Mind-Wakers

A fixture in the DJ Magazine Top 100 for many years in a row now, Cosmic Gate has been raising people's hands in the air for just shy of 15 years. With four artist albums to their name, countless mixed comps, remixes of everyone from Tiësto to Ferry Corsten, singles that have not only topped charts but broken records, plus a constant touring schedule, it's no wonder Stefan Bossems (aka DJ Bossi) and Claus Terhoeven (Nic Chagall) were given the curatorial honours for Future Music Festival's 2013 trance arena. Just don't expect to enter holding staunchly to your pre-conceived notions of what trance is. After all, they haven't named it the Wake Your Mind tent just because it's the name of their last album – instead they're literally committed to broadening people's minds.

“Absolutely,” Bossems agrees passionately. “There's a lot of people that don't really know how modern trance can sound. They have still the feeling of the 1999 kind of [makes pinging trance noise] sound. So we just wanted to show the people how modern trancy-ish sounds can be. Because I don't think we produce the typical kind of trance, so this is one thing that we tried to say with Wake Your Mind; to be open-minded in general about music. To make your pick, make your choice from different kinds of genres, but just don't be stuck in one genre and be like, 'Oh, I'm just house, I'm just trance, I'm just techno', or whatever. There's a lot of beautiful music around so just be open and make your pick without pigeonholing.”

Ridiculously genial, this answer is the only one that you can hear the twinkle of some frustration in his tone. And you can understand why; trance is one of those genres lambasted by many EDM fans, the associated sub-cultural trends of gators, dummies, glowsticks and brightly coloured lycra making it an easy target for cerebral chin-strokers. Ironically though, trance has pervaded the very genres that are loved by these same trance haters. From more mainstream biz like Steve Aoki & Afrojack' No Beef and Avicii's Levels through to dubstep and even more underground house and tech artists, core arpeggio, synth and vocal elements of trance have busted into other genres over the last few years in a big way. As has the reverse; trance evolving to take in other genres. Of course some trance '1999' purists aren't happy with this cross-pollination, so how healthy does Bossi see this genre splicing future?

“Music has to change, music has to get new influences to make steps forward,” Bossems emphasises. “On a personal level, to do all the same productions, the same kind of melodies, the same kind of sounds, this would bore the hell out of us in the studio production. And if we're bored then we couldn't be creative and come up with something nice. And that's why we actually think that things are really positive how they are. There's a lot of crap on the market, but there was always a lot of crap on the market and people just need to make the right picks.”

It's no doubt this obsession with moving forward that has been instrumental to their ongoing success. So much so they have a trick to keep up with demand. “We both have three passports,” laughs Bossems, “simply because of the fact that always one passport is actually somewhere at an embassy to get a visa or something, so you always need a spare one as sometimes there's two at different embassies.” He's not joking. To give you an idea of their schedule, right about now they're in the middle of a five-week tour that will see them pass through five continents, and too many cities to keep up with where they are. With such a rigorous schedule and so many years in the game, how do they keep their fire still burning so strongly? “We love what we do. This is our hobby and it's our profession, and if you love your job then it's not a job but it's something you do with pleasure. And even with jetlag and all the travelling and missing your friends and family, you still have the energy and the passion and you just go, and that's the plan that we have is to go on for many more years… and we're just glad that we don't have to sit in an office wearing a suit and tie!”

Okay, okay, but what about the fact that all relationships have ups and downs, and that theirs has lasted longer than the average modern day marriage? Love at first sight, and forev's? “Well, we are actually pretty different kind of characters,” Bossems laughs. “But yeah, we work good together as a team; we each have our jobs, and our strong and our weak sides, but it's always about Cosmic Gate. It's never about a single ego, and this is why we work so good; it's always in the middle and we know that it's never easy for one of us to do what two of us can do together.”

Speaking of unions, they'll be bringing a not-so-secret weapon to FMF. While Bossi points out they're “going to play a solid club set with the new trance out there,” they're also incorporating into the live show Emma Hewitt, the voice behind Cosmic Gate hits like Calm Down and Be Your Sound. Once in Australian band Missing Hours, she's now a much, much bigger deal in Europe. Cosmic Gate are largely to thank for this, so it must be nice to see her transform into a popular artist. “Absolutely,” agrees Bossems. “We were kind of the first to bring her out there, and of course we're really happy to see her doing so well. And this of course is also going to make our tracks together stronger, being with an established artist.”

They're also buzzed about their curatorial duties, rejecting having felt any pressures or restrictions. “No, this was like a pretty fast process,” explains Bossems of the responsibilities in shaping their Wake Your Mind party zone. “Future Music had some ideas and we had some ideas, and most of the artists were down right away to be part of this. And we've known most of the artists for years… so this was no pressure at all. This was fun and I think we have a really nice and credible line-up for the trance tent.”

Of course Bossi will be hoping non-trance heads flock to the arena to have their minds woken. “I'm sure that some of these people will be absolutely surprised. We hear a lot from people after the show that they'll be like, 'Oh, I never liked trance but I really loved your set.' And we'll be like, 'But this is not typical trance…' So yeah, just be open and you'll be surprised [with] what you'll hear.”

Cosmic Gate will be playing the following dates:

Saturday 2 March - Future Music Festival, Brisbane QLD
Sunday 3 March - Future Music Festival, Perth WA
Saturday 9 March - Future Music Festival, Sydney NSW
Sunday 10 March - Future Music Festival, Melbourne VIC
Monday 11 March - Future Music Festival, Adelaide SA