Deliriant is Shane Renew, from Cape Town, South Africa. With a lifelong passion for music, over a decade of DJ and production experience, 3 full albums, a multitude of single releases on a host of local and international labels, and a career as a studio engineer – he is a well-established artist in an ever-changing industry.
Howzit Shane! What was your first interaction with psytrance?
Hi guys, thanks for having me. I bought my first mixer and started messing around when I was 14 years old. I discovered psytrance when I was 17, the group was Infected Mushroom and I couldn’t get enough. Two years later I went to my first Alien Safari, the rest is history.
When did you decide to start producing music?
As a kid I was always interested in making music, but other than my mom’s piano and my yellow toy flute, I didn’t really have the tools or knowledge to do so.
Growing up and discovering electronic music, I knew this was something I wanted to pursue. Once I finished school, I studied sound engineering, and this helped with understanding music production.
At first, I started with some basic loops in Reason, but I soon moved over to Cubase, which is the program I still use today.
What is your most important tool in the studio?
It is hard to say as every piece of equipment plays its part, but most likely the Virus TI, an analog synthesizer I have had for more than 10 years now.
The best thing about it is there are so many updates and new sound banks that come out all the time, so it is continually able to deliver fresh, powerful sounds, which can be difficult to get from a software synth.
You also produce techno as Deadbeat FM.
Deadbeat FM is a techno project, which I started with a friend of mine around 2009, back when I lived in Joburg. We loved finding underground tunes that no one had heard before, verging on the psy-tech side of techno.
We also produced a few tracks and even managed to win a D-Nox & Beckers remix competition. I moved back to Cape Town a few years later and it became difficult to pursue the project as a duo.
It took a back seat for a while, but I am slowly building it up again. It is great to have another creative outlet besides for psy-trance.
You’ve re-released a few tracks namely Truth Be Told v2, Chronic v2 and Ode to Orff v2. Why do you revisit tracks and when does it feel appropriate to do so?
Remixes or ‘version 2.0s’ are one of my favourite things to do and also where I feel I get the best results on a dancefloor. Having something to work off often brings me more inspiration / creativity rather than starting from scratch.
Plus it can be great to hear something you recognize, and it gives the old school fans something to appreciate during a live set.
You’ve also given lessons to a few upcoming artists. What’s it like being a teacher? Any notable students?
I had a few people message and ask if I give lessons so I thought I’d give it a go. Through teaching, I ended up learning a lot of new production tips myself, plus I released some really great tracks, which essentially came from loops that were started during the lessons.
I’ve worked with Portal, Double Story / Hippie Mafia, Aptitude, and Obelix to name a few. All super talented guys, some of whose tracks still feature in my sets today.
Is it important for older producers to nurture a new generation of producers?
If they’re passionate enough, these new producers will find their way into the scene, with or without the veterans, and whether they like it or not. I feel its best to embrace them, help them, collaborate with them; this way the older guys stay fresh and the younger guys grow, everyone wins.
You can’t take it too seriously, it’s just a party and everyone, if inclined, deserves a chance to play on a big stage!
Did Boom Festival influence you as an artist
Yes, Boom definitely had a big influence on me. It’s impossible to comprehend the immensity of that dance floor until you see it for yourself. After spending a full week out there I couldn’t wait to get back into studio, I wanted to condense my entire experience into a single piece of audio, and ‘Boom Balloon’ was the result.
What was your biggest takeback from Boom?
The party attracts around 40000 people from 170 countries, and not one of them leaves a single trace. It was also refreshing to listen to music not solely focused around ‘the drop’ – there was a real appreciation for proper psychedelic music. Also, next time I’ll need a tent in the shade!
Do you think some artists have forgotten the ‘psychedelic’ touch?
There have been so many new styles of psy that have found their way into the scene over the last few years, and I do feel that some of those original psychedelic elements have been forgotten.
Just because it makes use of a psytrance style kick and bassline, for me doesn’t mean that it’s psychedelic trance. The term is of course extremely subjective, but I consider music to be psychedelic if it has the ability to take you somewhere else, even in a completely sober state of mind.
There’s a lot of music out there that doesn’t achieve this in any way whatsoever, but having said this, I feel there has been an education recently and a lot more people are appreciating ‘proper psychedelic music’, and understanding what it’s all about.
Thanks so much Shane! Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks to you guys for the chat and a big thank you to the listeners and promoters for the continued support! Please follow my Soundcloud and Facebook for music and updates. Much love!
