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Les Hemstock

Les began his career as a mobile dj in the north of England. He has worked for Mixmag and DMC, but it was his famous Jive Bunny mixes that got him into the spotlight, appearing in newspapers, national radio shows and tv.

Question: You
have lived in Norway for 7 years, does that influence you music wise?

Answer: Norway,I
feel, can have a magical way of influencing
anyone in a variety of ways. I suppose I was influenced at that time for the
style of music I dealt with though,since my return to the uk ive progressed
to a whole other style and influence.

Question: What
inspires you?

Answer: Life…Love…Experience…Emotion…our
soul inspiration.

Question: What
got you into trance music?

Answer: Purely
the love of it!..I started buying more and more of this material especially
in Germany and the uk and playing it out getting noticed and offered the right
venues to play in.

Question: Who
do you respect the most in the scene?

Answer: In
the scene..it has to be my studio partner Chris Jennings. Chris is a soul
mate and confidant and has never faultered in his support for me and my productions.

Question: If
you could choose anyone to work with, who would it be and why?

Answer: There
are a few professional people I admire and would appreciate to work with,though,at
this time I am happy working solely with Chris Jennings and expressing my
ideas through him.

Question: Out
of any, who would you like to remix one of your songs, and what song would
it be?

Answer: Difficult
one?..presently,I would like to hear Tiestos interpretation of “Mirage”.

Question: How
do you work on a song? How do you build it up production wise?

Answer: Many
producers do this their own different ways. I usually build up my percussion
first in the studio then work the main idea to the set tempo,trying different
basslines etc to work with the groove and finally work the melody of the song,wether
it be instrumental or vocal.Its all a process and you have to achieve each
phase of the production one at a time even then,many times you will come back
to the mix with fresh “ears” the day after and not like what you’ve
done and rework it all agin.
Im more patient these days and it’s
a quality not to be ignored because once you’ve released the mix to the
world you have to live with it..something I learned about to my dissapointment
some years ago.

Question: Are
your productions based on software or hardware?

Answer: Chris
and I use Cubase and its various software for the productions.You can check
a recent kit list on the site on the studio page.

Kitlist: 

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Mackie 32 /8 bus Desk 
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Mac G4 running cubase audio 
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2X S3000 XL Akai samplers 
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Roland JP8080 Synths X2 
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Other synths; 
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Emu Proteus
2000 
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Waldorf
XT 
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Access Virus 
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Novation super nova 
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Nord Rack2 
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Korg Triton
 
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Korg Z1 
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Question: If
you could chose to remix any song in the world, which song would it be?

Answer: Possibly,the
song that got me into mixes of music and was a dance tune of its time –
“Relax”
Frankie goes to Hollywood…though,these
songs are classics and maybe shouldn’t be re-touched at all?

Question: One
of our users asks how you feel about producing with Lange...?

Answer: Stuart
Lange is a nice guy and we are now friends.We obviously have a common ground
in our music and its always a compliment to work a project with a fellow respected
producer like Lange.

Question: What
advice can you give to young people trying to make it as a dj/producer today?

Answer: Be
patient..practise…do as many live gigs as possible…(even for free
where nessecary)…believe in yourself
and play from the heart…not the wallet!

Question: What
do you enjoy the most: dj’ing or producing?

Answer: The
two go absolutely hand in hand for me…I love creating the tunes and playing
them out to my crowd,there isn’t a better feeling than seeing a crowd
go crazy to your own tune.

Question: Are
you still making mixes for mastermix?

Answer: No!.Nor
will I ever.I fell out with Muisc Factory many years ago over the Jive Bunny
thing,they did not keep their end of the deal and that was the end of that.I
still produce the odd mix/remix for DMC though, who I might add, are a far
more proffesional company to work with.

Question: “Jonny808”
wants to know: how
did you go from being the guy responsible for the Jive Bunny Master Mixes
to such a prominent DJ that you are now?

Answer: Fantastic
question!..glad someone thinks about this…VERY VERY HARD WORK!
You can probably expect I have taken a lot
of grief over the years to get to my present platform and it’s a very
difficult thing to live down. My heart was always with house music and its
all been a matter of having belief
in myself and what I can achieve. I made the Jive mixes purely as a fun challenge
and it all took off ,this has also driven me to continue,against the odds,
in an industry that’s very difficult to succeed, with the music I genuinely
love….if you have your heart in it…you can do it!.
Thank you for that consideration.

Question: In
what direction do you think trance music will go? Harder or deeper?

Answer: Well,
both these styles are ever developing..i personally can see things getting
more “Tech”.

Question: Do
you think that trance will be as big as it was in 99 again?

Answer: “Big”actually
means cross-over, because its always been here..so, as cross over then yes,
like all styles of music trance lends itself very well to popular riffs/vocals
and therefore naturally will have the tendencay to cross over this year or
any year.

Question: Will
you be doing alot of dj’ing this year? Will you visit Scandinavia?

Answer: There
are lots of Uk guest set coming up all over the uk and some big nights too.
There are plans for Dj tours of Dubai,Australia,Holland,Ibiza
and im presently looking for
a Scandinavian tour organiser/agency to
fix me dates for Scandinavia?

Question: Electronic
music is often defined as “drug-music” by the media, any thoughts
on that?

Answer: 60s,Woodstock,rock
n roll it was all drug music wasn’t it?..Drugs have always been a part
of music and the whole progressive emotion compliments any musical movement..drugs
will always be a part of “live”music irrespective of its genre/time
period…I have a realistic attitude to it.

Question: What
are your thoughts on MP3’s? For, or against?

Answer: For
any new format…but,unfortunately,in the music business,its another pirate.

Question: Are
there any new releases from you to look forward to? Remixes?

Answer: Uk
releases; Hemstock & Jennings – Mirage -
25th March.
 Sagitaire – Shout –
April 15th (new Remixes)
 Ian Van Dahl – Reasons
– March 30th (Remix)
 Fusion – Spectrum –
April 9th
 **Ive
just signed H2J – East & Central to Xtravaganza for summer
release.

Question: If
you could have 3 wishes that would come true, what would they be?

Answer: Just
one…to have my mum alive again.(I lost her when I was 1 cool

Life can be cruel…so enjoy it everyday!

Question: Any
final words for our trance.nu visitors?

Answer: Thank
you for your time and interest,I hope you continue to find enjoyment from
my music?.
 Tusen hjertlig takk ! 

Trance.nu thanks Les Hemstock for taking the time to do
this interview! We wish you all the luck in the world!

 Name: Les Hemstock

Aliases: Hemstock & Jennings/Sagitaire/Gold N Delicious/Fusion/ESP/Merge/Tonik/H2J

Age: 30s

Website: www.leshemstock.com

Nationality: UK/British

Favorite dj: Fergie/Matt Hardwick

Favorite producer: various presently ; Tiesto

Favorite tune: presently; Mark Norman – Overkill / all time fave; Samuel
Barber – Adagio for strings.

Favorite label: various…Bonzai/Nukleuz are consistant

Favorite food: Chinese/Italian

Favorite drink: white wine/fruit juice

Favorite movie: various…last year was Planet of the Apes. 

Written by:
elusive

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http://trance.nu/v4/perm/interviews/523

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