Nilly : Tell us a bit about the birth of Technasia.
Charles : I started Technasia in Hong Kong    years ago, with Amil, my partner who was based here. I came to Hong Kong on holiday around 1993 or 94 from France and met Amil through some common friends who also lived here. Amil was DJ-ing at a few clubs in Hong Kong and we had a very similar mind set about music. He then moved to Paris to complete his studies over three years and we ended up working together, making music. Some of our music was being played by some top DJ’s and then in 2000 we had our first record out.

Nilly : What was your inspiration to start on this music journey?
Charles : In France there was the acid house movement and by 1993 or the early 1990’s the techno and dance scene was more popular. This is a scene that both Amil and I were into and had very similar view on so we decided to work together on our own production.

Nilly : Are you from a musical background?
Charles : Yes, I played the piano for several years and my father is also really into music, a music fanatic. So as a kid I listened to and had exposure to a lot of different sounds.

When I met Amil, he was DJ-ing in Hong Kong, so he came from a DJ background whereas I was more musically tuned. However, I think it’s the reverse now. I DJ a lot more in Europe while Amil is more on the business and production side.

Nilly : With you based in Paris and Amil in Hong Kong how do you make music and work together? What positive elements do you both bring into Technasia?
Charles : When we were both in France it was much easier to make music in one studio. But then Amil was back in Hong Kong and we would make music and through the internet, we would send each other our work. The whole process was time consuming and not very efficient. So after we set up the Technasia office in Hong Kong Amil was more on the business and production side and I on the music side. He’s more the master mind of the business. This was a good decision as now we are much more productive in our music.

Nilly : With Amil not DJ-ing as much do you think he gets butterflies in the stomach when he’s out there in front of so many people?
Charles : Not really. It’s kind of like a pilot. I don’t think pilots get afraid when they get in a plane and have to fly a plane after a short break. If you are just an artist and attached to a label you make music for the label. When you produce your own music, it’s your ideas that you put forward so you are definitely more driven by it.

We have been approached by many labels before, but there has never been a connection. That’s why we choose to be independent and produce our own music for the dance floor. Yes, it takes more time, but it goes the way we want it to.

Nilly : The whole point of setting up Technasia was to put Asia on the world map of electronic music. Do you think there has been an evolution in that direction?
Charles : As you know Amil is from Hong Kong or Asia even, so he was always very passionate about this idea. We are definitely the only, I suppose “underground” label from Hong Kong. There are many that were set up but close down very quickly. In places like Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines there are many small labels but most are quite commercial and don’t produce their own music. So that way I guess we are more “underground”.

As for the scene, if you look at Columbia or Brazil, even five years ago there wasn’t much going on or a scene. But now music is everywhere. Brazil has many things going on, a techno scene, house scene etc. But it’s only just happened now. When people talk about Asia for music, they think of Tokyo or Japan. But it’s moved on a bit. For instance you have clubs like Volar or across China who are trying to introduce a dance music scene. But it’s for like “The Top Ten” DJs in the world playing very commercial music. I don’t know why it is. People like to go out a lot in China with friends, have a good time, but I don’t know why the music scene has not yet caught on.  

Its not like Europe when you can go to a different country for instance from Belgium you can go to France, Germany and Switzerland and party. The access to fresh and new music is better and I think that could also be a differing reason.

Nilly : Do you think that is because of the differences in boundaries between people who can spend a lot to see a big artist compared to people that can’t. Intrinsically the spirit is the same but the vibe is different?
Charles : Yeah maybe. In a place like Brazil for instance, in Sao Paolo or Rio, you have so many levels of wealth and poverty. But in any club you might see a famous model on a private table surrounded by famous people or something, but around them there will be party kids and it’s really normal. But here it’s about getting the famous guys or “Top Ten DJs” that charge a lot and so the promoter is obliged to sell high priced tickets meaning not everyone can come.

Nilly : What are your views on the “Top DJ” polls.
Charles : Well if you notice it’s probably just three DJs out of the hundred that actually make their own music. It’s not an indication of skill. Even within the polls there is politics. Most of the votes come from English speaking countries like the UK, USA and Canada, Australia and a few countries in Europe like Spain and Germany, so most of the votes are a bad indication. It’s just not a global indicator.

There is one story about a techno artist, famous guy. His girlfriend is his manager and apparently before the Top Fifty DJ listing she went to every internet café and registered to vote for him from so many computers and finally he got in the Top Fifty.

Nilly : But some people chase fame through commercial recognition. What is your philosophy to grow as an artist?
Charles : For some people being big and commercial is good and many guys are very successful because of this. But also with this you get a problem, some people grow too fast and they fall very fast. When this happens it’s so hard to climb up to where you reached before. For us it’s about growing slowly, taking time doing it the way we feel is right for us and our supporters.

Nilly: Are you into a more liberal or free approach to partying?
Charles: Well the whole thing started off as there are a lot of taxes on promoters whole want to hold organised music events that makes the party expensive. So that adds an element of risk and losing money. To avoid this some people would go out and set up a sound system on fields and play what ever they want, and get loads of people to come and party, thousands of people. But this normally coincides with major planned or more commercial events. This is not always good.

But also in France the media puts forward a really bad image of free parties. You only ever see pictured of drugged up people being crazy and apprehended by police. Whereas places in Holland like Dance Valley is more organised and people have the same spirit and same kind of fun yet it’s more organised in terms of sound and controlled drugs. So the image is less dark.

Nilly : How are the tours going?
Charles : We just had the Two Tribes tour in Australia across four cities, Melbourne, Sydney, Pert and Brisbane. There was a minimum of at least ten thousand people per party. Brisbane and Perth were great, but Melbourne was not so as it rained a lot on the day.

I go to Brazil every six months and we have a live set there. There are a few live sets across France, south of France, Eastern Europe and places like Germany, Netherlands, Ireland and Belgium.

Now we are off to DJ in Tokyo and then Singapore at Zouk.

Nilly : So, Popsoda. It’s quite eclectic.
Charles : Our style has always been very eclectic. We don’t want to be categorised as only one type of sound as there are many cross overs. We play different types of music to fit the setting or the crowd. For instance in Portugal and Eastern Europe our sets would be harder and for lots of people. In a place like Volar for example, the crowd want to dance a bit. So it’s less hard, more housy style. So this CD is a collection of all the sounds we create for all our supporters.

Nilly : Why did you choose the name Popsoda?
Charles : We were given a project about six years ago to produce an electronic pop album, but we never really found the time to work solidly on it but we had a lot of different flavours produced for the tracks, some with lots of vocals etc but we didn’t know what to do with them. So we had this idea to put it together with more recent dancy tunes. So the original idea of the name came from the initial project idea.


Nilly : Do you think you guys are perfectionists and is that why you waited long to produce your album?
Charles : I wouldn’t say we are perfectionists but we work hard to do the best for our supporters so when people hear it, they are immediately familiar with and enjoy it.

Interview: Nilly Chaudhuri
Popsoda is released on 11th March 2006

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