ASTRIX
Bringing Psytrance To The Masses
By: DmAc
In life you get what you want. This may sound a tad oversimplified but when you cut through all the chaff it really is what life boils down to. Sure, circumstances do play a role but as you get older and you reach a stage when you are able to start reflecting on at least a part of your life (say at the grand old age of 30 or so, heh heh) you will realise that the sum of all the parts of your existence, to whatever point you have reached at that moment, have got you there ... define you at that present time.
Take psy-trances best known exports; Infected Mushroom have always wanted to be a big stadium rock band, Skazis intentions were clear from he outset ... debauched guitar rock-star! ... And Astrix! Perhaps the most refined of all psy-trance stars worldwide ... our very own Paul Van Dyk of psy-trance.
Having cracked the Top 20 on the now globally accepted world DJ charts
(as hosted annually by DJMag) after steady rises of more than 20 positions
in both 2005 and 2006, Astrix (Avi Shmailov to his mom) can take a long hard lookat himself in the mirror and smile broadly. He keeps good company with the biggest names in the world of dance music. Everybody who is anybody knows who Astrix is. To the masses (and when I say masses I mean the millions of dance music fans outside the psy-trance clique) Astrix defines the genre by presenting an accessible yet supremely well crafted version of the sound that never fails to ignite a dancefloor into absolute mayhem. Avi will be the first to tell you that his aim has always been to take his sound to as many fans as possible; There is a limit to the change that you can reflect into pure psy-trance. In order to expand and excite more people you have to fuse other elements from other genres to keep it evolving and fresh. This is something I try to do in my own music by mixig in clubby elements and atmospheric soundscapes so that it will cross-over to other electronic scenes and bring in some new energy.
A big fan of the eighties, and indeed he used to DJ 80s music,
he still admires the uniqueness of the sound produced by the likes
of Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, New Order, Eurythmics, etc. remarking that its still hard to accurately re-produce that certain flavour.
Of Israel he expresses his wish for peace; We have enough global worries and wars shouldn't be one of them! He continues, My personal wish would be that someday I will play in a party for peace for all nations (including our so called enemies). He does love Israel very much and remarks that it has one of the best club and night-life cultures in the world, which he says is why so many are exposed to it and start producing the music. He says for many in his home country, Israeli psy-trance is not a fashion but a cultural way of life which is welcomed with open arms, and even in this present time this connection is still a vibrant network going all the way down to the roots of the global trance scene.
Life has become a non-stop world-tour over the past few years giving him very little time to complete his hugely anticipated third artist album, Red Means Distortion, and even less time for himself; I spend almost all my time either locked away in my studio with my music or traveling around the world. Not much "off" days for me lately since.I am working hard on delivering my new album soon.
Astrix literally plays every weekend in a different country or city across the globe, spreading his sound to the masses; an achievement he had always set out to do and wants to continue for as long as he can. After his new album is out he says he will be exploring new possibilities with live performance. I want to evolve so that people will always look for the last word from the Astrix chronicles, he remarks thoughtfully.
If you ask Avi about his new album, his influences... where he is taking his
sound you get a confident and direct reply. He seems a man who knows what he wants and has quite obviously given a lot of thought to how he is going to get there.
Its no fluke he is ranked 18th on the world DJ Poll. He intends growing his fan base with each release ... The new album is a showcase of this global experience as I tried to produce various kinds of tracks, going from the psy side to the more euphoric highs in search of new dance floor anthems, but without losing my trade mark groove and sound that my followers expect from me, as my plan is to try and please both my followers by trying to blend the main elements of both previous albums in the same productions. I strongly feel my fan base is increasing every year so I guess they are happy to stay with me on my journey into global trance music, and Im sure they will feel the same once they hear the new album.He explains things a little more, I never considered myself only a psychedelic trance producer, but I did explore that style heavily while working on my first album Eye to Eye. On my second album Artcore I tried to take my sound into a more full on and uplifting mode, which proved very right for its time and helped me cross over to a bigger and more commercial kind of crowd and events. Now, in my new third album Red Means Distortion, my plan is to try and please both my followers by trying to blend the main elements of both
these albums in the same productions.
The old clichd question of where he likes to play the most worldwide is met with the same thoughtful, and well prepared answer he has no doubt been asked a million times, although he does offer an interesting enough insight. I like to play where ever there is a good party. The how is much more important than the where because a good party makes you feel like your head is in heaven and it doesn't really matter which country your feet are in. My fans are the
core of my success and I consider them an essential factor in my career and my music I am here for them and they are all over for me Keep it real!
At time of press Avi had just undergone back surgery and was recovering at home. He has been forced to cancel some of his dates worldwide as he comes to terms with the impact of non-stop flying for the past few years. We wish him a speedy and healthy recovery and look forward to Red Means Distortion, his new highly anticipated third album with a release date now set for just before Christmas. As his SA distributor, Arik from 4Tune records says Well now
that he is resting hopefully he can add the final touches to his album. We are dying to get hold of it! It has been a long wait and we get constant enquiries from eager fans all over South Africa.
Footnote: As Avi was not able to attend to our interview personally due to his current operation. At the request of his label, HomMega, we used several up to date interviews as the source of all quotes and information. These include; Rave Magazine (India), In the Mix (Australia) and Entrevista Astrix from Brazil. Look out for his new album Red Means Distortion, out before the summer.
http://www.bpmmag.co.za/web/articles.php?artno=405
http://www.bpmmag.co.za/web/index.htm
You can find a scan of this article and cover in my "pictures" folder named "Press&Fun"