While summer’s great for giving that much needed dose of vitamin D, perving on barely clad youth and saying goodbye to that ugly knit your nan gave you, it’s also the time to attend Rainbow Serpent Festival. We had a chat to Andreas, of progressive psychedelic trance artist Gaudium, ahead of his performance at the festival in January and his long awaited trip back to Australia.
Hi Andreas, thanks for taking the time out to chat to Forte, how are you and what are you up to at the moment?
Hello, life is super fun and super busy at the moment. Constant traveling and just finished a new album, also working on a bunch of tracks for Arctic, that’s my project together with Ritmo. On top of that I’m working on a bunch of remixes and colabs with other artists.
So given that Gaudium means satisfaction in latin, what bands/musicians to get you get satisfaction listening to?
A whole lot I would say, I enjoy so many different musical genres so the list is long. Everything in between trance music to jazz and classical music, reggae, rock, heavy metal.
What were the other names you thought of calling the group?
To be honest I actually don’t remember, I think Gaudium was the one from the start. Denis (ex-Gaudium member) spent a day in the local library searching in different lexicons for a cool and meaningful name for us, but we both loved the name Gaudium.
You managed to stick around after your record label went down in 2006, did that experience give you a new drive to stay in the industry?
It was really sad when Spiral Trax went under but we knew that it was happening. It was an honor for us that we got the first album released there. Anti did a kind of reopening of the label to release the album. After the Nordic Nature album I guess it was not an option not to stay in the industry.
Things have certainly worked out well for you since then, given that you signed with Iboga and you’ll be playing Rainbow Serpent Festival in a few months. Are you looking forward to playing the festival?
Switching to Iboga was really awesome, really proud to be apart of this family! I’m really really looking forward to Rainbow Serpent Festival, I have heard so many good things about this festival during the years and it’s been a while since I’ve been to Australia now too.
Is there anyone in particular you’re going to try and see play during the festival?
All my great friends of course!
Have you played to an Australian crowd, do we know how to party?
I sure have! You guys definitely know how to party!
You’ve been in the industry for quite a while now, do you have any tracks to get people up and dancing?
I have some gems up my sleeves 😉
And beyond that, your industry is forever evolving and changing, what are your tricks to stay current?
Well it’s really just about staying true with what you like I guess. When I’m in the studio making music I do the stuff that I like. I can sit days just to play around with synths and sounds to come up with crazy ideas. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
Thanks again for taking the time out to chat to us, is there anything you’d like to add before we finish up?
Thank you! Yes, watch out for the new Gaudium album named Stories of a Viking out soon at Iboga records.
When&Where: Rainbow Serpent Festival, Lexton – January 23-26