Name: Sebastian Weiss aka Sepalot

Nationality: German

Occupation: DJ, producer, songwriter, vocalist
Current Release: Sepalot teams up with Temple Haze for their single "Colder," out via Eskapaden.
Recommendations: You really must take a look at the artist Tanja Hirschfeld. Her work has a very strong effect on me. I find her oil paintings "Culture Mix Series" in particular incredibly strong.
Another artist I can only recommend to everyone is Matthias Edlinger. His interdisciplinary approach between painter, author, curator and videographer is extraordinary. Everything influences each other. That's allready reality of an artist's life, but Matthias himself turns it into a total work of art.
As far as the music is concerned, I find "Deki Alem" super exciting at the moment. You can hear so many different influences from the last few decades of club music in their work. Mega exciting.

[Read our Temple Haze Interview]

If you enjoyed this Sepalot interview and would like to stay up to date on his music and releases, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, and Facebook.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

The impulse to create something is always there. It's like an outlet and if it doesn't open from time to time, my well-being suffers. I feel like I'm locked up or under a lot of pressure.

There is a smooth transition between inspiration and influence. Ultimately, everything has an influence, even things and feelings that aren't there.

My point is that even if something is missing, it can still have an influence and therefore be inspiring.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

I already have an idea of what it could be. The trick is then to let yourself be led astray in the right places.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

I don't have a special ritual before I start writing and producing music.

For me, however, it has proven to be very helpful to save the first idea that emerges after 30 minutes and to compare everything that comes after that with this "original version" again and again.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

I would like to have a ritual, but in reality I don't go through with it.

Being unprepared and open to impulses is probably my ritual.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

I don't really write lyrics, I'm first and foremost a musician and producer.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

I prefer lyrics that reveal their beauty even after repeated listening. So poetry rather than storytelling.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Simply follow these alternative routes. As long as it feels good and right.

The creative process is not about getting from A to B as quickly as possible.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

The creative state is a great mystery to me. I don't know where the ideas come from, I can't explain or understand them. Ideas and creativity come and go.

In any case, it's not something that "uses itself up". On the contrary, the more you work creatively, the more ideas come. As if you could train it.

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

The performance is still the most important thing when recording in the studio. The vibe has to be right.

I've already used vocal recordings made with a cell phone in finished productions because the studio recording couldn't really capture the mood. I don't care about the technical quality of the recording.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

I always try to decouple the creative process from the evaluative process. Evaluating during the creative process is not possible. If I didn't like something at the moment of the creative process, I would do it differently at that moment.

Unfortunately, my brain always needs some time to escape the intoxication of creativity and be ready for analytics again. I need at least two days to be able to approach a work neutrally again. Sometimes longer, unfortunately.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?  

In my creative process, songwriting, production, arranging and even mixing merge into one whole.

When I actually finish mixing a song, I only really concentrate on the technical aspects. The whole sound design and the overall sound are usually already defined at this point.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Only when I've released a song or an album can I get it out of my head. That feels very liberating. It's like finally being able to put down a bag that you've been carrying around with you for a long time.

That feeling is the best way for me to start working on new music again. I love it.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?

I think the moment music is heard by other people, it takes on a life of its own.

Every listener will feel something different and have a different experience with the music. The creator no longer has any influence on this. The question of whether it is misunderstood by a listener no longer arises.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

In theory, making coffee could be as powerful a creative endeavor as writing music. It depends primarily on the effort you put into making coffee.

My creativity is like a filter or kaleidoscope through which everything that surrounds me passes. What comes out afterwards is my version of art.