Lampard.S: Hello Egor! Thank you for taking the time for this interview with us. Today we will talk with you about your Interra project! With great pleasure, on behalf of Criminal Tribe ltd and all the fans of Big Beat / Breakbeat culture, I want to congratulate you on the release of your first CTR, full-length LP album, ‘Contrast Shades’! This is undoubtedly the best event of this fall for our entire team! I definitely want to point out the unusual atmosphere of this album as well as it’s cosmic mood! Thanks to your determination to experiment with the sound and mixing of various styles, the album turned out to be unusual, charismatic and enjoyable! Thank you for your perseverance, honesty and courage!
Now we will pass directly to the questions.
01. How long did it take to write the album?
- Egor [Interra]: I wrote and played the very first version of the track “Mind Escape” in my live DJ set, supporting The Prodigy in Chelyabinsk in March 2018. Of course, the composition has been through many revisions since then and, as a result, it sounds much better. In general, a little over a year has passed from the first outlines to the final tunes of the album. I took a break for several months twice due to work commitments and personal matters. During these periods, I did not work at all on the album. However, this actually benefited the cause, as new emotions and fresh ideas came to me.
02. How difficult was the switch from trance to broken beats?
- Egor [Interra]: Actually, the trance background has added the real spice to my compositions, and I am still the only CTR resident with such sound. During the switching stage, it was most difficult to lay down complex broken drum parts, with syncopation, punch, abrupt drops and other details that characterize drums in this genre. At first, I was getting drums sounding more like some kind of breaks genre rhythm pattern than the classic breakbeat.
03. Why “High Point” is so similar to your remix for “Age of Rampage — Subway Funk”?
- Egor [Interra]: I wrote one of the main melodies of the composition just shortly before the release of the Age of Rampage single. But it was put in a long drawer, since it did not work out for me to develop the idea in the way I saw this track. When a quick remix on ‘Subway Funk’ was needed, I realized that the melody would fit perfectly there, and decided to produce my version of the track. And after a while I came up with the idea of how to develop this melody into an independent track. I did not change the sound of the synth, as this was exactly what I wanted to hear in this composition. I changed only the scale from major to minor.
04. Is there any background of the track “Reactor Complex”?
- Egor [Interra]: When I completed the album, I felt like “Reactor Complex” was the most monotonous and weak track of the album. So, just before the release of the album, I reworked and supplemented this composition. I know that there are listeners who like “Reactor Complex” the most. I am pleased with the result :)
05. Do you like space? Do you believe in aliens?
- Egor [Interra]: Yes, I love the space theme. Awareness of the colossal dimensions of the Universe really amazes my imagination and inspires me. Listening to my album, I believe you can hear the strong influence of my passion for space on some compositions. And yes, I believe that we are not alone in the Universe, because with such a size, even according to probability theory, there must be someone else. I hope that our probable neighbors in the Galaxy will like my album :)
06. What equipment was the album recorded on?
- Egor [Interra]: If we talk about software, then my DAW is FL Studio 20.
As the equipment I used average power by today’s standards: PC (i7-3770K, 8Gb Ram), an external Tascam US-4×4 sound card, near-field studio monitors M-Audio and monitor headphones GermanMAESTRO GMP 8.35 D Monitor.
07. Are there any wildlife sounds in the album?
- Egor [Interra]: No, I did not use wildlife sounds in the album.
08. For what movie would this album fit to as a soundtrack?
- Egor [Interra]: I think it’s definitely for a science fiction film and, of course, space themed.
09. Do you find it easier to write music at day or night; and why?
- Egor [Interra]: Definitely at night, although it is not always possible to work with sound during the night. Night is a special time for me, life seems to freeze, but at the same time open new details of this world and this has a special effect on me: there is a desire to create.
10. Where would you recommend listening to your album?
- Egor [Interra]: It depends entirely on the listener. With this album I wanted to convey completely different emotions and moods through the contrasting sound and atmosphere of each composition, to convey to each listener something unique for themselves, close to their inner self. Therefore, some people might listen in a car at high speed, some people during a night walk in the metropolis, some on a serious sound system at the big event, and some at home alone. Choose by yourself.
11. What, in your opinion, did you outdo yourself with in this album?
- Egor [Interra]: My obvious progress in this album, I think, is to increase the level of sound quality. I really spent a lot of time pumping up my mastering and mixing skills. I studied tons of material and training videos, and turned to experienced sound engineers for advice (Dima FB Force gave me tips, for which I am very grateful to him). And consider by the reviews of people who understand the topic of sound, I succeeded.
12. Were there other variations of the album title?
- Egor [Interra]: Yes. Initially, I planned to write an album in the form of a confrontation between a light beautiful sound and a dark atmosphere (50 to 50). Therefore, there was the variants: Black & White or Gemini, i.e. a dual Zodiac sign, which is characterized by opposite character traits. By the way, I am Gemini too, perhaps this has also influenced my work, because I am constantly between two elements: I am attracted to a heavy dark and psychedelic sound, but I also really like to create beautiful melodic and atmospheric tracks.
13. What are your plans for the future?
- Egor [Interra]: Speaking abstractly and globally, the plans are to increase the pace and produce more quality material. At the moment, I would like to include vocals in my compositions, so I’m actively searching for people with similar creative understanding and goals, people who could embellish future tracks with their voices. I am open for collaboration. I do not exclude, that in parallel I can resume to work on tracks in the trance genre. Plus, there are ideas for streaming, but this requires careful preparation, not only in terms of the concept itself, but also in terms of infrastructure (location, camera, light, etc.). I see my next album on CTR more difficult and darker. And what will come out will actually be shown by time.
Lampard.S: Thank you very much for the interesting interview and good luck in your work!