07 Sep INTERVIEW | Ravesignal Returns: Cisco Ferreira & CJ Bolland on Coming Back to the Booth
Some names don’t need an introduction so much as a rewind. Ravesignal was one of the defining sounds to come out of R&S Records in the early ’90s, the alias that first brought Cisco Ferreira (later of The Advent) and CJ Bolland together, and helped shape the raw, acid-laced blueprint of early European techno.
After Ravesignal went quiet, both artists built formidable careers of their own, Cisco through The Advent’s uncompromising live sets and Kombination Research, CJ through a run of landmark records and aliases that made him one of Belgium’s most influential producers. But this past July, the two found themselves back in the same booth at Blitz, Munich, a b2b the promoter specifically asked for. What happened that night is a big part of why Ravesignal is active again.
We sat down with Cisco and CJ to talk about where it all started, what it was like being back together, and what comes next.
1. Ravesignal’s early releases on R&S, from the first EPs through to “Camarque” and the productions that followed into ’92 and ’93, have become touchstones of that early European rave and techno sound. Looking back, what do you remember most about creating that music at the time?
CJ: I remember getting a phone call from Renaat when I was 17. He’d heard a cassette tape of some stuff I’d made and played on an Antwerp pirate radio station, found my number and invited me to his studio. I walked into the R&S studio and instantly spotted two things that blew my mind: behind the mixing desk, which was very big, sat Cisco Ferreira, who I already admired from groundbreaking productions like Space Opera’s “Electrowave” and The Project’s “Here We Go,” among many others. Secondly, amidst an insane amount of cool gear, my eye fell instantly on the Emulator III sampler. I knew Depeche Mode used an Emu, so my excitement was off the charts. This machine cost more than a house back then, and suddenly I had access to it.
My mum and dad had driven me there expecting a short meeting, but I begged to stay and spent the next 30-plus hours studying and faffing on the EMU with Cisco. Renaat came back the next day, we hadn’t slept and were still going, so he brought some food and we continued. That’s pretty much how the next several years played out. The studio was really the only place we wanted to be, I lived there, and Cisco would come back and forth from the UK and we’d do a bunch of tracks and just record them all to tape. Some became big tracks like “Camargue,” but many were never released, we just did too many.
The luxury part of the equation was the amount of great gear we had at our fingertips: Oberheim 4-Voice, Oberheim expander, Waldorf Wave, Junos and Jupiters, you name it. We were spoiled for choice, but we also really wanted to get the best out of them, so we worked relentlessly. We had a little system, Cisco and I: once we felt we had some level of an arrangement in our minds, Cisco would jump behind the mixer and tweak EQs and send stuff to outboard FX, while I was running the patterns we’d both made on the drum machines and every other sequencer we could sync at the time, and just record it all.
The sequencers were primitive, but great fun, so the end arrangements were made predominantly by cutting and splicing the tape to get the right edit. A lot of it was two kids with a nice blend of wanting to know how these instruments worked, a sweet ignorance of musical composition, and a whole dose of not giving a fuck as long as it made us bounce up and down while we were jamming.
Cisco: I remember coming back to Belgium in the early ’90s after a long hiatus. CJ personally invited me to come and work on music with him, this wasn’t R&S inviting me, it was something we wanted to do together.
For me, it was a commitment to finally work with someone I had first met back in my early 1988 period at R&S. At the time, CJ was a young student of the sound, and I remember him being around the studio while I was recording “Electro Wave” with the New Beat artist Patrick Degraeve from Public Relations.
So, years later, to be back in Belgium working with CJ felt like a real full-circle moment for both of us. By this time, CJ had his own home studio at his parents’ house, and between there and Techno Island, the R&S studio, we spent a couple of years making an incredible amount of music. I recorded everything, and some of that material will eventually be played during the Ravesignal shows.
It was the perfect environment for us creatively: no pressure, just two people with a shared passion for sound, experimenting and making music. During this period, I also played live at some incredible venues and events, including Mayday, E-Werk, Dorian Gray, Tribal Gathering and the famous Orbit Club in Leeds.
Looking back, that period was a very important chapter for both of us, and Ravesignal was born out of that energy.
“Cisco played nothing but our early stuff and the crowd clearly loved it, so I changed my whole approach to that night and joined in on the Ravesignal theme. It felt like three hours went by in ten minutes, that’s how fun it was.” – CJ
2. That Blitz Munich show this past July, where the promoter specifically asked for the two of you to share the booth, turned into one of the driving reasons Ravesignal is back and touring again. There’s no recording of it, just the memory of everyone who was there. What was it actually like being back in the booth together that night?
CJ: Cisco had previously asked me if I was up for doing b2b sets based on all those tunes from back in the day, and I told him I was up for it but felt we needed to get back in the studio first and write some new stuff together before we did. I wasn’t convinced the old stuff would still cut it with a generation so used to today’s sound. So I stalled for a while, and then Blitz asked us to do a set, as far as I know not particularly expecting us to delve that far back, but Cisco played nothing but our early stuff and the crowd clearly loved it, so I changed my whole approach to that night and joined in on the Ravesignal theme. It felt like three hours went by in ten minutes, that’s how fun it was.
Cisco: We’ve been talking about the return of Ravesignal for a couple of years now. We came close a few times, with some gig requests coming in, but the timing just wasn’t right. We always looked back at those early days of playing live together and all the great moments we shared. It was really just a case of waiting for the right moment, and Blitz’s closing weekend was that moment.
David Muallem, one of the owners of Blitz, is a massive fan of our Ravesignal work. At Lighthouse/Croatia Festival this year, I had a conversation with him and started floating the idea of CJ and me getting back together and bringing Ravesignal back. That was the spark. Within an instant, we both agreed and the booking came through, and the rest is history. Now the ball is moving, and Ravesignal is finally coming back.
“After those few hours on the dance floor, we both knew this was something we needed to revive. The project still has a lot to say.” – Cisco
3. After that night, how did the conversation turn into an actual decision, to bring Ravesignal back properly, start touring, make it a real thing again rather than just a one-off?
CJ: We were both buzzing off the vibe we’d just witnessed, so in the backstage room we’d already decided this shouldn’t be a one-off. I’d forgotten how many recordings we actually have, a lot of tapes went missing after a fire at R&S and I didn’t know just how much of that stuff Cisco still had good versions of, since I’d lost a lot of them. But that Blitz night, I got to indulge in music I hadn’t heard for over 30 years, music Cisco and I had the time of our lives writing and jamming to back in the day.
Cisco: We both knew we needed this chance, a great venue, the right crowd, and most importantly, the right sound. The sound system had to be optimum to really deliver the full sonic impact. Before the gig, over dinner, we talked about the night and what we wanted to achieve. The main objective was to play like we did back in those years, high tension, melodic, emotional, powerful music.
Blitz really didn’t disappoint. After those few hours on the dance floor, we both knew this was something we needed to revive. The project still has a lot to say.
4. You’re reportedly playing unreleased material from your original ’90s sessions in these sets. What is that music, and could it ever see an official release?
CJ: There’s loads of alternate versions of tracks that did see a release, like “Camargue,” “Mantra,” “Thrust,” “Spoof” and many others, versions that start with a certain familiarity for those who know, and then veer off into completely unexpected directions. Then there’s a bunch of unreleased stuff that I’d literally forgotten about until I heard it again and got all excited. Sure, it could see a future release, but right now it’s very fun to be the only ones who have it.
Cisco: For now, this 30-plus-year-old unreleased music will only be heard on this Ravesignal show. After a couple of years away, we’re also planning to get back into the studio and see where this project evolves. Watch this space.
5. Your paths have crossed and diverged more than once over three decades, Ravesignal, Space Opera, separate projects, and now this. What’s kept you connected all this time?
CJ: Friendship, great taste in badass techno, a mutual love of electro, and the shared wish to open a can of whoop-ass every time we get on the decks.
Cisco: There was always a real sense of mutual respect between us in the studio. We understood each other’s space and never felt the need to overcomplicate the process. We were both young, driven and completely obsessed with sound, synthesis and discovering what was possible with the equipment around us.
The studio was never a serious or pressured environment. We spent a lot of time experimenting, bouncing ideas off each other, and, more often than not, making jokes and laughing throughout the sessions. That freedom was important because it allowed the music to develop naturally. There was no formula or expectation we had to follow, we were simply following our ears and our passion.
Working at R&S during those years was a very special period. We were surrounded by technology that was still relatively new to us, and we were constantly pushing the machines, experimenting with sequencing, synthesis, textures and rhythms to see where we could take them. A lot of the time, the most interesting results came from simply trying something without knowing exactly where it would lead.
Looking back now, what makes me particularly proud is that the music we created back then has stood the test of time. It wasn’t made with the intention of sounding nostalgic or belonging to a particular era, it was made from a genuine passion for electronic music and sound design. Decades later, those ideas, sounds and tracks still have relevance, which is probably the greatest compliment you can give to music.
6. How are you approaching playing together B2B again, is it planned out, or more of a jam between two people who know each other’s instincts?
“The idea is to keep it spontaneous and let each moment develop naturally. We want to play from feeling, reading the crowd, the energy in the room, the environment we’re performing in, and reacting to each other in the moment.” – Cisco
CJ: I never plan a set other than making sure I have all the necessary ammo to choose from. With a b2b set, that part is even more fun, as you vibe off what the other is playing and want to compete and impress each other. For the crowd, that’s also part of the treat. For now we’ll share the decks and play our tunes, but for sure we’ll set up a live show for the not too far future, so we can open that can even further.
Cisco: We won’t really plan anything in advance. The idea is to keep it spontaneous and let each moment develop naturally. We want to play from feeling, reading the crowd, the energy in the room, the environment we’re performing in, and reacting to each other in the moment. We can vibe off one another, listen to what the other is doing, and allow the music to take us wherever it needs to go.
7. What do you want to bring to the dancefloor with Ravesignal now?
“We want to strip things back to the attitude and freedom that made the early scene so exciting: raw machines, instinctive programming, tension, mistakes, imperfections and experimentation.” – Cisco
CJ: I think for us it’s about bringing back the edge of rawness, the feeling we had ourselves when there were no rules or formulas yet to follow. Both Cisco and I have been in the scene for many years and have seen it evolve, loop around, reinvent itself and then expand in all directions. Yes, we’ve been there, done that and worn many of the t-shirts, but as much great music as there is today, a lot of the focus nowadays goes to social popularity, likes and followers, even looks. The music has almost lost its relevance. A lot of today’s popular “business techno” artists are playing a formulaic, bland, honestly boring watered-down version of what it always stood for, which for us was a futuristic, exciting, unheard, experimental vibe. Those who know, know, but it would be cool if we could open a few more eyes and ears.
Cisco: We want to recreate that raw, early energy that I feel is missing from the scene today, something instinctive, unpredictable and genuinely original. There was a time when electronic music felt like people were discovering something new. Artists weren’t following a blueprint or trying to reproduce a sound that had already been successful. They were experimenting, taking risks, making mistakes, pushing equipment beyond its intended use and creating their own language.
Today, so much music sounds the same. Production techniques, studio tricks and formulas are widely known and easily replicated, and with so much information available, it’s become increasingly easy for artists to study their favourite producers and simply reproduce what they hear. You can almost hear the references before you hear the artist’s own identity.
For us, it’s about going in the opposite direction. We want to strip things back to the attitude and freedom that made the early scene so exciting: raw machines, instinctive programming, tension, mistakes, imperfections and experimentation. Not trying to sound retro, but trying to capture that feeling of discovering something for the first time.
The aim isn’t to fit into an existing genre or follow what’s currently fashionable. It’s about creating our own sound, our own rules, and something that has a real personality behind it. We want people to hear it and think: what the fuck is this? It should feel unfamiliar. It should have energy, character and danger. Most importantly, it should sound like nothing you’ve heard before.
Ravesignal is now booking worldwide through AD Sound.