the guy behind the counter, by the name of Peter, answered "yes of course. this was our first 12" release".

The guy was Peter Candy himself, from Koxbox- and we started talking a lot, became quite good friends and starting hanging out as well.

The years following: around 97/98 - I started producing music with some very simple tools like Rebirth, Fruity Loops, Fast Tracker etc. on PC and Amiga 500.
Peter who had at that time just left Koxbox. started to visit my parents house and made some small tracks with me.
I was 16-17, and Peter was 38-39, so it was quite a big change for me in my way of listening to electronic music. since I could see on his way of working and how he approached different issues, that I had been fighting with to learn.

Then Peter and I drifted slightly apart. We both had things to do and we didn't hang out for a while.

I started buying synths, a new computer, new equipment, starting from scratch.
I didn't anybody who could teach me Midi, synths or anything back then - So I just bought the gear and got started. It was great, but a sloooow process.

But who said that Rome was built in one day right?

The first couple of tracks I made with my new equipment, which I consider being my first real tracks (though a lot of people disagree with that), because they heard earlier work of mine - where very twisted, and very poorly produced in terms of sound quality. But they contained many many nice sounds, which I enjoyed making.

Back then I had:
Access Virus B
Clavia Nord Rack II (which I still have)
Roland JP8000
- and a mackie mixer with a bunch of effects, reverb and so on.

Later I bought an Akai s2000 sampler, Korg Z1, Korg Ms2000, Jomox Xbase, Emu E5000 sampler and a few other things. Some of which I still have, some which I have sold again. I switched the small Mackie Mixer with a fat ass StudioMaster p7 40 channel mixer.
Working with that equipment was just fantastic.

Sold the mixer and a few other things later, so now I run a minor setup, but with more quality parts, and a lot of audio programming instead of actual synthesis.

From the beginning of the new millennium, with my first releases the “Insane Dreamer” EP and “Buffalo Killer” track on Leviathan records in 2001, I have gotten more and more into just sound, instead of music only.
My passion for making a “sound", instead of a musical piece got bigger and bigger, and I started making sounds, which I later made music of, instead of making music and then creating the parts for it on the go. I developed a passion for weird setups. microphones and home made parts that I could just twist the most weird sounds out of. I still do that today.

So from a little teenager doing sounds in the end of the 90's to now beginning of the 10's, I have come a pretty long way I’d say.

- questions one ADD: my latest release is "EVI LL FUCK YOU UP" on soundmute records. 2010.



2) It's obvious that Peter Candy, with all his knowledge, must have had quite an influence on your early music career. But the music you have ended up creating (even in those early days) didn't sound much like Koxbox. Did you already have a clear vision of style and sound at that point?

I became a big fan of Koxbox, and who doesn't love hanging out with the band they are a fan of?
Peter helped me turn my interest in electronic music into something serious - that made my teenage head go "I wanna do that too" mindset.

I didn't want to sound like Koxbox at all though. I was just inspired by sounds, the way of music, and the creative process. I loved listening to Koxbox, but I was way more interested in making that kick-drum snap!

Which is still my main goal - all this beat making.



3) I remember discovering your music through the Tenka tracks you made together with Jesper 'Espark' Eskildsen back in 2002. It seemed at that point that a lot of people started disowning traditional Goa-Trance in favor of this new minimal style. Did you realize that you had become a key-player in new wave of Trance music totally different to what had been released before?

That's true. in 2001 to 2003, Minimal Progressive was a really big thing, and Iboga was really kicking through in the international scene.

I, and we, had no idea that the Tenka tracks we did would have such a big impact on the progressive scene. I still meet people today, who don't know who's behind Tenka, and when they find out they shake my hand. It's a really great, and still rather weird experience.

But they are good tracks, that we are very proud of. It's just that we didn't quite get that it was "that" good back then, or people liked it "that" much.



4) You had a lot of tracks released on Compilations in those early years of the millennium and even worked for Leviathan Recordings at one point. Did you consciously work towards the creation of a full-length album or did you just happen to get signed unto Tim Larner's Zenon Records by chance?

Yes. A deal was made with Leviathan to release an album, but they failed because of a lot of private business and the whole scene was going down on pirated copies of music and all that stuff. It was a big crisis.

So Novatekk took over Leviathan, which was great and I helped them out doing a few things, and sorted out the money situation.
I had them sign the old act from Moses (Bufo), and some other guys. they released a track of mine on Pulse (Draw The Dot). But something went wrong because of some discussions with Novatekk, as a label, and their at that time A&R TomTron. He was a nice guy, but we just didn't agree on everything and I was kicked out of Novatekk, who then one week later was declared bankrupt. That might be the explanation for them throwing people out and having such a short temper. But they where cool guys apart from that situation, and I was at that time also not too good with communication when i got angry. So we where all equally good when it came to saying stupid things to each other. I'm sorry about what happened back then

I worked with Tim Larner before he released anything. We where trying to get him signed on Leviathan. We used to send tracks back and fourth back then and became quite close friends.

Leviathan was dropped, and Tim released some tracks on a few labels, and started up Zenon. I released some tracks on Zenon and we made a deal to release "Creating A Second Sun" album on Zenon in 2004, and it was put out in 2005.
Which in my perspective is a really good album, which I'm very satisfied with. I still listen to it once in a while.

So Tim and I go way back.



5) Your sound had at this point become more complicated and techno-like compared to those early Tenka tracks. Was this a natural progression and consequence of your constantly evolving skills?

It's a combination. Back then I really liked the track's of Adam Beyer, X-Dream, and many different Industrial acts, like NIN, DIVE and Dirk Ivens and things like that.

I started listening to Noise like Einstürzende Neubaten and Sudcliffe Jugend. I didn't quite understand it, and perhaps didn't even like what they did, but they inspired me into doing my own noise, and when I did, I really liked "noise". I liked my own noise because I knew what was behind it. Since then i started to really get a different feeling on Noise acts.

And my skills where constantly getting better.



6) I remember that you once said that you weren't to keen on "The Art of Mindfucking" when it was released. Did that have that something to do with this experimentation with a sharper and more gritty sound?

Yea. When I was producing the last track, I was sitting in my studio thinking "thank god it's over soon". Sent it to the label and just thought "I like it, but now I want to do something different".
Then after some time, I got more and more keen on it, and more and more people started booking me for live gigs because of that album. So I brought it back up a little later and listened to it again and started to enjoy it more and more. I guess I just remembered what I felt when I produced it.



7) Let's take a little trip back in time again. From what's been documented through compilations like Ayahuasca's Daneism comp and Leviathan's Undefined Emotional Frequencies and danish label's like Creamcrop and Iboga it seems like there was quite a lot going on in Denmark back then. How tight was the community and did you hang out with all these people?

Well, the community was quite odd because Iboga where the first guys to put something out and have a little studio working together to make tracks. Creamcrop was different, because of their style, but was still one of the front figures on the morning scene here. Not everybody knew everybody and not everybody wanted to know everybody.

It's not that the scene was snobbish or anything, but there was of course a naturally occurring hierarchy, which made small guys not meet big guys, and vise versa. But once I started having gigs, and met people around the world, it started to become more fun to play. I would play gigs where I always knew someone from somewhere



8) One thing some of you had in common back then was the minimalist approach to Trance. Do you think one could argue that there was a distinct danish sound at that point? A style consciously or unconsciously influenced by each other like with the early Goa scene?

Definitely not consciously. I think the Danish mentality just for a time was focused on the same level of sound and style. It was the only thing around and the parties where like that.

No wonder it went straight from that to basically Full-on stuff. Which in the beginning was horrible(!!!). When they started to get a better feel on the style, quality and so on, the Full-on stuff got way way better. And then it was OK again. My only problem, of course, was that Progressive, Minimal and Tech was basically completely forgotten.



9) What did you remember as the most defining or popular tracks of the minimal wave both nationally and internationally?

Nationally there where all the older Iboga tracks, that really shook the world back then.

Internationally the mid-euro guys like XV Kilist, Paste and Yumade etc really set a high standard. particularly Yumade, who were one of the key inspirations to making nice kick-drum's out of weird things. Zerotonine where pretty inspiring to the scene as well.

In Denmark, the scene sort of split into two - and me myself was a pretty big part of it, but the guys from Genetic Spin, all the Ayahuasca guys, Frogacult, where all good.



10) Do you think that the listeners of Trance music tends to be a little less loyal towards the styles of yesterday compared to fans of House and Techno music?

Not at all. I think people don't generally listen to the music of yesterday, but when they do they remember it. New people to the scene, usually don't dig older music unless it's what they became introduced to in the first place. Of course there is situations where it's not the case, but I think it's generally like that.



11) That tends to be the case yes. Do you still attend Trance parties around the world and here in Denmark?

Sometimes yes. Usually only when I'm going because of a gig. Unfortunately. But when I'm out playing and have free time to walk around the party and have fun, I still do



12) We're, as you said, all shaped by the music we grow up with. If you should name some of the releases that really changed your perception of Trance music which ones would they be?

Koxbox - Forever after
Transwave - Phototropic
Front 242 - Front By Front
Miranda - phenomena
Xenomorph - Cassandra's Nightmare
Brighton Trash Department - Devil's Dyke EP
Paps - Vibes From The Other Side



13) This leaves us at the end of one road and at the beginning of another one. Do you think there's a chance that you'll make another Cujorius One album at some point?

For sure. I'll be working on a bunch in the future
Plenty of ideas. I just need time and focus to produce them

I can't wait for that to happen. Thanks a lot for the interview Cujo. It's been a pleasure doing this interview and I hope the good people hanging out at Psynews.org will enjoy it as well.