Shock:Force Interview

NAME: SHOCK:FORCE

STYLE: European Hard Trance

COUNTRY: Wales, UK.

WEB PAGE: Website under construction at present so www.facebook.com/shockforcemusic

Good afternoon Matt, thanks for taking time out to have a quick chat with me…

So, what’s been happening?
I have been spending most of 2013 honing my production skills and working on my artist album. It’s been a long standing dream to release a full length studio artist album and although at times a bit of a challenge, I feel like it’s really helped my progress to a stage where I’m happy with my production. It’s been an amazing journey so far but I can’t wait to get it out there now.

How did you start out as a DJ and producer?
I started DJing when I was 14 in 1997 after playing at my friend’s house parties and progressed to the free party scene pretty quickly. From there I’ve been fortunate to go on and play some of the best clubs and festivals for hard dance the world over and have loved every second of it, in fact my love for it just seems to grow even stronger all the time. I’ve only been engineering music by myself for 15/16 months but had a fantastic mentor in Sully (ex SHOCK:FORCE). I learned a lot from him and spent 4 awesome years in the studio with him, he’s hugely talented and I dare say he is the catalyst for where I’m at musically and production wise today.

What and who influenced your style?
Seeing all my favourite hard trance artists at a young age was a huge inspiration for me growing up. The likes of Alphazone, Cosmic Gate, Dave Joy, S.H.O.K.K. & Flutlicht being my main influences and also a little bit after that came Dark By Design and Sully. Big main room peak time hard trance! The best days for it were back then, hopefully it will go full circle like most things do although I can’t see me reverting back to my god awful ‘curtain’ hair cut haha!

How would you describe your sound?
In a nutshell, hands in the air, euphoric, banging hard trance!

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren't making music and DJing?
My next biggest passion is movies so I’d like to think something along the lines of maybe a movie star but it’s more realistic to picture myself being a movie store geek.That’s not lack of ambition or belief talking either, I’d love that!

What can we expect from one of your DJ sets?
It will be energetic, both in terms of music and performance and will include some pretty bad dancing and face pulling.

What is your mission/Aim?
My mission is just to be able to share my musical creations and hope that they are enjoyed by anyone that’s into hard trance. I can’t ask for more than that, all I want is for people to enjoy it as much as I do making it

What have been the highlights of your career so far?
I have far too many to list here, my musical career to date has far outweighed anything I ever imagined I would achieve.Event wise, Defqon.1 Australia, Escape Into The Park, Westfest & Amplified in Canada. My biggest highlight is looking back at what I’ve achieved. I’ve been fortunate enough to play 10+ countries over 4 different continents. Whenever I think about that it literally blows my mind. I feel so so lucky.

What’s the plan for the remainder of 2013?
My plans for the rest of the year are to continue to work on my production skills and to release the best possible album I can. After that I will also be splitting my time between S:F and my new trance alias ‘Solar:Skies’ which I’m really excited about. Loads of exciting things in the pipeline musically.

I can’t wait to join you guys at Revolution in Edinburgh for my Scottish debut. Big love!
Matt Shock-Force

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