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Trance Jesus
So connecting with and spending time with this gentlemen beside me has been a highlight of my Trance journey over the years from San Fran to Dreamstate. The recent five visits to Minneapolis, I had to go back and count those, for not only the music, but also time to hang out with the legend Sean Tyas. Thanks for being here, Sean.
Sean Tyas
Thanks for having me.
Trance Jesus
So a little backstory of my first encounter with Sean's music was thanks in part to a state of trance. Going way back in time may not be my first ever episode of ASOT with episode 66, but a little forward in time to episode 255 when I heard Lyft for the first time, and that was in June 2006, it just blew my mind. And then, rightly so, the week after that was Tune of the Week in episode 256. So in retrospect, over the last 18 of the 28 years of being a Trance fan, this man, Sean Tyas and his music has been a big part of that journey. And from Discovery to Degenerate, which took a hiatus and is back with such a rich and dark sound. And now to the Regenerate catalog of nearly 2000 releases, this man has made a mark on the trance sound itself.
Sean Tyas
The 2000.
Trance Jesus
Did I say 2000? Oh, yeah. I'm living in the future here. So almost 200 releases. I last I checked was 181. But there's probably some that are still.
Sean Tyas
There you go.
Trance Jesus
Waiting to be released.
Sean Tyas
1811.
Trance Jesus
No you're gonna get there right before you retire.
Sean Tyas
That is the retirement plan.
Trance Jesus
When you hit 2000 releases on Regen, that's your retirement plan. So. But no, always a pleasure to have here, Sean.
Sean Tyas
Not to mention Twitch or holohistory on Twitch.
Trance Jesus
That's right. We have some esteemed visitors in the room. We have Mister Robert Wlodarczyk here from Seattle. We have Niko Zografos who has Tranceplanted from San Fran, is now in Phoenix. They've all been a really big part of that whole story of spending and time and connecting with Sean. And so it's great to have him back here in Minneapolis.
And so to think about you and your journey in Trance. Always love to ask one of my favorite questions and really digging into artists in their origin story. What was that first trance track that you fell in love with and started you on a journey of your career in the music?
Sean Tyas
I think for me it was. I think it had to be. It was usually the answer I give on this one. It would be the Gouryella mix of 1999 by Binary Finary out. Kind of like an unfoldable track. Many of the mixes were all good on this one. Everybody tends to pick another mix, but for me, it was the Gouryella sound. I fell in love with the JP 8000 on that, on that track, that super saw lead type sound. So, yeah, I would say that kind of thing. And especially the breakdown, the way it's built up, that's a good, that's a very good gateway track into the Trance world, for sure.
Trance Jesus
Absolutely. And I think if you've been in Trance or you've listened to Trance as long as we have, you definitely are familiar with that track, all the different remixes. And definitely Ferry with that collaboration with the legendary Tiesto definitely have definitely made their mark in the Trance world and thinking about music and then kind of fast forwarding in time to pass that initial introduction to trance and thinking about the music that you have produced cross the number of different releases that you have, what would you say are your personal top three?
Sean Tyas
It's always hard to choose because you're.
Trance Jesus
Like your children, right?
Sean Tyas
You, dad. That's it. You gotta say, yeah, you gotta say. It's like picking your favorite kids. But I guess if I had to pick three different tunes, I guess that would stand out, would be my favorite track, that would be like my traditional sound, be the collaboration, and of course, my eventual redo of Zahi, that would be like the favorite melody that I ever released as an original. And then in terms of during my, when I was doing a lot more psy stuff, I think Vagabond was a cool bridge between my melodic sound and my psy sounded, and I still play it sometimes today. And then in terms of going a little bit darker as the Degen label got started up, my In The Dark was a cool way of jumping into the, um, jumping into that world and making a statement very quickly with that sound. So In The Dark be yeah, probably the other one.
Trance Jesus
And we'll circle back around and talk about Abstrkt here in a minute, but definitely want to take a pause and talk about one of my favorite releases and actually had an opportunity to ask Niko about his side of this story. And, you know, definitely am interested to hear yours as well in that reboot of Drop. How did that classic come to life as Drop Two?
Sean Tyas
I hope you tell the truth, but. Okay, so here we go. So it started out as Niko's remix of drop, and it was coming along, coming along, and he's working his ass off on it. And I'm like, oh, my God. And I started to really like where it was going, but I started getting my ideas of my own, and I'm like, it's kind of like that asshole in passenger seat that literally grabs the wheel when you're about to make a wrong turn and stuff like that. Or not that he was going the wrong way, but, like, I want to drive to for a minute. And so then we just decided to make it into a full on collaboration. And then once again, because it was drop was under recovered world, and I was unsure of the legality there. In the end, I was actually allowed to do, you know, remix of it anyway, release it myself. But let's just call it Drop Two because it's related. But it's kind of a sequel, and now it's turned into a full on collaboration.
Trance Jesus
So, yeah, I will say that his response is pretty much on point to what you said.
Sean Tyas
So there are some true stories in the Trance conducting world.
Trance Jesus
What do they say? The truth is built on three sides of a story, both of the people that tell it and the person that's actually hearing it. So, yeah, some of you, but no love that. So fast forward to modern times now.
Sean Tyas
I was just kidding.
Trance Jesus
So Drop Two probably came out a couple of years back. I remember when you were here in 2019, you played the first half. The first drop.
Sean Tyas
That's it. Yeah. No, Lumi.
Trance Jesus
Oh, here, Minneapolis. He had the first half of it.
Sean Tyas
Wasn't done yet. Yes, fair enough.
Trance Jesus
So we heard the first Drop of Drop Two at one point in time. And so it's fun to think back.
So fast forwarding to today and years of recent sound over the last twelve months and abstract. So what does Abstrkt mean and how was it actually born?
Sean Tyas
Okay, so I actually, as last year kind of came to a close, I became much more interested in doing kind of a lot wider range of stuff. Everything from the slower progressive all the way down to 122 bpm. The tempo doesn't really matter so much anymore, so I'll try not to concentrate so much on that all the way up to really, really banging stuff with harder kicks, more reverb type basses and stuff like that. And I'm going to try to avoid using genres, but for sake of just to be more clear, everything from progressive to techno and everything in between is still maintain the typical Trance sound that I'm going to expect from it.
So I thought I was going to launch a pseudonym for the progressive stuff Naes. I used to use Naes for the old electro stuff and progressive and then all the way up to, and I needed a name for the tech though stuff and I needed something. And at first it was abstract with a “K”, but with the second a as well. And eventually I took the second “A” out because I found there's a lot of other abstract brandings out there and if you just eliminate one value.
Trance Jesus
I had that conversation she was googling, she was going into, was it Beatport? There's another artist called Abstrkat.
Sean Tyas
Artist name Abstrakt. There's a. I think there's a sample pack company named Abstract with a k. There's plenty of other. And then not to mention probably plenty of other things out there, but if you eliminate the vowels, the only one. So I'm like, great. Okay, cool. So that stuck.
So yeah, before the ASOT show I had a deep, good conversation with Ruben de Ronde and he was like, I don't think you should do a different name for your progressive stuff. I think what you just played for me is all trance still. So screw BPM. Just, just sounds Sean Tyas for everything. So that. So the idea of doing a separate alias for the slower stuff was scrapped and now just expand what Sean Tyas should mean to me, well then that's something you're talking about.
Trance Jesus
I do that too. Like, I've told this for to other people as well. It's like being able to break the mold outside of the whole Trance Jesus thing. And that's kind of how people know me. It's like. But no, I'm actually Chris Blackburn is like every other sound. And I'll do sets with Jen as Chris Blackburn, and I've got other projects as well. But being able to say that, hey, this is me and I can go across all these different sounds and how.
Sean Tyas
Do we do it? And this is why we do it. We do it not to confuse the fan base. Why are you so confusable fan base?
Trance Jesus
I think part of it too is like, we want to compartmentalize those sounds and we feel that the fan base can connect to those sounds better if we compartmentalize for them.
Sean Tyas
But I think it's really cool to give people a wider reign. It is. I was so close minded for over ten years in the beginning of my career, so much tunnel vision going on. And in the end, once I started to expand, I started having more fun. My productions got better because you can cross pollinate techniques. So, yeah, I mean, it's a good tip.
Trance Jesus
Just, just be you. Just be you. And so in that vein, and thinking about that Sean Tyas sound over the last twelve months, you probably put out more music than I've seen in the last, in a twelve month period of time over the last 18 years. Really, what has been that spark to influence so many tracks?
Sean Tyas
I was asked this question on ASOT too, so I changed my workflow due to us having five little puppies up there on the house. It had to be something.
Trance Jesus
It's fine, so let us look sleep.
Sean Tyas
So I changed my workflow. So we had five little puppies upstairs in the house that had just been born on December 31. And somebody always had to be there and I'm like, I can just. I just had gotten a new laptop and I'd like to bring the laptop up and work like this and try to see if I can make that work. In the end, working on a laptop was liberating because I would stop obsessing over tiny EQ bullshit choices and just get to that all later in the studio when it came time to take the project out. But working on the laptop just let you focus on just making music. I bought a little mini controller and got the broad strokes of every track done really quickly, sometimes within a day, and then straight to the studio. Mix it down too, 3 hours and boom, it helped.
Trance Jesus
You were able to disconnect from your normal work environment and just brain dump and just let those creative juices flow.
Sean Tyas
That's it. And I highly recommend that. Keep it mobile.
Trance Jesus
Keep it mobile. Keep it simple, right?
Sean Tyas
Simple too.
Trance Jesus
I love that. So thinking about trance in kind of where it is today, what would you see or say that is the state of trance in 2024?
Sean Tyas
There's a bunch of schools of thought and there's a bunch of different directions things are going. You have the people that are kind of sticking to the status quo still and still, and it's just the same stuff over and over again.
Trance Jesus
Melodic Trance sound?
Sean Tyas
I mean, I think that most people calling it modern Trance, that we call uplifting. That's got to go like it's. We've had enough of this and now Trance needs. I do like this return to the real classic sound using also like old, more DX7 style sounds. I have a track coming up with Enigma State that is more an addressing of this kind of real, true classic sound. And then just experimentation and cross pollination, because that's what we need for our genre right now. It's happening.
But the straight, modern, modern Trance sound with the sledgehammer kicks and stuff like that, this has kind of gotta go, because with that kick, you can't really do really unique bass on the frequency spades for it. So you notice what I learned about when I started doing more progressive stuff is that, holy shit, you have so much more room for really interesting sounding bass lines and groovy bass lines because the kick is more. It's more just in the sub area, so you have a lot more room in the mids and everywhere else, as opposed to with the sledgehammer kick, which basically takes up an 8th note worth of full frequency range.
But I guess the best way for Trance to go is away from this overcrowded, overproduced sound and more to a minimal sound once again. I mean, even looking at some of the classic tunes, like Thomas Bronzwaer wears amazing stuff, as you would think. It's full of stuff. These tracks are made in about 20 different channels and it is very minimal. He just was able to milk the sounds and get a lot out of them. So, yeah.
Trance Jesus
And so in closing words, what advice would you have or what feedback would you have to aspiring artists that are trying to make us in this industry? What would you give them zs a word of advice? To have that longevity or even to be able to be successful in this world?
Sean Tyas
To be successful. I don't know if there's necessarily a formula for that. But what I will say is, don't go too crazy in download and watching a million YouTube videos and downloading every single plugin and buying every plugin that you see. Your best bet is to learn what you have extremely well. Learn your DAW. Whatever one you choose to do on a daily basis, get really good with it, and don't deviate and stick to a vision. If your vision is just to copy somebody else, then that's one thing. And of course, you have all the right in the world to do that. But eventually, there will be ideas that pop up, that inspire you from a different sound, and then this your challenge to bring that in, and then that could be something of yours. This gross pollination. I mean, that's what all original ideas are. There's. Nothing is completely new. Everything is a cross pollination and a mix and how you bring it all together.
Trance Jesus
How do you foster that sound?
Sean Tyas
How do you foster? Yeah, exactly. I love it.
Trance Jesus
Thank you, Sean. It's always a pleasure to have you here in Minneapolis. Looking forward to that three hour extended set tonight and all those spicy ids, especially Niko Zografos here as well. And our good buddy Fare, who is probably nervous as shit to two open, but he's gonna kill it. Thanks, Sean.
Sean Tyas
Love you, man. Take care.
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