Adam Beyer is a Swedish perfectionist. Never completely happy, he is always striving for more. In his view, techno can and will never be complete. Not while different influences drive the music – while alternative and diverse artists continue to expand upon its foundations. Perfect or not though,  at the end of the line, when its all said and done – perfectly – you can bet he will be there.

Adam, tell me about growing up in Sweden. What did you want to do as a kid, what were your influences growing up? When did you decide you wanted to get into music?

I went and bought my first vinyl when I was 5, so I was interested in music at an early age – it was a Kiss record! I also started to play drums when I was 9 and at 12 heard a famous Swiss radio DJ around 1988-89 playing Italian and acid house. I thought it was amazing the way he created music and mixed tracks and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I stayed at school until I was 19 and then started working in a record store.

You’re well known for your Drumcode style – primetime techno, but you’ve also been releasing deeper material on Truesoul. Do you play these different releases in your sets?

I guess all different styles of music have different purposes. Sometimes I do long sets in clubs with partners like Dahlbeck and I don’t play as hard as I do at a big rave – its different music for different times – the deeper stuff you listen to at home or in the car. It’s more emotional or ‘intelligent’ if you like. Still, I play everything and that’s how I want to be seen.

I actually released some stuff on Svek under different names and I was producing house and tech house. The first thing I did on Svek was in 1996-97 – so it’s always been with me, I always followed that sound. I had the idea of creating Truesoul because I wanted to do something further away from Drumcode – I wanted to release more musical material.

You have releases with Joel Mull, Speedy J, Jasper Dahlbeck and Tiga. Is there anyone in particular that you’d like to work with in the future?

Most of those collaborations have come up because we are friends – some of the Swedish guys I’ve known for years – and artists like Speedy J – we have similar tastes. I find it interesting to go into the studio and work with another producer. A couple of other things are happening too. I’ve got a record on Novamute coming in September with Tiga doing the vocals – I like these projects because they are like the next step – doing something different.

Your CD release Ignition Key was wonderfully diverse and a move away from some of the harder sounds we are accustomed to from you. Are you likely to release a CD compilation again soon, or are you preferring producing onto vinyl?

I didn’t care what people thought about it – I just wanted to express myself differently, some people might have been disappointed – I still play hard when I want to, or if I need to. Its just that it would be more healthy if people were more open minded.

Talk to me about your production process. What is in your studio and what steps do you follow to go from idea to vinyl?

To be honest its always different – it used to be the same, but the material I got out of it was the same. Nowadays every record is different – some tracks you can get an idea for in 10 minutes and then can take up to a week or two to finish. Other times you record a lot of different things and only bits of it you end up pressing. I can do 10 or 20 tracks and end up with 1 good record. It really depends on how I feel – I’m a perfectionist so I am rarely happy. And even when I think I’m happy, I listen to it later and think, hmm, I don’t like that. That’s the beauty of techno – no matter how complete you think it is, it really isn’t complete after all! As for my studios, I have 2. One is based around a computer and the other is older with all my analogue stuff.

Finally then, what can Melbourne expect from your performance in a few weeks?

What can I say, come along and enjoy it – it will be great to be back in Melbourne again. I’m really looking forward to it.

Adam Beyer tours with Joel Mull on the following dates:
Fri Sep 3rd – Freestyle Entertainment presents Dream Sequence @ Black Cat Nightclub (Adelaide)
Sat Sep 4th – Hardware presents TransAtlantic 6 @ Club QBH (Melbourne)
Fri Sep 10th – Delirium, Hardware and Loaded presents Digital @ Metro City (Perth)
Sat 11th Sep – Hardware Sydney @ Gas Nightclub (Sydney)