I'm doing great! I just landed in Stockholm a few hours ago. I was in Montpellier (France), and played Family Piknik Festival yesterday, so I'm feeling a little beat up. But happy to release some new music again and have a chat with you.

Thanks for the kind words! I started messing around in Reason in high school. A friend of mine showed me that you could make music on computers and that blew me away. It fascinated me that you could make tracks using a DAW running a laptop and OK headphones. My perception of music production was that you needed a multi-million dollar studio.

Once I got started, the whole concept of arrangement also appealed to me. It reminded me of Red Alert and other old-school strategy games I played when I was younger. Once you have a few blocks of midi in front of you it’s almost like laying a puzzle. Dance music didn’t immediately speak to me though, it grew on me little by little. It took some friends showing me Joachim Garraud’s podcasts to really get me fired up about it. I think I was around 15-16, and some of my older friends brought me to a place in Stockholm called Grodan Cocktail Club, which was kind of the main spot for house and techno. I still miss that place and I’m sure a lot of other producers and DJs from Sweden would agree. It was a special place. Seeing all these guys that later would go on to sell out Madison Square Garden and other huge venues after starting out playing a small sweaty casement for one hundred people was inspiring to me. I also remember really liking the interaction between the artist and the crowd. We were all one with whoever was playing, and that’s something I try to carry it with me to this day.   

That’s a tough one. There are so many that I’m grateful for, but I probably have to say Vivrant and the community around it. It was scary taking a step away from Pryda Friends in 2015 to build something of our own, but I’m so happy we did it. I remember when we put on the first label show to celebrate the first release. There were maybe 200 or so people there. Fast forward a few years and at the last show in Stockholm back in December, we had over two thousand people from twelve countries. 

The biggest reason why we started it, which is also what I personally enjoy the most, is that I wanted to create a home for other artists that I admire, big or small, and help them like Eric once helped me. Molø and Oling, which are two of our up-and-coming acts, are killing it and I see a bright future for both of them. Running it is absolutely challenging. I think just like when you produce music, it can be easy to be drawn into putting out stuff with a sound that’s trending at that specific point in time. Staying true to what music we believe is great and deserves attention, rather than if it will be heavily supported or streamed, has worked for us and we will never budge on that.  

I always make music with dance floors in mind and whatever I feel is missing in my sets. If you come to one of my shows, nine out of ten tracks will be my own and more often than not they're unreleased. I’ve always had that approach and I want to give people a unique experience they can’t get anywhere else. Whenever something connects in a big way, I tend to want to release it, and that was the case with Murphy. The first time I played it I felt like it had something, and I also wanted to put out a big, melodic track for the summer so it was an easy decision.  

Thank you! I hope it will be played and enjoyed by everyone in the Vivrant community. Everything else is a bonus.  

I have two kids, so after 2021 ended, which was a very productive year for me in terms of the studio, I took some time off, played a few shows here and there but mostly focused on my kids for a few months. I love spending time with them and becoming a day has changed me and my outlook on my life. This time off was the first longer studio break since I started making music, I feel it was the right move as I feel more inspired and creative than I have in a long time.  

My taste is really diverse! You’ll catch me listening to everything from Nina Simone, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Prince, Little Richard to Nas, Big L, Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep. My biggest musical inspiration is without a doubt Michael Jackson and that will probably never change. The stuff he made with Quincy Jones, there’s just nothing else out there that can compare.  

Lots of fun stuff happening! I have an EP coming on a German label I really like that I can’t name just yet, and probably another one on Vivrant. Both will hopefully drop before the year ends. We’re also doing label showcases in London, Beirut, Cairo, Stockholm and Seoul. I have a Vivrant India Tour with Molø coming up, an Australia tour with John Digweed and a big New York show at Kings Hall in Brooklyn. I’m also back in the studio to start work on what I hope will become a full-length studio album project. It’s about time.