Anybody who has been into dance music for a number of years will tell that the life-cycle genres can certainly be a real roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs of varying degrees. One style that seems to have held strong over time though is the seemingly unstoppable force that is trance! There are still a number of events pulling in the punters regularly, and the big names in this particular area of the scene are still the ones who top the polls as certainly the most popular DJs on the world stage.
With this in mind it seems only natural for new brands and names to take up position within the hierarchy, but not many can boast almost instant success and recognition like Red Sky Digital.

At Puzzle Project, we're extremely proud to say that behind the new label getting praise from the top of the chain is one of our founders and residents, Matt Church; who runs the label with old friend Kevin Shepherd...

Hi Matt, can you tell us a bit about the label, Red Sky Digital, that you run with Kevin Shepherd?

Hi Gordy, the idea behind Red Sky has been around for some time now. Kevin Shepherd and I have been tinkering about in the studio for some years now, just over a year ago we decided to setup our own label releasing our own music. The aim for each release was to cover different styles of trance, from driving uplifting to tech and progressive mixes. After a lot of planning and hard work, we have managed to find some amazing up and coming producers such as Luke Warner, Adriz, Ivica Vanevski & Saturn 6, Kelly Jay, Nathan Cryptic & Baz Lalor, David Adams and Thomas Shore to join the label to help us shape each release and also provide original material for. We've also been lucky enough to get some great established producers like Ali Wilson and Liam Melly to get stuck in too, my good friend Phil Lankester has helped loads with some of the logistics and we had our first release "Quake" out on 19th October and since then there's been no looking back!

You've been involved in music for a long, long time now; having run a successful online record shop, DJing and promoting for longer than most people reading this have been clubbing. Why have you chosen now as the time to set up a label?

I only got into production about 2-3 years ago when myself and Kevin started writing tracks, something just clicked and we seemed to work really well together. After finishing a number of tracks, it just seemed like a natural next step.

In the years I've known you, I've heard you play a number of styles more than comfortably, but you seem to have settled on trance. Just how in love with the sound are you?

Trance has been in my life for as long as I can remember, I first started DJ'ing trance back when I was at school, but back then it was progressive, deep tribal trance. I was a massive Dave Seaman, Digweed & Sasha fan. Over the years I've played various other styles, ranging from hardcore to drum and bass and break beat, but always kept playing trance throughout. I love the way it's evolved over the years. I guess it's just something inside of me I can't control, I couldn't image life without it, it's such a huge part of everyday life for me!

There has been quite a bit of hype building about Red Sky at a number of levels. Who is supporting the tracks and how are they performing in the download charts?

I'm still completely overwhelmed by the impact it's had in such a short space of time, I still have to pinch myself on a daily basis considering our tracks have been regularly supported by the likes Tiesto, Mark Sherry, Manuel Le Saux, Aly & Fila, Mark Etesen, K90, Tom Colontonio, Claudia Cazacu, and Roger Shah. Mine and Kev's "Dirtbag remix "of my track Feeding Dream also featured as "Tune of the week" on Sean Tyas radio show and other tracks have done the same on a number of other shows around the globe. On the download charts so far things have been looking really good too, with one track reaching number 2 on the trance chart on track it down and we've also had a number of other top 10 hits on various sites and at one point we had 6 tracks in the top 100. It's been an amazing start for the label and with some of the releases we have planned over the next few months I'm really excited to see how the first part of this year turns out for us. I'm just lucky to have met so many great artists on the way to help us there!

There are loads of budding producers around at the moment, indeed it seems everybody can have a bash at it these days whether it be on professional kit, or even on a mobile phone. Can you shed any light on the life cycle of a track? Where does the creative process begin, and what goes into releasing a track?

Writing a track for me can start a number of different ways. Sometimes I have the idea before I go into the studio and other times it's just a matter of finding something that sounds good. I love working with other people in the studio and the way you can bounce ideas off each other and take things to another level and also learn loads at the same time. Sometimes I start on the breakdown and other times I sit down and start with the kick drum, percussion and build the track up that way. I don't think there is any set way of writing a track, you just have to go with what feels right and be prepared to try new things and at times be quite ruthless. I also think it's a great idea to find a reference track to work from, although with me the finished product rarely sounds anything like what I was aiming for, but it's a great way to get ideas. With regards to getting it released, it all depends with me on what I plan to do with it. If I'm doing a remix for another label then I will produce a track to suit that label. A big advantage of setting up Red Sky is that I can be as adventurous as I like and try new things and still release them, when they may not suit other labels.

Where do you see the label in 3 years time?

I'd love to see the label doing what we are doing now, releasing good fun tracks by quality up and coming producers!

And where do you see yourself as an artist in that time?

I'm really enjoying things at the moment, I'm learning all the time and if things keep progressing the way they are, I'd be over the moon. I see fun times ahead.

Finally, in your professional opinion who do we, the music buying, clubbing public need to look out for in the next 12 months?

Any of the artists on Red Sky, but in particular Kevin Shepherd, Adriz, Nathan Cryptic, Baz Lalor and Luke Warner. The way these guys' production has come on in the past 6 months is immense and as far as I'm concern they're unstoppable. I can't wait to see what the next 12 months holds for them! Another top one to watch is David Adams, he's going to be huge, and i also think 2010 is going to be Liam Melly's year to, his stuff is amazing right now, some of the future releases that guy has lined up are absolutely superb!!

Yon can catch Matt at Puzzle Project on Saturday 23rd Jan @ 414 in Brixton, London

For more info, try these links...

www.redskydigital.co.uk

www.myspace.com/redskydigitalrecordings

www.dontstayin.com/groups/red-sky-digital

www.dontstayin.com/groups/puzzle-project

www.youtube.com/redskydigital

Article written by Gordon Darley