Binary Finary first exploded onto the club scene after their release ‘1998’ became the first electronic dance track to enter the UK Top 30. A decade later and they are still impressing fans and critics around the world with their unique content and technical set up for their live performances. Spearheaded by Stuart Matheson, and enlisting Sasha Vatoff as a live performer & DJ for its shows, Binary Finary are armed with a bunch of new releases and remixes, generating a huge buzz and incredible crowd feedback with a brand new live show that kicked off at ID&T's Sensation, Melbourne on New Year’s Eve 2009-2010 and most recently just completing a national tour for the 2011 Future Music Festival in Australia alongside tyDi, Cosmic Gate & Sander van Doorn. Binary Finary have also just been asked to headline Godskitchen - A Trance Odyssey in Australia in October alongside Marco V, Richard Durand, John Askew & Ben Gold.
QGuys, please tell us a little about what brought you both together back in 1997. What were you both doing at the time?
AI was at Uni at the time in Portsmouth, South England, studying computer science and Matt was working in a music store. I was looking for a new piece of hardware to develop my music and walked into the store where we got chatting. Matt recommended a synth he had, that wasn’t in the store, so I went over his house to check it out and that’s when Binary Finary was fully formed.
QYou’ve both pretty much spent the past two decades completely immersed within music; how would you each describe your relationship to it?
AI would say from my point of view, it’s a real love hate thing. I love the creativity of music, I love music generally (all genres), but there are a lot of area’s regarding music in general that I do not like. The business side of things is difficult sometimes and get’s in the way of the creatives at points. From a purely creative point of view, it is never a disappointment. There is always something to learn, always some new techniques to test and always the surprise of finding that sounds and melody that yes you excited.
QCan you identify a point when did you both decided that you wanted to produce and dj professionally? What led you to begin producing? We'd love to hear about your “we should be doing that!” moment.
AFor Binary Finary it was that meeting at Matt’s house, when a group of people were together talking about music and Matt unleashed some music from his setup. It just seemed a logical step that we all met in that room at that time and wanted to express ourselves doing something we loved. The scene had such energy at that point it was just so easy to get carried away with it. Producing was just an extension of that energy. Personally, writing music was something I just did in correlation to messing around with computers and graphics. I was working with fractals a lot and felt there was something missing. Thats when I went into computer based recording and sequencing. It wasn’t until Uni that it really felt like something I wanted to persue further. It wasn’t about becoming a producer or a DJ, it was just about getting creative with the tools on offer.
QWho were your influences back then?
AThe Orb, Orbital, Platipus Records, Eat Static and generally the scene at the time and the people who were making it happen. Not just the big players, but the guys and girls who just wanted to be involved at every level.
QTell us about your first gig; when and where was that? Are there any special memories connected to it that you’d like to share with us?
AThe first proper gig as Binary, was at Tunnel, in london and my strongest memory was seeing a head appear over my keyboard (the guy had climbed up some scaffolding to get to us) after a heady breakdown and just went berserk with thanks for the music we were playing out. Also all the little gigs that just happened in the early days. People would come over, or we’d go to other peoples places with some kit just to jam and before you knew it, it was 4am and we had a crew of 20 people just partying.
QYour track “1998” is a timeless classic; one that shot you to prominence at that time. It charted amazingly well, entering the UK National Charts at number 24 and was remixed by a who's who of Trance superstars including Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto and Ferry Corsten. One could be forgiven for thinking you'd sit back from there and watch your career explode...but you didn't. Tell us about where you went from that point?
AWe were very lucky to be in the right place at the right time, however the setup wasn’t exactly geared towards working onwards from that. Indeed I stepped away from Binary Finary in 2000 and Matt stepped back at that time as well. There was a lot of in-fighting (not between Matt and myself) which caused fractures. If the base isn’t solid, then whatever you build onto will eventually crumble and that’s exactly what happened. We got back in touch around 2004 and set about working together again, a lot wiser and with the intent just to enjoy what we were doing. That ethos is exactly the same some 13 years on from 1998, it’s all about the love for the music and the enjoyment of producing and performing.
QHow would you describe the evolution of your production style over the past decade, leading up to 2011? Have you had any particular influences at play?
AThere have been many influences, not necessarily directly, but influences in normal life and listening to music, both new and old. There is always something to learn when writing music, and I think that is probably the most important influence that we still rely on. Plus the fact that we love to write music. Even if we weren’t writing music for release we’d be writing music for ourselves, because it is just part of our lives so much. We’ve written all sorts of types of music over the years, from chill out, through trance to techno. It’s just that creative process which is so addictive.
QHow would you to describe what you bring to your sets? What are you sharing with the crowd when you’re up there?
AWe bring an eclectic mix of songs, one’s we personally like inter spliced with some old favourites now and then. We love to play tracks from up and coming musicians as well as music from more established artists. We also do out own edits of tracks we play, just tracks we particularly like and we mess with in the studio a touch. We don’t try to over perform or anything, we are just thankful to be performing and we love every second of it.
QWith such an amazing list of A-list dj’s and producers that you’ve played with over the years, can you manage to pick a favourite? And what is it that stands them apart?
AFar too hard a question. We’ve been lucky enough to play and meet with a great deal of talented artists and we respect them equally.
QYou’ve been a regular on the international festival circuit for years; could you pick one out as the most killer fest that you’ve played? Where were you, and when?
AActually the most recent one for Future Music. Because the ethos has swung more to just enjoying the moment for all it’s worth, the Future Music Festival was just fantastic. We had great crowds where ever we went. It was a typical festie, in that we had all manner of things to overcome, including some rain on our kit in Melbourne, but it just made it all the more memorable.
QTell us about your Godskitchen Tour of Australia this September! Where and when can we see you around the country?
AWe are playing a trance classics set in Melbourne on the (date) and DJ-ing our usual sets at Sydney and Perth. Looking forward to it!
QAnd what should we be keeping an eye out for over the next 12 months? Where will you be touring? Tell us a little more about where that’s taking you and what you’ll be up to?
AWe’ve got a load of collaborations going with other artists. We’ve been really enjoying this as it’s a different process with everyone. We’ve got a heap of content we are also looking at getting out including a studio album, a remake album and we are looking at doing a dj album. There are a number of other things in the pipe line and we’ll let people know as soon as we’ve developed them a bit further.
QNow, what artists out there are floating the Binary Finary boat in 2011?
AThere are so many that are producing good quality music, but here a few of the ones that stick out at the moment. SpaceRockerZ, Pulse & Sphere, Matthew Nagle, Pobsky, Genix, Vegas Baby & Jordan Suckley
QAnd on a final note...if we ask you to look into your record bag; what's in your top 10 right now?
A
1. Ernesto Vs Bastian - Dark Side of the Moon (Binary Finary's Monster Remix)
2. Binary Finary & Matthew Nagle - Replode (Original Mix)
3. Space RockerZ & Tania Zygar - Over Again (Original Mix)
4. DJ Ange - Penn Road (Original Mix)
5. Grace - Not Over Yet (Jordan Suckley Featuring Leanne Thomas Remix)
6. Binary Finary Vs Pulse & Sphere - High Stress
7. Sied Van Riel - Bubble Blower
8. Genix - Carpe Diem (Original Mix)
9. Mat Zo - Superman (Mike Koglin Remix)
10. Solange - Messages (Binary Finary Remix)
