German techno juggernaut Alex Ridha, otherwise known as Boys Noize, has been a staple in the electronic music scene for over a decade now using his unique sound to create mind altering experiences sending listeners into the dark reaches of their minds. If you've ever attended a Boys Noize set, then you've experienced the unexplainable phenomena that occurs when Alex takes the decks. Using his cerebral sounds, he transforms any dimly lit room into a grand cathedral of darkness with himself positioned as the high priest conducting an acidic musical journey.

In contrast, away from the decks Alex is one of the most down to earth and friendly folks you'll ever have the pleasure of chatting with. Originating in 2005, Boysnoize Records has been running long and strong, staying true to its values despite the evolution of the electronic music scene. 

Following the release of his fourth studio album, 'Mayday', on May 20th featuring an all star cast such as Poliça, Benga, Remy Banks, Hudson Mohawke, and Spank Rock, we had a few moments to catch up with the techno punk himself and discuss the new album, its accompanying videos, and his musical philosophy.

You've said 'Mayday' is a sort of tribute to the early days of rave. Now that it has been out for a few weeks now, is the reaction to the album as you expected?

To be honest with you I'm not really bothered at all with how people are going to react to it. Of course I'm really happy that my fans are liking it and especially my producer friends; like other producers that I think are amazing. When they give good credit, that's the most rewarding for me but, you know, when I make the album or make music I'm really not trying to think about how I can please anyone. Otherwise I would probably do some radio music or something. So, yeah I'm definitely happy by the great reactions so far. It's definitely a good feeling! 

 
Can you tell us about the music video for "Starchild?"

Basically there is one main idea behind all of the videos. So far I've only released "Starchild" and "Overthrow" and both are on the same theme of Mayday. Mayday is about a call for individuality and against conformed thinking. As a DJ I've been always trying to fight against these boxes and especially when you live in Berlin you see the pure techno people and they are not allowing certain things. So now with the album and videos I want to take that idea a little bit further and visualize it with the characters. Starchild is basically this person that's feeling like she, you know, landed on earth and she looks different but she wants to have fun with everybody and she wants to be part of something but she doesn't get accepted because she looks different. The basic idea is really about how society gets more polarized through the internet and empathy is something that's missing more and more today. It's also crazy how real life gets kind of like, unreal. We spend 12 hours a day in front of a screen and sometimes what's happening in there is more real than what's happening outside. So I'm playing with a lot of these issues and thoughts. Starchild is just another example of outsiders in society and the world we live in and how they are not accepted by just like stupid boxes of thinking and there are many more issues like that it. That's a really cute way of putting it with the video. 

How about "Overthrow?"

The "Overthrow" video, that was actually my idea. I woke up one day and I thought let's take hardest guys from, like, LA. I wanted to take, like, the bloods and the crips, you know those crazy gangs, they are all fighting each other, they are still shooting each other but then I wanted to make them all end up making out. So we went a little ways away from taking the bloods and the crips but it's still crazy looking gangs. You should watch the video, it's pretty funny. All of the videos are very DIY, I'm doing everything myself, you know. To me it's more important to have the direct message and the direct motion rather than making the video look like a million bucks. 

What can the San Francisco electronic music scene learn from European cities, like London and Berlin?

I think San Francisco has a great subculture. One of my favorite labels is based in San Francisco; it's called Dark Entries. They're doing a lot of reissues of a lot wave records from the 80's and a lot of EDM and industrial stuff. I think there are important DJ's coming from SF and there are record stores that have always been running underground music. So I don't think you have to do anything to be better or catch up to anything. I also think sometimes it's also the location, you know, it's hard sometimes for DJ's to come because it's so far. The cities being closer in Europe is one of the reasons probably why underground electronic music and subculture was communicated better. Techno, which actually started around the same time in Chicago and Detroit, and the DJ's that were playing that stuff were playing in the US, but it was just harder to communicate it throughout the country, and obviously in Europe everything is closer. Most of the DJ's, the legends like Jeff Mills or Derrick May or like DJ Pure, going from house to techno, they were mostly playing in Europe back then and now I guess it's catching up. 

What are some of the challenges you face producing a movie score in comparison to your own Boys Noize tracks?

The base of my own music is always me as a DJ and I want to create something that I can play and perform and again, something that excites me sound wise and I want to sound different than other artists. With a score it's interesting because it's a whole different approach and I can really concentrate on design for moments that exist already. When I'm in the studio making club tracks I have to imagine those moments. For instance, on the score ones, I know already what it's going to be about. That already leads my whole approach in creating music into a different direction and also, my big pleasure in making music is really about sounds. I care more about sounds than a melody or the lyrics so that's the thing. In movies you don't need to create necessarily create a song or something like that but I can really focus on creating sounds and sound design. That's a great challenge for me and it's a really refreshing way of how to approach music. I really enjoy it. 

What artists have you not collaborated with yet that you’ve always wanted to make a record with?

To be honest, I've been happy already with everything I've done. One of the big moments was definitely when Snoop Dogg passed me over a spliff when we made a rap track together. After that I was just like, alright now I can sign off and be happy. And some of the remixes were the same. When I did the Depeche Mode remix or when Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk gave me a huge compliment. So I'm pretty happy but yeah, I mean if I could have chosen one it would have probably been Prince. But he's gone now, sadly. But every year there are new artists and I'm generally open to let myself into the open water sort of say, to try out things. That was something really exciting when I was working with POLIÇA, for instance. I was a huge fan of her voice and the way she writes and her music is so different than mine and I love when you can create something new between the two different worlds. So I'm pretty open minded to see who's going to come out next in the next, I don't know, year or so. For me it's important also to have that personal level of, I don't know, when you meet someone and hang out and you become friends and there's a connection and then you make music. That for me is more important. It's a lot about friendship and stuff like that.

Which of your personal friends would you say have had the biggest influence on your music and career?

Another label mate, Housemeister, who I'm also releasing new music with on my label, and he definitely had an influence on me because he's one of the guys that doesn't really use a computer to make music. He has all these drum machines and synths all synced up and he pressed play on one machine and everything starts to run. It's a very cool way of making music and when I met him years ago he was already in that mode and it definitely colored over to me a little bit too. I DJ mostly techno music but I mix it up with whatever, breaks of house, but like you know when I make music I always try to transform the the sort of more linear club music into a more different structure so it's still a little bit different from how I use the machines. 

What is your favorite festival to play?

That's hard to say. I've been lucky enough to get to travel the world and go from the craziest places from China to South America and I always like festivals that have different styles and also I like indie festivals, of course. You have beautiful festivals over here too, I mean Sasquatch is an incredible festival with great music, great venue, really beautiful venue. I played Bonnaroo, that was amazing. Coachella is always a great experience. I always like places that are a little bit in weird places or in beautiful nature. There's some nice places up in the north of Scotland by like Lochalsh which is like this legend. Or like in Japan on a mountain. There's some cool places definitely. 

You're playing HARD Summer Fest on July 31st. Any go-to hangover cures/festival survival tips?

I'll make juices. Juice will definitely help. Mix up some beet root with some ginger, put in some apple and lime. That's a good cure for sure. Smoke a joint. That always helps too. Another classic, is the Bloody Mary, you know. That's a very common hang over drink. Yeah, that's it!

Written by Blake Bejan

Don't miss Boys Noize's only California stop when he takes the stage at HARD Summer July 31st!