Congradulations on your first licensed cd! What made you decide on "Arrakis" for being the title?

Thanks, it's been a long time in the making... but it's finally here and I am very excited about it. The name "Arrakis" came from the Desert Planet, "Dune". I've been a big fan of the movie and the books. In fact it ranks up there with Star Wars for me. So when it came time to decide what my next theme would be, it came naturally. In fact, it wasn't until I actually started working with the samples that I realized how well it was all going to fit.

What is your favorite mix on the cd? Surprised on the outcome?

I am really happy with the way all of the mixes came out. I've been collecting my favorite mixes from my sets for over a year now and this is all of them together in one full on from beginning to end affair. If I had to choose one mix in particular, it would probably be from "Such a Feeling" to "Non-Stop Energy" (Tracks #5-#6). The two songs work so well together that all I really had to do was sit back and watch in amazement as layer by layer the played off one another for a good 3 minutes.

Was it hard to pick out the tracks for the mix?

Well, like I said... it was a combination of tracks that worked really well together and really got the dance floor moving during my sets over the past year or so. So I had to pull everything together in such a way that they would work well together and yet still flow over the entire length of the set. Hard to do when everyone of the tracks is a real bangin out tune. I could have probably put one or two more tracks on there, but as far as I was concerned I had reached the point I wanted to with the set and really felt like I had accomplished what I had set out to do.

Were there any tracks left out due to licensing issues? If so, could they possibly make their way onto the next release?

You know, there were a couple of tracks that I kept debating between when making the set. I had originally planned on using Karim's "Here We Go" and RR Fierce's mix of "Here I Come". I finally decided not to go with them because it really just started the CD off at too fast of a pace, I figured I wanted to slowly get into it with a bit of hard house before I went straight for the hard nrg. They are fantastic tracks tho, and they got a lot of play in my sets this past year... so who knows!

With "Arrakis" being licensed and in retail stores, is it possible that somewhere, out there in the world, your cd sits right behind Mandy Moore? hehe.

Hell, who wouldn't want to be behind Mandy Moore... in more ways than one?! ;)

Did you plan on seeing yourself having a fully licensed cd in this moment of your career?

Yes, in fact... I really didn't see my career going any further without a licensed CD. I had been planning on this for some time, and started work on it long ago. I never expected it to take this long. In fact the whole mix was finished last year, it was all about licensing, manufacturing and distribution that has taken so many months to complete. Even now I'm still in the middle of sorting out distribution deals. My worst nightmare is to think there may be kids out there somewhere who want to get a copy of the CD and just can't find it in their local stores. The good news is that once this is all done, I have the entire infrastructure in place to pull together more mix compilations on Lotek Records, so it's just going to get easier!

UK Hard House and Nu-NRG seems to be getting more attention as it spreads in the U.S., is there a future for it in North America?

I think there is definitely a future... however that future is tied directly to the underground scene in general. So as long as the scene continues to stay strong and hopefully grow, we will see hard house and nu-nrg grow along with it. One place in particular that I see a lot of potential is the club circuit. So far I have seen very little hard house in the club scene, where I think it could have a devestating effect!

Do you think others will follow in your footsteps and license a cd thats dedicated to the genre?

I sure hope so... I think it's the best way for us to reach broader audiences and bring the music to the attention of the North American dance industry. Not to mention that I feel like there are a lot more people out there in general who would really enjoy this music, but just need the opportunity to be exposed to it. This is one of the ways we can do that, so hopefully we will see a few more in the near future. In fact, if things go well for this CD, we plan on doing a few more for Lotek.

Well with "Arrakis" already causing a storm, it seems like there already is anticipation for the next releases. We definitely look foward to seeing Lotek grow along with more U.S. artists and fans. Any last words of encouragement?

There is a whole wide world out there, so any time your local scene gets you down... realize there are people all over who are pulling for the music and what you are doing. There is so much potential in this music and this scene, and I am very excited about that. It takes a lot of hard work, practice, and dedication to make things happen... but that is why they are so rewarding. If this style of music was already established, well then... there really would not be a lot for us to do. And what fun is there in that? ;)