INTERVIEW W/ CHAMELEON—Adding some extra hues to the CHAMELEONic soundscape audio-painted for radiOzora, the man behind the reptilian project, Alex Goodwill answered some of our questions for The Ozorian Prophet as well. Best served while listening to his selection on radiOzora’s SoundCloud.

– Your psychedelic journey started back in the mid 90’s with some memorable London experiences (Megatripolis parties, etc). Could you tell us a bit about those early golden days and how it all started for you?

– The early days of the Goa Trance scene were full of excitement for me and many others, wild people and crazy parties and the music of course was boundless in its expression and not limited by production techniques or what producers thought would make them more popular. It was all about people coming together, letting go and experiencing for a brief time, the magic and and wonder of a consequence-free environment with a clear and positive intention from the organisation to thew dj’s to the dancefloor.

– How do you see the ‘psyvolution’ the GB scene has experienced since back in 1995 and where do you see it heading? What are the similarities or differences between the early Goa Trance movement compared the many-subgenred psytrance scene today?

– It has certainly been an epic journey, but in essence i feel that many producers today lack the awareness of what it is to be a dancer, and the music has suffered somewhat, leaning more towards production driven beats with little emphasis given to what the dancefloor wants/needs. if you have never taken psychedelics and danced all night then i don’t see how you could possibly be able to write music for a discerning psychedelic crowd. Back in the mid nineties most of parties iI went to had the greater majority of people tripping balls, the organisers, the dj’s the crowd and even in some cases the security teams were at it! Good times indeed.

Nowadays i’m so out of the loop with parties I don’t really know where it’s all heading, but I feel the enthusiasm is as strong today as it ever was, it was never meant to be a commercial movement, its an underground thing that should never be commercialised or capitalised on, if you want to keep the magic.

As far as all the sub-genres go, it’s all good. What is psy trance these days anyway? Because I don’t hear much of what I consider to be real psychedelic music, mostly these days it’s just this kind of pop psy-ish tech stuff that doesn’t go anywhere, do anything, push any boundaries or make me want to leap out of my chair and make me dance like a lunatic. Not like it used to anyway. Maybe I’m just getting old and cynical. There are a few who still do tick those boxes for me, like Dickster, Tristan, Laughing Buddha, Earthling. Master Blasters and Hypnocoustics, to name but a few.

– You started producing psytrance in around 2000. How did that happen, what were your experiences as a DJ that led you to becoming a producer as well –  the transition from DJ to producer?

– I had been dj’ing goa-trance since 1995 and when I moved to london to study sound engineering it was with the intention of learning how to produce. i bought  a mac and a kurzweil keyboard and got on the path to production , with the help of a few good friends who were already on the path. i was able to get myself started.. and so here i am nearly 15 years later, and still loving the process. I guess the transition from dj to producer came about when I reached the point as a dj where I just wasn’t getting the satisfaction from gigs, whenever people would ask ask me if it was my music I was playing I would always reply with a no, that had to change. I just wanted to be able to say, Yes it’s all my music. Now I can, with a little help from my friends of course!

– And if we were mentioning ‘Goa’, have your experiences there, the place and source itself, influenced your own sounds? As a producer, how do you see the music made and coming from Goa change or diversify? (Compared to the GB scene or any others around the world?)

– Goa was influencing me years before I even managed to make it there. of course I had all my older friends constantly telling me how amazing it is there, and I loved charas, curry , hot weather, Indians and the Hindu mythology, so it was only  a matter of time before I made it out there. it was like a return to the source for me. I never felt so at home as in Anjuna with all the freaks. Generally the music in Goa has always been really fast and furious, I can appreciate it for a bit but to be honest I’m more into the 144/145 bpm range where there is still enough space between the beats for the bass to groove. I haven’t been there for a few years now  so I’m not sure where the parties are at there, but I get the impression it hasn’t changed that much..in terms of bpm at least..The main way it has influenced me is by making me not put too many long and boring drops in my music. The dancefloor in goa just wants to dance, they don’t want to be standing around for minutes at a time waiting waiting for buildups that don’t go anywhere..they just want to dance!

– Since your ‘Onwards and Upwards’ release on Nano, which is said to have truly ‘rocketed you into fame’:), what are some turning points or breakthroughs that you’ve experienced (or produced), ones that you can especially highlight, that have special importance for you?

Hah, fame, theres any interesting one. I never have or never will aspire to be famous. I’m more into the idea that music does the talking. it’s not about being famous for me. It’s just about expressing myself through music and sharing it with the world. Not for becoming a star or making loads of money. Anyone who does this I think is kind of missing the point of what this scene is all about. My highlight since O&U, has been working on the Into the Cosmos ep with Earthling, which catapulted me into a whole new dimension of awareness into music production, since then I’ve become more confident in  the music I make and in turn being able to play it to other people.  Glade 2012 was a particular highlight of my live gigging career and more recently playing a prime time slot at the BNoisily festival this summer, where I can safely say the crowd were bang up for it and I think i managed to deliver the goods … Beyond-words and Upwards!

– You’ve also had a string of collaborations (Tron, Earthling aka Celli, Aphid Moon, etc)… Your dream-collaboration yet to come would be with…?

– My dream collabs would be with Dickster, Tristan and Eat Static. One day…

– And if we consider that your preferred superpower would be teleportation, where would you teleport back in the past and forward in the future?

– I would teleport to Goa to get some well overdue sun sea and magic!