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Introduction

Over 11 boundary-pushing years, Nic Chagall and Bossi have developed Cosmic Gate into one of the most creative and highly-sought-after electronic music acts on the planet. Revered uber-producers, their combined musical acumen has made them evergreen favourites of trance music’s highest echelon. Four hugely-received albums have transported tracks like ‘Not Enough Time’, ‘Body of Conflict’, ‘Analog Feel’, ‘F.A.V.’ and classics including ‘Exploration of Space’ and Fire Wire onto a now uncountable number of dancefloors.

As DJs, the effortless cool of their kinetic, enthralling live sets are seen by hundreds of thousands of club and festival goers annually. It’s this perfect storm of production and spinning power that saw them become the highest-climbers in DJ Mag’s 2009 Top 100 chart and land at no. 24 in 2010.

www.cosmic-gate.de

Reader Questions

Phizzleout: How did you two guys meet? And what was it like to work together in the beginning?

We were both around in the German Music scene of area Duesseldorf/Cologne for a while already back in 1998, and after releasing for the same label our contact was getting closer. One day by chance we ended up in a studio with some friends. after these friends left, the two of us just did a fun jam session and created a track, that few month later should be released as The Drums under the project Cosmic Gate, and we honestly had NO idea at all that this moment would change our lifes that much.

Nuanse: You have been doing massive gigs in USA lately, how is the American crowd different to other countries in the world?

Most of the US crowd is still pretty new to the edm scene, which makes them very open minded for music, what we like a lot. There is people dancing to dubstep, trance and electro in the same night, while in europe for example most peoepl stuck in their own scene and not accept other genres, so we really hope this accepting of variety stays a part of the booming edm US scene!

Tossrock: What do you think about the recent resurgence in popularity for ‘The Theme’? Do you think there’s any specific reason, or just that people like the sound?

It simply is a fantastic hookline that Darran Tate has written back 12 years before, and we are happy he liked our new version and gave us the permission to release The Theme as single and on our album. On top of this hookline we brought it into a 2011 feeling, the original beats and bassline would not workin current sets anymore, so we gave it a facelift with all respect to the original.

Beyond1: It is obvious that house music has started to have more and more influence on trance music in the last 3-4 years. On the other hand, a number of trance DJ’s (Paavo from Above & Beyond coming first to my mind) have mentioned that uplifting melodic trance simply doesn’t work on the dancefloor that well anymore. Do you guys think that because of that uplifting trance will eventually simply die out or maybe adapt to it somehow?

We do not think uplifting trance will die, it simply is true that the average bpm during the last years slowed down a lot, means music got more housy than it was in the end 90s maybe. We think it is good that music is never standing still, and we know that one day the pace will get faster again, it all goes in 7 to 10 years circles, lets see how club music sounds in 2018 again, maybe uplifting trance is bigger, progressive is down, who knows…

Deviant2k: What is your view on the Trance scene today? Do you continue to compose music because it’s a passion or because of business? and what is the best track you guys produced together in your unanimous opinion?

To produce trance music since a few years for sure is more a passion, because there is kind of no, or very hard money to make! so if u only coming from the business side, you sure do house/electro or pop music these days, thats where more money is for sure. Best track we produced is hard to say, ask 10 people and you maybe get 6 different opinions about our best work, we do not put one production over the other, our oppinion changes every day anyway, simply with the vibe or the mood we are in…

Cosmic Gate – Wake your mind

Diverting brilliantly, Nic & Bossi continue to chart new courses and directions on Wake Your Mind. Whether it be the low-end tempo and hard-warp effects of Beautiful Destruction (Alana Aldea vocalling again) or the familiar, drifting sweep of their Brazil-gazing Barra, the album provides a 360°, all-tastes-catered-for listening experience.

Tracklisting | Grab your Copy!

Beatsmedia: Having released a few tracks already, the album ‘Wake your mind’ has been highly anticipated by each and every listener. How long did it take to compile the album from start to finish?

From start to finish we have been working nearly a year to finish it. The main reason is the huge amount of travelling for our gigs we do, and this unfortunately only gives us limited time to spent in the studio.

Beatsmedia: The title of the album ‘Wake your mind’ resonates quite a strong message, while the track itself concerns politics and schemes. Is there an underlying reason for choosing this name for the album and would you say the track relates to todays society at all?

Thats right, we mean wake your mind concerning music in general, to be open for different styles and not only to be listening to the same kind of music, but also to be open in life in general, that’s why we chose for Wake Your Mind to give our album it’s name.

Beatsmedia: The breathtaking vocals of Emma Hewitt in ‘Be Your Sound’ and ‘Calm Down’, have well and truly sent shivers down every listener’s spine. With having previously worked with the talented vocalist, what made you reunite and create hit singles again?

After we did “Not Enough Time” with Emma, it always was sure from her and also from our side, that on the next album we would be working together again. With Emma this time the process was turned around only, she wrote the lyrics first, and we produced the music after, while normally we do a demo first that the singer/songwriter writes the lyrics on, so quiet a new experience for us, that we def. enjoyed and in our eyes was leading to a fantastic result, BYS is received so extremely well, we could not have wished for any better!

Beatsmedia: A comment made on your track ‘Flying Blind’ with JES on YouTube stated, ‘One of the best collaborations of all time. Round of applause to Nic, Bossi and the beautiful JES.’ What was it like working with JES?

On top to her great and unique voice and her songwriting skills, she simply is a very lovely person, down to earth and fun to hang out and tour with, and so is the working with her. easy and relaxed, but always professional and to the point, we think she delivered a fantastic track with „flying blind“, next drink on us Jes, lol

Beatsmedia: Darren Tate’s a.k.a Jurgen Vries original track, ‘The Theme’, undeniably took the trance scene by storm! What made you consider the genius idea of reworking this club hit?

The idea started when we used the original for our classic dj mix we did for ASOT 450. We simply still loved the vibe of the original and thought it could work in a new 2011 soundoutfit as well, fortunately we were right…

Beatsmedia: Which track do you believe on the album encapsulates the iconic Cosmic Gate sound the most?

This is hard to say, we of course have our special sound, but if you have a listen to the music we did in all these years, it does not sound alike, we are diverse in the music styles we produce, so we think it is not easy to point out on one of the new tracks and say, this is the most typical for us, at least in our opinion.

Reader Questions

Raveangel & Moar4x4: How much stock do you guys hold in the DJ Top 100 poll? Do you think it translates (in general) to talent or if do you think it’s more of a popularity contest?

Of course it is a kind of popularity contest, but without talent you can nevr make it inside the list. Results may not always exactly mirror what really happens in clubs comparing to amount of sold tickets or the vibe of the night rhough. some djs push hard with big marketing campains to get a good position, others are more relaxed about it. Maybe it is good to keep the truth in the middle here, it sure is a list giving some hints, but we won’t see it as a bible as well…

Legoland12342: With David Guetta winning the DJ Mag Top 100 poll, does this mean that there is increased pressure from producers to garner a specific number of followers? For those that get into the career full-time, obviously, if a record doesn’t sell, it represents a major time commitment and emotional investment that performed poorly, at least, commercially.

David Guettas success shows of course it is good to have a hopefully big amount of followers, and this will be a goal for a lot of producers in the future, as this big number of followers helps marketing a record or a tour a lot of course! On the other side hopefully there will be still artists taking risks and release music that simply is not a sure shot, that people maybe do not understand right away, commercially success is not all, and we would not see a not so good selling record necessarily as a bad release, maybe it helps break boundaries for the future, slowly bring new followers in the end as well.

Djloox: In a final few words, what can we expect from your upcoming release ‘Wake Your Mind’? And how are the crowds responding to the new material?

We never like to talk about music that much, music is a feeling and people expericence it different. We want people to enjoy our music, go on a journey, create positive emotions, deliver a nice variety on the album. First reactions on WakeYourMind fortunately been really good so far, so we hope we reached our just mentioned goals for the album.

Posted in: Featured, Interviews | Posted on November 3, 2011 by Beatsmedia