Nov 22 Interview w/ Juan Cruz & Wahed Achterberg

The winter is going really strong, and the months have passed after our last interview. We already have few of them on the line (Stephen J. Kroos, Nick Stoynoff, Envotion…) but today we wanted to show you one very great interview we did with two guys, who were, completely unkown to the scene until they started following their dreams. Maybe of you already know and follow their mixes on Youtube, but today, you will official meet Juan and Wahed, the creators of Road Of Endless Dreams & Sunset Melodies. Alongside this interview, we also present Sunset Melodies #20 incl. Endless Roads guestmix.

1. Hi there guys, thanks for your time, we really appreciate the opportunity to speak with You. So, for the ones who still don’t know who are you. Can you write some short introduction ?

Juan: Hola! No guys,thank you for having us and giving us a space in PHW. I feel like a celebrity or something, haha. Well, uhm… My name is Juan Cruz, but i don’t really like to be called that way, i like just Juan better :D I’m 23 years old, I’m from Argentina. Apologies for my english in advance. I’m a quiet dude who enjoy simple things in life and I have an incredible passion for EDM. Specially for melodic progressive house. For a little bit over 2 years I’ve been uploading mini-mixes to Youtube, combined with stunning, breath-taking footage. There’s ‘Endless Roads’ which is a series that includes, well, Progressive House, mostly, Progressive Trance, Deep House, Breaks, Chill Out. And I recently started another series called ‘Introspective Mixtapes’. These ones will include more Downtempo, Ambient, Post-Rock, Lo-Fi, Indie, Shoegaze, Garage, Experimental stuff, etc.

Wahed: Hey i am 21 years old and living in Germany. I am studying Geophysics/Meteorology in Cologne since 2 years. I spend most of my time for studies and the time that is left is reserved for my passion the music some sports and my girlfriend. Sounds not very exciting and i have to say it isn´t really at the moment. Studies takes a lot of time and does annoy so i am really happy i have this hobby which gaves me lots of endurance . CLICK CONTINUE READING FOR FULL TEXT

2. So can you tell us, how did You get involved with music in the first place ? Is it something from the childhood or ?

Juan: Well, I think i started to listen to EDM when i was 16. Before that i wasn’t really into it. I remember when i was younger I used to go to bed and turn on the radio before falling asleep…and i put a radio show where they played dance music which I found it…weird. I thought to myself ‘I have never listened something like this before. I don’t get it’ – But i really liked it to fall asleep to :D. I think it all started there. So after a while i wanted to find more music like that and I started searching more of it. At first I used to listen to the more ‘famous’ guys. Tiësto /his album Just Be just blew my mind/ Paul Oakenfold, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, of course, etc. Looking back I realise i was really more into Trance, not so much Progressive.

Wahed: Well my first touch was in summer 2009. It was the first time that i had a closer look on House music because i listened to a House compilation and found an artist on it that totally captured me with his sounds…Paul Keeley. On the search for „Paul Keeley – Paperjet (Mango Remix)“ for me still one of the greatest Progressive House tracks ever i found Juans channel on youtube. From then on i discovered the world of Progressive House music listening to his mixes. My love to that episodes was so deep that i wanted to create those mixes too. I got in contact with Juan and asked him for some tips and i started to improve myself on video work and mixing. So this is what i am doing since 2 years.

3. What is the main source of inspiration when making those beautiful mixes?

Juan: Personal experiences, Nature, People, Life. When you listen to a track and you’re just chillin’ in your couch/bed/under a tree or whatever, just letting the sounds piercing your body in every direction….You picture it in a certain way, what would you be doing with that track playing in your head. What colors you picture and the emotions that track give to you. So when I have all the tracks selected and mixed I try to find videos related to the feelings that those songs gave me.

Wahed: For me the source is my life. Music is like medicine healing your wounds and it helps me to process emotions. This is what i try to transport to the people. I want to show them what this kind of music is able to do with a person and what it does with myself is expressed in my mixes and the feedback i am getting tells me i am not the only person on this earth which is captured by this music.

4. If we can continue, can you tell us, are you maybe sometimes going to try music production, or you will stick to mixing only ?

Juan: Some months before I tried and gave up. Tried again some days ago and to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing xD I look at the screen and I feel lost, not knowing where or how to start xD. It would great to take a music production course or something, to know the very basics, but there isn’t any in my city. So I guess I’m on my own haha. I took some guitar lessons though but that was a long time ago xD I really hope I can have my own music in the near future…that would be…INSANE :D.

Wahed: I decided to start producing music this summer and i had many weeks where i learned my first steps in production getting some help by producers. At the moment i have not enough time to continue because of studies but i will go on definetly in future. It is like learning a new language on your own that needs a lot of time so i would say we are talking about years that are needed. I will hold onto this dream.

5. If you can choose 5 DJs / Producers that you admire the most, who would they be ?

Juan: Mhh…tough question, there are so many great producers out there.

I will leave out a lot :(

In no particular order: Schodt, his progressive breaks sound give me chills, specially ‘Cinematico’ and ‘The Spirit & The Harmony’. Soundprank, Kobana, Hammock, Ad Brown.

Wahed: This is a very hard questions because there are more than just 5 but these ones are definetly some i really admire: Schodt, Roald Velden, Shingo Nakamura, Kobana, Mindset and many more!

6. And your top 5 tracks at this moment are ?

Juan:

1. Boom Jinx & Soundprank – Pieces Of The Puzzle
2. Airdraw – Zoé
3.   Bodytemp – Kalm
4.   Atlantis Ocean – Ikar
5.   Essáy & Stumbleine – Rhiannon

Wahed:

1. Gregory Esayan & Duality – Parting (Original Mix)
2. Schodt – Falling (Schodt’s M1dn1t3 Mix)
3. Mobil – Purple Sky (Original Mix)
4. Mindset – Olympus (Matao Remix)
5. Dunkan – Saturday (Biotones Remix)

7. You guys really made an impact to the scene with your mixes (Sunset Melodies & The Road of Endless Dreams), gathering in total more than 4000 subscribers and over 600.000 views on your youtube channels. That sounds pretty dreadfully good! What are your plans for the future ?

Juan: Hahahah thanks! Yess that is incredible :D I never thought when i started the channel that it would do so good. But it seems it did so I’m pretty proud of my little cyber space in the world ^^ And I’m very grateful to all the people who take their time to watch an episode and leave their kind words :) For the future, I would like to keep uploading mixes, I’m almost at 50 episodes of ‘Endless Roads’ so YAY! Maybe get in touch with more labels and producers and help them to promote their music. I also thought about creating a site, other than the YT channel, where I can put up longer mixes, news, and stuff like that. But I’m not really sure about that. Oh, and like I said, making my own music sometime ;) Not to make a living out of it, just as a hobbie and to have fun and share it with other people.

Wahed: For sure i will go on doing these episodes on youtube and will try to get more and more attention but i have to say that there are already bigger plans in my head. I hope to appear in radio shows more often in future and Juan and me already thought about founding our own radio but i think we are far away from this at the moment. If there is more time in future my plan is to continue producing my own music and perhaps get into the scene. We will see!

8. The rise & development of internet made a global problem concerning selling music. Lots of music is spread through blogs & forums and producers/labels can hardly make any money? What are your thoughts about illegal sharing?

Juan: It’s a complicated thing. Sadly, there’s not much you can do about it. People will always upload music and people will always download that music for free the same way they download movies, software, etc. In one way it’s really good ’cause it helps producers to get their music out there and be listened by A LOT of people. But also, that guy/girl who worked hiss/her ass off just to see that his/her tunes are all over the net… It must be frustrating. Maybe some people will disagree but there’s so much great music, so many new and talented producers that you can’t really expect from people to buy all of their music. We all have bills to pay, phone, rent, food and so on. There are people who can buy music but chose not to, people who want to buy music but can’t. So… I don’t know, every situation is different. I’m not saying music should be free, but in my opinion when you create music, it’s something very personal and spiritual, something you put your heart and soul into it. For someone who makes music I imagine it must be more rewarding hearing feedback from people telling them how happy a certain song made them feel or … I don’t know, I guess that’s how I’d feel if I was a producer. Knowing that something that you created made an impact in someone’s life. That to me can’t even compare to money. I wonder if music makers are aware of the things their work makes us feel.

Wahed: We all know that this a problem but i fear that the chances to work against illegal sharing are low. These days the internet is extremly complex and there are so many ways to comunicate and share things. I am not an expert in this topic so i am not sure if there will be a solution somewhere in future. Perhaps the development will change it´s direction and people will respect the really hard work that has to be done before a production is finished. Lets hope the best for the future!

9. We are almost at the end, so our question would be, what is your biggest dream ?

Juan: My biggest dream would be travel as much as I can. Every corner of the earth. Know lots of people. Learn about other cultures. Become a photographer and make independent films. And live somewhere near the beach. And near a big big forest too.

Wahed: Related to the music my biggest dream is to play this music for a big crowd of Progressive House lovers. Relating to life my biggest dream is to have a little beach bar on a nice island somewhere on this earth enjoying everything life can give you.

10. Time to finish the things up. Do you have any final words for PHW fans ?

Juan: Thanks a lot for taking the time to read an interview made to a guy you probably don’t know, hope you found it entertaining hahaha. Again, Huge thanks to all of you guys for giving us a space in your flawless site, it really means a lot. It’s been a pleasure for us and we feel honored ^_^ Looking forward to have another interview, when we’re famous LOL jk. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Take care and best of luck to all of you. And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ;D

Wahed: First i want to say thanks for the huge support the last two years and thanks to all the artists and labels for doing their awesome jobs. To all PHW fans i want to say spread out that you are a fan of Progressive House because this genre deserves much more attention and stay Progressive. Special thanks to the PHWW-Crew for giving the chance to appear in a special topic here on this site!

It’s been a great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak with you. I really hope to speak soon in future. Take care and we wish you best luck in the upcoming period. Cheeeeeeeeeeerios :)

And now you can enjoy this unique blend between beautiful video footage and great progressive music.