There are many ways to describe Trance music: emotional,
melodic, uplifting, danceable, fun, energetic. It can make you feel passion and pull you
through pain. Vocal Trance is not solely
about the music, but is also accompanied by equally important lyrics and the structured
melodies around the vocals. A familiar
voice behind the trance music phenomenon is JES.
A classically trained singer, songwriter and DJ, JES has
been at the forefront of trance music for over a decade. After three artist albums – Disconnect, Into the Dawn – The Hits
Disconnected, and High Glow – and
touring throughout 6 continents and countless countries, JES added DJing to her
live show, singing along to her tracks as she mixes. She has worked with the top producers in the
industry including Tiesto, BT, ATB, Kaskade, Armin Van Buuren and more. Unleash the Beat, JES’ highly regarded mix show has just entered its second year of
syndication and due to demand has now been launched as a weekly show. Last weekend JES brought her Unleash the Beat Tour to BLEU, gracing us with her angelic voice and powerful stage presence.
Detroit legend, DJ Godfather, is pumping up the crowd when Emily and I arrive, and JES is behind the booth getting ready for show time. Her petite stature almost surprises me when I think of the power and punch behind the voice that this body is attached to. She greets us with a warm hug and we all just start dancing like old girlfriends for a few minutes before finding a quiet(er) corner to talk.
JES: Aw, yeah! I know that he was just recently here.
RM: He was here performing on the release date
of A Song Across Wires, which I know you worked with him on a few tracks
for. Can you tell us about that and some
of the other projects you have been working on this year?
JES: Yes! I did a few
songs with BT, which are already out, and some with ATB which are coming out. I’m going to sing one of them tonight, the song
called Tonight. I love BT. It’s great because he’s a real friend
too. We’ve done a lot together, traveled
a lot together and spend time in the studio together. You don’t always even get that, so it’s a
great relationship that we have.
RM: He and I touched on your songwriting process since you two have worked together for so long now.
I wonder how that works with the other projects you’ve done. Do producers usually send you something or do
you typically write something first then send it out and say, “Hey, let’s put something to this”?
JES: It’s a little bit of both. A lot of times I’ll just send a song that I
love in, depending on who it is to, and a lot of times if I do hear something that
would go to a track, right off the bat, then I know it belongs there. If it doesn’t come, I hate to try to make it
work into tracks, unless I can just feel it right away. It’s a bit of both though.
RM: I know myself and many others consider you to be the voice of trance music and really
love all the work you’ve done in the genre. I also
know that you are into acoustic styles and playing with a band in more of a
rock setting. Do you feel that you have
been limited to stay in the trance genre because of your notoriety in it?
JES: I think sometimes, yes.
I actually don’t consider myself to be such a trance artist, as people
do. I guess that’s mostly because the
people I have worked with and the people who remix a lot of my stuff tend to be
in that world. It’s been a blessing in
so many ways and it’s coming around. It goes
out of style… it comes back in style. The
fan base is so strong and still there. It
was very niche, but now it’s wider. I’m
doing a lot of different things now and I think it’s good to grow and
change. But, I’ll always work with BT
and I’ve done some great things with Cosmic Gate and Tiesto and so many
others.
Emily: I was just curious how you feel being a woman
backstage with all the boys. Do you find
it to be empowering or more limiting?
JES: You do have to be one of the boys a little bit. It still is such a boys’ club. I try not to think about it so much, and I
never really did even when I got into this whole world and genre. It’s interesting and I just try to do and be
my best within it, and that’s all you can do.
You work hard, get to where you’re supposed to be and then the boys will
have to take notice!
E: I know you travel a lot and are a forefront woman. It’s so admirable, especially to the people
who look up to you. But what does your
family think about what you do?
JES: (laughing)
That is a very good question!
I think for a long time they didn’t even know what I
did. I mean, they sort of know. Now I live half the time in California (she
spends the other half living in New York, where she was born and raised). My mom has been to some shows. She came to the ATB show. I send her my promos and articles and other things
and they kind of live vicariously through that.
RM: She probably stalks you on Facebook too I bet.
JES: Yea she sees my Facebook and stuff like that, so she
does know more of what I do. I think when
I finally started to really make a living out of it, it was like, “OK!” But they’ve always been very supportive and
think it’s great. They also think I’m
crazy, but so are they a little bit.
E: So the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree then?
JES: No. No, it doesn’t.
We took all of our crazy back to the floor and danced our asses of for the next couple of hours. JES brought the house down with our favorite throwbacks like Ghost, Imagination and an epic closeout with her famous hit track As the Rush Comes, a collab with Gabriel and Dresden under the moniker, Motorcycle.
As promised, we got to hear her sing Tonight from BT’s latest album, ASAW, and some of the newer songs like As We Collide, a track released the beginning of the year that JES teamed up with Christian Burns and Paul Oakenfold on.
She mixed in some trance classics like Tiesto’s “Flight 643”, danced just as hard as we were, and didn’t miss a note while singing us through a magical show.
Check out JES’ mix show Uneleash the Beat every week and stay posted to her news for upcoming releases, show dates and more!