Oliver Schories & Jan Blomqvist just dropped ‘Packard’, a gripping and emotion-driven piece, where they imagine ‘what would happen if the world stopped turning for a year’. Despite Jan and Oliver being friends for years now, it was when they both shared the booth at fabric London that the idea of a collaboration came up. Ultimately, both artists were tied-up on upcoming album projects and air-tight touring schedules. It was only when all concerts were slowly canceled in March this year, that the notion gained traction until it materialized.
The release features ‘Packard’ in three versions: ‘Sunrise Mix’, ‘Club Mix’, and a radio edit of the aforementioned ‘Sunrise Mix’. We caught up with them to talk about their collaboration.
Electronic Groove: Hello Jan and Oliver, thanks for your time today. On June 19th you released the single ‘Packard’ which was already part of Oliver’s album ‘Paradigm’, this time with a new version having Jan as a Co-Producer, how exactly did this happen?
Oliver Schories: Thanks for the invite. Basically the version released with Jan is a remix. I asked him to make a remix when we met in London in late December and he first declined. After all our shows had been canceled due to the virus I asked him again in April and we started working together on it.
EG: In a former statement Jan says that this is by far his ‘best production’ so he is more than happy with the outcome. Can you please describe your feelings whilst in the process of this single:
Jan Blomqvist: Sometimes you can feel at the very beginning of a production when everything fits perfectly. Very often I think that music production is like a puzzle because we have to try out so many sounds, melodies, or structures until it all fits together. But this time, the pieces were already there from the beginning. The track itself told us what to do next, we only had to follow the instructions the music gave us. These magic moments are very rare in the recording and writing process. But whenever it happens, it automatically makes the following mixing part very easy. So in my opinion, this one is the fastest production I’ve ever made.
EG: So this happened in unprecedented times and under the most curious circumstances which we can feel through the lyrics; what do you think how will this influence the scene and what do you think about the live streaming excitement we have found recently?
Oliver Schories: I think what happened with the live streams is what you can see very often in the media. If something works well, everybody tries to jump on it and take a part of the cake. What started as a good idea fast became a massive overload of bad quality streams, resulting in basically no one watching anything anymore. Anyway, I think many now have realized this, doing less and better. Let’s see what the future brings. In terms of the scene, it’s difficult for me to predict. I hope that a lot of venues will somehow survive the closure times and also hope that everything comes to the core: music. I think we need to step away from the pure event, where people just go out to a random festival, dancing to a DJ. I have been active in the scene for more than 15 years and the interest, for music and artists, has never been so low in the last years. Maybe now is time to get back to the roots.
Jan Blomqvist: Yes, I agree. Especially for me as a live act, I need a live concert feeling with a real audience to get into my stage vibe. I can play streams as well but it is not the same and I would be a lier if I pretended to be happy to play for a camera filming me. I strongly believe that the future of electronic music doesn’t reside in live streaming, because the fascination is not only about watching a DJ or a live act, it is also about the vibe that we all create together, in a club or a festival. You can’t create the same fascinating vibe alone. And beyond this, how could you transport this vibe through the internet into the living rooms of the dancing people. For me, every recorded set of a big festival in the past has more fire than a fresh recorded live stream. So we have to be brave now, swallow the bitter pill and wait for better times. Then the festival vibes will explode again, even more than the way we know it, I am sure of it. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the clubs and festivals will survive somehow.
“Sometimes you can feel at the very beginning of a production when everything fits perfectly”
EG: Oliver, can you tell us about your last album ‘Paradigm’.
Oliver Schories: Well, there is a lot to tell. It’s already my sixth album and this time it is a collection of club tracks that I made to have some tools for my DJ sets. When I played in 2018 and 2019 I often came to parts of my sets where I was searching a quite specific track that would fit the current mood of the session but never really found exactly what I was searching for. So I started to make cuts to build bridges from one part of my set to the other. The result is ‘Paradigm’. All of them have been tested in the club and festivals – what a strange coincidence it is that my most focused dancefloor album was released in a time where all dancefloors are closed.
EG: Jan, what about a new album after the great one you released in 2018 ‘Disconnected’?
Jan Blomqvist: Thank you for these nice words. And of course, a new album is already in the making. There are 34 sketches in my studio computer waiting to be finished as soon as possible. But right now I don’t even know for sure which ones are my ten favorites to release on my third album. Also as nobody can predict how music business will develop in the next months or years, I cannot make any serious release plans in the further future. All I can do is to get my homework done in the studio and keep my fingers crossed that the scene will survive this crisis somehow.
But don’t get me wrong, I’ll obviously never stop releasing tracks. Just a release of a complete album would not make sense without having the possibility to play a massive album tour with my band afterward.
EG: Are you planning more co-productions together?
Oliver Schories: Nothing is planned right now, but things can change so rapidly. I will ask Jan next year 🙂
Jan Blomqvist: (Laughter) Ok ask me next year again, that’s very soon. I have a big release with Bookashade in the pipeline, which I am very much looking forward to, coming out at the end of July. It’s called ‘Blaze’. Then in August we finally release the live video of our album tour band concert in Munich, which will close the circle of a 4 years adventure of my 2nd album ‘Disconnected’.
Also, another track with Ben Böhmer is in the making, which also makes me really happy. And of course, some more collaborations are scheduled for my next album, but I wanna keep these names secret for now.
‘Packard’ is now available. Stream and buy here.
Follow Jan Blomqvist: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud
Follow Oliver Schories: Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud
