While last year saw their latest batch of new material in the shape of the album Life Is A Beach. With few expectations for his material, he concedes his approach has always been the same, “To produce great tunes and try to expand my sound as much as possible.”
Though the act released their Greatest Hits some three years ago, Lappessen concedes, “I still love to produce new tracks. When people around the world admire your music and dance to it that’s all the inspiration you need!” So with SASH! headlining sets the world around, is he afraid of simply becoming synonymous with the nineties? It appears far from opposing the idea, Lappessen embraces it wholeheartedly. The decade was good to him and resulted in his act selling in excess of 18 million albums worldwide. With Lappessen in town to headline Billboard’s I Love The 90’s, he notes, “My biggest hits were from the mid to late 90s. My records pushed the Euro sound even further with tracks like Encore Une Fois, Ecuador, Mysterious Times, Stay and Adelante.”
With Lapessen reeling his hits off nonchalantly, it seems an appropriate point to enquire further about his initial intentions and ambitions. While many a musician dreams of hitting the big time, SASH! was the second attempt at musical domination by the trio. Having initially worked together as the trio Careca, they experienced minimal success with their track Indian Rave. Having returned to the drawing board and altered the outfit’s name, their debut single It’s My Life made more than a little dent in the Euorpean Charts back in 1996. Lappessen recalls, “My goal was just to make good music. I have always enjoyed music since I was a child and always been involved in music.”
While the trio were clearly chuffed that their second attempt at chart domination had succeeded, it was not until the release of their second single, the unforgettable, irrepressible Encore Une Fois that the trio felt that they had finally found their mojo. He admits, “When I got the phone call that Encore Une Fois had reached number 2 in the UK charts it strived me to do greater things.”
While Encore Une Fois may have marked SASH!’s transition from the club charts to the mainstream pop charts, it was also notable for its guest vocalist Sabine Ohmes. Lappessen learnt a lot from its success and his future hits would feature an array of guest vocalists, from Tina Cousins who featured on both Mysterious Times and Just Around The Hill through to Boy George with Run. However, choosing vocalists at the outset was not quite so easy. While still trying to establish their own name, SASH! did not have the pull to bag big name vocalists, but instead had a little help from their friends. Lappessen notes of their eclectic mix of vocal collaborations, “It is always different. At the beginning they were all friends of mine but once my songs became successful it was easier to get a lot more well known singers for my music. Some I met on stage also.”
With SASH! admitting, “I always like to work with new talent,” he immediately writes off the possibility of reprising past vocalists in future projects. While British popstar Tina Cousins was called back after the number 2 success of Mysterious Times, her second effort Just Around The Hill stalled at the still impressive number 8 slot. Now Lappessen notes that part of their continued success may have been the versatility an ever changing vocal allows them. When contemplating past, present and future vocal talents, he insists “I think this will always make SASH! more interesting that we come up with new voices and new artists to work with.” Given that he has already written off all his past collaborators, is there a vocalist with whom he has not yet teamed up with that would be the pinnacle? His response is immediate, “Madonna.”
While Lappessen has clear aspirations that remain unfulfilled, we return once again to his nineties heyday and impressive back catalogue. Though he has already noted that it was the success of Encore Une Fois that inspired his determined approach to future hits, would he still put his initial hit at the top of his to play pile? Despite all the powerful emotions connected with a debut success, Lappessen demonstrates a preference to two of his other tracks, with their respective chart success seemingly irrelevant. He reveals, “I love Ecuador and Color of the World.” Though Ecuador hit the heady heights of number 2, Colour The World floundered at 15. However, Lappessen does not rate his output in terms of chart success and surmises, “I just love these two melodies.”
“Well my second name is ‘party machine’ so get ready!” Lappessen, who will be representing SASH! solo at Billboard, may have more than few of his own hits up his sleeve to please the punters, but he is aware that it is a nineties event and as such he will ensure he caters for all and sundry. “I will be playing a two hour set so I will be covering as much of the 90s genre as possible. I’m really looking forward to my show in Melbourne. I haven’t been here for so long so I’m determined to make it a night to remember for everyone!”
