Hello Mr. Tanneberger, it is a joy and a privilege to have this opportunity to pick your brain for a while on all things electronic.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to your Croatia fans and welcome to the pages of the Clubbing Scene.
1. You actually witnessed the beginnings and rise of trance music and broke into the public ear with Sequential One. Why did you decide to start a solo project ATB? What has changed in 20+ years in music? What trends have you seen come, go and shift and what new sparks do you see starting in electronic music?
I started the project Sequential One already in 1993. In 1997 I wrote and produced 9PM. And somehow the track didn't fit to the Sequential One songs I had released so far. So I simply created the name ATB from my initials Andre TanneBerger. I never expected that the song would go through the roof like that. And from then on it was clear that I would concentrate on my project ATB.
A lot has changed in music since then. At the beginning of the 90s the change from tape and vinyl to CD was in full swing. At the beginning of the 2000's the change to mp3 came with the iPod and meanwhile you don't own any data media and no files anymore. This has changed a lot in consumer behaviour. In the past, music had a value. It was a completely different feeling to hold a vinyl or a CD in your hands. Today you click through the playlists and especially the young generation has lost the feeling for the value of music.
On the other hand, technical progress has also ensured that you no longer have to resort to incredibly expensive equipment to write and produce your own song. This gives many young talents the opportunity to realize their dream of making music.
This trend has led to a rapid development especially in electronic music, giving it a much larger platform for events. In the 90s it was the exception when an electronic song made it into mainstream radio. Today this is completely normal.
2. You travel the world regularly. Have you noticed any universal global trends or do countries/continents/regions carry their own sounds developing it independently? Is it even possible today to have a new development not influenced by a global trend since the world is co cross cultural and wired through with non-stop instant communication channels?
As in the past, the music industry today is always looking for the new trend to generate as much income as possible. This was the case in the past and is no different today. Only the speed of this development is much faster due to the social media. It was always important to me to make music in the long run. If I constantly followed the trends of the music scene, I would lose my own sound and identity for which I am known. Because the disadvantage with trends today is: As fast as they come they go again... ;)
3. "neXt" marked your 10th album and a lot of those before came as double edition, featuring club tracks on one CD and more ambient and mellow aspects on the other. How does your process of creation flow? Are you very methodical about it or is it more of following the muse thing? Besides electronic music, what could someone find you listening to on your private time?
I'm not methodically vior to that. I've always had these two musical hearts in me. One beats melodically danceable, the other beats for relaxing sounds and rhythms. I like to take my listeners on a journey through a world of sound. At club and festival shows you can hear my preference for very energetic and danceable music like on CD1.
At my event series ATB UNDER THE STARS I present beautiful ambient music in the style of CD2 and take the visitors in a planetarium on a musical and visual journey through space. The perfect place for me to present this music. Apart from electronic music I listen to very different tracks in private. The music style is secondary. A good song is a good song, whether in rock, pop or electro style.
4. You consider yourself a composer and a songwriter rather than just a producer and a DJ. How does the process of creating music touch the places inside that words just can't? Is the message somehow cleaner if delivered s pure energy and left for personal interpretation? What inspires you and what distinguishes the good from the average? How do you see the next (pun intended) 10 years unfolding in the electronic landscape?
The sources of my inspiration are manifold. Since I travel a lot as a DJ, I collect a many impressions, which I then incorporate into the songs. That's why I always need a break between gigs to go into the studio. But also in everyday life off touring I get inspired by many things that influence while creating new songs. And as you said: Music can often express things that cannot be expressed in words.
As far as the next 10 years are concerned, I can't predict any real trend. There's a lot of talk about artificial intelligence in music. I think and hope that computers cannot learn emotions and therefore in the end it is always the human being as a composer behind the music I for my part will stay true to my sound and try to develop it further
5. We’ll soon be dancing with you in one of our main capital clubs Boogaloo on Feb 29th for another rendition of Legendary festival. Is this your first time playing Croatia and what can the dancers expect to hear? Do you have a message for all those impatiently tapping their foot until this February Saturday arrives?
I am really looking forward to the evening at the Boogaloo. I have played in Croatia before, but I haven't been here very often. So I'm really excited about the people and I'm sure we will have an unforgettable evening. (Tickets presales here)
6. Wild Card question: Why do we dance and what is so powerful in embodying the emotion through motion?
We dance because we can switch off our head and forget the everyday problems. And because the music drives us to let our emotions run free.
