Hi Gav! Thanks for doing a Pure Trance interview with us. Let’s start with a little introduction: who are you, where do you live and what’s your daily occupation?
Hey! I’m Gav, I was born in Glasgow, and live in Leeds with my wife, Chloe. I’m a building physics engineer by day – so deal with calculations and building modelling for projects all over the UK. By night, I’m a nuisance to Pure Trance & Solarstone on social media.
We’ve come to know you as one of the most dedicated Pure Trance fans, an ambassador of the Pure movement. When did your love for trance music come to life?
My mum passed away when I was 13, and I retreated into music for a little while to cope – listening to everything I could. I found records like ‘Carte Blanche’, ‘Universal Nation’, ‘Out of the Blue’ and so many others that appeared around that time. I can’t overstate how much of a help the music was for me. I have a very strong emotional connection to trance music because of this time in my life.
For the next few years, I did everything I could for more. I spent a lot of time as a teenager going out and buying every CD I could, and using our dial up and then 256k ‘broadband’ to – very slowly – find whatever was out there. I think that effort and hunting is another big part of why I have such a strong attachment to the music.
I had been to the odd event prior, but it was seeing Ferry Cortsen and PvD at Global Gathering in 2006 when everything properly fell into place for me for events. I needed more!
Whilst there are other genres I adore, trance has always been my main love.
When did you first discover Pure Trance and/or Solarstone? And what exactly attracts you to the sound and movement so much?
It was around the same sort of time as the above that I heard ‘Speak in Sympathy’ and ‘Seven Cities’, and I was hooked. Kept on top of the releases over the next few years from there, and ordered a copy of Anthology One a few years later, which remains a favourite album of mine to this day.
I binged on ‘Rain Stars Eternal’ on release – it was the soundtrack to my holiday that year, but the album ‘Pure’ is the one that really got its hooks into me. I still vividly remember listening to the title track for the first time and being out of breath at the end of it. My obsession grew quite quickly from that point…
The Pure sound and movement means a huge amount to me. Each release, event, album etc. is just full of incredible music. The kind of music that I fell in love with and latched on to in difficult times, and music that can lift me up or get me dancing (really badly). Trance subgenres and BPM’s are not remotely important to me, so long as the music is good, and I think everything Pure lines up with that. It also helps that Rich has made my favourite record ever.
The friends I have made at Pure nights are some of my closest friends now, too, and I will always be grateful for that.
How does your love for trance music translate to your daily life? Do you go out every weekend, always have music playing at work, listen to a number of podcasts, keep track of new releases?
It’s the soundtrack to everything I do. It’s on all day at work when I’ve got my head down on something, it’s on during my commutes, I listen to relax at home, when I’m cooking, gardening, decorating, driving etc etc. I love vinyl, so enjoy sitting down and just listening when I can, too.
And podcasts – absolutely yes. It’s a good way to find new music, and I’m a huge fan of just sitting down and just trawling the internet for new releases, and updating playlists. The same goes of live set recordings.
As for going out – I have a passion for bothering Solarstone as much as I can. The last few years I saw Rich play 10+ times each year. Might be down on that for 2020, but I’m working on it… I try to head out to an event somewhere at least once a month, usually more often. My bank balance sometimes suffers, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What’s the most dedicated thing you ever did to show your love for Pure? And what’s the furthest you ever travelled for a show?
About four years ago now, I got the Pure logo tattoo’d on my left arm. I may have been the first to do so, as I vividly remember Rich’s face when he saw it – almost a “why would you do that?!”. I love it, and get lots of questions about it – so it’s nice to tell people what it’s all about.
I signed up for the Fan Club too, apparently somehow before it was announced that sign-ups were open! Membership no.003.
‘Only’ to Amsterdam for my furthest travel, but the distance from the amount of trips up and down the UK – and to NL and back – for Pure/Solarstone shows, must be a good few billion times around the world by now.
If anyone asks you what the meaning behind Pure Trance is, what do you tell them?
Music with emotion, groove and melody. Passion, happiness, goosebumps, friendships.
What was the most memorable Pure Trance event you ever visited? And which one’s up next?
Genuinely a difficult question – having been to so many, and them all truly being amazing.
I was lucky enough to be at both Pure Trance 100 & 200 radio shows – both of which were amongst the best experiences I have ever had. And I made some incredible friends on those nights.
As for an event – the first Solarstone open to close Dolby Atmos show in London blew my mind, and is something I still rave about often. The ADE 2015 show, too. Maybe one of the sweatiest nights of my life. The temperature on that boat was insane.
The next Solarstone show for me is A State of Trance 950 next week in Utrecht. As for the next Pure night – I’ll get it in the diary as soon as one I can get to comes up!
You’ve managed to gather quite a bit of a Pure Trance collection – what does it include? And what’s still missing?
I’m very proud of my collection! I’ve got a bunch of Pure tshirts – 8 right now, but I’ve got a tshirt addiction, so more will likely be on the way soon. A huge amount of Solarstones discography on both CD & vinyl, a pair of flags, the usual wristbands, badges and stickers, all of the Pure CD’s – each signed by those that mixed them. And then my favourite recent additions, a framed photo of the two Pure Radio Show nights, and the ‘One’ boxset – which I asked Rich to go to town on with his sharpie. So it’s a graffiti covered beauty.
Got a few more vinyl records from the back catalogue to get a hold of!
Can’t do without asking – which one’s your favourite Pure Trance release ever?
Not an easy question to answer. On Progressive, maybe Gai Barone’s ‘Circadiana’, or Allende – Motions. Electronic Excursions on the album front, too.
On the main label, ‘Somewhere in Spacetime’ is up there, but the answer is definitely ‘Forward Forever’. Orkidea can do no wrong.
If there’s one thing you could say to the worldwide trance community, what would that be?
I can’t help but just want to reiterate what has been said by Pure Trance a ton – Be proud of what makes you feel good.
Music is a powerful, wonderful thing. Whatever genre or artist. Embrace your musical loves, be happy. And if you ever see me, come and say hello – unless you like pineapple on pizza.
Thanks so much, Gav and keep it Pure! 🙂