Standerwick Travels a Winding Road to Trance Stardom
Ian Standerwick has taken trance music by storm in the past three years. Whether by himself or under the alias of Skypatrol with ReOrder, he’s putting out some of the more forward-thinking productions in trance of late. To some a “mystery man” who has appeared as if out of nowhere, Standerwick’s past reveals, from a technical standpoint, just how prepared he is for stardom. From discussing rock ‘n’ roll to unique production theories on working with vocalists and bringing more traditional musical elements into trance, his varied interests and infectious curiosity make you want more.
What was the initial allure of trance music for you?
I came from a rock background, to be honest with you. I was introduced to trance 15 years ago, and I liked what I heard, obviously. I started experimenting with it a little bit, and then I decided to take a break for six years. I was convinced by someone to come back to trance three years ago, and everything’s been quite all right since then.
Your current rise has been rather swift. What are your thoughts on your success of late and how, if at all, it has affected you?
I was really fortunate. When I first got into trance, I learned about the way trance was constructed in production. Then, I took those six years off to start a family and just be normal for a while. Raising children does take its toll, but when I came back it was tough. I had a regular job, I was working regular hours and also trying to get back into the studio and get my sound to where I wanted it to be. For nine months, I was getting away with three hours of sleep per night. I threw myself at it and decided to go 100 percent or not at all. Fortunately, by pure chance, people like Armin [van Buuren] started picking up on tracks, and a lot of the other big guns started picking up on tunes I was doing, too. Fortunately, I then was selected for different remixes to do. Success all still takes me by surprise.
Your Skypatrol tandem with ReOrder is one of the more popular acts in trance right now. How did that come together?
Skypatrol all happened by pure chance, really. I’m good friends with ReOrder, and we did a project a few years back. When I came back to making trance again, I did a few tunes to learn how to use the new Logic software, and as a result I made this 130-BPM tune, and I put a vocal on it. I played it for ReOrder one night, and he said, “Play it again, and send it over to me!” About four days later, [the single] “Folding Your Universe” was completed.
ReOrder then said, “Why don’t we do an alias together—something on the side, something separate from our solo careers—and see how it goes?” That all happened by itself, and now we’re taking bookings all over the world for Skypatrol. We’re really excited about it.
From Markus Schulz to Armin and more, aliases appear to be a thing in trance, more than any other dance genre. Having one of your own, do you have any thoughts as to why this is?
I think the whole purpose of an alias is, if you’ve got something that’s outside of what your sound is, then you can release it under an alias instead of taking the flak for experimenting with a new sound. Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten have New World Punx, for instance, so it’s a good avenue to take if you want to do something experimental with your music. I’m all in favor of aliases, to an extent. I wouldn’t have 10 or 15 of them, because that would just confuse me [laughs]. I’d just keep it simple.
Working with vocals: what’s your theory on this?
There are lots of things I look at. I’m a vocalist myself, who’s sung on tunes in the past, so I have a heads-up on what I perceive as being a really good vocalist. Producers approach vocal tracks in various ways. Some send a completed track to a vocalist and say, “Write to this.” Some will work with a vocalist and say, “Here’s a four-chord progression; let’s see if we can work something around this,” and then you construct something around the vocal. For me, a vocal track is all about the vocal, and there are some I hear that are still all about the music, and a vocal is stuck on just for the sake of it. I believe that the music should complement the vocal, and not the other way around.
That’s a unique take, to initially be more concerned with the vocal than the music.
To me, it makes perfect sense. If it’s a vocal track, then the main part of the track is the vocal. A lot of tracks are all about the music. As a songwriter, too, the vocal melody sets up the music around it. The music sets the pace for the vocal. That’s just how I was brought up as a songwriter. The music is secondary. I just finished a tune with Jennifer Rene, and that was along the same lines. Jennifer came up with a vocal, and I played with it. It was like a ping-pong match, and then I produced the music around the vocal. It’s crucial for me to work like that.
Back to your rock background. Do you ever hear a classic rock track and think, “That’d make for a great trance remix?”
There are a lot of them. I don’t think that it’s just about the genre of the music. I think what’s crucial is that there’s a song in the melody and the lyrics. I think it was Phil Collins who said that the best songs can be played on an acoustic guitar. In other words… if you strip away all of the accompaniment, if the song still sounds good, then you have a big tune. That’s how I view things. It can be any genre, from rock to R&B to soul to drum & bass. If the track has a strong melody or a strong vocal, than it can be anything. There are bands that have strong songwriting like Queen, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, the Who, Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers. There’s a whole batch of tracks where I’ve thought, “Oh, I could make that into a trance tune.”
As a multi-instrumentalist and someone who’s played instruments on tracks in other genres, what are your thoughts about live instruments in dance music? Do they have a place in the current era?
I was actually having a chat with a producer the other day about bringing real instruments back into trance. He had a track he did with a bass guitar at 138 BPM. I can play bass guitar and normal guitar, and that’s something I would love to bring back into trance. The thing about modern dance [music] is that it’s so very precise with MIDI and notation. The beats are bang on the nose, bang on the bars; there are no errors… I’d rather not squeeze a square peg into a round hole, though. It would have to work. That’s something I want to do in the future, bringing real instruments back.
Follow Standerwick on Facebook | Twitter
