interviews

Stace

Hello Stace! A warm welcome to you on Trance Hub as our featured vocalist for this month!

How are you doing? What's happening in your studio right now?
Right now I'm working on a trance track for The Shy Bros and also some chillout stuff for Christian Hoff's new alias, Plurato. I absolutely love this genre.

What got you into singing? Is singing your sole profession?
I've always wanted to be onstage since I was very little. I first got into music when I was 8, playing the flute and piano, then dancing followed that, I took ballet, tap and jazz. Acting came next at school, and singing believe it or not last! I wanted to audition for the school musical as I loved acting so much, so my mum (an ex-professional singer) gave me a few pointers and I got one of the main parts! I realized I sounded just like her and it grew from there, I was hooked. At 17 I became a member of the National Youth Music Theatre and toured with them for 2 years. Then after school I took a year out before coming to London, and the rest, as they say, is history. To answer your second question, yes, at the moment singing and music is my sole profession.

And how did you get into lyric writing? Please mention a lyric that is close to your heart.
Well, once in London I knew I wanted to move on from musical theatre and singing other peoples songs, I wanted to develop my own sound, so I started writing my own songs, as well as trance hooks for my first partner in crime in the dance scene, Anthony Dean. It's gone on from there really! I now write for a huge variety of styles, both dance music and non. As for a lyric that comes from the heart, ooh so many, but I'll choose one from a track I've recently put on Marcie's "Behind The Lyric" - "..in this perfect place that I have found me, perfect thoughts and perfect strength deliver me"" - to find out what it means you'll have to listen to the show! ;-)

Trance Hub loved the vocals for "Northen Lights" and we are curious to know the story behind the lyrics and the track as a whole!
Ok... well there is quite a story to this. I've always been a big fan of the late prophet/comedian, Bill Hicks. Recently, I was watching a conspiracy theory documentary called Zeitgeist, which uses one of Bill's speeches where he talks about how life is just like a ride in an amusement park. This speech was my inspiration for "Northern Lights", the main hook line being "It's just a ride". The track of course was first presented to me to write for by Alf Bamford (Technikal), who I have been lucky to work with on several occasions now. Working with him is always a pleasure.

And now since we know every bit about the track that made it to the No. 1 position on TrackItDown, we would love to know more about your other tracks too!
Ok, well I won't bore you with talking about ALL of my tracks as we'll be here all day lol, so I've chosen to mention the two that I consider the turning point for me. This of course was getting tracks released first with Adam White and then with BK. It was having these two legends behind me that allowed others to start taking notice of me. I first released a remix of the trance classic, "Pearl River" with Adam under ABS, which went down a treat on the dancefloor. Later came "Piece Of Mind", which was released on Emalodic, Adam's label, and also proved to be really popular.
Early last year, I was extremely lucky to get to work with Ben Keen (BK) on the hard dance stomper "Just A Feeling" which also went on his album "Under The Influence". Both Adam and Ben have asked me to work with them since, so I couldn't have done too badly haha!

Are you planning to sing more songs like "Piece Of Mind"? The breathy vocals perfectly blend in with the trance style!
Of course! I love working with Adam, and this is the sound he really advocates so yes, I should imagine you will be seeing many more tracks like this from us.

What is your take on producer-vocalist collaboration? How do you think it takes place for them to come together and make music?
Erm, there are several ways that people do it. I think it's more "the norm" that the producer approaches the vocalist with a track that they need a singer for, then the vocalist goes away and comes up with something, they record, make any changes etc... but it's also possible to do it the other way around, with the producer taking inspiration from the vocalists original idea. I personally have done it both ways, it's totally dependent on the situation.

How important do you think it is for a vocalist to master multi-genre singing? Does it totally depend upon her/his choice?
I think it's very important if the vocalist wants to make a career out of singing. I'd say that it's far more likely that they will make a living out of it if they broaden their horizons and can turn their hand to more than one thing, yes. But of course, it's their choice, and many vocalists are lucky enough to become extremely successful in one genre, but not all types of music are popular enough to sustain an income/career based solely on that.

What is 2008 uncovering for you? By now it is pretty much confirmed that Stace is going to sing for trance and electronica. Right?
Haha yes, amongst other things! Stace is definitely going to be making more trance and electronica, but she will also be doing a lot of gigs with her band, The Arabada Collective. We perform live drum and bass and funky tracks and already have several gigs booked for 2008. I will also be starting to concentrate on my solo projects, I would love to get a solo album worth of tracks together and start pushing to get myself signed as a solo artist. I will be making the moves to start this this year. Dance music wise, I will definitely be working more with Adam, and hopefully BK and Technical too (those two are others I worked regularly with in 2007). As previously mentioned I have started working with Plurato (Christian Hoff) on his chillout album, which I'm very excited about. All in all though, I'm hoping to just work very hard and hopefully reap the benefits. Lots of live gigs would be nice!

Tell us about the places and best gigs you have performed at! Where do you enjoy performing the most, a club or an open air party?
Well, dance music wise I have done some memorable live PA's, notably "Knowwhere @ Heaven" with Anthony Dean, the crowd there was unbelievable (I will give you some pics for this), "Addiction @ The Fridge" with Adam & The Ant (Adam White & Anthony Dean) - that was awesome... there really are so many to talk about! I have to say though, I am an outdoors girl at heart, and more recently one of the best gigs I have ever done was a live PA with Pathfinder, at an event he runs called Trance On Thames, which is literally an open air free trance party down at Festival Pier out on the Thames in London. The crowd, atmosphere and weather were unbelievable. Top quality.

Share with us the top 5 tunes you are playing on your iPod these days.
I don't have an ipod! Lol - I'm afraid I still listen to my CD albums at home, but I will share with you some of the music I have been listening to recently if that counts? I've been a big fan of Morcheeba for a while now, and recently bought their ex-singer Skye's album, which has been on repeatedly. Also Jack Johnson's latest album, Simian Mobile Disco and a band called Flevans, who make a similar sound to Mr Scruff. I always re-listen to older stuff that I love too, and amongst my favourite artists are Lamb, Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Portishead, Bent... I could go on.

What kind of places most appeal to you? You know, from where the real inspiration comes from.
My inspiration usually comes more from people than places tbh. Memories and experiences that I've had are usually what I draw from. Top of my list of places I would love to visit though is Machu Pichu and the Inca trail in Peru. This place is said to have an amazing spiritual energy about it which I am eager to experience.

There has been quite a controversy about a lot of vocalists lip syncing in some of the biggest performances around the globe. What do you have to say about them?
Haha - not a lot to be honest.

How do you find India as a country? What have you heard about it? We would like to know this from you.
I would very much like to visit India. I've not been abroad at all for the last 10 years which is absolutely shameful, but I've just not had the money/time, pathetic excuses I know! I've always thought that India has a very rich, interesting culture that I would love to explore more by visiting it to see for myself. Plus I love the food!

We hope you enjoyed this interview on Trance Hub. We wish you a great 2008! Thank You.

For more info related to Stace check out the following links:
www.staceykitson.co.uk
www.myspace.com/stacevocals

Written by: Apoorv
Compiled by: Mr. Yank