Freakulizer/Thujon (Alchemy Records, Swizterland)

Hey bro, hows it going?

So tell me a little about yourself and your projects… (How old are you, where were you born, where are you based etc)

My name's Simon Schwendener, I’m 24 years old and life in Lucerne (Switzerland). I have 2 Projects one is called Freakulizer the other one is called Thujon.

So why the reason for the 2 projects? Tell me a bit about each?
Hmmm...

Freakulizer is my main project ... I almost only work as Freakulizer right now ... it's more groove based Fullon ... The second project is Thujon ...Actually it was my main project ... but I had some troubles with the name so I decided to make my second project Freakulizer to my main one ... As Thujon I make more morning orientated music and Dj sets...

You have a new album very shortly as Freakulizer, “The Awakening Process”… Tell me a little about that man…

The Album is supposed to be released in October with Alchemy Records; I worked on it for a long time. Its dance floor orientated music with fat grooves, and some good spices ... All tracks are very fresh and still unreleased.

So what else is on the horizon release wise with you? I know you work with Silent Sphere a bit… Any other collaborations as well?

Yes I work with Simon (Silent Sphere) sometimes; it's really nice to work with him... We finished now one track which will be on my album, the second one will be for our collaboration album. We are working hard on it ... I have done a remix of Ultravoice - Logon , which should be released on some DVD in Dolby 5.1 which sounds very interesting to me.
Then a re-release from "Identity" on Y.S.E Records. (It’s already released in Moonstone), also collaboration with dj Moodra will be released in Oxygen Records. Following a release on Woodroom Records from the track "Game with Power" ... I had some other collaborations in the past with Sesto Sento , Gataka , Vibe Tribe , Cybercartell , Tactical Strike , Orgon Flow and some others .... I also made a remix of Psysex - Sodapop ... which is hopefully going to be released on my Album...

So who are some artists that inspire you? What do you listen to you when you are at home? Any artists outside the trance scene you get into?

I have some artists who inspire me ... like Cosma (R.I.P), Infected Mushroom, Psysex, Logic Bomb, Pixel, Domestic and a few others....

When I’m at home I usually don't listen that much to Trance more to Trip Hop , Electro , Chill out , Brakebeats , Big Beats , Instrumental , Hip Hop .... like Chemical Brothers , Phil Fuldner , Alter Ego , Steve Bug , Morcheeba , Infusion , Ninja Tunes Sounds , Gorillaz , Ben Harper , Coldplay , Nirvana , Apollo 440 , and so on . I also get some inspiration from those bands ... I’m open minded with music ... I have also an Electro/Experimental Project with a good friend (Piero) called Khainz . We’ve done a couple of Tracks now ...

You played Full Moon Festival this year, how was that? Any other festivals or major parties you played that you had good or interesting times at?

I played almost every weekend in Switzerland so I didn't have the chance to visit a lot of festivals... Fullmoon was great , for me it was a very nice experience to play in such a good organised Festival, I also have to mention the Zoom festival in Switzerland which was very impressive too, one of the best Parties this Year was for sure the Biocosma (Kokopelli) in Switzerland , it was very well organised , great decorations and the vibes were just great . Sunexplosion in Italy was some other Story ... Last weekend I played at the Schnirkel Open-air which was a mix of different kind of music , there were some bands with Reggae , Pop , Electronic and a Trance Stage It was very nice ... The organiser just did a great Job .

So have you had much of a chance to travel with your music? What’s your favourite place you have visited so far? Where are or would you like to go next?

Yes I travelled to a few Countries , my favourite place was Thailand I meet some very nice people there and the Parties were just amazing , hmm in the next time I will travel to a few different places , in October I will go to Mexico for the Alchemy Label party , also to UK for the Album Launch party , Then Japan and India are in discussion , Brazil for a Tour during December and NYE Universo Parallelo, at the 4 January to Thailand again , Then also a few Parties in Europe like in Germany and Austria ...

What kind of things do you have in your studio? Are you mainly software based like many people these days, or do you have some hardware that is integral to your studio as well?

Hmm ... as you said my music is mostly software based , I work with Cubase Sx , VST Plugs and a Midikeyboard very soon I will have a Korg MS2000 ...

What do you think of the changing face of the trance scene… From what you have seen do you think it’s healthy right now?

Hmmm there are a few different points of view , for sure Trance is getting more and more commercial , but I think that’s not bad . I go now to Trance parties since 1996 a lot of things have changed , Parties getting bigger , the music changed , people changed and so on . In Switzerland we have almost every weekend about 10 parties , big ones , small ones , progressive orientated , full on orientated , some psychedelic , some commercial , some small ... I think it's nice ... so people can choose were they want to go ... Also the music changed a lot , but for me in a good way ... I really enjoyed the music in 1996 , but music is always in progress and a big spectrum from different kinds of music getting integrated to Trance nowadays , I really like the music how it is at the moment even if there are a lot of Tracks which sound the same ... but that's the same in most genera of music ... Is medicine healthy ?? heheh ... I don't know ... I think it's good for the selling of cds because as more people who listen to trance as more cds get sold ... The whole MP3 story got discussed a 1000 times so I wont start with this one ... Sometimes I see parties where the organiser try to collect as much money as possible , and the quality of the party gets lower ... That's one of the bad points of commercial parties ... but anyway it's always a matter of taste and from what point you're looking at something ...

Any plans to make it down to Australia anytime soon? Have you heard much about our scene?

I don't have plans for it yet , but I hope I can come down to Australia soon , I have heard some nice stories about Parties in Australia , like the Tribeadelic Festival , sometimes I visit the australiens.net Website ...

Any last words, thank-yous or people you want to mention?

Thanks Shane Gobi and the Alchemy Crew for all the support , Adrian (Dj Muestik) for being such a good friend , Pepsi for being such a sweet friend , Marco (Mr.Maguu) for my web design : www.thujon.ch.vu , Simon (Silent Sphere) , Martin (Dj Moodra) , Marco (Dj Mantra) , Sesto Sento , Dudu (Tactical Strike) , Pädi (Dj X-Cess) , Eliad & Chen (Agitato) , Junya & John (Phantasm) , and all Friends , Dj's , Artists , Promoters , Labels and Trancelovers arround the Globe ... and you for the interview :-P

hahah no worries man...peace bro, keep up the wicked music man…good to chat to you!

Interview with Simon (Freakulizer) by Jesse Kuch