Exclusive Interview with Legendary Trance Icons Cosmic Gate

Cosmic Gate recently hosted an exciting virtual concert series called “Cosmic Gate in Concert“. Hosted exclusively on OnNow.TV, “Cosmic Gate in Concert” had two shows on October 3rd and 17th. The October 3rd show was “For Your Mind” while the October 17th show was “The Classics“. These shows proved that Cosmic Gate can still create fantastic tracks that have people dancing nonstop from dusk to dawn.

“For Your Mind” featured new, exclusive CG-performed music that went alongside vibrant, mesmerizing visuals. Meanwhile, “The Classics” had the German trance stars played their classic songs such as “Exploration of Space” and “Firewire“. Here is One EDM’s exclusive interview with Cosmic Gate as they discussed their awesome virtual concerts. Additionally, check out the clips of “For Your Mind” and “The Classics” below as well.

Kenny Ngo: How have you guys been doing these days?

Cosmic Gate: We are doing good, thanks so much for asking. Like everyone else the current situation sure is not easy, Covid is a tough task and the last months sure have not been easy on a personal and business level. For our personal situation, as artists and the life we were used to live, so many things have changed.

It comes without saying that we do miss playing our shows a lot, partying and have a great time with our crowd, but what can we do, things are as they are and we as everyone try to make the best out of the current situation. In the end we kept and are keeping busy with studio productions, the weekly radio show, streams, interviews, shows or not, it actually never gets boring for us, and that’s a good thing!

You recently hosted a virtual concert series titled “Cosmic Gate In Concert” on October 3rd and 17th. What made you guys think about hosting these virtual shows?

After so many streams we have seen, we simply felt there is a need for something different, something really special, more unique, not only with the audio we can deliver, but also on top and mostly adding on the visual side of things. Going to a festival, it’s also not only about the music, the eye gets entertained in so many ways and thats what we tried to change as much as we possibly could.

The event on October 3rd is “For Your Mind”. That event featured new, exclusive CG-composed music and each track in the event had vibrant and exciting visuals to mesmerize everyone who tuned in. How was the planning process for this event like?

The planning process to be honest was pretty intense. We have never had a show which needed so much work and attention, preparation, effort and time from a whole big team of people, all being focused and helping us in these strange times to make things work in such a fabulous manner. 

The Temple House Miami is an incredible venue, their 360-degree visual projection mapping makes your wildest dreams come true. For both sets we customized visuals for every single track. We built a little concept that takes you on a journey from under the water up to outta space. These are definitely the craziest sets we have ever played.

How was your partnership with Andrew Bayer in regards to the collaboration on “The Launch”?

We have been working with Andrew Bayer already back in 2011 on “Nothing Ever Lasts”, one of our personal favourites on the Wake Your Mind album. Andrew simply is one of the absolute finest and most skilled trance producers out there, and finally now we found the way back into the studio together, which was really about getting time as we spoke about it several times before. We hope “The Launch” was worth all the waiting time for you guys as much as it was for us.

The event on October 17th is titled, “The Classics”. There are a lot of classic songs in the event. What have been your favorite songs from the 2000s that you made?

Our most famous songs from the early 2000s are maybe “Exploration of Space” and “Firewire”, plus some of our remixes, like the “Urban Train” from Tiesto, which happens to be part of the classic set by the way! Indeed, we played a full-on classic set on October 17th, progressive, melodic, uplifting to hard trance and back, a lot of our own classic tracks and remixes, mixed with our personal favourite classics. We think it is a must see for every classic trance lover.

In your opinion, what do you think about the trance scene today in comparison to the trance scene from the ’90s and the 2000s?

This is a subject all us trance lovers could talk, discuss and maybe even argue about for hours and hours. Let us just say, trance music like most genres moves in circles, sometimes its on the top, like it maybe was in the late 90s, sometimes it’s more underground again, as it is a bit nowadays. What never changes with trance music though, is the fact that trance fans are very loyal and knowledgable about their music.

Most are true music lovers, are educated about their DJs, music and productions. we feel there is a greater passion and knowledge  about trance than most festival goers do have about other genres, so underground or not, trance still brings out huge crowds, the vibes are always very special, and this is what we like, sharing those trance feels with likeminded.

Getting back to the upcoming virtual concert series, the events took place at The Temple House in Miami. Have you performed live there before? If so, what was your most favorite memory from it and if not, why did you guys choose this location?

We did not know the Temple House before the shows as we have not played there, but when we saw the demos online of how it looks and works, we simply had to check it out ourselves, and it blew us away. We were certain that the 360 degree visual projection could look great with custom-made visuals and the filming style that we had in mind, and simply gave it a go. Then we started working on this project pretty much immediately, overall it took a few months to bring the whole production and team together, which wasn’t easy during COVID times.

Thanks so much for everyone that was involved, you guys were great! So yeah everything worked out, on top we played our first set together after over 6 months as well, which made it even more special for us. We love to share these very special events with everyone, welcoming us safe and sound in your living rooms. As we said, “If you can’t come to Cosmic Gate, Cosmic Gate will come to you”!

During this pandemic, you have also performed other amazing livestream shows. What was your most favorite livestream show that you guys broadcast?

Yes we did quite a few. However, both the rooftop set in New York City and the Balcony Rave in Miami have been our personal favourites. Fortunately, we were getting a great feedback as well. In the end, both shows were part of the initial idea which has lead us to come up with the Temple House in concert idea. We wanted to present something even nicer to our fans, a even bigger stimulation.

What was the last show or festival that you performed at before this pandemic began? How long do you think it will be until we’re back to “normal” with live shows?

Our very last show was the warmup party for the ASOT 950 in Utrecht. We remember so well, as unfortunately this awesome event was a bit overshadowed by heavy technical issues occurring during our set, which was very sad, and for the first time in our career made us stop a set early, unfinished and extremely frustrated with the circumstances. Thinking about it now, we eventually by that time should have known, something was odd with 2020.

Will the fans expect any more releases from you guys? What is next?

What is next seems to be the toughest question in this pandemic. It feels like rules and regulations change weekly, and planning in general becomes quite a struggle. What we can promise though, we will sure continue working on new music, songs and remixes, new streams, new locations to stream from.

No matter what happens, mostly we hope to come back together with our fans the way it was and should be, in a club, on a festival. We hope sooner than later. See you guys around!