We are Lucky People with Lange

Hello Stuart. Thank you so much for doing this interview with us, it’s such an honor.

A pleasure, nice talking with you!

1.     We know you have played in South Africa a few times, what the first thing that comes to mind when you hear South Africa?

DJ-wise, I first think of the ASOT 500 parties I played in Joburg and Cape Town, and of course seeing Table Mountain! Always loved the passoin of the crowds in SA!

2.     If your inbox you just received a mail from Justin Bieber’s manager asking you to do a track with Justin, how would you react?

Let's talk about it. No harm in taking the odd commercial opportunity...more money means more chance to do more artistic projects.

3.      Fifteen years in the music industry and producing an album is not as easy as many think it is, everyone has good and bad days. What keeps you motivated to deliver tune after tune after tune?

Yes there's been times where motivation has been low, although I have to say that's not really happened to me so much in recent times. The difficult days are when you come back from weekend of long haul flights and lack of sleep and you have to then head into the studio and be creative. Being a producer DJ is very much a job in the sense you need to treat it seriuosly and the only way I achieve what I want is to have deadlines, so I do have to motivate myself to work when I'd much rather take a day off to recover! The last few years have been really exciting and busy times so it's not been difficult to keep motivated, and my team also give me a lot of support. 

4.     We Are Lucky People is your 3^rd studio album, how different is it compared to Harmonic Motion and Better Late than Never? 

Compared to my previous 2 albums I feel this one works better as a whole piece.  There are themes and a general sound palette that run throughout many of the tracks on 'We Are Lucky People', and generally I think it's my best work to date. It also differs a lot in my approach to it.   I wanted to try a new idea;  rather than simply hide away in the studio for a year I thought it would be cool to release singles the moment I make them, literally sharing the writing of the album as it happened.  The idea was to then take all the music made and give tracks a twist and make a flowing album with some more soundtrack-style, deeper elements throughout, which Is what I've done on CD1. Basically it's a kind of 'concept' album with themes and melodies running throughout – there's some chillout but still much of it is Trance.   I've also included a bonus disc which is the complete collection of all the original club mixes I've made. It's really worked out well doing this way.

6.     The album title is very motivational we all are lucky people what in your life makes you feel lucky? (You can’t answer your career! J)

I feel very lucky to have met my wife.  It's an incredibly difficult industry to work in with regard to relationships, but my wife is hugely supporting and is very much involved in what I do. She's also very musical and was already Djing before I met her!

7.     Did you ever feel like giving up during making the album? If so, what did do you do at times like those?

Not during this album.  It did feel like an impossible task to finish it as my deadline approached though.  It took many nights with only 4 hours sleep to get the whole thing finished, but as far as the writing process went, this has been the easiest album of my 3 so far to write. I think it's been my most inspired year since around 1998 when I first got into this.

8.     Every song made has a message to it, was there a specific message you were trying to convey with We Are Lucky People?

Originally the title came to me on a plane.  I was thinking about how lucky I was to be a touring DJ, travelling the world and meeting people every weekend and to be able to write music as an artistic output in life, but the concept has grown as the year has gone on.  People can make of it what they will really.  Perhaps most people are luckier than they realise these days?

9.     For us the Lange sound is timeless and every Lange song is one you can listen to in 20 years from now and still be blown away! Not many producers have that supremacy with their production. How do you get it right? What’s your secret?

Thanks for the huge compliment! I don't know if i'm doing anything different to others, all I know is I'm very passionate about music and quite often the music will mean something personally to me.  I feel music is best when it suggests a story, I certainly try and make music that's more than just something to dance to, and try to avoid making it too obvious where it's going to go next.

10.  You made two versions of each track on the album We Are Lucky People, which means countless hours in the studio. What inspired this decision?

As I mentioned before this album was based on a different philosophy.  I liked the idea of sharing the music as I made it. As a producer you want people to hear the music when you make it...while you'rr still buzzing about it!  Most of the tracks were promo'd to Djs within a few days of finishing.  So the album was built in front of everyone to a certain degree. Usually albums are presented after only 1 or 2 singles, whereas I'd already released 9 of the tracks by the time the album was released. What's been particularly special to me is the fact that this is already shaping up to be my most successful album release despite much of the music already having been heard. Personally for me the main achievement of this project has been the continuous version I made for disc 1, and all the extra hard work that entailed has been worth it.

11.   We were very surprised to see that there wasn’t a Lange and Sarah Howell’s collab on the album; can we expect a Lange/Sarah Howells track soon?

It was a shame there wasn't a new track with Sarah on the album but she's very busy with her band 'Paper Aeroplanes' atm.  We're still in touch so don't rule out a track in the future ;)

12. It is a milestone to have reached 150 episodes of a radio show, so congratulations! That’s obviously an indication that it is quite popular! We followed #Intercity150 on Twitter and saw the overwhelming number of tweets. Do you ever feel overwhelmed?

Sometimes you do, and that goes for many aspects of this job.  Standing in front of 15,000 clubbers looking to you to entertain them can be an overwhelming moment too, but over the years you gain experience and adapt to these situations!  Intercity 150 wasn't an overwhelming experience in the same sense, but it was pretty overwhelming with regard to me being awake for 24 hours and speaking with the listeners. I think #intercity150 received some 25,000 mentions on twitter so it was quite a ride!  Seeing it go no.1 worldwide trend was quite something. I expected some level of trending but not the top spot!

13.  We’re sure you get many young artists coming to you and saying you’re their idols. How does this make you feel?

Honoured of course!  It took me a while to get used to the idea that I might be inspiring someone else, and it still means a lot whenever I hear that's the case.

14.   What can’t you do without in your studio? Tell us your 3 studio essentials.

The key thing in any studio is the monitor speakers.  It doesn't matter if you don't have top of the range either, it's about knowing your speakers. I couldn't do without Cubase, or Massive & Sylenth 1 synths.

15.   We know you are a tea lover, what constitutes the perfect cup of tea? Water temp, how long you steep, milk, sugar etc?

I am indeed! You have to let Tea infuse naturally for a good while (no stirring to speed things up) and NEVER put milk in before you've done that. I've been cutting down on the sugar, so it's just a cheeky half for me. Tea is best made in a pot...don't forget to warm it first and add an extra bag 'for the pot' as my grandfather used to say.

16.   Lastly, do you have any plans to tour the album with the vocalist featured on the album?

Yes, I'm touring the album, and kicked things off in the US.  Occasionally vocalists will be part of the shows when it's possible.  Susana joined me in Seattle last month for one of the shows, that was an awesome night!  I'm just about to tour India and also the UK launch at Ministry Of Sound before heading back to the USA in the New Year for some more shows!

BONUS: Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans reading this?

 Can't wait to return to South Africa, I have great memories from my past visits!  Thanks for the support and hope you enjoy the album!

Thank you again and we are waiting for your return to South Africa :)

My pleasure, thanks  :)