Q&A: SOLARSTONE

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Following the explosion of trance in the late ‘90s, the genre sadly witnessed a rapid decline in its fan base as dance music itself evolved and re-shaped itself. A resurgence of its true followers begun again two years ago and passion for trance is being revived with advocates like Solarstone, whose Pure Trance movement began back alongside this resurrection in early 2013.

Solarstone now hosts renowned events worldwide for trance loyalists across the world by reigniting the emotion that is so often lost in some of today’s dance music.

We spoke to Pure Trance founder Richard Mowatt AKA Solarstone to delve further into the movement.

Where did the concept of Pure Trance come from?
“My Pure Mixes led to the Pure Trance movement, which led to us hosting our own events as ‘Solarstone presents Pure Trance’. It was pretty obvious from day one which artists to involve. There are many artists that changed their sound considerably for the more commercial sound of EDM. I want to work with artists who have shown a dedication to ‘Pure’ trance; who are not going to go chasing the big bucks and the ‘EDM dream’ and who know that this sound is here to stay and wish to proudly celebrate it with million of clubbers out there.”

Which artists are involved in Pure Trance?
“We are being very careful about who we work with, focusing on a small number of proven artists who are consistent and can relied upon professionally. There’s myself, Giuseppe Ottaviani - who brings a great live element to our events, Orkidea – one of the scene’s great purists and great either early on or peak-time, as is Kristina sky – a great opener for us state-side. On the hard, harder and #140 tips respectively we have Sneijder, Bryan Kearney & Daniel Kandi. Last but not least, the big man Alex M.O.R.P.H - who has a very wide appeal in the trance scene and always keeps it melodic.”

Do you find that the fans are different from other genres of music?
“Definitely. When I launched the Pure Trance movement I stated: ‘Pure Trance is a feeling, a way of life for millions of people around the world’. Lovers of this music have a spiritual connection with it.”

Trance has a following from people all over the world. Why do you think it’s a popular choice of music?
“It is melodic and charged with emotion; energy and the artists who produce this music are doing it with genuine passion and devotion to their craft.”

Pure Trance v2 has been out now for a few months, do you think it was as successful as the first album?
“More so actually, Volume 1 laid the groundwork nicely, it was incredibly successful (and was still in the Beatport Top 100 Trance releases on the day that Volume 2 was released a year later). Volume 2 benefited from having a solid world tour laid out to promote it. It is still selling well and I’m releasing a steady stream of singles from it on my Pure Trance Recordings label successfully.” 

You have been traveling and touring the brand for a quite while, what has been your most iconic tour to date?
“There have been so many wonderful shows! Our party at Fuel in Bloemendaal last year was really great and our first visit to Exchange in LA also stands out, but to be honest we haven’t had a bad party yet, they’ve all been great fun, people are so positive and enthusiastic about the whole concept, the energy at the events is amazing! I’m very thankful that it has worked out this way.”

What can people expect to see at future Pure Trance live performances?
“Part of the plan for the future is to take things up a level by hosting stages at the occasional festival or large event. We just want to keep on doing what we are doing now and spreading the word. Our events are pretty simple; we prefer smoke, lasers, strobes and visuals to huge pyrotechnics – it’s all about the music and the journey.”

If you were to describe Trance as a whole what three words come to mind?

“Groove, melody & emotion.”

Find out more at www.puretrance.com

Words: Dawn Tolmie