PM: To kick things off, tell me a little bit about yourself and your introduction to psychedelic trance 10 years ago. How did you decide on your alias Z-Cat?
Z-Cat: It all started quite trivially, like many others! I just came to my first trance party and I was so much impressed, that I couldn’t think about anything else except what I experienced. About the name, I choose it because by the Mayan calendar I am a wild cat, and I believe that my personality is very similar to the character of cats, they are very independent, graceful, and beautiful, but at the same time very funny and cute. Z is the last letter of the alphabet, which means the last one! So it’s kind of “the last cat”!
PM: What made you pick Psytrance over other styles of music? Was there anything or anyone in Russia that inspired you?
Z-Cat: as I mentioned before I was impressed by the atmosphere at the psytrance events, the crowd there was so friendly, everyone behaved as if they all were brothers and sisters, people shared everything, supported each other, got friends so easily, everyone was in his own beautiful image, and each person played a very essential role on the dancefloor. It was 11 years ago when the psytrance was not divided on styles yet, we had only psytrance, that’s it!
PM: Tell us about your upcoming release “Ablaze” EP.
Z-Cat: EP Ablaze is very inspired by life, 3 tracks – 3 different emotions: Rush, Sadness and encouragement, and contemplation. You can pass it through quite clearly while listening, and I believe it’s very important to insert emotions into the music, so you can feel ALIVE.
PM: Tell me about your signing with Spanish base label Dropland Recordings. Why did you feel it was a good label to represent your music?
Z-Cat: Dropland Recordings was representing some of my favorite artists, I like the style of the label. In general, I like the way they work, and I consider my music fits with the label. Also, Dropland and my agency Akida Bookings are close friends, so it was the best for me.
PM: When we contact the MMD Records label, which released your Debut full album “Reflected” last year, they mentioned your album did well online and in physical sales. Were you surprised by the response it received?
Z-Cat: While discussing the release of my Album with MMD, they were convincing me to make a digital release, because nowadays very few people would want to have a physical CD, and it could be quite a failure, but I insisted anyway. So later, when the release date arrived, I was really surprised when I found out that all Cds were sold out in the first 2 hours after the release announcement, so they had to print more. And I want to say thank you for that amazing energy to all my dear supporters and followers.
PM: Do you record your own vocals?
Z-Cat: Yes, all the female voice you hear in my tracks is mine.
PM: Tell me about your involvement with TLN Promotion. What does TLN do?
Z-Cat: TLN Promotion is one of the biggest psytrance events organizers in Moscow. I am signed with them since 2006, and also take a part in the promotion.
PM: What advice would you give to up-and-coming producers, particularly female producers?
Z-Cat: My advice is if you really want to make music, don’t spare the time for it. Because if we have a strong desire, we would find a million opportunities to make it, but if the desire is not big enough, we will get a million excuses.
PM: Thanks for the interview! Do you have any message to send to the psylovers out there:
Z-Cat: Be open, find your inspiration, and the thing will come to you itself. Thank you for the interview too!
Follow Z-Cat: https://www.facebook.com/z.cat.music
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