An interview with French duo Prime Time

An interview with French duo Prime Time

2 November, 2007 | 12.07PM

• Section: Music News
• Written by: lunaspice

An interview with minimal tech French duo Prime Time, following their excellent release ‘Boucle Etrange’ on Bus records. 

What are your names and where are you from?

We’re Jeremy Carrasco and Johan Speissegger.

We are from a Parisian suburb.

How did you meet each other?

We’ve been childhood friends for more than 25 years.

Did you produce the same kind of music then? What are your influences?

Jeremy: No, I started to produce trance and progressive music about 10 years ago.

I had a really good time in that scene, with great travel and some releases on labels like Tatsu, Plusquam and Sub Machine, but now minimal music has taken over in my life.

Johan: I’ve always lived between electronic and acoustic music.

I played trumpet and flute in an electro/acoustic band (Infrajazz), and I played in a few other bands in the past (Mano Solo, Ire Members Band and What’s Up in Paris with DJ Gregory).

I used to listen a lot of things, like acid jazz, funk, dub, punk rock — and in another way of course, minimal house, minimal tekno, progressive, Detroit techno and electro.

Music is the rhythm of my life and it’s all my Influence.

What sort of equipment or software are you using?

We usually work on Cubase SX with virtual synths (via midi controllers).

We sometimes use analogue keyboards (the Nord electro or the Roland MC909, for example) as sound banks.

We use Power Core with Virus and Dynaudio speakers.

How do you produce music together?

Like we used to do in the 1990s when we where graffiti writers: someone does the background and creates an atmosphere, while the other can do the letters and we finish and harmonise together.

We think in the same artistic way, so we always complement one another.

Do you prefer to play live or to DJ?

DJing is really cool and can give direct satisfaction, but it’s nothing compared to the expression mode you can have with producing and playing electronic music, as you can do with an instrument or your voice on stage in acoustic music.

Everything is possible with a live set; nothing is static.

It’s two different things and two different purposes.

We like both, but we really prefer playing and relating our own journey.

Which artist is an inspiration for you?

Wow… Many electronic godfathers and old timers (such as Laurent Garnier or the UR team, or in another way, the Spiral Tribe), but we never stop to listening and learning about new artists and new ways of working.

Actually, we specially like the Dutch minimal scene and mobilee artists and Stefan Bodzin.

How would you describe your sound?

We try to make hypnotic and atmospheric sounds, also percussive and dancefloor oriented.

Do you have any projects coming up?

For the moment, we are focused on the Prime Time project, and we are working hard to produce a lot of new tracks.

We are also looking for ideas for making new video clips.

Where do you see electronic dance music heading?

Definitely to Berlin!

Spain is also a really cool country for electronic music.

What’s your feeling on the current state of electronic music?

For a few years, electronic music has had a really hard time in France because of the straight politics of that country concerning the underground scene.

At the same time, a lot of big events have happended all around the world.

The evolution of this music has no limit (as in, the technology evolution) and it’s become more and more creative.

It’s not simply music, but a real culture and way of life.

If the government doesn’t want raves, we’ll go into clubs; and if one day, they don’t want clubs anymore, we’re gonna go into some other place with another concept to listen the same music.

We don’t care where we have to go — electronic music cannot die!

When and where can people have a listen to your music?

All information about us and our next gigs can be found on our myspace page (below), and soon on our official website.

Thanks a lot, guys, for your time. We wish you the best for the future.

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