DJ Interview - Cosmic Gate

Over 10 boundary-pushing years, Cosmic Gate has evolved into one of the most creative and highly-sought-after electronic music acts in the world. This German duo can be found week in week out performing at the world’s leading clubs, events and European festivals like Trance Energy, Global Gathering, Cream and Sunrise.

A permanent fixture, in the DJ Mag top 100 confirms Cosmic Gate amongst the elite of dance music’s most famous and popular DJs. Success after success with their own original productions has been accompanied by an impressive repertoire of Cosmic Gate remixes, for artists like Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Oceanlab, Rank 1 and Blank & Jones among a few.  We take a moment to catch up with Cosmic Gate…


How are you doing guys, where in the world do we find you right now?
We had a very busy summer season with a lot of gigs also during the week, and no time to be in the studio. Now in September we have returned to play just the regular weekend shows, be home during the week to work on new productions and remixes, and are looking forward to playing GK in Australia/NZ shortly!

Your fourth artist album has been released earlier this year, how have you found the reactions and feedback so far?
We are really happy with the reactions on the album, as most of what we have seen was really positive. Of course it is always nice for a producer if people follow the music and like it! 

How/where did you meet and what are the origins of the name ‘Cosmic Gate’?
We were both working in the music business already a few years, when we met in 1997. in 1998 we ended up by chance together in a studio and just did a fun track without having planned to produce together at all!!! This song a few month later was introduced to the scene as ‘The Drums’ and we were thinking of a ‘spacey’ name for it, so we came up with ‘Cosmic Gate’, not knowing at all that now nearly 11 years later we still travel the world DJing under this name...

Where do you envisage the Trance/Progressive sound heading over the next 1–2 years? And, during this time, do you believe there are any up-and-coming EDM producers who will clearly stand out?
Well, this is hard to say in which direction the sound will develop. We think the good thing about the whole EDM scene these days is its diversity, and that different styles get mixed together a lot during the last year, and we think that this maybe will go on during the next year(s).

Having enjoyed an immensely successful collaborative career together (spanning a whopping 10 years already!) are there any plans for a fifth artist album on your agenda at this stage?
There is certain plans already for sure, and there is going to be a new album next year after the Summer.

Is it possible to give one particular highlight of your career thus far?
As producers for sure it was bring in the top 10 UK charts with ‘Fire Wire’. As DJs we always see our highlight playing Trance Energy in Holland in 2002 for the first time; this event gave our career a big kick and we always think about it with big pleasure!!

Tell us about your solo projects that you have undertaken over the years.
We have done a lot of side projects during the first years, but now we focus on Cosmic Gate; (Nic) is doing his solo Nic Chagall stuff, and (Bossi) is focused on his house label Phunkwerk he has been running for a few years now... 

Is there any particular technique or process you follow when creating new music? And can you recommend anything to aspiring EDM producers?
We always start different on a new track, maybe its a bass sound we like and start with first, maybe its a melody we have in mind or a good groove that catches us. In other words, we kind of always start different with a production, it is not like cooking where you follow a certain recipe, and this keeps it interesting for us!!!! 

The Cosmic Gate sound has diversified and evolved considerably since your inception in 1999. Have your musical influences changed much over the years? And are there any particular industry influences you’re most inspired by in 2009?
Actually we do not think a lot about our influences, we just always produce what we like and think is the ‘Cosmic Gate’ sound of the moment we feel and want to hear!  Do you each have a personal favourite, when it comes to your own artist albums, and why? This actually changes for both of us with the mood we are in, so the favourite track of an album can change from day to day. 

Are there any particularly obscure or little-known facts about either of you which our readers may find interesting?
Nothing we can think about to keep you guys interested, we are normal guys; maybe having few more air miles than we know what to do with at the end of each year! Lol

Any crazy fan stories? Stalkers?
Nope, sorry, nothing to tell here too... ;-)

Have you discovered any places around the globe where the EDM scene is particularly good?
The good thing in 2009 is that EDM is a global thing and can be found all around the world, sometimes you come to small cities and a party is really fantastic. The internet here has really helped to educate clubbers to the latest sound, also great for producers, you release a track, and 2 weeks later the whole world is singing it already...

What proves most difficult when living the life of a globe-trotting DJ? What would your best ‘survival tips’ be?
It is definetely the long flights and the jet lag, so its important to try to relax and sleep during the flights, which is not always easy...

Whereabouts are you performing between now and the Australia/NZ Godskitchen tour in October?
We have gigs in the US, Cyprus, Ireland and Lithuania

What are your top 5 tunes of the moment? And what are some favourite Cosmic Gate tunes the New Zealand audience can expect to hear you play in October?
We for sure will play a lot from our album, new remixes you will not know, known remixes we did, like John O’Callaghan’s ‘Find Yourself"’ or Paul van Dyk’s ‘Home’; maybe it is best is to come to listen to our set to really know... :-)

Plug your latest single/album/comp or gig here in 50 words or less...
Lets talk about all together; we had a fantastic last year, with the release of our album ‘Sign of the Times’, touring the world and playing the best clubs and festivals; we are really thankful for that and hope next year will continue to be the same and we thank all our fans a lot for the ongoing support!!!!

Thank you for your time, we look forward to seeing you in Auckland on October 3rd!
Pleasure, we are looking forward to be back in Auckland, see you for the gig!!!

Interview by: Pippa Crawford

www.myspace.com/cosmicgate
www.cosmic-gate.de