Artists : Vitalic

Do you know Vitalic? Already many do. To those who love his music, his unique sound, he’s the pleasure provider: the ultimate rush, the greatest high, the invincible metal disco warrior.
With his debut four-song ‘Poney EP’, first released in late 2001, Vitalic tore through dancefloors across the world like the Wagner of rave.

An original and fearless new talent, itwas clear from the start that Pascal Arbez, the Frenchman behind Vitalic, was not just
another dance producer, but a visionary artist whose extraordinary music never fails to move you.
Now he’s ready to release his long-awaited debut album, ’OK Cowboy’. To say it’s a major record for electronic music would be an understatement. The tens of thousands gleefully seduced by ‘La Rock 01’ and ‘You Prefer Cocaine’ and the two ‘Poney’s – together, the finest techno EP of the 21st century – have waited patiently for ‘OK Cowboy’. Pascal modestly describes the album as a mix of “dance music, experimental, organs and French
music.” If he’d wanted to rake it in, of course, he’d have spent the last few years knocking out ‘La Rock 02’ and ‘03’ and ‘Poney Part 649’. “Everyone told me I had to do that but I can’t, I just can’t. Those tracks are in the past” he exclaims.
Pascal took three years, on and off, to produce the album in his house in the French countryside. He makes music only when he feels like it, when he’s got something to say or wants to try something new. But he clocks in to his home studio every weekday before lunch and tinkers with his synthesizers for a few hours. When he’s not making music in his home studio he runs his own record label, Citizen Records. “In the week I’m like a normal person
working in Siemens or British Airways, it’s a regular life,” he says. “At the weekend it’s totally different.”

Pascal looks forward to the weekend because this is when he plays live as Vitalic, when he parties. He receives so many gig requests that, if he
desired, he could perform every night of the year in a different town or city or country. But
he likes his shows to be special and, living as he does in the sticks, he has to travel for hours
to each destination. So he doesn’t play if he doesn’t want to and he doesn’t DJ, either. If
you’ve ever witnessed Vitalic live you’ll know why he’s so popular. It’s an awesome, euphoric,
overwhelming experience, the ultimate example of man and machine in perfect harmony.
Just before Christmas, Vitalic recorded what was to be one of the last ever Peel Session,
commissioned by John before his death.
Pascal often refers to Vitalic in the third person, as if it’s a role he assumes. “Being Vitalic
allows me to do exactly what I want to do, like partying too much,” he smiles. “Vitalic is the
other side of me. As Vitalic I allow myself to do the music I really want without paying
attention to what other people expect.” Vitalic is a Russian first name, and Russian is Pascal’s
second language. He studied it at school and university, and his first musical alias, Dima, is
also Russian. There was a time when he liked fans and media to think he was Ukrainian and
he fabricated a suitably misleading biography, which only intrigued people further. He’s 28,
but knows he looks older, and, when he thinks about it, is quite content with his life at the
moment. He is not showy or flash and can’t fake enthusiasm or tolerate sycophancy.
A selection of musicians Pascal admires: Daft Punk, Sparks, Crash Course In Science, Valerie
Dore, Giorgio Moroder, The White Stripes, Belgian composer Wim Mertens, Fad Gadget. He’s
not a big record buyer and doesn’t know the names of lots of his favorite tracks. His first
love, when he started making music as a teenager, was Belgian new beat.