Interview met 24:7

Toen ik in 2017 in contact kwam met synthwave muziek, was 24:7 één van de eerste muzikanten die ik ontdekte. Zijn (tweede) album ¨NAEON¨ heb ik grijs gedraaid in die tijd. Daarna werd het helaas een tijdje stil rondom 24:7, maar na bijna zeven jaar wachten verscheen afgelopen vrijdag zijn derde album ¨Explorate¨. Weer een album dat ik heel veel ga beluisteren de komende tijd. Ik ben dan ook zeer verheugd dat ik 24:7 heb mogen interviewen.

When I came into contact with synthwave music in 2017, 24:7 was one of the first musicians I discovered. I played his (second) album ¨NAEON¨ a lot during that time. After that it unfortunately became quiet for a while around 24:7, but after almost seven years of waiting, his third album ¨Explorate¨ was released last Friday. Another album that I will listen to a lot in the near future. I am therefore very pleased that I was able to interview 24:7 and talk about ¨Explorate¨ and his background.

24:7, thank you for having this interview. Can you please introduce yourself?
My pleasure, my name is Rich, I'm a child of the 80's and a synthwave artist from the south coast of the UK.

Congratulations with your new album ¨Explorate¨, how was it to work on this album?
Thank you! To be honest its been both great fun and pretty tough. I started working on it a long time ago, but with the pandemic, and other massively life changing events over the past few years there have been many times where I almost gave up on it, but I feel quite proud that I didn't.

It's been a source of frustration but also a massive outlet and looking back on it despite going through some heavy stuff, the music that came out all has an uplifting feel to it. So I'm glad I've done it, but I'm a bit relieved its over and out there so I can take a bit of a break and move on to writing more new music.

Which tracks are you most proud of?
This time around I wanted it to be more of a concept album so I tried to make each track as good as the last but also tell a story and convey a mood. I always try very hard not to have any filler anywhere and if something I'm working on isn't resonating with me I'm quite ruthless in terms of re-writing and editing, so I'm pretty proud of all of them!

If I had to pick out some I would say track 3 Starbound hits that 80´s grandiose outer space feel I was going for, that hopeful 'boldly going where nowone has been before' attitude.

Track 9 Quantum Fluctuation as it was fun bringing together traditional orchestral elements with synthesisers to create a mood and journey

I'm also quite proud of track 13 Eternal as I really threw everything at that one, and it builds throughout to a triumphant ending.

As there had been almost 7 years between the albums ¨NAEON¨ and ¨Explorate¨, did you do things differently this time in making tracks for the album?
Well I tried too lol. The plan was to write a short and to the point small EP, I put a lot into NAEON, trying to push myself harmonically and arrangement wise on every track and was determined to keep things simple on this one, but of course that didnt happen lol. I think I´m just naturally drawn to writing quite complex and energetic music, I don´t feel like a track is finished until I´ve put all I can into it.

Consequently I ended up writing about 30 tracks for this album and selected the ones I thought best went with the musical flow and journey. I expect I will do another space themed project at some point, but not for a little while.

I really wanted to get that sense of being in deep space on a mission, to achieve that I ended up using a lot more sound effects on this album then on previous ones.

Another difference this time was that I wanted to collaborate with more people, and I got some great contributions from other friends in the Synthwave scene like OSC, Phaserland, Kid Neon, and Your Sister Is A Werewolf and that´s definitely something I'd like to do more of in the future.

How important is it to work with a label like TimeSlave Recordings to promote your music?
It's invaluable in terms of reaching a bigger audience. Social media is just so split everywhere these days and finding an audience isn't easy. I see a lot of really good music just come and go which is a shame. My first album 'Zero Hour' was one of Timeslaves' first releases and they have been very good to me, being artists themselves they just 'get it' from a business & musicians perspective. Although I still think they are in a state of disbelief that i've actually FINISHED this album after 7 years :).

You created some great synthwave remixes for video games like Streets Of Rage and Zero Wing. Are you a passionate gamer?
Yes, I've always been a gamer. My first console was an Intellivision, then onto an Amstrad CPC 464, then a Megadrive, Super Nintendo, and PS1, then I got heavily into girls, music, and travel so sort of left it behind.

But on my 30^th birthday two great friends of mine bought me my first original Arcade cabinet, and since then I have been into the arcade hobby. I have a small collection of original arcade games from the 80´s and 90´s that I restore and tinker with. It's a bit like the synthwave scene, its a small, but great community of like minded enthusiasts.

Also, during the pandemic I got back into the Amstrad scene, dusted off my old Amstrad 464 and started collecting cassettes, been a lot of fun buying all those games I could never buy as a kid and ones in computer magazine adverts I drooled over as a 9 year old.

Im not really that big into modern gaming though, not against it, its just easier these days having a quick blast on something rather then starting a 60 hour campaign! My most modern console is an Xbox 360 and thats sat inside an arcade cabinet mainly to play Cave bullet hell vertical shoot-em-ups!

I had a lot of fun doing those remixes, there are so many amazing soundtracks from games especially that 16-bit era and in an alternate reality I´d spend my time having a blast doing synthwave style remixes of all of them :).

When was your first encounter with synthwave music?
I don't completely recall how it happened, but my good friend Steve from the Opus Science Collective and I got hold of some Mitch Murder and we were totally hooked. Mitch is the king of classic synthwave for me, second thing I came across was Vampires by The Midnight and then I went down the rabbit hole a bit discovering Droid Bishop, Phaserland, Volkor X, etc. I was a lead guitarist for a thrash metal band in my teen years and a lot of the synthwave music resonated with me in a similar way, it has a certain 'outsiders' perspective and a vibe to it that comes from a simpler age. Pretty much almost as soon as I first heard synthwave I wanted to try my hand at writing some and have been doing so ever since and absolutely love doing it.

For the electronic music producers reading this interview, can you give us a look in your studio?
I was a sound engineer for 20 years and had quite a large setup at one point, digital mixing consoles, outboard etc, but have gradually streamlined it to fit my needs. I don't like too much clutter so try and keep it simple with a bit of mood lighting.

I have just recently got some Adam's for my mains, so looking forward to getting to know them. In my rack is a Goldmic pre-amp, a Motu 828X, a line 6 Pro and a a trusty Roland JV 2080 with synth expansion cards. Cubase is my favoured DAW but occasionally use Pro Tools and Logic.

For input I use an Arturia Beatstep and have a Korg Microkey, mixing wise I love my CC121 Daw controller, the automated fader is excellent.

What are your dreams for the future?
For synthwave to take over the mainstream charts :).

Personally I would just like to carry on composing, testing myself and writing music that moves me, and hopefully others. I have 2 or 3 albums planned out in my head and it´s just a case of finding the time to complete them (hopefully not a 7 year gap this time!). Other then that, just being happy and healthy.

And finally, any last words?
A big thank you to you and others who are through individual effort and passion keeping this niche scene of ours alive.

And to everybody that supports my music, life can be pretty rough at times, but to be able to put something out from the heart and receive nice comments, get streams and cassette/CD sales etc is a wonderful thing that means a lot to me.

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