Original link: http://www.myheroeskilledcowboys.co.uk/blog/introducing-alex-egan/

Introducing: Alex Egan

You couldn’t meet a nicer guy! DJ and Producer ‘Alex Egan’. Alex is
no stranger to My Heroes Killed Cowboys, having previously played for us
under the former guise of Skull Juice with Benedict Bull he has since
gone on to establish a few different alter egos such as Astronomer, with
remixes for Joakim, Metronomy, The XX, Glasser, Jori Hulkkonen and
Zombi to name but a few. His most recent work ‘Geschmacklos’ is recorded
as ‘The Draughtsman’ and is out now on Tim Paris’ record label
‘Marketing Music’. ‘Geschmacklos’ is gaining a lot attention from the
likes of Erol Alkan, Ivan Smagghe, Trevor Jackson, Roman Flugel &
Ewan Pearson… just slightly impressive then!

I caught up with Alex at
his gig at My Heroes Killed Cowboys to talk about production, the German
language and Dungeons & Dragons…..

So Alex….how long have you been producing now?

I’ve been messing around with recording since my early-teens. My
dad’s a musician so there were always instruments lying around and music
blaring out, which sparked my interest at a young age I guess. At first
I’d simply use a four-track and just jack any sound source within reach
into it and hit record. So you could take some samples from vinyl, loop
them up manually by pausing then put live instruments or whatever over
the top. Basic but fun. Next I pretty much did the same thing on
painfully slow computer, but of course then I also had the ability to
cut, copy, splice which was incredible. I’ve only been producing
properly for the past 3 or so years though. Nowadays the possibilities
are endless, which in itself can be a problem. Limitations actually
help.

I recall when you first started producing and you were
listening to tracks over and over breaking them down, to see how they
were structured. Have you always been self taught when it comes to
production?

Oh yeah, I’ve definitely examined a few tracks in detail – just to
figure out how certain parts were created – though now after years of
consuming music (either on the dancefloor or just listening to tracks
all the time) a lot of it has sunk in. I don’t find myself
over-analysing absolutely everything as much as I used to. It’s useful
to know certain techniques and practices but going too far is
distracting, I’d rather just enjoy myself. For example, knowing what
kind of length intro/outro is better for DJing with is second nature,
but it’s hard to ‘unlearn’ such rigid formulas. It’s quite fun throwing
those ideas out the window.I learned the basics of recording during a Music Technology course
when I was 18, though to be honest I spent most of the time making a
complete racket on the studio’s drumkit and Juno 60. Apart from that I’m
self-taught.

Do you find you’re spending more time in the studio than dj’ing now?

Definitely, which is funny as I’ve always been a DJ first and
foremost. Back when I was playing out regularly – between 2006-2009 – I
really wanted to focus on making more music. Of course, now that I am
making music all the time I want to DJ more!

What’s your studio consisting of these days?

Unfortunately it’s a bad time to ask that question! I recently sold a
lot of equipment so I wouldn’t even call it a studio at the moment. The
projects I’m working on right now are all being made on just my Macbook
Pro. If I do need sounds from anything else I’ll plug it in though.
It’s a super simple set-up, but it works.

How did you find the transition from Skull Juice to then Astronomer & The Draughtsman?

It all happened by accident really. The first Astronomer remix was
commissioned as a Skull Juice one, but I ended up making it alone as Ben
was busy and I had time on my hands. I really enjoyed it so just
carried on from remix to remix. Skull Juice was still my main priority.
After a few more of my remixes came out I moved to Brighton which made
it difficult for us to work together regularly. That’s when I really
began working on my own material. We were still DJing back to back right
up until Summer 2011 but by that point we were both more focused on our
own projects so it seemed natural to end the collaboration. Our club
Walk The Night still crawls on though, even if the events are ridulously
irregular.

Astromomer & The Draughtsman sound like characters from
the fantasy role playing game dungeons & dragons.. were you ever a
fan?

Haha no, though I have a soft spot for Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I’d probably love it.

Geschmacklos is your most recent work as The Draughtsman and we’ve
had it on repeat over the past month and lovin it. Are we right in
saying Geschmacklos is a German word? what does it translate to and do
you speak German?

Thanks, I’m glad you like it. You’re right the title is German and it
roughly translates as ‘tasteless’. There is a concept behind
‘Geschmacklos’ (and the entire upcoming ’1694 EP’) which all the track
titles, artwork and hidden samples allude to, but it’s far more
interesting if people discover those connections themselves. It’s fairly
obvious, but let’s try and retain a little mystery!

You left London to live in Brighton for a while but now you’re back, how was your time away from London?

Most of the time it was great. I moved with my girlfriend while she
was studying for her MA down there. Neither of us knew anyone initially
which was actually quite useful as I ended up making a lot of music!
Back then I was a bit sick of London so it seemed like perfect timing.
After a couple of years though we’d had enough and decided to move back.
Most of our friends are London-based and there’s just so much more
happening all the time. We were travelling back and forth every other
weekend. I do miss living by the sea though.

A lot of people are looking forward to you playing at the MHKC event on the 24th, what have you got in store?

Lots of new music, even more old music and a couple of exclusives!
There’s one record in particular that I can’t wait to play out and hear
loud…