T.H.E Interview – Ashley Wallbridge

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ashley wallbridge interview

Having gained himself a charging position as one of electronic music’s most esteemed DJs and producers, Ashley Wallbridge rides his own fresh wave of sonic creativity in and out of the studio.

We caught up with Ashley to speak about his new concept for gigs, and the collaborative album with Gareth Emery – Kingdom United. Read on!

Shivani – Hey Ashley! It’s great to be speaking to you! How has 2019 been treating you?

Ashley Wallbridge – Yo yo so far it’s going amazing, for the past 2 years I’ve been working to ‘2019’ so finally seeing the rewards from all the hard work with the album, etc..

Shivani – Jumping in straight, you announced an experimental concept show titled “Fourplay”. Can you give as insight into what the show will be like? And why the name “Fourplay”?

Ashley Wallbridge – Well, my team and I had been thinking about new ideas for my solo shows. The open to close concept has been done already and isn’t exactly new, plus typically extended sets have been done a bunch of times. We wanted to do a longer show but with a fresher concept. FOURPLAY is 4 hours of Wallbridge music as you know it, but bigger, bolder, longer & louder. I’ve dug into the Wallbridge archive and re-made a lot of my older tracks with newer sounds and updated production. This has basically given them a second life to now play alongside my newer music. Each FOURPLAY event will be tailored to each city. There is so much new music in the catalog at the moment that I physically couldn’t fit it all into a 2/3 hour set, so we really do need four hours haha. The show is designed to take the audience on a pure, musically trance journey from start to finish with some surprises along the way 

Shivani – Your latest album with Gareth, “Kingdom United” has received a stellar response! How did you expect the audience to react to it? Are you pleased with how it has fared?

Ashley Wallbridge – Couldn’t be happier with the outcome, I mean, we put in a lot of hours in the studio with the album, over 2 years’ worth of work in fact. We were nervous but that just showed we really cared about making something special. I and Gaz couldn’t be more thankful for the listeners and their support. So thank you all again!

Shivani – Speaking of your album with Gareth, we’ve seen you work very closely with him. How did it all happen?

Ashley Wallbridge – It all started a long time ago haha :) We became close friends through the love of music and first met at ASOT450 many years ago when we both performed there. Shortly after we shared some music and collaborated on our first track ‘’Mansion’’. After that, we just did more and more projects together over the years and developed a great friendship. These days we run the Garuda label together and have our ‘CVNT5’ alias for special occasions, plus we’ve got a lot of other new cool stuff in the works!

Shivani – You also were a member of “CVNT5”. Can we expect anything new on that front?

Ashley Wallbridge – Can’t really say much on this right now but we are bringing the project back, and in a much bigger way than before!

Shivani – How was the experience like working with Jonathan Mendelsohn on “Never Before”?

Ashley Wallbridge – Really cool! Jonathan is a cool guy, the first time we actually met in person was at our New Years Eve show in New York (2018). We did a live PA of the ‘Never Before’ track. Apart from that, it was all online. To be honest, nearly 90% of the work I do with others is always over the internet. I’m pretty odd when it comes to working in the studio, I have to really connect with the person I’m working with or there just won’t be any output or any ‘good’ output should I say. That is the interesting thing about myself and Gareth – in the studio we just click!

Shivani – What is one track from “Kingdom United” that connects the most with you? And why would you pick that track?

Ashley Wallbridge – That would definitely be the first track ‘KAL EL’. I’m a huge Superman fan and a fan of Hans Zimmer.

I’ve always loved creating cinematic music and it’s something I would love to do when I eventually retire from the dance music world. KAL EL took nearly 2 months to make. Usually, it only takes me a couple of days to make a track but Gaz and I really spent a lot of time and effort on this one. The first track on the album is the most important because it sets the mood and there is nothing like a good intro.

Shivani – What does the rest of 2019 hold in store for you?

Ashley Wallbridge – A crazy amount of new music, lots of new gigs around the world and some good old-fashioned family time!

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