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“I was always into music,” chimes Joakim Hjorne, member of progressive trance due Flowjob

"I was always into music," chimes Joakim Hjorne, member of progressive trance due Flowjob. "When I was a kid I used all my pocket money on 7" vinyl singles with Duran Duran, Depeche mode and various other great 80s acts! When I became a teenager I got totally into strange melancholic Goth metal from Scandinavia and me and Mads actually played in a band together called Dystopia, where he was the drummer and I the guitarist. At this time we were only 13 years old, and our rehearsal room was in my parent’s garage. The Goth times passed and in beginning of the nineties I went to a music boarder school for a year and played all sorts of stuff there."

By the time 1993 rolled around, Joakim had met some people who were into, as he terms it, ‘this strange electronic dance music’. So he goes on: "I went to a few parties and I was sold. That music was the most physical and mind-bending powerful music I had ever heard. That was the year that Eat Static released their Abduction album, and Juno Reactor released Transmission. I think these two albums were the first electronic music I had a personal feeling with."

"The year after the whole Goa wave started with Hallucinogen and Total Eclipse – and from there, the snowball started to run. For some years afterward, I just spent my time travelling and finding parties in various destinations, like Goa, and later Brazil, it was not until year 2001 that I bought my first computer soundcard and a synthesiser. I had several friends from the Iboga crew that were already doing music so I learned fast and started to release shortly afterwards. Mads had always been my musical companion and it was natural that we joined forces and Mads became the second member of Flowjob in 2003."

Unfortunately, Mads isn’t so much on the scene anymore because of a back injury, which means long flights are out of the question. But the duo will be back on production duties soon. And how that will transpire – that’s the eternal question. "I never had a complete idea of which direction I might go when I start a track, but I think for most artists, there will always be a red line in what you do. I always try to bring warmth and motion in my tracks that I often feel is missing in trance or techno music. Even though its trance and party music, I think there is room for melancholic feeling. But I do like pure fresh party tunes too. Whenever it rocks and has some originality, I dig it."

"So even though I don’t like to speak about music in genres, I guess you can say that In electronic music I like warm and huge trance vibes and also fresh and funky house and techno – I guess you can hear that on the tunes I make. For those who listened to early trance you can hear that I love the planetary vibe and pureness of early Eat Static music. I don’t think that I will change that in the near future. I can’t stand when people are like, ‘now I make this style and I don’t like this style anymore’".

In turn, that means his output can be prolific – and it keeps his sets fresh and relevant. "Sometimes I can make a track in three tracks in two days and sometimes it takes much longer. My new theory is that the main structure has to be there after three working days otherwise I start anew instead of trying to fix the thing! I have been spending too much time reshaping stuff that I in the end skipped anyways. Apart from that I get inspired form hearing other stuff when I am out playing and I talking a lot with my musical colleagues here in Copenhagen."

"For me, the motivation is in general the love for music – no matter how cliché that might sound. And playing gigs and travelling is a big motivation factor as well. My influences can be whatever. I hear a lot that I don’t know the names of and I get inspired from it. Before I made music myself I knew all about the new releases. I don’t anymore to be honest. But I still get inspired a lot from other projects. By the way, Infusion from Australia is huge for me! And Maitreya is the gig I look forward to the most that I have in my calendar. Period." Hear hear.


Flowjob [DEN] plays the Maitreya Festival with Neelix [GER], Cosmosis [UK] and more on Friday March 11 – 14 at the Pyrenees Ranges.

RK