apaull is a dutch-canadian electronic music producer, focusing mostly on techno and house genres, with an occasional sprinkling of ambient music. What makes apaull unique is that he started producing and releasing music in his mid-fifties, after a successful career as an environmental scientist, business owner and academic. While an avid consumer of todayâs electronic music, his own musical âmuscle memoryâ and inspirations pulls him back to the 1980s and the start of electronic music making.
In 2022 apaull released his first three EPs: 4Sol, mushMouth and Sans Phobia, on the furnace room records label. Stylistically, they show the range of apaullâs music production interests. All nine of these tracks were premiered on various internet radio shows, including Mutant Disco Radio and Abaddon. apaullâs music has also been included on other internet radio shows including Brain Voyageur and Science Cult Radio.
apaullâs musical philosophy, quite simply, is to produce high quality music that DJs and music listeners want to play. With time, consistency and some good fortune success will emerge.
Riding the highs of his revamped musical career and with lots going on, apaull has a chat with SIX AM to fill us in on his story.
Welcome to SIX AM apaull, itâs a pleasure to speak with you! How is everything?
Likewise, and thanks for having me. Everything is pretty good. Iâve just released âDepthsâ, my 5th EP since June 2022, so things are moving forward at a good pace. Progress takes time, of course, but it is measurable.
It must be noted that you didnât start making music until you were 55 years old, after a successful career as an environmental scientist and owning an environmental consulting company. What was your inspiration to kick start your musical career, especially at a stage of your life that most people wouldnât consider trying anything new? And while waste management and music production may seem completely different on paper, how do you think your 3 decades in that field prepared you for your career as a musician?
Music has always been deep in my veins. My father was a professional musician. My whole family was into music, in one way or another. I played piano and then drums in my youth. Even at a young age I wanted to create music. I had to set music aside to support myself while in university and then building a career as an environmental scientist. I got back into music in 2019, after selling my consulting business. I have long been fascinated by electronic dance music and its creation has now become my primary endeavor.
I used to think that it might be too late to try new things but starting my PhD at 50, performing at a high level and finishing it 3.5 years later (while running a company) gave me an incredible shot of confidence that I can do anything.
Waste management and music may seem worlds apart, but the psychology of what people find valuable or not works its way into some of my tracks. Mostly though I dove into music production to get away from all of that or at least have a significant, interesting and meaningful counterpoint. I get bored thinking of the same things all the time. Music allows me to fully tap into my creativity, express ideas, be subversive and push boundaries. The one thing that I consistently use from my professional career are my business skills. Music is business.
You make music that’s almost exclusively âout of the boxâ. What are the types of things that influence your sound?Â
As a child of the 1980s my early musical influences run from the Orb to Skinny Puppy to Depeche Mode to Ministry to Front Line Assembly and to the Pet Shop Boys. The sounds that really drew me in were the kick drum, the brave new world of 80s s