Christian Smith has consistently dominated charts and DJs playlists with a steady flow of releases on high profile labels like Bedrock, Systematic, 100% Pure, Soma, Global Underground, Mistakes Music, 1605 and his own Tronic imprint, there has barely been a month go by without news circulating of an exciting new Christian Smith production.
Christians Smith has performed at Bedrock and Systematic at the Miami and ADE conferences respectively, 2011 saw Christian perform all over Europe, North America, Asia and South America with notable stops at Pacha Buenos Aeries, Womb Tokyo, Space Ibiza, Klubbers Day Madrid, Watergate Berlin, Lovelands Amsterdam, Space Miami, H2O Mexico City, The Loft Barcelona, Café DAnvers Antwerp, Ellui Seoul, Cocoon Frankfurt, The Egg London, Crobar Buenos Aires, Circus Montreal.
We caught up with him after his recent performance at Sunburn Festival, Pune.
Q1) You’ve been in this industry for quite a while now. What’s your secret for staying in the techno elite for so many years?
A) Do what you are passionate about. If you do what you love it doesn’t feel like work and you tend to be better at it.
Q2) How was the year 2016 of your career overall?
A) It was intense. I released a single on Drumcode, an album on Tronic, and had around 120 gigs in 30+ countries. My touring was really heavy, but at the same time It’s humbling to see that I have fans all over the world.
Q3) How do you find it to reinvent yourself and keep your sound fresh and relevant to the ever changing state of the techno music scene?
A) I find it extremely important to evolve musically. Some artists are happy just doing one thing over and over, but I enjoy challenging myself and producing albums every 2 years. It’s easy to make singles, but it’s much tougher to produce a cohesive flowing album. Making albums also helps me be more open minded about different influences and thinking outside the box when making music.
Q4) Tell us about your collaboration with Adam Beyer back in 2008 with “Total Departure” and your more recent “Force Majure” in 2016 on Drumcode – as you rarely release music outside your own label Tronic?
A) Tronic is one of the top techno labels in the world, so I see little point in releasing on labels outside my own. Also, as a label owner you have to set an example to the other artists and release on your own label and form an identity. With regards to Drumcode, Adam Beyer and I go way back and have been close friends for around 20 years. So every once in a while I think it’s good to release something on another label with a different fanbase. Drumcode is one of my favorite labels so it just makes sense that when I release something outside Tronic it’s there.
Q5) You’ve toured a lot of cities, which are your favorite cities to perform at?
A) Buenos Aires, Tokyo, London, Barcelona are some of my favorite cities that I love to play regularly in. The gigs are always amazing, and I really enjoy the cities as well. I gotta say that Argentina has to be the best country in the world right now for techno!
Q6) Can you name some fresh, new producer who is worth our attention?
A) Drunken Kong from Japan are on their way up. They produce really good groovy techno and always rock the house when they DJ. I also highly rate Eric Sneo from Germany. He plays live drums during his gigs and its really cool. Also his music has evolved really nicely, not forgetting to mention that he has his album ‘Sound Traveler’ coming out on Tronic in February.
Q7) What are your plans for the year 2017?
A) More heavy touring around the world, but also trying to balance my life a little bit more spending more time with my family and having a better diet. We are planning on doing around 20 Tronic branded events around the world. So this will be exciting. The weekly Tronic radio show also has some amazing guests coming come. We will also have artist albums from Eric Sneo, Drunken Kong, and Victor Ruiz. Like I said earlier, if you love what you do it’s not hard work. I truly feel grateful!
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