Feature: Animal Trainer [Interview]

Ever since Animal Trainer launched their global party campaign, the Swiss duo’s unique brand of ‘slow rave’ has captured the imaginations of countless electronic music lovers all over the world and spread their gospel to thousands, if not millions, of music lovers. Adrian Flavor and Samy Jackson are the two men behind Animal Trainer, a dynamic duo which grew up on a diet of the world’s very best electronic music artists in their hometown, Zurich. Driven by passion for the music and an insatiable appetite for the party, Adrian and Samy have become two of the hottest properties on the international circuit and represent the epitome of what Switzerland’s new generation of artists has to offer.

Hi Guys, thanks for joining us, how are you both doing and what have you been up to?
We are in a relaxing mood at the moment. Autumn is so nice this year that we are outside a lot hiking and just enjoying the nature. The summer was super solid. We played a lot of really good festivals which gave us a lot of inspiration and ideas for new music. WooMooN in Ibiza was also a big thing for us.

What were your first experiences with electronic music? Where do your early influences lie?
Adrian: A friend gave me a CD with music from Motorbass, a French group. That was my first interaction with electronic music. After that, I bought a sampler with 5 seconds memory, an Atari computer with Cubase on it and a keyboard.

Samy: Since I was a kid I was always into music. As I worked in a record shop I came in contact with electronic music. I ended up playing gigs at the famous Dachkantine which was one of the best clubs. I also met Adrian there and the rest is history.

You’re both from Zürich, how do you think living there has affected the music you make?
Zürich has and always has had a strong club and rave scene. Today the line-ups are strong in the city and our local DJ’s are really good. So it was always here and it was a natural process to grow up with this.

You have a new EP out on Poker Flat Recordings. Tell us a bit about the tracks and how they came together as an EP on the label.
As always, we never go to the studio with a fixed idea for an EP or an album. We collect all the tracks and try to find out which of them could fit together for an EP.

What were the inspirations and influences behind the EP?
Making people dance and laugh. Not laughing at us, maybe smile sounds much better haha!

Can you tell us about the production process behind the EP?
Some tracks start with a basic idea on a train, a plane or at home on the couch and then we continue working on it in our studio with more gear and much better monitors. Mostly we use a lot of U-he Synths, some Arturia and we really love the Waves and some UAD stuff. What you hear on almost every track is at least one Moog Voyager Sound J

What are the dynamics of working as a duo? How do you work together when making tracks?
We split a lot of the work, which is much better for both of us. We both are doing what we do best. After 13 years we work with a plan finally J Samy is more the studio guy and Adi is on the front. But in the end, we finish all the tracks together and talk about ideas and arrangements. The most important thing is that we both have to be 200% happy with the end result.

You also run the event series ‘Rakete' at the infamous Hive club in Zurich. Can you tell us more about the events and what was the initial inspiration to start it?
We wanted to create a party where we can feel at home and give our good friends a home, just the perfect rave. That was our goal from the beginning and it still is. If you do something with your heart and not because of money, people do realise this. We have a strong following of people in Switzerland and at the borders. We’ve been doing the parties monthly for 13 years and for about 8 years we’ve also produced festivals.

What can we expect from Animal Trainer in the near future, what do you have planned for the rest of the year?
There will be another release on Enmusika in December. We also did a remix for Sharam and one for Dapayk, then this year is over release wise. Meanwhile, we will be in the studio a lot and working on new music. We also tour a lot, we will play in Beirut, Istanbul, Jordan, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. January we do off again the whole month. And the we start again J

Animal Trainer 'Rayaan' EP is out now on Poker Flat Recordings! Get it here: Download

► Connect with Animal Trainer ♫
https://soundcloud.com/animaltrainer
www.facebook.com/AnimalTrainerMusic
www.instagram.com/animaltrainerzh/
www.beatport.com/artist/animal-trainer/91795