Every once in a while there is an artist …

…And you are just flabbergasted as to why they are not on every single line up in the world. Every once in a while you just wonder why a person has not been booked in over 5 years because David Forbes is that person. His resume is impressive, he can pretty much do it all, and for the longest, he wasn’t coming to the states. 

Picking my jaw off the ground, David is on his way for Dreamstate. Rightly so dubbed, the Scottish Lord of tech-trance, David Forbes is one of the most underrated musical geniuses of our time. With multiple projects and aliases, David has been hammering away since his days with Public Domain. Spending his life passion giving trance fans amazing music, it is finally his time to make it through the US market. 

Better late than never, it is his time to shine, and it won’t be long till we see David Forbes doing open-to-close sets as the next big headliner at every US club possible.

Thank you so much for taking the time to sit with me and congrats on making your Dreamstate debut in November. Are you excited for your back2back with Paul Denton? I believe it has been almost 6 years since you have been in the States, what are you looking forward to the most? 

I really can’t wait for the Dreamstate event and especially the B2B with Paul. We’ve known each other a long time and we both have similar styles that will complement one another, plus we are also working on some special tracks for the event too.

You have been doing this for over 20 years, and in the past 5 years, some of your best stuff has come out in recent years in my opinion. How have you managed to stay creative since your days with Public Domain?

For me it’s all about staying relevant not resting on your laurels and constantly trying to contribute and push the boundaries of trance music as much as you can, it’s either that or turn into a tired kicker telling people how you used to release decent trance music.

For me it’s easy; I’m passionate and pretty much obsessive about what I do. This is my job, it’s all I’ve ever known for the last 25 years, and it’s a way of life for me. Half my adult life has been spent in a studio and touring.

During the release of your new track Monsoon on ASOT 927, Armin called you the Scottish Lord of tech-trance. Do you think that title is fitting? Why does Scotland love tech-trance so much?

The Lord of tech trance! :), I did have a chuckle when I read that, was flattered and chuffed that he said that. I think Scotland has always had a love affair with the harder sound even going way back to the hardcore days of the 90’s. It was the same then and is still the same now, I’m a fan of trance music in whatever form it comes in.

Talking about Scotland, your fellow Scot, Mark Sherry and you have gone back to Public Domain days. But a new techno project, Thick as Thieves, is going on. Please share more about this project, how did it come about and what can fans expect?

Mark is like a brother to me, we’ve known each other a long [looooong, looooong] time!! I speak to him every week, we wish each other well when we go on our travels etc. We have the same manager & booking agent. He’s just an amazing person. It was something we had talked about for a while was a no brainer. We have spent that much time in the studio over the years, we wanted to do something over than our trance material, we have plenty of releases penned in and ready to rock going into 2020. It’s something we will end up touring at some point even doing some special open-to-close events together incorporating the TAT sound in there.

Besides the multiple projects, you also have an amazing alias in Hal Stucker. When can US fans expect to see Hal Stucker playing a set? Any big projects coming up under this alias?

Ahh Hal Stucker!!, I absolutely adore writing that material, the first album Electronic Excursions which I released on Rich Solarstone’s Pure Progressive imprint was received incredibly well which was really humbling. I’m actually working on the 2nd album at the moment, three tracks in and already I’m super happy with the sound. I will be looking to do some shows in the states in 2020 for sure.

On some of the tracks, I’ve been working with US based producer Ryan Farish and really excited the way things are turning out with Ryan, he’s an awesome producer.

With multiple projects and aliases how do you manage your time and workload so you don’t get overwhelmed? How does the different aliases and projects help you with your creativity?

As soon as I hit a brick wall with the full on sound, I instantly jump on the Hal Stucker or techno material. I feel with the Hal sound, I’m not confined to any rules, boxes. I just do what I want if it ends up being 11 minutes long so be it and the same with the techno or any other styles I release, I try to manage my time but most of the time its chaos to be honest, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Finally, if you could only live by one motto, what would it be?

Chase your Passion!