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Ticon

The project of Filip Mardberg and Fredrik Gilenholt, Ticon is one of the amazing outfits set to join Earthcore’s 21st celebrations later in the year. Walking the line between progressive house and trance, Ticon have been filling floors since 1999. We at Forte were thrilled to land a chat with the floor-shakers.
Hello, and thanks for taking time out to answer some questions from Down Under. First of all, can you please introduce yourselves to Forte readers?
We are Filip Mardberg and Fredrik Gilenholt (too old for school) and been working with Ticon since the late ’90s.
Ticon, like so many other artists that Earthcore bring out to Australia, were at the forefront of the trance movement when it all started. Can you take us back to ’95 and tell us a bit about how it all started for you guys?
I (Filip) was around fifteen years old when I met Fredrik in the ’90s. Fred had been to London and brought back mixtapes and we found a mutual interest in music. We had several projects going before Ticon, but after many years of practice and producing we found ourselves in Ticon.
I have heard other artists describe the feeling as the ‘techno-trance’ movement. Was that a special time for you guys when you look back?
Yes, definitely. To be honest, we didn’t even realise what impact we had on the scene. We only made music and didn’t think much more of it. There were a lot of influences from techno, hard trance and goa trance for us and we just mixed them all up. Together with another band (Son Kite), we experimented with ideas and sounds. It was for sure a fun time!
Ticon officially started in 1999. Tell us about the rapid rise you guys undertook. Was it a crazy experience all of a sudden rocking parties all over the world to massive crowds?
It didn’t happen overnight, we played (and still play) small underground parties like all other bands. It was definitely a shock when we played some parties of 50,000 people, but we actually still like the smaller events more. Connecting with the people and response to the crowd in our live set is still the reason why we keep going.
What about now. Are you just as inspired by the new school trance and techno scene of today?
Definitely! The producers of today have a different approach that we had in the past. We grew up with a full analogue studio and a computer without ability to record samples. We still keep the “analogue” feeling in our music. We think today’s music can be a bit too clean and flawless, but after 20 years working as a musician and producers we are still learning and we thank the technology and the talented producers out there for inspiring us to learn more!
You have many popular tracks and have taken part in over 14 releases, a noticeable jam being ‘1987’, as well as several others. Are there one or two jams you guys really love playing?
We never know what will be the next hit on the dance floor. At the moment we are working on the next Ticon album and we jam a lot of these tracks in our live set. We learn a lot from the response from the people on the dance floor [as to] how to finish a track.
Are you working on anything at the moment? Take us inside the studio for a moment. What is the standard procedure in putting together a track?
At the moment we are working on both a new Ticon album, as well as a new band we have together with Iboga Records label owner DJ Emok which is called Critical Choice. As we have been collecting synths and building our studio for so many years we have quite a collection of both analogue and digital synths and equipment.
How different is the technology you are using now compared to 1999? What are your current weapons of choice when making tracks?
As I mentioned before, we have a lot of analogue gear, old synths and so on. This is what makes the Ticon sound, but we definitely use the computer a lot. The possibilities today are mind-blowing if you compare to when we started.
You are coming out to Australia for Earthcore, one of Australia’s most iconic dance festivals. Are you excited to come Down Under?
Always! Give us a six-pack of VB’s, a couch and a crazy dance floor and we are home!
What do you have in store for the Australian crowd?
We have the new album that we are working on where we explore the more trippy trance part of Ticon – a bit more “back to the roots”. We will for sure do our best to make the people dance and smile on the dance floor 🙂
When&Where: Earthcore, Pyalong – Nov 27 to Dec 1