Heading up the Trancetribe record label, the name Scott Richardson has become synonymous with trance in Sydney over the past few years. Having recently relaunched the label to focus entirely on music coming out of the Australian scene, he’s also positive of what the future holds for Trancetribe. Playing at Progression Project eveny this ANZAC Day long weekend, we thought it was time we got an update on where he’s at.

Imperial: You’re a busy man, with DJing and running a record label all on top of your job as a graphic designer, and you’ve also got a new baby! How do you find time for it all?

Scott: Firstly I have to say that I feel very lucky to have all these wonderful things in my life. I guess you could say I’m busy. Really my life is fairly non stop – but this is a good thing, honestly. I grew up as an athlete, so I was always training and trying to achieve a result in my races. I think that has largely contributed to the way I approach things these days. In reality, I rarely play more than one gig a week, but for every gig I play I spend days preparing. Honestly I have no magic recipe for making it all fit in one day, it sorta just does. I have a fantastic wife who supports me endlessly with my music and DJing, a great job that has flexible hours, and a great business partner who works with me on the label. I think really, it’s all just fallen into its own natural place in my day to day life.

Imperial: What’s been happening with the Trancetribe record label lately?

Scott: The label has undergone some fairly big changes this year. Rossco and I decided to relaunch the label in January, with an aim to refocus the label towards Australian productions and remixes. We had over 90 tracks on the label previously, but 90% of them were by artists from around the world. While this in itself isn’t a bad thing, it really wasn’t the best thing we could be doing. There’s already hundreds of small trance labels out there pushing sounds from international artists, and Trancetribe.com’s original plan was to support the local Australian trance scene, so it only seems fitting that we do the same with the label. Since the relaunch, we’ve integrated the label into www.trancetribe.com, as well as launching a myspace page and put out 9 great releases by Australian artists. We’re excited to be working with great Aussie talent, including Mike Nichol, Patrik Carrera, tyDi and [p.e.g]. Our newest release by Polaroid Girl is going nuts on Beatport at the moment, and we have some awesome stuff by tyDi coming out in a few weeks which we’re really excited about.

Imperial: Have you been working on any new projects/ you can tell us about?

Scott: I have a brand new track coming out soon ‘Incandescence’. I originally wrote this over Christmas when I was on holidays, and it turned out to be a deep and melodic trance track. After hearing some great feedback from Armin, I decided to write a second version of it, [it’s] more clubby. There’s also a couple of remixes that will be released with it from Patrik Carrera and another new Aussie artist named Rodskis, which are more progressive interpretations. Aside from this, I have a bunch of new productions in the works, none of which are finished, but they’re all close.

Imperial: Why do you prefer trance over other styles of music? Where do you find your inspiration?

Scott: Ahh the venerable ‘why do you like trance’ question. I have tried to answer this over the years, but I think there’s only one real was to describe it. I don’t think I found trance to be my preferred genre, rather it found me. I know that sounds pretty corny, but hear me out. When I would warm up for races in athletics, I’d have my headphones in listening to ‘dance’ music. Every so often a track would come on that would really lift me up and put me in a really good frame of mind for my running. It would psych me up. Turns out those particular tracks were trance. I think ultimately the objective of good music, aside from entertainment or relaxation, is to strike an emotional chord in the listener. Of all the styles of music I have listened to, it’s trance that evokes the most feeling and emotion, and it does so with much more intensity. Add to that the fact that you can dance to it, and have fun, be with your friends. In a world with so much shit going on it’s nice to be able to completely remove yourself from war, terrorism, hatred, racism, money… and just be completely connected to one, happy thing; the music.

Imperial: What do you think of the current state of the Sydney trance scene?

Scott: It’s definitely getting stronger. Over the past six years I’ve seen hard trance kinda fall away, and seen normal trance become more popular. I think tech trance really helped by bringing a lot of fans of the harder sound to like more of the normal trance sounds. Add to that you have guys like Tiesto and Armin doing massive shows that draw a lot of attention, such as his White Party last year, and his Armin Only tour this year. When clubbers and music fans see the “World’s #1 DJ” coming to play, it get’s them interested. He has to be good, right? He’s number 1! Then people go, and they’re exposed to good, quality trance music. What’s more, there seems to be this really strong resurgence in smaller club nights that play this sound. Between these small events, the big clubs like Sublime supporting more normal trance, and the massive superstar DJ tours, it’s really looking good.

Imperial: Are you looking forward to playing the new night Progression Project?

Scott: Most definitely. Nothing beats playing at an intimate club venue. You usually get your really passionate, educated punters coming to these events, and they’re always fun to play for. It’s events like Progression Project that keep the true trance sound moving forward in Sydney. For me, I’m excited about this event because it all just reminds me so much of when I was getting into trance. You have Cameron O’Shea and Muli on before me, who are two guys who I looked up to in many ways while I was first starting out. I think the best thing is that I feel the passion for the music and the scene being pushed through this event, and I really want to be part of that and support it in any way possible.

Imperial: What can we expect from your upcoming three hour feature set at Progression Project?

Scott: Three hours of good music! Seriously though, being able to play a longer set like this is something I have been wanting to do for quite some time. In fact I would prefer if all trance DJs were given three hours at every trance event. I feel trance, more than many other genres, lends itself to longer sets. As a trance DJ, we don’t really have to do all that much technically, so our skills are more about track selection and set programming. This is something I like to think I do well, but if you’re given short sets, there’s only so much you can do. I often see a lot of trance DJs stuck with super short sets, which generally means they throw progression out the window, and drop all their best tracks so as to impress the crowd. With the three hour set, I hope to spread things out a lot more.

Progression Project happens at Phoenix Bar on Oxford St this Friday April 25th. Check out ITM Whatson for more info.