Vini Vici is an Israeli electronic music duo formed by Aviram Saharai and Matan Kadosh. They are considered spiritual leaders of the psytrance genre; a subgenre of trance music that originated in the 1990s psychedelic culture.
The award-winning DJs have a hectic schedule and frequently travel across the globe to perform in major music festivals such as EDC, Tomorrowland, Ultra and many more. Despite their global success, they are known to be down-to-earth with no airs.
We had the opportunity to interview Matan Kadosh on the second day of It’s The Ship 2023, just hours before his spectacular performance at the Main Stage. We are truly honoured to have been able to speak to the legendary DJ and were floored by his friendliness and genuineness.
Uncover Asia: What are your thoughts on smaller events such as It’s The Ship? How does it compare with larger music festivals?
Vini Vici: Smaller music festivals and smaller gigs in clubs can be as amazing as large music festivals if you have the right energy, and if you are in sync with the crowd and they are all feeling the same vibes and emotions.
I’m also able to test new ideas in smaller gigs, just to see how the crowd reacts and how it sounds on the big sound system. Like how it flows, the mixes and even the order of the set.
Uncover Asia: It does seem like a lot of DJs are combining different styles of music. Do you foresee more and more DJs having blurring identities as they move forward?
Vini Vici: As a DJ and producer, I feel that you can go both ways. You can stay really loyal to your sound, or you can go and explore. And for us, we always like to go and explore! I’ve been DJing for 23 years and if I don’t go out there and try new things, I will get bored and the crowd will feel it when you’re not in love with what you’re doing.
So for me, it’s always like going after a new idea and breaking the glass ceiling. And I think that’s why I’m here and where no other psytrance DJ has ever been. And I say it in very humble way, because there are lot of amazing psytrance producers, but we have the courage to do what others don’t, by not following the strict rules.
Uncover Asia: Who/what is your dream collaboration?
Vini Vici: My dream collaboration will not happen because it would be Daft Punk, which is not happening anymore. Or Bob Marley who isn’t alive anymore.
But I really love Skrillex and I think if we will sit with him in the studio, it can be something.
Uncover Asia: We’ve been tracking your progress on DJ Magazine. Vini Vici is always going up, up, up. Congratulations! We often hear your music on A State of Trance. What does having Armin’s support mean to you, and how does it grow your brand & visibility?
Vini Vici: First of all, Amin is a really great guy. He’s very humble and thoughtful. And whenever we do tracks together, we really respect our genres and where we came from. It’s amazing.
Now, professionally, we started from the underground psytrance that kind of took over the start of our career. And then we kind of made it a transformation with psytrance and the trance world. And then Armin came and then we did such a huge hit with him, which then went to the EDM world and even the hardstyle world. We have made progress and the track with him kind of levelled it up. Definitely. Yeah, we owe him a lot.
Uncover Asia: No, we think it’s your talent too, so don’t forget that! Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) is very prevalent in many aspects of our lives. Has that affected the music landscape? Do you think it will influence the way Vini Vici produces music?
Vini Vici: Well, it hasn’t affected yet, but I see that it will go there. Today, it’s already much easier than before for a person to be a DJ and producer. When we started, I remember that we didn’t even know what EQ (equalisation) was. We had maybe two, three EQs on all the projects, which normally you have like 100 channels and you will have EQ on each channel.
Back then, we had like 60 channels and we had only 2 – 3 EQs. That’s how juvenile we were when we started. And actually it was also our first release. And even for samples we started and we didn’t even know that a sample CD existed. Like we’re talking 23 years. So we just went to video gaming files and in the old video game computer video games, they always had files with some wave sounds. So we just “stole” some wave sounds from video games and put it on the first track because we didn’t know where to find some samples.
Today, you just have to go online and download directly to your computer. And if you want to sound like someone, then you go to YouTube and you see some videos. So it’s very easy. But if you want to be successful today, it’s not only to do good music but to also be special. And of course, it’s social media era right now. So if you are a character, it will help you a lot too.
Uncover Asia: You do have a very full calendar, how do you balance it with your personal life?
Vini Vici: Yeah, I will take any chance to fly back for my kids. Even if I am in one part of the world and I have a 5-hour flight to the next destination, I will go all the way back to Israel (even if it’s a 20 or 24-hour flight), just to spend time with my kids for just a day.
As much as I love my job, my family is the biggest part of my life. Even 24 hours with them will recharge me a lot. And also for them, it’s important that my kids know they mean the world to me, and that I would fly from all over the world just to be with them. I know this will definitely affect their personality and boost their self worth.
Special thanks to Vini Vici, It’s The Ship, Mad Hat Asia & my annoying husband for making this interview possible.
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