interviews

Breakfast

Hi Casey! It's wondrous to have you here on Trance Hub as our featured artist of the month!

Not many 19 year olds are producing crisp music like you these days. How did Trance music happen to you at such a young age?
I am very lucky. But as well many producers are getting younger and younger. It is great for everyone to be able to express themselves through dance music and everyone has a different interpretation. When I was 10 I heard the track Daft Punk - Around The World, this was my first real interest in dance music and I was very intrigued! Later I heard BT - Dreaming and I fell in love with that song, so I really started to get into trance and then started to want to produce the style.

Any additions up there on your production setup or are you still the Fruity Loops wizard?
Right now I am still using Fruity with some various VSTs, but soon I hope to get all of my hardware back up and working like my Nord Lead 3 and soon to purchase the Dave Smith Prophet 8 synthesizer. I love these instruments.

Fruity Loops is easily accessible to people who want to make music. Rarely they get what they want. Can you advice the FL aspirants on how to go about it?
Fruity Loops is a very versitile program and many people aren't aware of the capabilities it has to offer. If you are just starting try getting used to the basic FL plugins because these are very very basic compared to a lot of VST plugins such as the Waves plugins. Another thing is I advice people to finish songs even if they are not completely comfortable with the track, the reason is you must make it a habit to complete things or it is very likely you will not complete something to it's full potential!

You are denied entry to clubs because you still have to cross that legal age limit. You also play at clubs. How do you experience playing at clubs if seen from a teenager's perspective, especially when women are ready to throw themselves on you when you DJ.
The clubs are very weird! I'm in Europe right now and I will be playing at Turnmills for the first time. This is not such a problem because I'm younger. But in America, many of the clubs are over 21, because of the drinking laws. This is kind of screwed up and I don't like it, but, the promoters know me and they do not mind me because I respect their clubs. So far I have actually never had a problem with getting into a club. Easy peasy. As for women throwing themselves at me I have never had to deal with that 'problem' yet!!!

Are you studying at the moment along with producing music?
I wish I was and I would like to go back to school soon! I am getting a bit rusty in general and my brain is just sitting around...

You have been termed as the 'Next Generation' trance producer. How do you see your journey through EDM scene in the next 5 years?
Dance music will be changing a lot. The push for a larger scene in the Americas has been in the making and now I am part of this upcoming scene. It's very intense as well as intimidating. I am excited to bring change to the music and new ideas, as well I love seeing new productions with a sharp edge receiving great attention. With the next generation of producers there is going to be a lot of competition as well, not just for producers but as DJs too. This is good and bad, as friendly competition encourages people to move ahead with ideas, but being bad because many people can easily become stressed and not be able to push forward.

Don't you think everybody is waiting for a vocal track from Breakfast?
Yes and no. Personally I am not ready for a vocal track under the Breakfast alias! Great vocals are very hard to catch properly and can easily become lost with a bad production. The risk of a vocal track is based on the level of sincerity it can produce, and in dance music many artists fail to reach the 'true' use of vocals in dance music. But, everyone should be patient, as I know whom I would like to work with but it is a matter of arranging this and working on this idea perfectly and calmly!

It looks like you have lots of admirations for the producers of your age and generation; lets take Joni Ljungqvist or even Rafael Frost!
Yes Joni Ljungqvist has always been one of my favorite producers ever since his first release. He has a very unique sound and all his productions are really really deep and emotional... Rafael Frost is as well a really great producer, his sound is extremely sharp, very edgey. He takes a bit of a risk as well with his production because they are very experimental.

What artists do you admire and is there a liking for any other music genre too?
At the moment in dance music I have been admiring Rafael Frosts work. A lot of his newer music is just mind boggling, and I'm not sure how he obtains such heavy sounds in his productions! Another artist in dance music I am very excited about is Marcus Schossow. His productions have such a sharp edge and are very catchy, but at the same time are not really catchy at all, more groovy. Yes groovvvvvvvvey. Outside of dance music I listen to a lot of 'lo-fi' and 'pyschadelic' rock. Really trippy stuff!

You seem to have a great sense of humor. Don't ask how we know it! Do you remember any funny instance that occurred at a club while playing?
If you know me you know I am a bit out of control! There are a few (many) funny moments in the club of course everytime I go to the club I try to make the best of it (most people in clubs are very very serious people, at least here in America.) I do remember one time I was playing one of my tracks that are unreleased and I went absolutely mental and I had to run around, so I went down in the crowd and just flipped out!!! Before I play I'm usually with the crowd anyway.

How did "The Sunlight" happen? Is there a story behind it and it's production? In my opinion it is one of the greatest trance tracks of 2007.
Sunlight was a very old song that I had worked on in 2003. Originally it was a very cheesy production and some people liked it a lot. It went through many revisions, almost 10 versions over the years, with help from friends like Joni Ljungqvist and James Wood. In 2006 I decided to rework the song completely. I decided to take the theme of the song and work around that. In the end the production turned out amazing and I was very satisfied with the results... Of course Ferry loved it as well and I had Joni Ljungqivst (JPL) sort out a remix, as I would have had no one else remix it except for Joni!

The European Trance scene is more visible and vibrant, the same is not heard about USA. Is it so or is it a misconception?
I think this is a misconception. Dance music and trance are definitly more commercialised in Europe, but in the states it's very very 'underground' but the people who do listen to dance music are abudant. I love the scene in America but I do wish that commercial music in the states was not as blinding. People are unaware of the power of trance and dance music in general. Many people are starting to understand it though and it is becoming more and more popular especially on the east coast.

Any plans to come to India and play here?
Yes I hope so!!! I really hope to come to all the asian countries as well. I've always been interested in India and their dance scene, because there is so much going on that it would be fun to play for such a unique crowd.

Thank you, it is great that you donated us important time from your tight schedule. We wish you a grand time ahead for you and your music. Hope to see you performing in India soon!
Much obliged and thank you for the opportunity to do the interview.

For more info related to Breakfast check out the following links:
www.caseykeyworth.com
www.myspace.com/cookbreakfast

Written by: Apoorv
Compiled by: Mr. Yank