DJ and music producers Martin Vice and Michael Banel both had decided to fuse their creative minds to form an exciting new duo. They aim to deliver a slick, intelligent new sound within their respective genres. The project effortlessly explores the boundaries between techno and progressive Psy-trance, best described as deep driving and hypnotic soundscapes.

 Their project effortlessly explores the boundaries between techno and progressive Psy-trance, best described as deep driving and hypnotic soundscapes. In 2016-17 the duo started producing a techno album and developed a new DJ concept – mixing own tracks with their favorite inspirations from the techno scene.

Tell us about your earliest musical memory?

Michael Banel: Sitting in front of the Radio and recording the top 20 on a cassette recorder at a very young age.

Martin Vice; Growing up in the states in the 80s was a very musically rich experience, I remember a lot of classics by Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Prince. I remember enjoying a good rhythm and bass, I still do. 

At what point in your life did you have that moment where you said to yourself, “This is it. This is the type of music I want to create?”

Michael Banel: At Age 15 attending first rave party, it was the Coma Club in Copenhagen, 1988, at that time it was Acid House music.

Martin Vice: Around 2002 I started to find out that I would be able to produce music by myself, I was heavily influenced by mainstream trance and just getting into the more tech and house styles. I remember being at a beach party and getting introduced to a guy who was also into producing music and thought, this is it! Time to make some music for real. Stumbling across some psytrance parties in Copenhagen I remember thinking what the hell is this music! Such freedom in sound design and such interesting trippy and hypnotic melodies and rhythms, I was hooked to try to produce a hybrid of this and more mainstream trance. 

Artists who inspired me back in the day when starting to produce were Atmos, Son Kite, FREq, Antix, Sun Control Species, Zen mechanics, Astral projection, x-dream, Lish.

Later on, the same feeling came back to me after performing at fusion festival in Germany. What the hell is all this fantastic techno?!?

Kollektiv Turmstraße, Oliver huntemann, Stephan Bodzin, victor ruiz, SAMA, Egbert, John Monkman, Anna, Teenage mutants, Cid Inc, Stan Kolev, D-Nox  & Beckers, Tale of us, Artbat, are just a few of the many artists I get loose to now.

Please list some of the most influential albums on your creative outlook and output:

Michael Banel: Jean Michael Jarre – Oxygene

Martin Vice: In the 90s I was fortunate enough to grow up in the UK. Pretty much any kind of music being produced in these times was incredible, Chemical brothers, the Prodigy, Underworld, Leftfield, Fatboy Slim, Faithless, Lamb, Goldie, Oasis, Blur, Pulp, everything was inspiring, unique and musically rich.

What key pieces of gear/software are you using to define your sound?

Michael Banel: We are using a hybrid ́setup consisting of a lot of analog gear and some soft synths combined via the SSL matrix 2. We can mention a few of the ones we use: Moog Voyager, Roland System 100, Novation Peak, Nyborg 12, Repro and Diva.

Martin Vice: I would say that the whole concept of producing music has been one in which whenever you get some new gear you learn to use it and then end up using it for something in the next compositions. It’s a never-ending story. Personal favorites are the Moog Voyager, Elektron Analog Rhythm mk2, Roland Sh 101, Roland System 100, Lots of different plugins. Ableton Live, Cubase. Granular effects, delays, reverbs.

What inspires you outside of music? What do you turn to when the creative well runs a little low?

Michael Banel: We usually listen to music or watch movies to get inspiration, other than that we draw from our vast experiences over the years.

Martin Vice: Life, Love, Family, Friends, Traveling, Food.

What is your opinion on the ever spreading sub-genre vine? Are there too many? Do you think there’s perhaps a sub-genre that doesn’t get the attention it deserves?

Michael Banel: To be very honest we don’t worry too much about genres, it’s more about; is the music good or not good, is it talking to you, is it making you feel something, is it groovy or perhaps seducing you, making you drift away!!

Martin Vice: Love it, Mix what you like and create something new, Live-a-little.

Studio work and music creation or performing and interacting with a live audience, what do you prefer?

Michael Banel: we prefer all of the above 🙂

Martin Vice: Bit of both. Suffering from stage fright has been a real issue that I have learned to deal with through a lot of performances over time. Now I love interacting with people,  but I would say if I didn’t love spending time in the studio then I wouldn’t be able to perform. I love starting from scratch and ending up with something, the creative process.

As a music artist, it becomes apparent that there is a huge difference between the art and the business. Is there anything about the music scene that you would personally change?

Micheal Banel: Very much looking forward to what the blockchain technology can do for a more fair and transparent accounting of Copyrights, mechanical and performance rights.

Martin Vice: Yeah, I would expose all artists so we could see what all “artists” were capable of. Filtering out the ghost produced artists, and make more awareness to the talented people behind the scene. Also more focus on the up and upcoming. Some of the best artists I have met have never “made it”, as they were too talented musically and didn’t care about the business side of buying social media likes and so on and so forth. Also the whole you book me and I’ll book you thing is cringeworthy.

Any new or upcoming artists on your radar? Who shouldn’t the world sleep on?

Michael Banel: We love to search for new music for listening, inspiration and for our DJ sets. There are so many interesting artists, so we would like to mention a few from our label IbogaTech. Look out for Boundless, Cyan Aura, DM-Theory and Jossie Telch!!

Martin Vice: There are so many to mention, many of whom can be found at IbogaTech 😉

What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?

 Michael Banel: We are working on a new collab with Eemus from Australia, another artist to look out for 😉 And we are working on some other collabs and remixes the next few months. They will all most likely be released on IbogaTech. We have some gigs coming up too, one in Eilat, One in Marseille, and we most likely will have part in an IboagTech session at Ozora Festival the coming summer 🙂

Martin Vice: At the moment we are working on some new collabs and also going to focus more on the live performance of our new album coming out the 29th November, Phase 01

Famous last words?

Michael Banel: We hope you will check out of new album MVMB “Phase 01” releasing November 29th on IbogaTech Records, Peace out 🙂

Martin Vice: Never go back to a dropped taco.

Follow MVMB online 

Soundcloud | Facebook | Spotify