With Its First Album in 7 Years, Above & Beyond Delivers Another Emotional Gem.
What began over 25 years ago has become a genuine musical phenomenon. Above & Beyond, the trancey trio of Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness, and Paavo Siljamäki, still stands tall as one of the biggest acts in dance music, and now they’re back with their first album in more than seven years.
Over the course of their career, the guys have created a signature melodic sound – sometimes uplifting, sometimes melancholy – that’s captured on their deep discography of singles, EPs, remixes, and LPs. Additionally, they’re founders of globally acclaimed labels Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep, and the newly launched Anjunachill, which kicked off with an inaugural single from A&B, aptly titled “Shall We Begin.”
Going back to the albums, Tri-State (2006) was A&B’s first effort, and it featured a pair of tracks, “Air for Life” and “Good for Me,” that each earned “Tune of the Year” honors on Armin van Buuren’s genre-defining radio show, A State of Trance. Off to a great start, A&B followed with other noteworthy long-players: Group Therapy (2011), featuring the classic “Sun & Moon”; We Are All We Need (2015), with the euphoric “Blue Sky Action”; Common Ground (2018), with fan-fave “Northern Soul”; and the not-to-be-forgotten OceanLab effort, Sirens Of The Sea (2008), with diamonds like “On a Good Day.”
Additionally, the twice-Grammy-nominated group has released two acoustic albums, titled Acoustic I (2014) and Acoustic II (2016). Since the pandemic, the guys also had the opportunity to explore their solo projects: Paavo’s P.O.S; Jono’s JODA with Darren Tate; and Tony’s Salt.
A&B has also built and maintained its profile with its influential global radio shows. Following 450 episodes of their Trance Around the World radio show (2004-2012), the guys became known for broadcasting their weekly Group Therapy Radio show (ABGT), which has celebrated milestone editions at world-famous locations such as Madison Square Garden in New York (ABGT 100), AllPhones Arena in Sydney (ABGT 150), Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam (ABGT 200), AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong (ABGT 300), the O2 Arena in Prague (ABGT 350), and Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles (ABGT 500), among others.
Famously, the group has managed to form and sustain one of the most dedicated fanbases in the electronic-music circuit. Their legions proudly unite both in person and online, often referring to themselves as the “Anjuna Family” or “#AnjunaFam.”
The connection is fortified on a regular basis. For live gigs, a fan is chosen from the audience to “Push the Button” (i.e., make the drop) on a big tune – always quite a moment. Accordingly, for the radio show, in each episode, fans vote for their favorite tune to denote the “Push the Button” track, and the fan with the best comment on the selection is given a shout-out.
And that brings us all to Bigger Than All Of Us, A&B’s latest full-length. The 16-track gem tells a story using powerful vocals, intricate productions, and, as usual, uplifting melodies. Fitting of many moods, Bigger Than All Of Us reunites A&B with frequent collaborators – each of whom are practically members of the group by now – Zoë Johnston, Richard Bedford, and Justine Suissa (of their OceanLab moniker), as well as collabs with Victoria Horn, Malou, Opposite the Other, and Oliver Smith. Together with Dave Dresden (of electronic duo Gabriel & Dresden), who served as album A&R this go-round, the guys crafted a euphorically charged, genre-bending album that serves as an homage to their roots, a testament to the sound they’ve flawlessly crafted, and an ode to where the road has led.
In our interview, Above & Beyond’s Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki filled us in on a variety of topics. From the album-creation process to their forthcoming tour, from their favorite career remixes to must-include songs in their DJ sets, from Anjunabeats to solo projects, we explore their past, present, and future.
DJ LIFE: Is it true you got the name Above & Beyond from a poster hanging up on the wall?
Tony McGuinness: It wasn’t a poster, but a sheet of paper that was printed out from a website, from a motivational speaker called Jono Grant. And Jono – who wasn’t famous at the time – found this famous guy on the internet. He printed out his webpage because it was funny, but this guy’s slogan for motivational speaking was Above & Beyond. So, when we finished the Chakra remix, which was the first thing we did together, we knew we needed a name. As soon as I saw Above & Beyond, I knew – that’s it!
DJ LIFE: Were there any other names you had considered before that?
McGuinness: No, we literally had to send the mix in, so we thought, “If we’re sending this in, we have to have a name.” It was actually more like the mix needs a name. I think it was one of the luckiest things we ever did because the first letter is A and the second letter is B, so when it comes to alphabetical lists of artists on posters, in polls, billing, all sorts of things, we’re really high up [laughs]. Thank God that ended up working out!
Paavo Siljamäki: I’ve always felt like so many of the best things along our 25-year journey have been kind of happy accidents, almost – like the name, for instance. When you really think about it, it has some really cool benefits, like A and B, and everything. I remember when we first had the name, we were kind of like: “Is it going to be Above & Beyond? Maybe it just should be Above & Beyond.” After sitting with it for a couple of weeks, it started to feel good. And I think once a name starts becoming more established and connected with things, it then starts making even more sense. A lucky accident [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Did you guys start as producers or DJs?
McGuinness: Producers, absolutely. Well, we actually started as remixers. Personally, I had no great desire to be a DJ – and I had been clubbing at this point for about four, five years and really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed all the parts of club culture, really enjoyed dancing, and enjoyed meeting people. The idea of DJing, at the same time, didn’t really appeal to me. I was in a band; I was a musician. So, I saw the two things as sort of rather different. It wasn’t until we were asked to DJ, we had remixed Madonna, and that got us to remix Ayumi Hamasaki, out of Japan. This Japanese record company rang me up on one August day and said, “Tony, can you DJ?” and I was like, “Yeah!” [laughs]. They asked if I wanted come DJ in front of 8,000 people with Tiësto and Ferry Corsten, so, I was like, “Yeah perfect!” So, I went out and bought decks, a mixer, headphones, and some records – and then I learned to DJ. The other guys have a bit of a different story…
Siljamäki: Mine was that, before Above & Beyond, I was actually producing music for other artists, pop bands and things like that. I saw the pressure that famous people had to go through and what success does to people. When I started working with Jono and Tony, I was quite literally in a camp, but my place is in the studio. The studio is where I’m good and it’s kind of nice to have other people take the pressures of fame and everything that comes along with it, but it didn’t go like that [laughs].
DJ LIFE: You brought up a few early remixes already. Looking back over the last 25 years, do any of the Above & Beyond remixes you’ve done stand out to you most today?
McGuinness: I think the Madonna remix [“What It Feels Like For A Girl”] was the best one that we did – and the one that we spent the most time on. I think in terms of the success of it and the fact that she used a piece of it to make her music video makes it one of the most successful ones as well. In terms of sound design, the idea, what we used from the original song, and the lengths we went to in order to make Madonna’s vocals sound good when it was sped up so much – I think it’s my favorite.
Siljamäki: One thing that I really remember, which was a really fun thing for us to make, was when we remixed Aurora’s “Ordinary World.” Obviously, I had always been a fan of the original by Duran Duran, so it just felt so perfect for a euphoric, melodic dance, trance track. I remember doing that – and I haven’t actually listened to it in a while – but when I think back on my old favorites, that’s really the one that comes to mind.
DJ LIFE: Do you remember the first time all three of you did a DJ set together?
McGuinness: Yes! And we even have video evidence of that [laughs]. It was in front of 8,000 people. I think I did the first mix – and it was not good. I think the crowd – if it was anywhere else but Japan – the crowd probably would have booed, but we got it together. By the second mix, everything was actually working perfectly. It was just slightly overwhelming as I had never DJed at a party – or publicly for that matter – I had only DJed in my bedroom. The other guys were great, right from the start, actually. Paavo, I remember, was a really good DJ with vinyl.
Siljamäki: I had been DJing at house parties in Finland in years previous, and I still think to DJ with vinyl is a little bit of a harder job than what we can do now with the decks and everything.
DJ LIFE: What was the equipment you learned to DJ on? What’s the set-up look like today?
McGuinness: We started out with Technics record decks, I want to say they were Technics 1210s? Wow, now I can’t even really remember, but I think those were the Technics. And I think I had a crappy little mixer at home, just to get by [laughs]. But now we use CDJ-3000s and whichever Pioneer mixer – that’s the standard – usually, the Pioneer DJM-A9.
Siljamäki: The thing is, when you’re playing vinyl, it’s a lot harder to play your visions of a track. Also, back then, with the way we work, we had to finish stuff because we had an analog mixing console. It was actually, in a way, really good and helpful for us to have all these limitations whereas right now, for every show, we could do a new bounce of something with incremental little tweaks. I don’t even know which of those [scenarios] are better, to be honest [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Even though you don’t often play a DJ set together as a threesome, what are some of the pros and cons to playing as a three-piece rather than when it’s two out of three?
McGuinness: For the audience, they get to see the three of us, and that’s great. The difficulty is, when you’re playing back-to-back with someone, you know which deck is yours, so you never stop the wrong deck. When there’s three people, that can sort of go amiss, so you’ve got to be more aware of that. I don’t practice DJing, actually. I don’t even have decks at home anymore – I haven’t for quite some time. We’ve got decks in the studio, but I very rarely use them. What happens is… you get onstage, and you just start to DJ. It is still quite nerve-wracking, and I still have this real sense of paranoia that this really tiny piece of little plastic and metal – that has the records stored on it from my laptop earlier that day – is actually gonna make some noise inside of the arena or venue. I mean, it’s terrifying [laughs]. When it was records or CDs, you could see the music, so you could at least have that sense of feeling like you were gonna do a good job that night. That’s why, I think for the tour, we should have a pair of decks backstage, so that we can test [our USBs] just to make sure, just for peace of mind [laughs]… considering 20,000 people’s happiness all lies within those tiny things – our life’s work [laughs].
Siljamäki: It’s also that when the three of us end up playing back-to-back, we have that feeling of 10-12 minutes of each hanging around onstage, while the other two guys get to play their records. So, it might be a little bit harder to remain as engaged in the DJing itself. But I don’t know, sometimes I rather enjoy that – getting those moments to sort of just hang out onstage [laughs], you know? Like, playing Coachella [with the three of us] was great!
DJ LIFE: When it comes to the studio, what gear did you guys first start out with?
McGuinness: Well, you’d remember Paav, because wasn’t it your computer that we were using at the time?
Siljamäki: Yeah, we were running Logic when it was running on PC – Emagic was the German company before it was sold to Apple [in 2002]. Eventually, we ended up having a lot of synths. We had an analog Mackie mixing desk and the whole studio. All of our music was me triggering live synths. This was nice because there’s actually a jamming kind of aspect to it – you can go and grab a filter, a synth or whatever. What we have now, we’re pretty much doing most of our work in the box. Sometimes we’ll use some live synths and things like that, but it’s really incredible how much you can do on a laptop these days. I’ve been making my set-up, so that I can work out of a hotel room and work on a track just like I could if I was in the studio – just to be able to keep working all the time. There’s still something really nice about being in a bigger studio, especially for mixing.
DJ LIFE: What are you using in the studio now?
Siljamäki: I left Logic when Apple was abandoning it for a while, and I ended up with [PreSonus] Studio One. Now, I think they’re putting more effort into Logic again, but there was a little lull, and I was getting a bit impatient [laughs].
McGuinness: So, we do use Studio One if we’re working on one of Paavo’s sessions. We also work with PROFF [aka Vladimir Ershov] in the studio, and he uses Studio One, too. I prefer Logic because I like the way it looks, I like the way it renders audio, and I like the way it organizes. When you’ve been using something this long, it becomes second nature. I’ve tried to make a track in Ableton – I think I’ve made one track in Ableton, and I’ve done stuff in Studio One – but I still prefer Logic, personally.
DJ LIFE: How often do the three of you guys physically get into the studio to work together?
Siljamäki: Very rarely. We’ve been working more in these little units. For example, me, Tony, and Ricardo [aka Richard Bedford] were in London a couple of weeks ago, working on a few things. And I know that Jono’s been working with Zoë, for example. So, I’d say we’ve been working more so in duo [units] than all together at the same time. In a way, it’s been way easier to be productive.
McGuinness: Yeah, it’s actually very rare for the three of us to be involved in a track. I think even from the very beginning, Jono, Paavo, and me would very occasionally start a track and then run it through quite a degree of finishing before getting other people involved in it. So, that’s no different now than it was prior to Paavo not being in London anymore.
DJ LIFE: With each of your albums, the messaging, cohesiveness, and attention to detail, play such a big part in the projects as a whole. What was the thought process that went into Bigger Than All Of Us, in terms of how the theme initially came together and what it means to you?
Siljamäki: When we were making the album, we didn’t have the title, at least for quite some time. Personally, I felt like the idea of making an album after so many years of not having an electronic album that we’d done together, was frankly quite terrifying [laughs]. No, seriously, I was thinking: What’s going to happen here?
I’ve been going to a lot of parties and have become highly aware of the communities that we’ve been able to be part of for all these years. For me, it felt like this thing we do really is bigger than us. We [might] do it for selfish reasons, or whatever, but we’ve resonated with so many people, and they deserve – the community deserves – a new Above & Beyond album… even if it’s hard for us. It’s bigger than us, so we’ve gotta at least give it a try! [laughs]
McGuinness: The song “Bigger Than All Of Us” came early on, as it was a song that Jono and Justine [Suissa] wrote together. I think we had thought about it being an album contender, but it was existing in the form that it does on the album… for years. We didn’t do a club version of it until Coachella, so it was always sort of this piano piece. I think one of things we really thought of on this album was to have the freedom that we felt we had on Tri-State. There are quite a few tracks on Tri-State that aren’t [as typical Above & Beyond] – they have no beat, they have no drums, there are very different examples of tempos. I think there’s only one track on Tri-State that was like something we were playing in clubs at that time. We felt that we really had that sense of freedom, so it was actually really nice to put “Bigger Than All Of Us” on the album in the way that it was written – and it’s also got a middle eight, which is always nice. I think the album title was originally suggested by James [Grant], I think, and we thought about it for quite some time until we all agreed it was a very Above & Beyond-sounding thing.
DJ LIFE: How long did it take from start-to-finish? How many total tracks did you create during the process?
Siljamäki: About two years.
McGuinness: We did something different this time. We asked Dave Dresden [of Gabriel & Dresden] to be our A&R man. He was directly involved in helping us because the most stressful part of making an album is deciding what goes on. It’s because everyone’s got their favorites, other people might not share that view, so you get arguments and stress – it gets really, really hard. This time, we kind of sideswiped that by outsourcing some of that decision-making process to Dave. So, when we ended up looking at this pool of tracks – which was still more than we ended up putting on the album – it wasn’t 40 tracks, which is where we usually would be at, come the start of the process. This time, it was a lot easier. I don’t think we were ever really over 24 tracks, and we ended up with 16, so it was relatively painless this time.
Siljamäki: I think there was a moment about a year ago when I looked at the songs and thought maybe at that point the production wasn’t really there, but it started to sound like an album – and the songs were really good. So, I started to relax a bit at least because that is the main thing, really. And I think all of the songs are good, so that was a really important place for me to get to, very much before the album was finished. Because from there, it becomes about how we can make each of the songs as good as they can be.
DJ LIFE: Let’s talk a bit about the extended Above & Beyond family – vocalists Zoë Johnston, Justine Suissa, and Richard Bedford, specifically. What are those sessions like and how often are they in person?
Siljamäki: I’ve been getting together with Zoë and Justine once a year. We’ve been having writing sessions. Then, we’ve often written more than one song. Over the last few years, even for the last album, I’ve been asking people to come to my forest hideout here in Finland. “Heartland” [with Suissa] was written here on this piano that I have. It’s been a really inspiring place to come and create because when you really detach from the crazy busy world and you’re in the quiet forest for a few days, you start having really deep feelings. So, it’s been amazing getting to work with Justine and Zoë here. There’s been a lot of good conversations, a lot of crying [laughs], and a lot of music being written. It’s a very therapeutic thing, you know?
McGuinness: With those three, I think Richard gets involved once I’ve written a song for him to sing. And I think all of the songs on this album he recorded at home initially before we got him down to London to record. There was a time when we were using Alex Vargas, but there was this feeling from both sides that we felt like it just wasn’t right, so it was really nice to go back to using Richard Bedford. It was like this sort of homecoming. I think there are other singers that we work with and there were other singers that were considered for some of these songs. We ended up with four [Richard Bedford] songs on this record, which I think if you look at the Venn diagram of DJs and bands, I think we exist in the middle. What keeps us there is the fact that we’ve had the same singers for nearly 25 years. Like with any band, it becomes this recognizable soundtrack to your life, so you look forward to hearing the next installment.
Siljamäki: It’s also really cool looking back. Because we’ve worked with the same people over the years, a lot of songs get written about real-life experiences. I was just thinking today about how in 25 years – a quarter of a century – a lot of life happens. A lot of these songs were written about specific moments in time, and now that we look back at them, I can still remember what was happening when “Peace of Mind” was being written – it’s really nice. It’s really like time capsules of life events, almost.
DJ LIFE: Let’s touch on the album tracks, like “Blood From A Stone” and how some of the songs might be different than what your fans have come to expect.
McGuinness: “Blood From A Stone” started at Paavo’s house. We were writing songs, and I think we got to the end of one of the days. We wrote “Blood From A Stone” not really thinking about what tempo it was. So, we ended up with this song that we thought at the time was going to fit into the canon perfectly – until we realized it was 147 BPM [laughs]. It was instantly shelved – and that was a long time ago – but we kept returning to it because I think in its subject matter and its delivery, it is very much an Above & Beyond song. When we started working on this record, it was on the list, and I said to Dave Dresden: “Maybe we sneak it onto the album as sort of a secret track?” And he said, “The last thing this track needs to be is a secret – I want everybody to hear it.” Which I think might be one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said to me about one of my songs. I thought about it for a while until I thought: “Fuck it, let’s just do a drum-n-bass version. We don’t need to slow it down. It’s still electronic, it’s still true to the song.” So, we did it. PROFF helped with the beats, the guys helped with the music, and I think it ended up being something very Above & Beyond – bizarrely – even though it is drum-n-bass. We had breaks on Tri-State, but I think “Blood From A Stone” is a song that deserves to be heard… says Dave Dresden [laughs].
Siljamäki: And now we’ll still have a challenge of trying to incorporate it into the tour [laughs].
McGuinness: I was thinking about that yesterday, actually. Maybe we can stick it in at the end, maybe we will never end up playing it at all… who knows what we’re gonna decide to do with it? I think it’s generating a lot of chat, which is great, because it stands out because of how it’s produced. I think it stands up to scrutiny, and given the breath of what Above & Beyond music can be – from yoga to soundtrack to acoustic to trance to progressive – I think it’s just another feather in our bow [laughs].
DJ LIFE: Does this often happen with album tracks?
Siljamäki: This is actually a good example, with “Blood From A Stone,” of the power of teamwork. It was always a piano ballad, and I couldn’t see it any other way. When Tony and PROFF did their initial drum-n-bass thing, I was like… really? [laughs] But then, as it got better and better and better, I was like… I get it. I would’ve been totally unable to do this myself, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. So, I’m really grateful, and that’s the power of a team!
DJ LIFE: You guys played back-to-back weekends at Coachella’s Outdoor Theater with a massive new stage design that you’ll be taking on tour. Tell us some more about that experience…
Siljamäki: Coachella was obviously a very high press thing for us. We were thinking, first of all, we only have an hour, then we want to play new stuff, and the old stuff, plus we want the DJ mixes to be good, we want the new club mixes to be good enough to play. There was this pressure to deliver, but at the same time, on the other end there was the [stage] production side. We were really keen to elevate and refresh our show, so it was something to see how this could all put together in just a 30-minute changeover. Is it gonna work? What’s not gonna work? But I think all around, I was very happy with the music, the production was fantastic, and it’s only gonna get better now, once we start the tour and get to really play around with the rig. We’re waiting for the happy accidents to happen, but we haven’t had the time for those things to happen with the new production yet, so things are only gonna get better.
DJ LIFE: On this upcoming tour, you’ll be playing amphitheaters and nightclubs – like two separate tours in one…
McGuinness: Yes, we’ll be playing amphitheaters with some nightclub and some more intimate shows mixed in. We’re doing something grand for the album; something that stands out. It always feels really exciting to do a big outdoor show; there’s something wonderful about being outdoors on a late summer’s eve. Looking up at the stars, entertaining people, hearing them sing along, the sound is always awesome and I’m really looking forward to it.
Siljamäki: This year we played Ultra in Miami, and we played the amphitheater [Ultra Live Stage] there, and it got me so excited for the tour. One amazing thing about an amphitheater is that everybody can see each other, so they’ve got a really unique collective, community vibe, so I think it’s perfect for the Bigger Than All Of Us tour. We haven’t done this kind of big tour in a long while – with trucks and buses, bringing our own production. So, it’s really exciting for us, and I’m sure it’s exciting for others, too!
DJ LIFE: Speaking of tour, where did the “push the button” moment, where you bring a fan onstage, originate?
McGuinness: We put a gap in there so that we could freeze it and tease people with the drop. The very first time we did it, I pushed pause, and there was a video cameraman on stage. So, I took him by the arm, and I made him push the button. And the very next show, there were people with signs saying, “Let me push the button!” So, it kind of just happened… [laughs]
Siljamäki: See, another happy accident! [laughs]
DJ LIFE: A&B has also become known for the messaging and positive affirmations on the screen during DJ sets. Where’d that stem from?
Siljamäki: I was always into the theatrical side of the show. I worked in the theater world since I was a teenager and I’ve always loved the idea of helping people connect with the music better through the show. So, I was bringing my laptop to the shows and writing some phrases like “dreams come true,” and I’d show them to people. That was all really fun, but then I think around 2010, when we were playing EDC in Los Angeles, I was trying to show this laptop screen to the camera – because I could see it was on the screens behind us – and that gave us the idea. So, after EDC, me and a friend of mine coded a little system that allowed us to write to literally write messages in real-time to appear on the screen behind us. Now, I get to misspell words and our album titles in real time [laughs]. I try to comfort myself, like when I [accidentally] misspell our album titles or something, that it just makes it more real.
DJ LIFE: Quickly touching on the pandemic time, when all the live events were cancelled… you had an Acoustic III tour lined up, along with an album. Do you see yourselves ever going back to that in the future or is that all in the past?
McGuinness: I would love to do it again. Unfortunately, things have gotten a lot more expensive. Hotels and flights have gone up by such a significant amount that it’s not something that’s on the front burner, at this point, but we are still thinking about it. We still have an album that’s nearly finished – well, we’d probably want to change it now that we’ve got new songs, but I’m forcing the other two guys to do it against their will at times [laughs].
Siljamäki: Change is actually good. Right now, we’re focusing on doing the world tour, giving people an amazing show, making all the club mixes, and stuff like that. But maybe by the time we’ve done too much of it, we’ll be thinking about it again. Let’s see… maybe then.
DJ LIFE: During that timeframe and lockdown, were you guys working together more or less?
McGuinness: Well, we weren’t allowed to be together, that was the law.
Siljamäki: We were in different countries. It was really difficult for so many people in so many ways… us included.
DJ LIFE: Did that give you more time to work on your solo projects or were those projects something you always had been dabbling in?
Siljamäki: From the very beginning, at the label, we were doing our own things, too. For example, I was doing some P.O.S tracks for Anjunabeats, Jono was working with Mike Koglin at the time, and Tony had a project with his brother. But I think the Above & Beyond thing took our whole focus for a very long time. I think in 2020 when we had the break, it was almost like a real refresher. I’m still returning from my burnout. We were all in different spaces and headspaces, so it was almost like somebody pressed the reset button. But it was kind of good, in a way, because now we’re coming back into it from a slightly different angle. We’ve had a lot more chances to experiment and re-understand things. I think it’s really good that we’ve had a chance to do the solo things because it’s given a really clear idea of our own identity. It’s really easy to lose yourself in the collective band thing, and I can at least say for me, it’s given me a better understanding of what I’m good at and what I’m not so good at. It’s also nice to hear what Tony and Jono have done because then I can really understand their thinking better, too.
DJ LIFE: Do you have a favorite track from the new album, or one that you hold closest to you or stands out?
McGuinness: I think for me, the one that I enjoy listening to the most is “Lullaby.” I had something to do with some parts of it, but largely speaking it’s a Jono and Zoë thing – and PROFF did a lot of work on the beats. I just think it’s a classic Above & Beyond closer. It’s a beautiful song in the way that it’s been imagined; it’s really clever. I obviously love all of the tracks and this is a really strong album, but I think that’s probably my favorite, at this point. What about you, Paav?
Siljamäki: For me, it’s “Blood From A Stone.” Like I said, it was this stuck track that was finished in a way that I’d never even imagined – and I think it’s the best version of the song that we’ve ever had.
DJ LIFE: Given your extensive discography, chock full of classic tunes, if you could only play three classic Above & Beyond songs in your sets for the rest of your career, which would you choose?
McGuinness: I think for me it would be “Sun & Moon,” “Satellite” in some form, and then maybe… “Northern Soul.”
Siljamäki: For me, it’s definitely “We’re All We Need” because it’s one of my favorites, probably “Sun & Moon” because we probably should play it [laughs], and then “Sun In Your Eyes” because it represents something that works in clubs, oddly.
DJ LIFE: You guys have built quite the legacy with 25 years of your Anjunabeats label, Anjunadeep imprint, and newly launched Anjunachill. Let’s talk a bit about the label evolution, future plans, and what it all means to you…
McGuinness: Paavo started the label with Jono. When we decided we were just three people putting records in envelopes, using the money from one to cover another – it was very hand-to-mouth. I think the first 15 years of the label’s life, it didn’t make much money, but we were able to support it with Above & Beyond and everything else. When you look at the label today, it’s a very thriving business with a lot of staff. It’s operating in a way that’s very true to the early days of Anjunabeats. We’ve always been community focused, we’ve always been music focused, we’ve always been artist focused – and I think we still are all of those things today. We never really got on the hit single train, and we don’t really worry about radio play, necessarily.
We’re looking for artists that can create their own audience – within the Anjuna family, initially, but beyond that, if possible. I think we’ve signed and released music from some extraordinary artists, and I’m really proud of every release we’ve put out. I think we manage to break even on most releases, which is not something that most record companies can claim. It’s hard these days and it’s getting harder. Changes on Spotify [and DSPs] have made things a lot harder for us, but we are excited by all parts of what the label is doing – the events from Deep to Chill. We’re doing our own sync stuff now, some of which has been quite successful, which is great.
Siljamäki: I remember when we flew from London to Singapore, during the early days of the internet. When we got there, people were singing the song that we had just played on the radio – and that was like a penny-drop moment for me. About how the internet is going to become this really big thing for community building. When I think about our Anjunabeats – and now Anjunadeep and Anjunachill – it’s almost like this community that we’ve been building now for 25 years. Some of these people are not young anymore, but there’s also a lot of young people coming in. So, it’s really nice to see how it’s broadened and become a multitude of things, all serving the same community of people. Like Tony was saying, there’s a lot of stuff happening, and I’ve become more aware of how interested people are about these things around the world. It’s an amazing thing to see, thinking about how we started playing to crowds of 200-500 people, and it’s a little different now [laughs].
DJ LIFE: What are your thoughts on the industry today and where it’s headed?
Siljamäki: It seems like a really challenging time. I really understand – and as Tony just mentioned, the cost of living around the world – that it’s making it very, very difficult for people to afford to go to shows… and to put on the shows. You’ve got a lot of artists now who are struggling to get started, and that’s also a real issue. Yeah, you can get signed, but can you make enough money to actually have this as a job? Then the next thing is, can you afford to go and play DJ gigs? You need a big enough fee to pay for the flights and hotels – and that’s not easy. It’s just a really challenging juncture in the world and hopefully something gets better for the youthful and younger people coming in. I think we’re in a slightly different situation because we’ve been doing it for such a long time, but that’s a different level, in a way. Obviously, us running our label, we see it too, and for everybody it’s a struggle right now.
DJ LIFE: Who inspires Above & Beyond these days?
McGuinness: Obviously, Jono and Paavo [laughs]. Riccardo Derio [of Alex Sonata & TheRio] from Italy and PROFF from Russia – they’re both very inspiring people. I tend to look for songwriters, when I listen to music and I’m not at work. So, I tend to listen to people like Billie Eilish who’s such an amazing singer/songwriter.
Siljamäki: Obviously, I have a studio set-up, so I’ve been able to work from wherever I am. For example, I was in the Caribbean during Mardi Gras, and I was able to hear local live dance music. It was actually one of those amazing moments for me where I really realized how similar what these people are dancing to are to electronic-dance music. Electronic-dance music obviously has its roots in a lot of African beats and how these different connections are there – from trance to classical, and club themes to African beats. That’s been a really cool thing for me because I’ve even be recreating some of the grooves and things with synths. I’ve been trying to experiment with lots of different kinds of things, and that’s been really inspiring to me because I get to sort of expand my brain outside of the electronic world.
DJ LIFE: Can you recall your biggest “pinch-me moment” as Above & Beyond?
McGuinness: I can remember when people started singing along to “Alone Tonight.” We were at Global Gathering in a tent with about 6,000 people, and “Alone Tonight” was the first male vocal trance record that any of us had ever really heard. It was really sad, and consequently it was more of an experiment because we didn’t really know if it was gonna be accepted by people, who were so used to hearing people like Kate Cameron and beautiful singers like that. When I heard people singing along to “Alone Tonight” like their lives depended on it, I figured we were onto something. At that time, our audience was largely male, so I think having a song that was in the right key for them, with very simple lyrics, made them feel like they really weren’t alone. It was a really lovely moment for me because that meant that the songs that I found very easy to write could be part of Above & Beyond, which was not a given when we started… at all. I actually didn’t really have a clear idea that I would be writing songs for Above & Beyond because I was remixing other people’s songs in the beginning, so I think that “Alone Tonight” at Global Gathering was a very important moment for me.
Siljamäki: For me, it didn’t really feel real when we had a guy sleeping outside of my studio flat when we were trying to finish our remix for “What It Feels Like For A Girl” for Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s music video. That to me – still to this day – was the most bizarre thing. We were literally like music students. I think the studio was good, but where it was at, it isn’t necessarily what you’d imagine when you’re working on a Madonna record. I remember people thinking how we had such an amazing studio there [laughs]. And we’d just say: “Yeah, we do!”