Eric Sneo is a producer whose profile is seriously riding high right now. Having seen his production and DJ career progress alongside the real heavyweights of the European Techno scene, it's no surprise he is where he is today… playing his music across the world and releasing fine underground music on the best labels going. Having come to our attention recently with the release of his first album, a fine EP on Chris Liebing’s CLR and two storming remixes on SP Groove and Hydraulix, we thought it the perfect time to have a chat and find out what makes Sneo tick.
Firstly Eric described how he found himself in the Techno game; “In '92 I started going to 'Omen' in Frankfurt where Sven Vath played every Friday. I was buying records, and eventually got into Studio Engineering, releasing my first record in '95. In '99 I became a resident at the 'Palazzo' (one of Germany’s biggest and most famous clubs) and played alongside the likes of Liebing, Rush, Jeff Mills and Sven Vath himself.”
Eric runs two labels, 'Masters of Disaster' and 'Beat Disaster'. He's released acclaimed music from the likes of Gayle San, The Advent and DJ Rush and of course has used them as a platform to push his own undeniably fresh, pounding sounds. He explains “Our Masters label started through Prime distribution and is the straighter, harder label. I also find it important for tunes to have a theme as well as hard drums and we use Beat Disaster for these types of tracks that have gone on to become bigger club hits.”
Eric's debut album 'Slave to the Beat' was released recently through the 'Terminal M' label and comes highly recommended, if rolling, bass driven Hard Techno with lashings of Funk is your cup of tea. Eric explained the philosophy behind writing his first Long Player; “I wanted to make an album with different styles, but without losing my fingerprint so to speak. You'll find the typical party Sneo tracks, but also slower tunes that have a deeper vibe. For me this mixture was important. My slower tracks have gone down well in the 'Minimal' scene, although basically I am a Hard Act, and by writing an album I was able to experiment a little more.” And on the theme of the album Eric describes; “Slave to the Beat is what I am! The addiction and attraction of this music hopefully becomes obvious in my tracks and is also explained by the lyrics of the title tune.”
Eric rates music from the likes of Hardcell, Hertz, Alex Bau and D.A.V.E. The Drummer, having swapped a remix for the Drummer’s Hydraulix label with a UK take on his own 'Tanz De Familie' which Henry has made into a huge club hit down in Brazil.
Writing music is just one part of Eric's repertoire and performing to a crowd is a huge buzz for him. The Techno scene in Eric's native Germany has always seemed exclusively vibrant, although he feels recent times have seen less interest in the club scene. He explains: “The festivals are still big but unfortunately the club scene is going down (the infamous Tresor recently closed down). We still have a lot of Techno fans, but I think the people just don't party as hard as they used to.”
Fortunately for Eric, his popularity and music writing prowess have seen him play in Countries such as Hungary, Venezuela, Belgium and Brazil to name but a few, and it seems the enormity of this privileged position has not gone to his head; “It's so cool to have the opportunity to present my sound to so many people in so many different places, and I especially love South America because the people are so crazy for the music down there!”
Unfortunately for us Eric is yet to play in the UK, but I'm sure this is likely to change as his records are doing the business in parties across the country from the biggest club nights, down to the smallest clandestine gatherings.
Eric told me a little about what we've been missing out on; “I'm always developing my performance and trying out new things. You'll often see me playing live electronic drums while I'm DJing and I want to experiment further by adding a live Vocoder and providing Robotic type vocals with a headset mic!”
Eric's style of Techno is so percussive; I can only imagine how pleasing it will be to hear him drumming live over the top through some dirtily big soundsystem. Quite simply Eric rocks and if we don't get to see him here soon, I'll be taking out a loan and flying him over myself!
