A dancefloor apocalypse is descending on east London and it's going to do more than shatter a few barriers. French psychedelic trance duo XSI are preparing to launch their arsenal of euphoric full-on psy trance stormers on London and you’d better get ready for the fall out!
With the countdown on to the dancefloor apocalypse of the year at the return of Shattered Barriers on Saturday 24th October at iCan Studios, the Shattered Barriers crew got the low down from Jean-Marc Segondy aka Bionix, one half of XSI project...
Hé là! Thanks for taking some time out to answer a few questions ahead of your headline set at the Shattered Barriers Gathering at London’s ICan Studios on Saturday 24th October, when I’m sure you’d rather be making music!
France is usually known for its fine cuisine, amazing cheese and incredible wine. How did you first catch the psy trance bug and what inspired you to start cooking up your own productions?
First I would like to thank you for your interest in XSI Project. My first experience with psychedelic music comes from the GIBUS Club and some good parties in Paris like the Gaia concept party, Anthares and some others at the beginning of the 2000s. I met my partner (Barthelemy Bayona aka Stryker) at that time. The artist that inspired Bart and me at this time was Astrix, followed by GMS.
XSI stands for Xtra Sound Independent – how would you describe the XSI sound?
X-tra Sound Independent is like a message… a positive message, powerful and always for the love of the music! The XSI sound is really dancefloor music and we just want to see all people HAPPY and dancing. I think that’s the most important thing for us.
Why psy trance? What does the ‘psychedelic’ in psy trance mean to you?
‘Psychedelic’ means life and music are connected. We are all connected and I think ’psychedelic’ is like a universal language… it’s more spiritual than the other styles of music.
You describe your mission as being to ‘shake the biggest speakers all over the world!’ What are the biggest speakers you’ve shaken so far? Have you blown many speakers in the process?
Hahaha (smile)…. No, no, not at all, we haven’t ‘blown’ any speakers fortunately, at least not at a party. The biggest we’ve ‘shaken’ so far was in Brazil at the very beginning, something not to forget in a career. It was for XXXperience, touring with Talamasca, who at that time was our label manager for Mind Control Records.
You’ve played all over the planet from South America to South Africa, headlined some of the top psy trance festivals and parties, released several successful albums and hit the No. 1 spot in the Beatport psy trance charts with your album ‘Dancefloor Apocalypse’. What would you say is the highlight of your musical career so far?
It’s certainly now, the release of our album Dancefloor Apocalypse was and is the peak of our career. Playing a lot since then, I think we’ve brought the edge we’ve always wanted to our music – from the fine tuning of our full-on style to the production quality.
And given that you’ve already done so much, what goals do you still have for the future?
Well, first we have many things to do for the future but XSI is not at the top of the list for now. My partner Stryker has just started his solo project and I think it will be a blast very soon. For me too, I have a lot of things to do for my solo project Bionix, to explore new boundaries. We do have some plans for XSI, some to be announced soon. But we’ll have some changes in the music so we’re trying not to deceive our fans. It’s gonna be tough.
Your tracks are played on dancefloors all over the globe – did you study long to learn to produce or are you self-taught? Has it been a long mission?
It’s a very long mission when you are alone in the process of learning. We are self-taught! And it’s one of the reasons XSI is X-Tra Sound Independent. It’s exactly that. It’s been very hard and taken a long time to make it happen, but because of that we’ve always liked to help others in any way we could: working with friends, sharing our knowledge a lot with our fellow artists. Cause after all, that’s what music is about – exchange!
You’re also involved with United Beats Records. What music have you heard recently that has shattered your barriers and made you want to shake the biggest speakers?
Yes, United Beats Records is the label we’ve launched sometime ago with Max Peterson aka Mad Max. Even our friend Block Device was part of the creation at the beginning. But I’m not into it anymore, I mean managing. It’s a lot of work when you’re an artist to be honest. Now the label is handled by Max, Bart and Caroline (Bart’s wife). She is the Booking Manager and she’s also in charge of the marketing and sales of the label, and I must say she is very efficient.
I have a project on my own for music production and mastering (7Art Studio Production) but it’s not a finished project for now. I’m working on it at this time as we speak!
Regarding the music that shattered my barriers then I must name Vini Vici and the upcoming stuff from Astrix (as always).
What’s the psy trance scene like in France at the moment? If we were to come over to visit, which parties should we check out?
The French scene is coming back from a long ‘blackout’ in my opinion, but it’s coming back stronger than ever since 2 or 3 years. Paris is definitely a place to experience the scene as you’ll find there the genuine ‘trancers’ of France. Find them at any H.O.T events or at Gaia. And well, Paris is Paris! Heheheh…
But now there is a very strong community in the south, just to name few cities: Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse, Avignon and Lyon. You can check out Respublika, World Trance, Gaia World, Outrance, Inox and many more.
As someone fairly new to DJing I’m still learning from every gig. Have you ever messed up behind the decks? What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to DJs starting out?
Hahahahah (big smile again). YEEEES for sure we have messed up behind the decks!! Who has never messed up? They might be not human then.
The only one thing to say to the new generation of djs is just love: love what you make! And don’t lose your energy, I mean the good energy you have when you start the music. And let’s say the usual advice, keep practicing! It’s like playing an instrument, you need to do it every day.
If we gave you a million euro for the sole purpose of putting on the most epic party, where would you have it and who would you book to play?
Woaaaaaaah a really difficult one!! I don’t know… Maybe Astrix first (lol)... but I would like to see other styles of music in this party like Dave Clark, Daft Punk, Laurent Garnier, GMS, Shpongle, ScanX, Vini Vic and many others – those are just some examples.
France is home to some of the best food in the world. If you were going to plan a dinner party, what would be your favourite French dish to cook?
I think I’d cook a Pot au feu. It’s like meat with vegetables, but with a special technique for making it very good.
And if you could invite any 6 people from any point in history to your dinner party, who would you ask?
First I would like to invite Michael Jackson, Mozart, Cleopatra from Egypt (lol we need a girl), Bruce Lee for sure, Bob Marley and Jesus (just to see if he is real or if it’s just a joke… hahahha).
You’re headlining the Shattered Barriers Gathering in London on Saturday 24th October, do you have any new productions or surprises up your sleeves to shatter our sonic barriers? Are you planning a dancefloor apocalypse?
We have some ‘revival’ versions of old tracks and a bunch of remixes that are coming soon. And YES!! The apocalypse is coming and it’s the first time this album will be played live in England! People need to know what is the dancefloor apocalypse!
Merci beaucoup! Looking forward to seeing you at Shattered Barriers on October 24th!
Big Shout out to all fellow Party Peeps, it’s time to get your RAVE ON. Shattered Barriers is BACK, ready & kicking to distort your barriers of perception and blast you once again to another dimension with one night of fun-filled euphoric Party Action. So are you ready to wet your whistle and bounce around like a Pogo stick going mad? As we anticipate a hefty flow of high-octane dance & Music energy being shared on the trance floor like there is no tomorrow. We will on this occasion be covering a huge spectrum of fine Electronic sounds & we can assure you that it will be a fun fare to remember, one not to be missed!!
Along with Our cracking lineup of Legendary Artists & Dj’s, Shattered Barriers will have an array of Circus performers, laser shows, Massive Led Screens, Mind boggling décor, theatrical dancers, are just some of the delights on offer to help you create your own realities .To mesmerize your sense further down the rabbit hole & for moments of relaxation to wet your whistle or get whatever tickle that fancy you had to just sit down, have a slice of pizza or puff on a shisha, We will have an outdoor chill-out Shisha lounge with cozy couches.. Pizzeria café. That’s right a Pizza cafe in case you folks get hungry by having it larger then life on the dance floor. So come this 24th October 2015 there is only one place to be…
Flyer:
-
Region:
London
Music:
Trance. Hard Trance. Psy Trance. Deep House. Hard House. Prog House. Chillout / Leftfield.
DJ's:
Shattered Barriers will be Joined by:
Line-up:
Master Blasters
Nano Records,UK
XSI
United Beats, Fr
Aphid Moon
Aphid Records, UK
Pogo
Nano Records, UK
Tagma
H2O records,UK
***EP Launch Party***
Contineum
Mutagen Records,UK
DJ Seb
Freecansee, UK
++ MORE DETAILS TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!!!
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