Photo Credit: Vini Vici Press Team
Written by: Katarina Cvetko
Photo Credit: Klemen Stular
Israeli Psytrance duo Vini Vici has exploded into the electronic music scene and has been taking the world by storm. Experienced producers Aviram Saharai and Matan Kadosh formed the project to express their love for old-school sounds and combine them with progressive ideas. Their success has seen them top the Beatport charts and collaborate with some of the biggest names in the world. I had a chance to catch up with Kadosh and discuss everything from life on the road to musical inspirations and future rising stars.
Festival Squad: How do you feel about playing on the Electric Love main stage tonight?
Matan: Well, first of all, I’m very honoured to be here and very excited of course. It’s looking sick over there! I just had a view of the festival and it’s looking insane!
Do you think the crowd is going to respond differently because of the weather or do you think they’ll be just as crazy?
Well, rain is definitely affecting the energy, some countries left, some countries more but … I’m sure since everyone is already here, they’re just going to enjoy it.
I’ve noticed at some of your shows, there’s only one of you guys on stage. Is there a reason that you don’t always play together?
Yes. First of all, because we have a very busy touring schedule and there are a lot of requests coming really from far back and then another important festival comes up that we don’t want to skip so we take both. We’ve done this since the start and also when we don’t have double bookings, we prefer to give each other some rest because the routine is very demanding.
So how did you decide at the start to tour separately?
It just kind of happened naturally because my partner lives in Brazil. So if we have a gig in that area he will do it and if we have a gig in the Europe area I will do it.
Do you prefer playing larger festivals like this or smaller, more intimate shows?
Every event has their magic. The most important thing is the energy from the crowd and sometimes in the small ones they’re even better than the big ones! But yeah of course, when you have a big show when all of the crowd is with you, nothing can beat it.
Do you have any routines or rituals so you don’t burn out while you’re on tour?
I try to go to the gym even when I’m on tour and eat healthy and sleep. But it’s very hard because flying time is sometimes very limiting. Sometimes you just have to take … like today, a 6am flight when you didn’t sleep all night. So I’ll sleep like three hours on the flight and maybe three hours in the hotel and wake up so my biological clock wants to kill me.
So you’ve obviously played a lot of special shows. Which set do you think stands out from the rest?
It’s really hard to say… it’s like picking your favourite child, you know? As I said, every event has its magic. I’ve been doing it for so long and I’ve experienced so many beautiful and epic moments so I can’t really say one.
“Great Spirit” became the festival anthem last season. How did it feel to have so many artists all around the world playing it and to have it have that much success?
It’s amazing. I never expected all these huge DJ’s to be opening up for a psytrance tune and it’s a dream come true. If you took me a few years back and asked me if it was possible, I’d say you’re mad!
You’ve had opportunities to play all over the world and see how different crowds react to your music. Even though each crowd is unique, if you had to pick one, what has been your favourite crowd to play for so far?
Again, it’s really hard. Some crowds are deeper… especially when we play psytrance events versus commercial events. So sometimes I like to play a psytrance event and play deeper stuff like longer flow which has its own magic. But it’s totally different if I want to play like for here and the crowd is like all hands in the air so again, everything has its magic.
You have a very unique tribal sound. Do you have any musical inspirations that inspire that style of music?
Psytrance is basically coming from the woods you know. When I started going to psytrance events, it was like underground, illegal parties in the woods of Israel so you’re already getting the tribaldelic vibes and I think from there it just comes naturally. Psytrance is kind of like a tribe, for me, it’s more than the music. It’s the tribe, it’s the community, it’s the energy of the people. This is what I like most about Psytrance.
Aside from Psytrance, what type of music do you like to listen to?
I’m very open-minded so for me, good music is good music. I will rarely listen to Psytrance at home because I’m already doing it all day. My favourite artist is Bob Marley and then Daft Punk and Radiohead, which are three totally different artists. The variety is very big.
You recently launched your own record label on Armada Music. Have you discovered any up and coming artists we should keep a lookout for?
There are a few artists that are not new for the Psytrance scene but they are new for the commercial world and they are huge talents. Like Whiteno1se, Blastoyz, Phanatic. Also, there is one brand new project called XYZ, which is really really cool and I think this one could be a big one.
Do you have any exciting shows or plans coming up?
Every weekend! Tomorrow is Ultra Europe, which is amazing, and then Balaton sound. I always follow just one weekend ahead because it’s too hard. Of course, Tomorrowland and Parookaville which we have our own stage and we’re also going to play the main stage.