How many-many goaheads of this world !

[Guest D N H]

I remember back then that even small local music stores in europe had an small amount of goa trance available.

 

I was wondering seeing that todays neogoa and also psytrance do not sell so much as they used few years ago and especially as they did in the late 90's, how many are listeners of goa of nowdays, purchasers or not. I mean its weird when a great release can't sell a thousand copies worldwide in a year. (Economic crisis' impacts & consequences only?)

 

So, how many are listeners of goa of nowdays, purchasers or not. How many are the actual followers together with the scene's friends, without the "barflies", randoms or lifestyle trends addicts.

 

Can you estimate about a number or do you have a picture of the size of the audience?

In your place or your city, your country, da world !

[Guest neurogen]

how high were you when you created this thread?

 

I estimate in Swe, there is about 5000 goaheads. I hope the number is bigger but i dont think so. Many of the true goatrancers in the late 90s early 2000s, have left the genre FAR FAR behind.

many of them are now in therapy and on heavy medication, and cannot listen to it due to mental illness. True story. In Swe, in my city, the drugs were plentiful. Messed up many many young minds.

[Richpa]

Croatia got small scene but in last couple of years it's growing, now we got like three very nice festivals: Lost Theory, Momento Demento and Future Nature, couple of great live-acts such as Psilocybian, Delta Cycle/Plasma Corp, Liquid Flow, Vox, Goasia, M-Run, Nova Fractal, Deimos, Hotep, etc. every month or two there are couple of parties but attendence isn't that much great I think (and thats main reason why we don't have that much artists from other countries at our parties), not sure about exact numbers but speaking with people from Zagreb, they usually complain that there isn't that much audience. How many goaheads? That would be hard to guess (plus I'm not good with numbers), I would say that there are 500-800 people in Croatia who are into psychedelic trance culture.

[Anoebis]

Define a goa-head... You have 2 kinds of people that are in touch with goa imo:

 

- the freaks that listen to the music at home, know the groups/djs, etc (that doesn't mean for me they go to parties often! I know goa heads who don't go out at all!!)

- the ones that only listen to goa trance on parties, like the atmosphere and just go there to have a "good" time

 

In Belgium I did a party with Etnica & Asura last week and there were over 1200 people, so we have a relatively big and vivid scene... but we have a dark scene, a full on scene, a progressive scene and an old school scene... So all together I would think the first type of people (freaks who know about the music) is between 2000-3000 people

 

The amount of people that go out to those parties once in a while, know the idea, and like to have fun there is around 5000 I think

 

Little edit: this is ONLY in flanders... For some reason there is NO scene in Wallony... And maybe 100-200 goa heads maximum... very weird

[Guest D N H]

Thanks Anoebis for making a good point.

I tried to make a differentiation by excluding people who go to the parties only for the hype or the drugs, or just weirds.

 

I mean people who have knowledge of the scene, great or smaller knowledge, follow the developments even if they don't go to parties or festivals.

Also oldschool "veterans" that still keep the flame alive but don't follow the developments anymore due to isolation or preference.

People who attend parties for the sound, the music, the culture but don't follow artists & labels, are also part of the scene imo.

In other words, a refference to people who care about the music or the scene.

 

But in any case its great that you covered it all.

[Guest D N H]

how high were you when you created this thread?

 

Why?

[prog4all]

This is a good question. Our scene is not very big, the techno scene here is WAY bigger. But we have parties here just about every week. We only have one festival, called Solstice. A lot of people in this country who want to attend bigger psytrance festivals and parties, go to Belgium or Germany. Once a month we have 'Trance Orient Express' and that's a bigger party as usual. In a village just outside of Amsterdam and the party is held in a church! :)We have a scene, but I think the scene in Belgium and especially Germany is way bigger. I couldn't give you numbers though..

 

And Anobies you are correct. There are so many people I cam across that just go to psytrance parties for a good time and don't no shit about artist and different subgenres.

[mephistopheles]

@ Anoebis: "So all together I would think the first type of people (freaks who know about the music) is between 2000-3000 people"

 

That's a high number .... I hardly find anyone on parties that actually knows a bit about the music and artists .... except for some dudes of this obscure record label that try to get rid off their cd's .... hehe .... seriously, I feel most people come to a "Goa-party" for fun, "it's something special" or to freak out on dope .... Last week I attended the Etnica-party (NICE NICE NICE) and I got the impression the Full on room was more filled than the Oldschool room, which was fine for me) .... maybe because Full on sounds more commercial, a lot of people there were just there for "fun" (or dope) .... So I don't think there are a lot of people out there in Belgium that have a wide knowledge of our music .... but I could be mistaken of course .... I even wonder if there are that many that listen to Goa at home .... maybe I should go out more ... hahaha .... ;-)

 

By the way, Anoebis, thnx for a nice party (I don't attend many anymore but this one was ... intense!) ....

[Panoptes]

I have no way of knowing because goa trance is an unknown genre in the US. I've mentioned before that I've met 3-4 people who have even heard of the genre. We should change this!

[Veracohr]

The only reason I know I'm not the only goahead in my city is because I've found some goa records at the local DJ store. Then again, that means someone sold them...

 

There's one DJ I know of who has done a couple goa mixes, but just stuff provided over the internet. At parties he doesn't play goa. The 'scene', such as it exists here, is darkpsy and fullon pretty much.

[Procyon]

In my city of, circa, 350 thousand inhabitants, there's a good psychedelic trance scene, with a 4 timer a year festival that attracts 5000 payers. But they're too commercial, some artists will play Lady Gaga psy mixes if asked. Goa-wise, I am the only one DJ I know of in my city, but I am fighting hard to change it. The solutions is throwing parties that attract 50-150 people, I have realised that there some guys who come every party, so it means they like the sound. Hopefully, they'll want to DJ, which is crucial for a scene to get known. Back to the question, in Brazil there must be huge goa crowd, spread thru the country. Locally, I guess there are 100 people who liked goa.

[Imba]

In my city of, circa, 350 thousand inhabitants, there's a good psychedelic trance scene, with a 4 timer a year festival that attracts 5000 payers. But they're too commercial, some artists will play Lady Gaga psy mixes if asked. Goa-wise, I am the only one DJ I know of in my city, but I am fighting hard to change it. The solutions is throwing parties that attract 50-150 people, I have realised that there some guys who come every party, so it means they like the sound. Hopefully, they'll want to DJ, which is crucial for a scene to get known. Back to the question, in Brazil there must be huge goa crowd, spread thru the country. Locally, I guess there are 100 people who liked goa.

 

In Sao Paolo you have Shiva Trance org and DJ Ine that works for Suntrip, every month some bigger goa parties! I wish i come once there

 

 

 

Define a goa-head... You have 2 kinds of people that are in touch with goa imo:

 

- the freaks that listen to the music at home, know the groups/djs, etc (that doesn't mean for me they go to parties often! I know goa heads who don't go out at all!!)

 

 

I am like that. I am not such a dancer or party maniac to go every week on parties but if i want also i am pretty limited because no job and for me is so stupid to ask parents to finance me to travel to other cities or countries on parties... they are giving enough.

 

 

How i count since 2008 since i am active on scene (lets say like that) i have been on 10 parties, 5 where i played and 5 in my city which are small like 100-150 ppl and proggy or full on, commercial mostly and really rare. And when i am at local party i don't stay more than 4-5 hours maximum.. i dont know why, full on?

 

Not dancer as i said but thing i love is to meet people on parties and talk, sit on ground and enjoy in longer conversations with random people. I know few people that really run away from people and they found it annoying but for me is great thing. Example i met IronSun first time in Belgium on Shishu party this july, then i come again to play on Nova's Incident and he was with me also, we had great times! Maybe i scared him with some of my acts but he didn't want to say nothing about them

 

 

BUT in my city there is no known goa freak like me really. There are people just listen to random goa stuff but also other styles, no only goa people. There are only older guys that listened back in days but now they are off from parties.

 

My plan is to play 100% goa set soon here and see pplz reaction which i hope would be nice!

[prog4all]

But they're too commercial, some artists will play Lady Gaga psy mixes if asked.

 

Oh dear god, that sounds terrible..

[Sideffect...]

Define a goa-head... You have 2 kinds of people that are in touch with goa imo:

 

- the freaks that listen to the music at home, know the groups/djs, etc (that doesn't mean for me they go to parties often! I know goa heads who don't go out at all!!)

- the ones that only listen to goa trance on parties, like the atmosphere and just go there to have a "good" time

 

In Belgium I did a party with Etnica & Asura last week and there were over 1200 people, so we have a relatively big and vivid scene... but we have a dark scene, a full on scene, a progressive scene and an old school scene... So all together I would think the first type of people (freaks who know about the music) is between 2000-3000 people

 

The amount of people that go out to those parties once in a while, know the idea, and like to have fun there is around 5000 I think

 

Little edit: this is ONLY in flanders... For some reason there is NO scene in Wallony... And maybe 100-200 goa heads maximum... very weird

 

It think that sums it up for Belgium pretty good...

It's hard to describe. Considering the numbers I don't follow but not because I disagree,

I just think it's impossible to estimate...

 

There is one thing I notice over here in Belgium (I don't know how it is around the world)

 

When people stop attending goa parties or electronic parties at all they often stop listening to the music at home.

That's a trend in my friends and very obvious.

I'm the only one who still listens to goatrance today in 2012, compared to 2002 where there are > 30 listeners...

 

So that's a huge difference, not that my friends are "the statistics" but since we don't have any, my 2cents etc...

[Imba]

Good thing i got booking for next month in my city for first time! Club is small, not much people but i believe i will show to some 100-150 weirdos what is goa trance

[johnb820]

I have no way of knowing because goa trance is an unknown genre in the US. I've mentioned before that I've met 3-4 people who have even heard of the genre. We should change this!

 

People at my work place ask me what music I listen to all the time and then the hesitation rushes over me. You can't tell them goa trance because you know they will look at you with this confused face like deer in head lights. It's not so much the fact that I care what they think of me based on what music I listen to, but rather how do you describe to them what exactly goa trance is without sounding like an idiot?

[Veracohr]

Call it psychedelic trance, they'll get that.

[Procyon]

Good thing i got booking for next month in my city for first time! Club is small, not much people but i believe i will show to some 100-150 weirdos what is goa trance

 

Best pure goa trance parties I have been to were small, in Japanese clubs, with 100 people or less.

[travbrad1001]

- the freaks that listen to the music at home, know the groups/djs, etc (that doesn't mean for me they go to parties often! I know goa heads who don't go out at all!!)

 

I definitely fit into that group. I would like to go to more parties/festivals but psytrance is pretty much nonexistent around here, let alone goa-trance. Most of the parties/shows/festivals are 1000-2000 miles away, which is just too far/expensive for me.

 

The electronic music scene around here is about 95% dubstep/house (probably my least favorite genres of electronic music). I've only met one person in the "real world" who has ever heard of psy/goa (and even he had only heard of Hallucinogen/Shpongle/IM/etc).

 

The only artists I've ever seen in my home city/state are Shpongle and Bluetech (neither of which are really psytrance). Hardly anyone at the Bluetech set seemed to know who Bluetech was either.

[technosomy]

we got alot, around oz, but it's very segregated.

progressive is huge here in australia, but i feel not much else

oldschool is very small if non existent

on the other hand i am a freak through and through, don't go to party's but know a think or 2

and have never met anyone from australasia (thats nz and australia) into this anywhere as much, and thats a real shame

as i often envy the relationships between alot of you, as you are all crazy goa headz like me, but some go to partys and hang ocasionally and can trainspot and talk the talk in a more personal way

[IronSun]

I don't listen to much else besides old and new Goa trance. Some ambient/chill/downtempo too and a little forest here and there. Even rarer Dark or Full-On. I also like to party, but not too much, once in a month is quite enough for me. At first I went to parties without knowing anything about the music, which was nice because there were so many good tracks I didn't know One of the better experiences I had concerning the scene was when I was living in Japan. It was a smaller Japanese town where nothing really happened. But I went to one of the local clubs and asked if I could spin some goa. I was allowed to and together with some psy-heads from the neighbourhood we started throwing very small intimate parties at a cozy place every two weeks. I always spun old-school and then we had dark, prog and forest dj's. Made the parties really interesting because we had this kaleidoscopic spectrum of psytrance represented. Once, we had a small gathering in a classic Japanese house from the early 20th century up in the mountains, right in the middle of nowhere. We all spun a set for each-other so everyone could show the rest their view on psytrance. It was fan-tas-tic. I guess the point of this story is the following: no matter where you are, no matter where you go, you can always find some psyheads to share some good times with!

 

@Imba: Yes you little pervy basterd, we had a great time!

[BraneFreeze]

I know that you're talking about a different issue (ie, the exposure and popularity of this music), but the split between "go to parties" and "listen at home" also mirrors a divide in goa / psy music between dance floor rhythms and more complex / less linear rhythms. I think this music would be more interesting if it moved away from the dance floor (while still remaining psychedelic), but it would probably become even less popular. I guess there's no way to "square the circle" here.

[Procyon]

I saw many of you saying that there's no scene where you live, but have you thought that you ARE the whole scene in kilometers around your city? I say that, not criticizing, because Goa has two different faces: one tired, like old school guys who liked it. And a unknow one, for a lot of people don't know what Goa is all about. The tired guys, well, there's nothing to do. They had their time in the 1990s and can't dance anymore. As for the "unknown face" of Goa, I say: throw parties if you want a scene around. Someone has to star it. I am, bravely, throwing monthly parties with pure Goa and people like it. The secret to bring them to the party: different DJs playin different styles. Last month was a house DJ who brought in a house crowd that enjoyed my Goa set a lot. Next party is an uptempo chill-out DJ, them me again. After that a techno DJ, a psy DJ and then - guess what ? - me again playing Goa. I am the owner of the bar and the organizer of the party, so I think I have some rights . But I have to confess: I am organizer-decorator-accountant-DJ, it takes time to throw a small party. But it's worthy. It is priceless to see people open-mouthed at the simple, yet magic, deco fluor and the guys asking tracks titles. I know some of them are thinking seriously of DJing Goa.

[Oopie]

Hi.

 

There's some interest here in Helsinki as it goes for nuskool goa; for example Filteria and Artifact303 have played here not too long ago. Actually when I think about it, there are lot of party organising groups here just for psytrance.

 

I'm a very small organiser myself, maybe two parties a year max. This year we had one party which is the best I've ever attended, it was a small island party very close to central Helsinki, maybe 50x50metres in size, two hundred people came there and all DJs played 100% 90's goa for the whole night. Even the sea guards who showed up tapped their feet a bit! ;-------)

[Starkraver]

I live 100 miles away from goa (state) when I say goa music ppl think that Ive bought some CD's from Goa the scene's that bad, the stoners of 2-3 colleges are into full on a bit, may be 50 odd ppl. GOA-5 ppl including me n others who know quite a bit abt artists n labels n stuff