Such Cool Stuff!: Zetan Spore

Zetan Spore was originally formed in West Cornwall, UK by Ian Hasdell in 1995. After being inspired by psychedelic rock in the late 80's and its evolution into early dance acts such as Eat Static and Astralasia, and then by the birth of psytrance in the first half of the 90's, Ian bought a second hand Amiga 1200 computer and started arranging samples to form his own style of psychedelic dance music. After releasing his first album, "Alien Frequencies" in 1996 and getting some more equipment, his twin brother Mark came on board, playing guitar and didgeridoo to form their unique synergistic partnership.

Tell me about how you originally got into your craft, Ian.
70's punk was the first thing that really caught our attention - liked the raw element and energy. The next thing to really inspire us were psychedelic / space rock bands such as Hawkwind, Ozric Tentacles and Poisoned Electrick Head in the late 80's - loved all the spacey synth sounds and driving energy. These bands really took you somewhere - a kind of head journey. With the advent of dance music technology, some of these bands evolved into the early psy trance outfits such as Eat Static, Astralasia and Juno Reactor- a similar feel to space rock, but with dance beats and even more spacey, squelchy weirdness - this really caught our attention and made us first think about writing our own tunes. We used to hear tunes we really liked but there came a point where we wanted the music to do something else, and it didn't, so we thought we'll have to try and write something that did exactly what we wanted....so we did!

How do you describe your music to people?
The music can best be described as driving, euphoric psytrance, breaking in huge psychedelic waves of energy and positivity, with didgeridoo-fuelled tribal breaks and searing guitar riffs adding more depth and power to the sound.

What is your favorite thing to do in the whole wide world?
Playing live at a festival and having 100's of people bouncing to our tunes. (That was the clean answer!)

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your business?
Getting to know the right promoters and convincing them that we're an act they want to book for their event. There's so much competition in the music business and a lot of promoters prefer to stick with what they know rather than giving someone different a go.

When you were a kid, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up?
It changed throughout the years - at one point, all I wanted was to be a singer in a band.

In what way has your community impacted your development as a musician?
Living in Cornwall has had a great impact on our musical development - the pace of life is slower and more laid back than the rest of the country and the scenery is incredibly varied and awe inspiring, all of which makes it a great place to live, work and get inspiration. There has always been a good live and club music scene down here which made it easier when we first started playing live, and quite a close friendly music community where everyone helps each other out.

What other artists out there do you love?
In the psytrance scene, our favorite artists at the moment are Talamasca (Obsessive Dream is an amazing album), Space Buddha, Ananda Shake, Digicult, and Talpa(check out the album "When sombreness becomes a game") just to name a few. Outside of the psytrance scene our tastes are very varied - really loving what Gary Numan is doing these days and never tire of going to see bands like Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles for a fix of space rock!

What does your future hold?
Hopefully playing at more festivals and gigs all over the World. We'll have our 8th studio album out in the Autumn if all goes well - so far we're both very pleased with what we're producing - it's gonna be a blinder!