One of many talented producers that knows how to deal with soundscapes, beats and melodies, but has a sound like no other, is Canadian top producer Arnej. Look beyond the numerous signs of his musical schizophrenia and you’ll be surprised how well this music addict knows how to turn his tricks and hits into yet another diverse beat-beauty.

Hi Arnej, how’s things going?
Hey! Thing's are going quite well thank you. It seems like every time I do one of these interviews, I'm drinking coffee :)

2008 was an amazing year for you with support coming from all the top DJs, did you ever imagine you would come this far?
Absolutely not! This is something that was always a hobby for me, so to think that I'd have any degree of success from it sometime down the road was never a thought. If anything it just shows that patience and hard work go a long way.

Could you have ever seen yourself doing anything other than working in the music industry?
Well actually, I currently do have a 'dual-career' in the video game industry and music industry. So if not music, than video games for sure, or any other creative career.

So where did it all start for you? How did you get into Electronic music?
For me the journey into EDM began in the mid 90s, listening to (hides) Euro Dance. From there it progressed to other less cheesy genres like Psy, Goa and eventually onto Trance.

Your most recent release ‘Strangers We’ve Become’ did very well again, what is the secret formula for you in the studio? Do you have a good idea before you start a track of what you want the end result to be or do you just go with the flow?
Most of the time I always start out with a melody, which in most cases are a result of me playing with notes till I come to a combination that sounds good to my ear. Once I have a melody, it gives me direction and I build everything around that. Occasionally (such as the track you mentioned) I'll pick a title and then ideas come from that as to what the track should sound like in terms of mood/feeel.

What’s next for Arnej? Any albums in the pipeline or big remixes we should look our for?
My primary direction at the moment is my artist album. I am trying to stray away from the traditional “throw a bunch of random hit songs on it” formula and give the album a flow, an interconnecting idea that blends every track from beginning to start, a story if you will.

You must spend a lot of time on the road touring now, what do you like to do to kick back and relax when you are at home though?
Ironically enough, work. Well to be fair, I don't consider either thing I do for a living 'work'. It's something that is and always will be fun for me. If not 'work', then I like to kick back and watch the good ol' Discovery Channel :)

Have you had any scary moments whilst being on tour yet?
Not yet! There were a few moments of fans thinking I was someone else, but besides that, nothing yet :)

For the people out there who may not have had the privilege of hearing you play yet, what can we expect from a live set of yours?
I definitely like to build my sets with some thought behind the flow. So I like to build up progressive and then up the tempo and intensity, of course it all depends on where you are playing and for how long but generally I like to keep a flow, or try to ;)

Tell us something interesting about you………..
I think this would actually be a good segment for me to set a few things straight about my name :)

It is not pronounced Ar-neg or Ar-nee or ... Ar-nai (Armin, how many times must I correct thee). It is simply pronounced, Ar-nay, nay as in bay, may, jay, ray, hay.

Ahh I feel so much better now :P

If you could live a day in the life of anyone, who would it be?
Donald Trump, just so I can understand what it feels like peeing in a gold plated toilet seat... maybe one day ... maybe!

Finally, as this will be the first time you have played for us at Godskitchen in Birmingham, as a little ice breaker for us all, tell us your best joke!!
Ah! How fitting, I get to tell the cheesiest joke and since I'm from Canada it all interconnects, beautiful!

How much does a polar bear weigh?
Enough to break the ice.