Minus 8 feature

Move over DJ Rap, Zurich's brightest spark, Minus 8, is fast gaining Higher Ground. Ready to leave us mathematically challenged with a new album "Beyond Beyond", the only thing stopping him upping sticks and taking over London is the weather.

Minus 8, real name Robert Jan Meyer, is here on a flying visit to christen his drum & bass creation with the UK press before heading home to prepare for Switzerland's hugest dance party, Energy. Sipping mineral water, Rob unravels his life story - from doing time in a dodgy punk band, on to studying with a world famous architect; to how he came to pay d&b homage to a 70s porn movie and even collect a Russian wife.

"Beyond, Beyond", his second album, is flavoured with these experiences, but rather than reflect street life around him, it draws on centuries of music and literature tightly woven into an artistic tapestry. Take the mellow ambient jungle track, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and the stomping breakbeats on "The Tempest". You might as well hang a sign round them saying, 'I lurve Shakespeare'.

"I hadn't named them when I started the tracks," counters Robert. "The Tempest" is so dramatic, it reminded me of the play. I mean we read some Shakespeare at school, but I only really remember a few quotes like 'all the world is a stage'. "The Tempest" is already to take Europe by storm. With remixes by John B and Hidden Agenda, Robert says reactions to the dub plates have been brilliant.

Samples too, are unmistakably classical on the album. One is from a long-dead German composer, while another belongs to a Russian composer from the 1920's. "Let's say, since I was very young, I've liked a lot of different music," says Robert. "Even though Swiss culture is supposed to be boring, I've been into everything, from punk and new wave through to classical and especially jazz - 60's be-bop and guys like Coltrane and Chet Baker." This jazz outlet is best heard on Robert's downbeat d&b CD series, "Science Fiction Jazz" Vol. 1-3 on his own Jaboo label - a sideline to his work on Higher Ground. And not content with one extra project, he has high hopes of producing a film soundtrack.

"I really like films where the drama is so close to the music they are one and the same thing. Twin Peaks does this, and other films by David Lynch. Although Angelo Badalamenti is the main composer, Lynch himself wrote some tracks too. For me, he's the most intense," admits Robert. "Films from the 60's, especially black & white Italian ones are great. You know, as a drum & bass producer it would be too easy for me to say my heroes are Goldie, Bukem, etc. when guys like John Barry have given me so many ideas. If I had the choice? My soundtrack would probably be the next James Bond movie," he grins.

"Vampyros Lesbos" is a track off "Beyond Beyond" attracting loads of attention, not least because it was named after the kitsch '70s German porn movie. Robert smirks at the mention of it. "You know actually, I haven't seen the film, and now everyone is asking about my taste in porn." 'Nuff said about Robert's tastes, how did this former unknown from Zurich come to graze alongside the likes of Rap and Grooverider in Sony's pastures?

"My first album, "Beyond", was signed in 1996 to DJ Cam's Inflammable label, he's a French hip hop producer also signed to Sony," explains Robert. "We met when I was studying in Paris, and later he came to DJ in Zurich. That's when I gave him a copy of my first ever track, "The Sweetest Sounds", made when I first started using MIDI equipment. He asked to release these tracks and from there it has all happened so fast.

"You know, it was Cam's idea for me to sign to Higher Ground, on Sony. He said to them, 'Robert could be good for you', and organised the whole contract without taking any money for himself – it was really good of him."

Robert's itching to collaborate with others from Higher Ground, having already done one remix for a producer called Liquid. On the whole, he views the move as a step up: "Of course. Cam's label is much smaller - it's completely independent. And when we released "Beyond", there were no adverts, no press, nothing. Now it's much better, from the distribution, to the artwork. It's because Sony can afford to employ professionals to work on a product. DJ Cam is a very good guy, but he doesn't have time to do the whole promotional thing for his artists."

All this makes Minus 8 a busy man, what with DJing, producing and running his own label. How does he fit it all in? "It's just the thing I like to do," says Robert. "I always think it's more important to do first what you like and then what you have to do. Luckily my wife likes music and she helps me out a lot, especially when I can't decide what records to play that night or how a composition could be better - she always says the right thing. Although, as I normally stay up to three or four in the morning it can be boring for her."

There was a time when he juggled not only music and family life, but his career as an architect too, even working with a world famous designer, not to mention calling his then rock band The Architects and the Lonely Drummer. Now he sees the similarities between constructing buildings and forming tunes:

"The way you work in architecture on computers is like using Cubase in music - the construction works on many levels. It's quite difficult to explain in English 'cos I only have Swiss words, but if you have rational thinking, very analytical, with music or design; it can be very mathematical in one way - but in the other it's full of emotion and fantasy. You put this together and ..." his face lights up at the thought.

And on to his home town. Where does a d&b addict go for decent clubs and record shops in Zurich? Robert's ready with the answers: "there's a very good club scene in Zurich. A lot of it is devoted to melodic, cheesy trance and techno, but there are some cool drum & bass clubs and DJs. You should look out for the Bel Air Project, they're now signed to Talkin' Loud, and the other is Galactic Sound Lab who have a residency at the Blue Note in London. Myself, I have two residences, one at a small club called Luv, and the other at the oldest club in Zurich, Kanzlei.

"For records, there is one excellent shop in Zurich. The owners go once a week to London and pick up all the latest stuff. Each Wednesday when it comes in, there's usually a huge crowd fighting over the records." Robert himself first got into dance music when his music journo brother was sent regular freebies, and he found himself the receiver of all the latest sounds.

Now his brother is the organiser of a huge all-nighter, Energy, Switzerland's equivalent to the Love Parade in Berlin. According to Robert, the promoters are expecting 25,000 people to turn up at the country's biggest dance venue: "this year there will be ten floors, one holding a swimming pool. Goldie's coming, I'm looking forward to meeting him. And I will be playing there - I can't wait."

So while Britain's drizzly summer draws to a close, it's obvious that Zurich's where the action is.

WORDS: Betje W.