Seq-X: When did you start Djing and what kind of sounds were you playing back then ?
G.Staikos: I started Djing in 1984-1985 with electro and new wave (Depeche Mode, Flock of Seagals). More professional I started Djing in 1987 with Hip House, Acid, Detroit Techno etc.).
Seq-X: When did you have your first contact with the psychedelic sound ?
G.Staikos: A compilation named Concept in Dance came into my hands in 1994. I knew all about the goa scene in India from tapes but the sound in this tapes was more trancey and melodic than the sound of Concept in Dance.
Seq-X: What is the thing that attracts you to the psychedelic sound-scene ?
G.Staikos: The psychedelic scene has all the elements of music and nature that I am interested in. I don’t think there is or will be any other type of music that fills me so much bearing in mind my musical knowledge. Listening in psy-trance is one hell of an experience it is like travelling with thousand miles per hour.
Seq-X: What is your opinion about the Greek psy-trance scene ?
G.Staikos: Fortunately we belong to the minority of countries that have a psychedelic core. So we have parties every week and in the summer things get even better with outdoor parties in beautiful places. Also we have guests from all over the world and even we have our own radio shows. In general we are in a great place in the psychedelic map in addition to other countries which have parties every month or so. We do have a little problem with the crowd (it is not like London or Israel) but we do have trancers in Greece.
Seq-X: What do you think about the multiple directions trance is now following (breakbeats, minimalism, techno infulences etc.) ?
G.Staikos: There are some tracks out there that are not trance in my opinion. Projects like Joujouka I believe they’ve gone too far and I don’t like them. There are though some new tracks with a fresh sound and feeling. In general I believe that good psychedelic music still exists.
Seq-X: How would you like the trance sound to progress (more techno influences, more minimalism etc.) ?
G.Staikos: Definitely more techno, more hard with fat basslines but on the other hand if it doesn’t progress further I will still be satisfied because sometimes experimentalism ruins the whole thing.
Seq-X: What are your favorite artists at the moment ?
G.Staikos: All the projects and remixes Tim Shuldt is involved in like C.O.P, G.M.S, Delta, Oforia.
Seq-X: Which party is the best you have been to till now ?
G.Staikos: Liquid Love –Dj Max (Etnica)- Poros Island.
Seq-X: Do you cooperate with a group or produce any music ?
G.Staikos: I released a track under then name 3.T.M and I’ve made some other tracks but I never released them. Unfortunately I stopped because there wasn’t enough time even for a single pattern! I wanted to make something good but I never found the time to complete it and write it. That’s why I started to compile CD’s, five of them (Astral Trance, Trance Experience etc.). Because I couldn’t give my own sound through production to the crowd I gave the sound of other artists that people in Greece where looking for.
Seq-X: There is a somehow little “fight” between DJ’s that mix with vinyl and DATs and DJ’s that mix only DATs using the intro-outro mixing techinque. Vinyl DJ’s claim that with vinyl you can keep the flow of the set something that a DAT DJ simply can’t. On the other hand DAT DJ’s claim that they play the freshest music around bearing in mind that a track could take up to year to get released. Also from the record companies point of view it is pretty bad for theirs sales the whole DAT thing as a tune is very big for some months and by the time it gets released no one is interested in it. What is your opinion about this ?
G.Staikos: Maybe because I am from the old-school camp of DJ’s, definitely someone that doesn’t beatmach and mixes without feeling then he can’t be a DJ by me. We are in point though right now that we can have the tracks months before they get officially released (using DATs) and we play to the crowd the freshest music that is around. We play tracks from some unknown groups and we make them big. In my radio show I prefer to mix with CD’s and vinyls. I only use DATs when the artist wants to breakthough in Athens and get massive as the radio has this power. In parties I play with CD’s and CDR’s that contain tracks from DAT. If the party doesn’t have CD players the I am forced to play from DAT but I always know the BPM’s, intros and outros of every track.
Seq-X: Finally a bit of a tricky question what is your opinion about making trance in the Israeli way ?
G.Staikos: In every single type of music there are some good bits and some bad bits. I believe that the Israeli-Alaloom-Uplifting trance doesn’t have any relation with what I call psy-trance. It is trance aimed to the smaller kids without musical experience. This kind of trance doesn’t have the elements that will drive you in a trip. Most of the melodies are pretty silly and you can’t do anything than laugh at them (Sahar, Holyman, Cyan+Luminus etc.). If I want to laugh at something I will look to my face in the mirror or go to a club with mainstream and greek folk music. I must say though that there are some good Israeli artists. Two of my favorite morning groups are Astral Projection and Power Source. There was a time in Sunrise Zone where as resident I had to play only Israeli Alaloom tracks to get the dancefloor going. I remember one time me and Christoff from Transwave played “Spacial Distortion” from Psychaos and we cleared the floor!!! Fortunately now in Sunrise Zone the only Israeli tracks are from Ofer,Avi (Spacecat), Children of the Doc and ofcourse with a Joti Sidhu track the floor goes crazy. Finally I believe that this style of trance (uplifting) is made only for commercial reasons like Aqua or Spice Girls. I mean even the producers that make this kind of trance admit that they make this kind of trance for money but the psy scene is far away from making money. Anyway I hope god lights their way a bit and get serious!!
You can catch Gregory Staikos in NRG FM 105,5 every day from 11:00 to 12:00 a.m or every Saturday in Sunrise Zone where he is amongst the resident DJ’s.
