Adam Beyer

, Sweden

Artist Name:: Adam Beyer
Profile:: About Adam Beyer, Alongside Stockholms Cari Lekebusch, Joel Mull and Jesper Dahlback, Adam Beyer has become synonymous with the techno sound of Sweden, which has quite literally shaken the world since the mid-nineties. From the driving percussive force of his Drumcode label to the more open electronic miasma on his current Truesoul and Mad Eye imprints, Beyer remains one of the biggest and most influential producer/DJs on the planet. Ever keen to continually evolve and develop, his three studio albums Decoded (Planet Rhythm, 1996), Protection (Drumcode, 1999) and Ignition Key (Truesoul, 2002) aptly show the Swedes studio development from raw diamond to the polished article. Hes come a long way from sneaking underage into Stockholms blossoming acid house scene but would also be the first to admit that hes still got just as long and interesting journey ahead of him. From listening to hard rock and Kiss at the tender age of 5, Adam Beyer was always fascinated by music and the black shiny discs he would struggle to save up and buy as a youngster in Stockholm. Whilst getting into hip hop and rap, Beyers young ears were suddenly opened to the new sounds emanating from Italy and the UK in 1987/88 via the "rakt over disk" radio show which played a mish-mash of the blossoming house music scene. I decided that it was the coolest thing on earth, he fondly remembers and listened to it every week. He (the presenter) was manipulating a lot of the records, singing over them - he was in a big fancy studio with all this equipment. It was then that I decided I was going to be a DJ. At the time Beyer was playing drums in one of those youth places where kids hang out. It had a disco in one room with decks, studios, drums and a pool table. However for the young Beyer, buying his own decks and affording all the new dance vinyl he so craved was still a pipedream. Then tragedy struck. At the tender age of 13 his father passed away. A monumental turning point in anyones life and especially for someone still very much in their formative years. With the bit of money he received from his fathers estate he became even more determined to pursue his goal and managed to buy some decks and some records. I think a lot of the drive was that my father was quite well educated, recalls Beyer, and I dont think he would have allowed me to be so sloppy in school and spend so much time behind decks practicing. It was a changing moment in my life for sure. As if to cement this changing moment, later that same year he also went to his first rave. Beyer began frequenting the local specialist dance music store Vinyl Mania which stocked a lot of old italo-disco from the likes of Scotch and Lazerdance. When you are 12 you dont just go for the credible Detroit records, you go for anything thats danceable, recalls Beyer. By the age of 15 he was DJing at school parties and any student gig he could get hold of. When the time came to leave school, Beyers classmates procured work experience in restaurants and offices. Not so the still determined young DJ. At the time there was a DJ school in Sweden and Beyer got some work experience there for two weeks. His contacts at the school helped to get him more gigs and put him in touch with older people who could help him. Beyers school friends had also set him on the path to produce by sparking an interest in the small amount of studio equipment they could afford between them. I met Joel Mull and Peter Benisch in school when I was 16 or 17 and I taught Joel how to DJ, says Beyer. He introduced me to Peter who had a sampler and we started to fool around with that a bit. I didnt have a clue what to do. We started to learn the basics with one thing and then we bought an Atari, then saved some money and bought a Juno 106, a 303 and so on. By 1993 they were confident enough to send demos out and some landed at Drive In in New York which was then run by Adam X and Jimmy Crash. Eight months later Adam Beyers childhood dream was realized. His first record came out. With more records coming out the three friends started to get booked for big