Long time
Armada Music artist,
Shogun has been blowing minds around the world with his own blend of progressive trance since 2009. Now after 4 years in the making, Shogun is finally ready to show us what he's made of with his debut album Dragon. He's been appearing on
Armin van Buren's
A State of Trance for past few years, where he's built up his reputation as one of the premier artists on Armada. With two songs (
Dragon and
Laputa) peaking on the
Trance Top 100 on Beatport in the past two weeks, Shogun has demanded the attention of the scene, setting himself up for the perfect timing for Dragon.
Shogun flaunts his ability to incorporate progressive influences throughout Dragon and the guest vocals from Adara, Susie, Chloe, Tania Zygar, and Emma Lock are the icing on the cake. We were given the opportunity to talk to Shogun about his creative process, what his album means to him and what some of his favorite parts of 2014 were.
DB: Hey Andrew, it looks like you had a great set at Stereosonic, how'd it go?It was amazing! Really loved playing at Stereosonic, it was such an epic vibe.
DB: What was your favorite crowd to play to this year?
Stereosonic, and Jamaica
DB: What were your earliest musical influences?/What was your first experience with electronic music?
I loved industrial music when I was younger and bands like NIN and Prodigy were my early influences. When I heard Armin van Buuren's - Communication, that was one of my first experiences with electronic music.
DB: What's the message behind Dragon and where did you get the inspiration from?
Dragon is a song about hope, courage, and strength. Any mistakes or weaknesses in the past can be overcome by turning the page and pushing forward. It's a very uplifting and personal song, and the inspiration came from chapters in my life and vocalist Adara.
DB: In regards to production, what did you use to make the album?
I used Logic Pro, a lot of soft synths and plugins.
DB: From what I've heard it's pretty impressive, what do you think was the most challenging part about creating it?
Finishing it because I'm such a perfectionist. The album is 4 years in the making and I wanted every song to be as great as possible so it took a lot of time to really put the album together and create something that was both personal and special for the listeners.
DB: Who was your favorite musician to work with on Dragon?
Adara and Chloe, they are amazing vocalists
DB: Dragon and Luputa both made it to the Trance Top 100 on Beatport at the same time, what was your initial reaction to that?
I was really pumped and happy to see that. It's awesome to see your song doing so well and getting so much love from people
DB: I noticed that you got your start back when trance started making it's come back in the late 2000's, how has that scene changed since then?
It's gotten a lot more progressive and slower bpm. The overall feeling of trance hasn't changed for me, it's only gotten better!
DB: Do you think it's a genre you're going to stick with for a while or are you looking to do more exploring?
I've always explored a bit with new sound, that's what keeps it fresh but I'm still a trance dj because it is what I love so I'll be sticking with it.
DB: Who do you think had one of the best sets of 2014?
Armin van Buuren sets are always massive.
DB: Who do you think are some artists to watch out for as we head into the new year?
Andrew Rayel, zhu, Dash Berlin
Dragon is now available for purchase on
iTunes.
