fullonline: Hi Edoardo, where are you from, where do you live and when you started DJing? Why you choose the name Neurobiotic Records to your label?

Edoardo: Hi there! I'm from Italy and I live in Rome, I started DJing about 12 years ago spinning acid and techno, and moved to trance after 2 years. The name Neurobiotic has a weird and funny story, it actually saw the light few years before I released the first cd. I had one of the best acids of my life in Goa something like 8 years ago and I was collecting music on DAT tapes at that time. Back from the party I recorded a tape with someone and I called it Neurobiotic. Liked the name and decided I wanted to make something important with it. 2-3 years later I decided to start the label and of course I didn't need to think about the name!

fullonline: Can you keep a comfortable lifestyle working only as psychedelic trance label manager and DJ or a second job is needed?

Edoardo: Luckily yes. I know I will never get rich with this kind of music and I'm sure in the future I will feel the needing of doing something different, but for now DJing and managing Neurobiotic Records and Indica Music gives me the possibility to travel the world and meet lot of people, and that's what's important for me at the moment.

fullonline: You compiled and released a lot of albums through Neurobiotic Records, what are your goals as a psytrance label? How do you choose the music you will release?

Edoardo: My goal is to keep releasing quality music, music with a soul. There is too much bad music around for me and when I sign an artist or I compile a compilation I think I want to release something which lasts more than the usual trance released on many labels lately. I think quality is way more important than quantity in this market. There are so many labels and so many artists around that it is really easy to become "just another label releasing just another disposable cd". When labels complain about the market situation, I seriously think that the problem is not people downloading music or copying cds, but that people don't trust the labels anymore. Except for few labels I find it really difficult to find more than 1 track per release that I would play in my DJ sets... Most of the time I don't even find any!

fullonline: In your opinion what Neurobiotic Records releases had more impact on the psytrance scene? Which are you favorite albums by your label?

Edoardo: Well for sure the first Altom album had a great impact on the scene. It was fresh and unexpected and that was when Neurobiotic started to grow up. Favorite albums for me have been Altom - Hologram, Tikal - Ritual Cicle, Joti Sidhu - Punktuator, Panick - Lab-o-matic. And I'm really happy with the forthcoming ones, Silicon Sound, Zen Mechanics, PTX and the new Polaris.

fullonline: What artists are signed under Neurobiotic Records? What kind of support your label give to these artists?

Edoardo: At the moment we have Joti Sidhu, Silicon Sound, Altom, Tikal, Polaris, Zen Mechanics, PTX, Vibra and 2Hi. Support is of course giving them a good label to release on, book them at parties and obviously share with them good music to play at parties.

fullonline: What are the next Neurobiotic Records releases?

Edoardo: Our latest releases have been a compilation compiled by me called Neo::Caine (featuring tracks from Tristan and Prometheus, Allaby, Zen Mechanics, Jaia, Silicon Sound, Pixel and Wrecked Machines, Orion, Polaris, Tikal and Altom) and Panick second album called Lab-o-matic. Next will be a compilation by Joti Sidhu which will be something between an album and a compilation, being Joti himself involved in all the tracks... It will feature few new tracks and remixes from him, including collaborations with DJ Mack and Nico (Inneraction), plus a few remixes of some of his tracks by Shanti, PTX and more. After that I have a compilation compiled by Silicon Sound with tracks from Even 11, Silicon Sound, Jaia, Tristan, Wizzy Noise and more. In the future we will have Zen Mechanics, Silicon Sound, Polaris and PTX albums.

fullonline: You played one of the best sets at Universo Paralello, one of the most important Festivals at Brazil. How is your work as DJ? You use to play music from which artists?

Edoardo: Thanks for this!! I love brazil and love Universo Paralello and the crew organizing it, I've been playing for them every year for 4 or 5 years and they always succeed in creating a great festival. I think that to be a good DJ is important to feel the dance floor. Having the newest killer unreleased stuff is not important at all if you don't know how to use them. I like to create a flow, I like to mix tracks for 2 or 3 minutes and do it perfectly, I think mixing is really important. I usually play music from my artists, plus some tracks from few labels which I respect. Lately I am enjoying much more to play morning or late morning sets, it gives me the opportunity to play the music I like most at the time. I'm able anyway to play any time, since I love the music PTX and Joti are making, which sounds great in the night and early morning.

fullonline: In a DJ set what is more important in your opinion: the technique or the music selection? What about interaction with the crowd?

Edoardo: I think all of these things are important. Music selection is essential, if it is not based on the latest tracks but on the feeling and the flow of the set. Mixing is also really important, coming from a techno background I love to mix and I would get really bored if I had to mix only the last 30 seconds of a track as I see many DJs doing. Interaction with the crowd is probably the most important thing. With interaction I mean enjoying the music you are playing as much as the crowd does, when I play I like to think I'm not something separate from the dance floor, but a part of it.

fullonline: What is the best quality a DJ can have? What is your opinion about the large amount of DJs that are continuously after new unreleased music (wasting a lot of time on it) instead of spending more time on learning their music and improving their skills?

Edoardo: I think to become a good DJ it's essential to spend hours on the dancefloors... I can't understand DJs who spend their life sitting at home getting music from the net and going to parties just to play. That's what I see in many young persons who start DJing... DJing must have nothing to do with Egotrips and the wish to be "the DJ", I think you can become a good DJ only if you love the music. It happens to me so many times to play few old tracks in my sets and it's so nice to see how good they still are.

fullonline: Besides playing as a DJ, you also released some tracks in collaboration with other established artists. How is the process of music creating when you work together with other artists?

Edoardo: When I work with experienced producers (Joti Sidhu for example), I am not technically doing much! I know how to use the programs but takes me forever to do things he can make in seconds. I usually give ideas on rhythms, breaks, samples, giving my personal flavor to the track.

fullonline: Tell us about your homepage www.neurobiotic.com. You think it's a good way to contact the fans and artists? What interesting info and stuff can Neurobiotic's fans find inside the site?

Edoardo: Well I think that it's useful to have a webpage to give people information about the label's releases and plans, though I know my website is not really updated!! And obviously is important to have it running for bookings and artists informations.

fullonline: What other labels are releasing good music in your opinion these days?

Edoardo: Well, not many if I have to be honest. I like Nano Records a lot lately. Alchemy is also a good label.

fullonline: In my opinion Neurobiotic Records is one of the best labels these days, releasing what I call "serious full on", because it is not full of breaks and explosive build ups, but it has a steady flow, some nice twists and the right dosage of psychedelic elements in it. I know that labeling music styles lead to generalizations, but how do you call the music your Label is releasing?

Edoardo: I simply call it trance. I don't like to give many attributes to music, I think the more you categorize it, the more you loose the essence. I like trance, and unfortunately most of the music released these days, also on important labels, lost the true meaning of trance. Trance has always been a state of mind inducted by repetitive and monotone music, linear and hypnotic. In our days, with computer and synthesizers, we have many possibilities to create trance music and I think this music doesn't need those huge breaks and noisy build ups to be called trance! I really like and respect producers like Silicon sound, Allaby, Tristan, Zen mechanics, Joti Sidhu and Polaris who I think are making right now proper trance music. These are the artists I enjoy the most in my DJ sets.

fullonline: What are the online stores selling psytrance music that you trust? How do you think the possibility of selling individual tracks through the Net will affect Labels and Artists?

Edoardo: Well, I never had any problem with any online store... All the most known ones should be reliable I guess... About selling single tracks on Internet, I think is the future of all discography industry. Neurobiotic and Indica Music are both available on Beatport and iTunes and sales are increasing. Fast connections are available almost everywhere now and is quite easy to sit at home and buy music, especially now from websites as Beatport or iTunes... I personally buy a lot of music from Beatport and it's like being in a huge record store. You can listen few minutes of the tracks before buying them and buy only one out of a 10 tracks cd!

fullonline: What do you think about people sharing music through mp3 instead of buying it?

Edoardo: Well, I think sharing music is really good for unknown artists and labels, they have a huge network that gives them the possibility to be exposed to millions of people. On the other side it's a big problem for biggest labels and artists. I'm investing a lot of money in the label and on the artists, and people must understand that, to keep getting music for free, will lead to the end of this industry. I know sometimes is awful to call it an industry, but there are many people making their life out of it and as people spend money on cinema and clubs, restaurants and concerts, their support to labels and artists is also important

fullonline: You are one of the organizers of Sonica Festival, the first Festival in Italy and already one of the biggest in the world. What is your role in the organization of Sonica?

Edoardo: I'm taking care of the artist management and of the technical part of it (stage, sound system etc). I'm also doing international promotion.

fullonline: Share your experience and tell us what makes a good party. You think decoration is important is more important than the line up?

Edoardo: Well I think first of all are the people. Without them or with the wrong audience you will never have a good party! After that I think sound system, location and decorations are the most important things!

fullonline: Tell us about the parties you organized. Do you have some advices for the party organizers? What is the biggest mistake an organizer can do?

Edoardo: I only organize Sonica, it's a big event that requires lot of work and that's the only thing I can do beside traveling, playing around and keep the label running. One suggestion is to always keep in mind what you are doing, how many people you expect and to think about the budget....It's really easy to loose big money when you are inexperienced. On the other side you must guarantee to supply all conditions for your audience to feel good and comfortable. In few words, be realistic and do the party as if you were the audience, thinking about them before than thinking about you!

fullonline: What do you think people should do to make a better scene? Any visions about the future?

Edoardo: I think we are going to a commercialization of parties. I especially think of Brazil and Japan, where you easily have parties for a few thousands people. When this music was born it was a really intimate and restricted group of people doing parties. This is good when you are making your life out of this music, but it is sad if I think about the old days... Sad to think that something I deeply love has been commercialized so much... About new elements in parties, we had a big wave of electro house and trance, I think after this we will see the return of minimal techno in parties... there is a lot of fresh stuff around (border community, cocoon, minus etc) and I feel this music is really close to trance. I actually think lot of this music is much more trance than lot of trance released lately!

fullonline: What is your favorite psychoactive molecule? (Do you enjoy using any kind of drugs at all?

Edoardo: Mmh.. well I think I can be free to say that yes, I enjoy drugs! Obviously not every day or every party, but I think they are part of our scene and would be stupid to say the opposite! What I like the most is LSD, I think that's the real drug... also like alcohol, it's always good fun!

fullonline: We all know that all kind of weird stuff happen at psychedelic gatherings. Can you tell us something different/funny that you saw or happened to you in a party?

Edoardo: Well... what I really enjoyed to see was some people licking the speakers in Rainbow serpent festival in Australia last January during a minimal DJ set in the afternoon last day of the party... Was sick!

fullonline: Any last comment, message and/or promotional link?

Edoardo: Buy your music, respect the people who are working to keep it fresh and keep the spirit alive! I'm always so happy when I see people really involved in the scene having it and dancing in front of the speakers!!

fullonline: Thank you!
Respect!