Above and Beyond: Genres Are Divisive, Like 'Race and Religion'

Anjunabeats

Above and Beyond's Jono Grant, Tony McGuiness and Paavo Siljamaki can rest comfortably knowing they've become a icons in the electronic dance music community. The rest of us, however, can only wonder how they've forged a career that spans over a decade, 400 Trance Around the World (TATW) radio shows, countless performances in front of tens of thousands of people at a time, their own record label, hundreds of singles and remixes and three massively well-received studio albums.

When we chatted by phone with Grant, the trio was preparing for the eight-hour, 400th episode of TATW. Broadcast from Beirut, Lebanon, the show featured sets from Gareth Emery, Kyau and Albert, Mat Zo, Jaytech and, of course, the A&B boys. We talked about their live shows, the downsides to electronic dance music's popularity in the States, dubstep and a "cheesy" habit some of their fans have.