When I'm working on something and I get to the point where I feel it getting interesting, that's my reward.
It's nice if you're making a regular pop or rock album and you get ten little songs. But I really try to make the album with one big story instead of ten small stories.
The importance of selecting music and sequencing songs - making one song merge into another song. In retrospect, those are the most important lessons I got from DJs.
I realized a lot of my friends were going to nightclubs and listening to house music. I was hanging out with them and going to clubs as well but I didn't really understand that kind of music. I was listening to country music and was heavily into Hank Williams, bluegrass, and Bob Dylan. So I just decided I really needed to understand what this music I was hearing in the clubs was all about.
Sometimes it's a struggle to make everything work. I usually work on music from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. Then there are the family activities. Then I work again at night - from nine to as late as two.
I listen a lot to my own music when I'm in the process of making it. In the car, in the kitchen while making food, on my iPod when I go shopping, etc. I listen to it as much as possible, and if I get tired of listening to it, it's not good enough, and I leave it unreleased.
I don't like to put tags on my music. I leave that to others. Seems like some people see me as the founder of "space disco", although that's a bit weird since there were lots of music from the late 70s and early 80s that easily fits into this genre. I can understand why we need genres, but I don't feel comfortable using any on my own music.
Working on my own vocals is something I've been avoiding. But, I'm constantly thinking of ways to be able to include my own vocals without getting embarrassed. Even John Lennon wasn't comfortable on hearing his voice.
I wish I could free myself from making music that has a dancefloor-function, or at least try to focus more on all the other elements in music.
I think most good music has got some kind of crossover-potential. It feels nice to know that there are more people than those into dance-music that are listening to what I've made.
I always spend too much time on getting the details right. That's the problem with computers. They make it possible to change too much of the music after it's been recorded.
