Zone Magazine Issue 037 Spring 2023

What does Frank do when he’s not
making music or DJ’ing?
I really like traveling a lot. Discovering new places
is my favorite activity to get new inspiration for my music
productions. Just back from a short trip to Valencia in Spain
to quickly recharge my battery. I’ve visited a lot of
destinations in Europe and North America and my favorite
destinations so far have been Hawaii, Yucatan (Mexico),
Ibiza (of course), Spain in general and Los Angeles which
turned out to be my favorite city. I already dedicated a track
called ‚Hollywood Hills‘ to L.A. which was released a few
years ago and gets an update later this years as a new 2023
Remix on Phoenix Recordings.
I’m also addicted to Mexican food. I can really
recommend a Mexican dish called Cochinita pibil which
turned out to be my favorite food.
And finally, what only few people know is that I’m
also a huge fan of horror movies and have a huge collection
of Stephen King novels.
You mainly produce and play
Trance, but you do have some
techno, House, and trance releases
and you do mix it up on your sets.
What is it about the Trance sound
you prefer over the other styles?
I never would call me a pure trance DJ. Trance
music always was an important part of my life as an artist
but I always integrated all other styles of electronic music in
my DJ sets, e.g. progressive house, melodic techno, breaks,
psytrance etc. The most important thing about the tracks I
choose for my sets is that they have something special,
emotional and aren’t just lifeless and boring 10 minutes
loops with no musical content. I always have to really dig
deep to find the music that I want because in my opinion
most of the trance tracks of today sound really similar. It’s
really hard to find some creative and outstanding trance
tunes that not everybody is playing but these tunes are
definitely there and I mostly find them which can sometimes
very time-consuming but finally its worth every second when
I found them. I’ve also started working on some deeper stuff
in the studio. The majority of people would call this sound
melodic techno but for me the result still is what I would call
trance.
I have met PVD on a couple of
occasions over the years, is he still
the laid back, cool, nice guy?
Yes, definitely. The last time I met him personally
was last year at an event in Oberhausen, Germany were his
team invited me to come backstage. We talked about my
future music plans for Vandit, took a few pictures and had a
good time.
Oldskool, neuskool or a bit of
allskool?
Electronic music always should try to reinvent
itself but also never forget its roots. Therefore a
mixture of old and newskool is my choice. When I’m in
the studio and work on new material, I always try to
not forget my personal roots of electronic music and
add a bit of this oldschool flavor. For example, in one of
my latest uplifting trance productions I added an old school
electro beat in the breakdown to add some of the mid to late
90s atmosphere. I also like to add some classic 303 sounds
to my recent studio projects.
If you where left on an island for the
rest of your life alone, with a deck
and some vinyl, what 5 tracks would
you pick?
Hard question, because there always was lots of
good music out there and I got tons of digital releases and
also more than 3000 vinyls I still have where I have to
choose from but I think I would pick the following 5 tunes:
1. Tilt vs. Paul van Dyk - Rendezvous
(Quadrophonic Mix) [Perfecto Rec.]
2. Sasha - Xpander [Deconstruction]
3. Billie Ray Martin - Honey (Deep Dish Rmx [React]
4. Humate - Choose Life [Superstition]
5. Paul van Dyk - Another Way/Avenue [Vandit]
Tell us about new productions, and
DJ gigs?
I just released my latest solo single on Vandit
Records. The track is called, Atardecer De Eivissa‘ and is a
mixture of my signature trance sound and some more
driving and tech elements after the first breakdown.
Up next are two collaborations I produced with two
other acts that also regularly release on Vandit. The first
track is a production I did with polish producer TH3 ONE.
One day he contacted me via social media and asked for a
collab. As I really like the stuff this guy puts out on Vandit
and other labels I agreed and we started working. The result
is a euphoric and energetic trance belter which will be out
this May. And the second collab is a cooperation with none
other than Marc van Linden and his studio partner Gordon
(D-Gor). Always was a huge fan of Marc’s style so it was a
great honor for me when he asked me to work with him on a
collaboration track. In the beginning of the production
process we just send us the track files we worked on but in
the final phase of the production we also met in persona in
his studio near Hannover to put some final touches on our
track. The result is a quite dark and clubby trance
production, somewhere between tech trance and uplifting.
Our collaboration should be out this summer, also on Vandit
Records.
Last words?
Thanks for reading my wise words and listening to
my music. See you somewhere on the dancefloor on this
beautiful planet earth.