Growing up musically in the 1970s, Sonarpilot was fascinated by innovative artists from Bowie, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music to the electronic output of pioneers like Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre. With the explosion of Punk and New Wave, Sonarpilot began to make music himself.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band (if applicable).

Sonarpilot is me, Michael Moppert. My friend and label manager, London-based producer Jonny Miller works with me on all the releases, and another friend, Swiss movie producer and animation specialist Roger Maeder has been instrumental to create all the visuals for the Mirage Project, a series of music videos that we have been working on for the last two years.

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Sonarpilot? How long has the band been around?

I had a band back in the 1980’s, The Edgeworth Box, a synth pop band. Jonny has worked in electronic music since the early 90s and is an experienced producer and DJ, moving mainly in the world of deep house.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

I created Sonarpilot as my alter ego back in 2008. The idea was this astronaut who is travelling through sonic landscapes and sends back musical dispatches. Of course, Bowie’s Major Tom was a big influence. My first album as Sonarpilot back in 2010 was called “Mothership” and throughout all these years we kept coming back to these futuristic themes. The latest and so far most ambitious culmination of that concept is certainly the Mirage Project, which is a true space trip.

What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Usually my tracks don’t have any vocals. They oscillate somewhere between deep house and more experimental electronica. For the last two years I have been working on The Mirage Project, a series of six soundtracks with videos that all circle around fundamental questions such as our place in the universe, our past and future.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

Mostly electronic artists, such as Jon Hopkins, Four Tet, Nils Frahm, Caterina Barbieri, Alessandro Cortini, Ben Lukas Boysen or Beatrice Dillon, to name just a few.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band? 

I started to make music in the early 1980’s. There were all these New Wave acts that I loved, Elvis Costello, Yello, Bronski Beat Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, The Human League, John Foxx and many others. At the beginning of their career their music was very straight forward, very inspiring. These bands made me pick up a guitar, a synth, a drumbox and a 4 track tape and I began to work.

What do you do to prepare for a show?

I don’t do shows or perform live in any way – Sonarpilot is really all virtual, online and on social networks. If I did shows I would definitely look for a quiet corner and do 20 minutes of meditation.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Over the last ten years we worked with wonderful artists in the UK, the US and South Africa. We did remix projects or original music and those collaborations were very inspiring. But I guess The Mirage Project is the true highlight of over 10 years of Sonarpilot. It is very ambitious. We have never done anything like it before. I think it includes some of my best music, the visuals are absolutely stunning and the whole concept of the project is very rich and has a lot of different dimensions,  including the soundtracks, the videos, a website, newsletters, a podcast.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Opening up for Kraftwerk, around the time when they did “The Robots” would have been fantastic. I always loved their aesthetics. They were very revolutionary. But sadly, Florian is gone now. Brian Eno has been one of my heroes since I was a teenager, doing a project with him would be an honor. And who wouldn’t like to sit as a little mouse on the stage back when Bowie was performing Ziggy Stardust.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Yes, getting the Mirage Project out to the world, with things being as they are at the moment, has been very special, that sense of escapism into new worlds feels timely and many of our fans are now subscribing to our news updates via our website at www.themirageproject.com – We're excited to be giving away some exclusive content there throughout the duration of the project.