Inner Sphere

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where were you born and where do you live? What is the name of your project, and why and how did you start it?

I’m Hamid Panahi, 30 years old. I was born in Iran and I live in Ardebil, the coldest city in Iran. There are maybe four or five metres of snow here right now, hehe. Inner Sphere is the name of my project, and I’m an artist at Techsafari Records from Canada. I chose the name because I always have images of space and galaxies in my mind, and that’s also what my music represents. So the name and the themes of the tracks give you a feeling of the cosmos and outer space [Beyond The Horizon, Accessing The Universe and …].

I started learning many years ago, but just for fun. I never thought I would become an artist one day. Then suddenly I released my first two-track EP, Beyond The Horizon, on Zen Mechanics’ label Sourcecode Transmissions. That was huge for me. It changed everything and pushed me forward, so thanks to Wouter for the support. After that I had some releases on Iono Music, and finally my dream came true: I joined a label I had always dreamed of being part of, Techsafari Records. It’s my home label and all my tunes will come out there.

We have released many tracks by now: remixes for my good friends Zyce and Freqfield, my two-track EP Humanoid, and the solo track Accessing The Universe, which was also selected for the Psynation radio show by Ace Ventura and Liquid Soul. Much respect and big love to those guys. My new solo track, Temple Of Gods, is a 145 BPM full-on track that comes out on 16 March on Techsafari Records, as always.

Many remixes are coming. One of them is a remix of a Protoculture classic [secret for now, hehe], plus collaborations with beautiful friends such as Kanobi and others. Lots of news to come.

What fascinates you about psytrance culture?

Of all the styles and genres, psytrance has the most beautiful things in its world. It’s away from the commercial scene, at least much more than other genres. Beautiful crowds, artists, festivals, unity. Even when you listen to psytrance at home, you can feel the vibe of being at a festival, with Mr. Pink playing around and Raja Ram blowing up the stage and the dance floor, hehe. Psytrance is and always will be pure and different from the others, with beautiful people around it. If I could go back to the beginning, I would definitely choose psytrance again. It’s a big culture and a way of living and thinking.

What are your musical influences?

First of all, RIP Cosma. I listen to his album Nonstop almost every week, and the track Minimal Vertical from that album blows my mind every time. And definitely old-school psytrance vibes. I listen to the old psytrance era every day, and it really doesn’t matter which track is playing as long as it’s old school, Goa, prog or full-on. It can also be a movie, or even country music, because I listen to a lot of country songs. But the one thing that defines the Inner Sphere sound and style most is the vision of space that I can’t get out of my mind. I’m always thinking and reading about other universes, and I really want to know: are there any species like humans on other planets?

As artists we have a responsibility towards our audience. What is the key idea you want to pass on to your listeners, what is your message?

Honestly, I’m not a guy who gives advice. I prefer to take advice. But listen to your favourite music, feel free and go with your own flow, keep dancing 24/7, and let’s make the earth a better place together, keep it away from wars and all that, and bring peace, which we need so badly right now. Without peace, humanity has no meaning. No one can stop you from anything unless you let them, and always dream big.

If you could start over again, what would you do differently?

I would keep thanking the friends, artists and everyone who helped me grow, much more than before, especially my family and of course my home label manager Erik Amyote. I owe him a lot, because none of this and none of my success would have happened without Erik. He changed my whole career, and it’s a huge honour to work with him. And it’s a big gift for me that I’m here in this universe, breathing, and able to express what I feel.

Please name one piece of your production gear you like and tell us why you like it.

All you need are three things: monitors, acoustics and a DAW. From my gear I would choose my monitors, Dynaudio BM6A. I had Adam A7X before, but now it’s the BM6A. I’m also improving my room acoustics to get better results.

What is the situation of psytrance culture in Iran? How do the authorities react?

Well, we don’t have any festivals. Parties are completely illegal and very underground, and no one is allowed to show anything in public. So you have to stay by yourself and grow on your own, inside. But I hope that one day will come when we can show ourselves more and better than ever.

Thank you for having me.

Hamid a.k.a. Inner Sphere