Above & Beyond

There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one group that can do both: Above & Beyond.

There are DJs who can rock a party, a club, a festival. And there are acts that can write songs that will bring out the goose bumps in you. But there’s only one group that can do both: Above & Beyond. This three piece have remixed Madonna, won Essential Mix of the Year, and played to one million people in Rio de Janeiro. More importantly they’ve written songs with the power and the melody to en-trance that one million-strong crowd, many of who were singing along, word for word.

We caught up with Jono Grant for a quick chat before Above&Beyond’s appearance at The Arches this weekend and find out about how their tracks are created, what to expect from the new compilation album and what they think of the Scottish crowd.

Firstly, with whom do we have the pleasure of speaking with today?
Jono

Do you take it in turns to do interviews?
Yes, though Tony seems to get to do most interviews because he’s the quickest to respond!

2008 was a great year for Above&Beyond, what were the particular highlights for you?
 If we can count NYE 2007 (because it spilled over into ’08 of course), then playing to such a huge audience was a big step for our career in South America. I think one of the other highlights was releasing our OceanLab album. We’re really proud of the reach of the album – Tony & I were shopping for duty free in Buenos Aires airport the other day and heard “I Am What I Am” in the background.  That was somehow strangely more satisfying that hearing it on the radio!

For the past few years your profile has increased tremendously, is there one particular thing you hold responsible for this or is it a case of all your hard work paying off?
I think the Madonna mix made people take us more seriously. The Madonna remix is something we’ve done that I’m most proud of, but it’s interesting to look back and realise it’s not always the best moments that push you forward as well. Being relentless is extremely important - there’s so much luck and timing involved in the music industry and you’ve got to have a lot of self-belief and a thick skin to battle past the egos that you encounter!

You are currently number 4 in the DJ Mag Top 100, the highest placed British act. Why do you think trance seems to be the most popular genre with voters? 
Trance works on a big scale, especially the vocal sing-a-long stuff.  That said, David Guetta is playing house, and while his sound is pretty commercial, I do have a lot of respect for the fact he is a great entertainer and is making serious headway in the same way that Tiesto opened doors for the trance guys.  I think people like to divide us all up into groups, but when it comes down to it there’s a lot of talent across all genres.  We certainly don’t get our inspiration from other trance acts really, and I think it would be boring to be another “me too” act anyway.

What process do you go through to write your tracks? Is someone assigned a certain aspect of the track and then you put them all together?
I tend to work on melody, chords, harmony & production along with Paavo, and Tony is more concerned about “what am I going to hum?” and the lyrics.  I’m a bit of a sound freak, and love all my old synths.  I’ll never get rid of them even though most of the stuff we do is in software these days.  For me some of these keyboards are the equivalent to owning a Fender Strat or Gibson Les Paul in the guitar world.  It’s not that they are always better, but they have character like an old Bordeaux wine!

How do you select the vocalists for your tracks?
First of all we like to try and use vocalists who most probably haven’t been featured in dance tracks before.  The reason for this is that it just feels tired to use the same old vocalists that work on everyone else’s productions.  How are we then different if we are copying everyone else?  Zoe is a great example of someone who we felt had something special, and she is very selective about who she works with. 

Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
Tony’s the best one to ask about that!  Me & Paavo have a hand in writing the songs, but Tony and our guest vocalists are the lyrical geniuses!  They certainly come from life experience though, I can tell you that.  Justine is also a great writer, and wrote all the stuff from the OceanLab album.  She has such a distinct style, and I feel very fortunate to have worked with her.  We spent many evenings writing and writing before we narrowed it down to the tracks you hear on the album.

Musically, ideas can come at any point – often out of the studio. Sometimes I will have an idea for a riff or hook when I’m out and about, and then I’ll memorise it or record it on my iPhone and then realise it later in the studio.  When travelling I’ve even heard local music and been inspired by it and created something a bit similar later.  Also, I finally bought myself a piano for home so that I don’t need to switch anything on and can just enjoy composing without technology sometimes!

What special quality does a track need to have in order for you to remix it?
A really good song, and something probably not from our arena so that we can bring it into our sound.

You last played The Arches on Easter Sunday 2008, any fond memories of that gig?
Always lot of fond memories from The Arches!  It’s a lovely venue and the Scottish crowd are extremely vocal!  I like the fact we feel so welcome there – when you have a crowd like that, it makes DJ-ing very rewarding.  It’s one big crowd with us all in it together.  Lots of positive feedback flying around in the room – fantastic!

Your gig on March 7th is part of the new Anjunadeep:01 album launch, are you glad to be bringing the brand to The Arches for the first time as part of the launch?
Yes.  It’s always been a string to our bow right back since our first Anjunabeats release, Anjunabeats Volume One, where we had an Anjunadeep remix of the record.

What can people expect from the new compilation album?
It’s a mix of housey progressive music with trance flavours.  We’re very pleased with the result, and so far it seems to be selling as well as our Anjunabeats Volume compilations, if not even better, which is a nice surprise.

Apart from your own, are there any new releases on the label that we should keep an eye out for?
As well as all the Anjunadeep stuff that you are probably already aware of, there is a new Sunny Lax track on the way and also a huge new track from Nitrous Oxide.  There’s also more coming, but I shouldn’t really say until we have signed the artists!

Who are your hot tips for the year ahead?
Production wise I think there is some excellent stuff coming through from Myon & Shane 54, Gareth Emery and Kyau & Albert to name a few. Lange has also done a great remix for our OceanLab remix album.

Finally, if you could trade places with any other DJ for one night  only, who would it be and why?
The guy who DJs in the local trendy bar on a Thursday night. Suddenly the DJ becomes the observer, rather than the observed.
See you in March, looking forward to it.