dec 10, 1997THE PSYCHEDELIC CHAISHOP Interview #2germanyInterview: Goran Stetic & Monbaza What is Chaishop? Who are the people? Sam: The chaishop is probably the most extensive web site for psychedelic trance. It includes partyinfo, interviews with dj's, musicians and other artists, a flyer and psychedelic art gallery, two mailinglists, chat, music and party reviews - well, anything you need in preparing to go crazy. The chaishop started like most web sites: 1 1/2 years ago I started it as a part of a personal homepage, named "Sam's and André's goatrance tips". Just because I was faszinated by trance music, trance parties and the web. It was just a partyinfo page first. But this was 1 1/2 years ago. The chaishop got it's name when I met Markus and Cynthia from Taifun Design in may 97. We rearranged the site and from this point it really started to boom. In july Mat Mushroom with the mushroom magazine joined us and gave us another push in content and reputation. Two months ago we started searching for international friends to help us with other countries than germany. So now, the chaishop is not just 4 guys from germany but also Fred Giteau (pof) from france, Goran (dogma) from croatia, Monbaza (plur) from taiwan, Antonio from mexico, Sky from south africa, speed from sweden and bk from yugoslavia. What hardware are used in their headquarter for generating the site? Sam: We have no headquarters, main work is done in düsseldorf, cologne and soltau. We use three macintosh and one pc (which recently caused a lot of problems - hehe). Our server is a unix machine in the u.s.a.. How do Chaishop see the future of interactive net-service? Sam: We see it interactive and multimedial. I hate these words! But it's true. Because internet is not that easy accessible as a piece of paper net-service will grow in the areas where they have advantages. And these are interactive ones like chat, discussion forums or multimedial like audio-on-demand (i.e. real audio) and video-on-demand. For the chaishop this is great base to build a virtual trance community. A place where people meet from all over the world and talk, listen to music and find friends. Is psi-Trance the solo choice of art in Chaishop? Or if there are something else that will be applied to Chaishop as time goes forward? Why? Sam: Let's say Trance. But this is the solo choice because we want to do the thing we love and are good in. How do you see psi-Trance? How does this music affect you? Sam: It's a music for people who want to combine tribal rhythm with a challenge for their psyche. It's not an easy choice of music but when you get into it it's very intense. Because of these circumstances you find a lot of open minded people in the trance scene. The music, the people, the parties - this has faszinated me for 4 years now. Mat: I changed from techno to trance 2 1/2 years ago. The raves got too commercial - you got ripped off everywhere. My first trance party was the first shiva moon. Since then I've fallen for trance and learned to love the way the people party. A natural and mature way. Which party/gathering is your favorate so far? why? Sam: This changes every years because everything changes constantly. Once it was the voov, now it is still the shiva moon but what will it be next year? I loved shiva moon as a big festival 'cause it had still this natural uncomplicated atmoshere in spite of 8000 people. Mat: I prefer the beach parties in summer. I didn't like the shiva moon for it was too big and too anonymous for me. Markus: The best party for me was the Nation of Gondwana 97 in Berlin. It was really impressing to see so many smiling faces dancing everywhere. I can really recommed this festival - even if you have a long way to go. How do you expect the psi-scene after Chaishop integrates many different phases of force (magazine, albums, organizers....)? Sam: Hehe, thanks that you think the chaishop will change the psy trance scene. I don't know. We want to bring people from different countries together and in the ideal case organise a party like the boom to give them the possibilty to meet not only virtually. Comment recentley held Chaishop's presentation at art festival (or what it was exactly) Sam: It was a good rehearsal. There were only a few guests who were very interested. And we made some nice contacts with artists. We learned that it's good to present ourselves to people who are not into internet already. We are now thinking about presenting the chaishop on parties. Future plans -- are you planing to increase Chaishop presence on parties and similar happenings... Where, when, why? Sam: We don't know yet when. Mushroom magazine, when it started, how is it influencing on Chaishop? Mat: The mushroom mag exists for 3 1/2 years now. We once started with 8 copied sides and 500 print run. I moved towards trance 2 1/2 years ago and so did the mag half a year later. Now we distribute the mag for free in the whole german trance scene. Especially motivating for us is the enourmous feedback for there is no other mag in germany which does that extensive reports about the scene, the artists and other activists. Since summer the mushroom is connected to the chaishop. You now get all the articles in the chaishop and chaishop-infos are printed in the mushroom. What is the difference between the mushroom and other techno magazines except that the mushroom has trance as a main topic? Mat: We're not just a simple guide through the partyscene, because you can't express the trance experience just with music. So we also write about deco- and performance- and other artists. And we have extensive articles about partydrugs, spirituality and spacy world-views. When we do an interview we don't just list career stages but also ask about motivation and cultural and political views to find out more about the people. Why you named your project "Chaishop" and what is exactly Chai (this is for the people not into trance, I don't need really a recipe for making chai, hehehe :).... Hmmm, but if you have it already written somewhere it could be cool to publish it as well) Sam: Chai is the eastern word for tea. On trance parties the chaishop is the place where people meet to relax, talk, exchange info, have a joint, get to know each other. This is what we want the chaishop to be. Briefly: past, present and future of psy trance in Germany. Where are the best parties held in Germany and by whom? Sam: Germany has got trance parties for ten years or so now. I still like germany as a party location very much. The police is not that stressing as in most other countries, the trance people are nice, the scene is quite big. There are still organisers who organise a party with very high effort for a low price. Trance is going commercial here so there are also a lot of parties now who are lacking of the atmosphere. You have to take attention where to go. I don't know where the best parties are cause I'm not everywhere. But in northern germany around hamburg and berlin you have quite a good chance to find one. If you talk about organisers you're likely to tend to people you know. So I love the parties by Atlantis Move Project (or other names for nearly the same people) from Hannover. This is because I'm from Hannover originally. If you're looking for a good party you need a friend who knows something about the scene and a flyer on which you judge the music, the style and the location. Mat: OK, I'm living closer to hamburg and so I say that the hamburg scene is the best in germany. This is because here are most of the creative people for it is not only important to have good music on a party but also brilliant deco, tasty chai and a certain base of people who build up the scene. When all this is good also the spirit is good. Strangely a lot of activists from other cities moved to hamburg (like Roland BPM, Bimmel, Marcus etc.) because of the spirit. But recently also in hamburg you have to take attention to which party you go to. Cynthia: The best parties are definitely between Hamburg and Berlin for there are more fields than residents. This is the most important criteria for a good party. Unfortunately a lot of organisers do the mistake to throw an open air close to a city and they get cancelled from police very fast. If there is no one complaining about the sound the police is quite easy in germany. Furthermore I think that Antaro is still one of the best party organisers in germany. His parties usually are very extravagant, have a smashing live-up and crazy deco. Is Chaishop planing to throw own Chaishop party? Where, when? (Something on regular basis too?) Sam: We are planning an open air in 98. This shall be a mid-size party which is a sacrifice to trance culture. We'll announce everything about it in the chaishop when we know more. Comment on global scene... Internationaly growing Chaishop... Sam: Trance is developing in a lot of countries now. These countries are really interesting cause the trance scene there is still very small and so it is really nice. Trance parties have ever been a place for oneness. No matter if this was in goa or germany. Our dream is to have parties who are really international. The chaishop can be a platform to organise these parties and for the trancers to meet in advance and after the party. Anything to add ? Sam: The chaishop is still looking for contacts in various contries to help build up that virtual trance community. If you want to know more please mail me, sam@chaishop.com. And we need organisers to submit their parties and artists to expose their art on chaishop. |