Steve Hillage may be 52 but happily neither himself nor System 7 show any signs of slowing down. In fact he and partner Miquette have a rigorous touring schedule for the summer, climaxing late June with gigs at Prague's Openairfield Techno Festival and the UK's Glastonbury Festival where they headline the Avalon stage on June 29th.

Hillage has been around for well over thirty years now, playing in the progressive rock band Gong, producing early Simple Minds and middle period
Charlatans albums, and contributing greatly to the ambient music boom of the mid 1990s with The Orb. His friendship with Alex Paterson is long standing, and it was Paterson's encouragement that played a big part in the success of Hillage's techno outfit System 7.

System 7 have come in for their fair share of flak and praise from the critics, but the fact is they have a durability that most dance artists would give their eye teeth for, not to mention a loyal fanbase. Hillage has recently acquired the rights to re-release four of the band's albums on his own A-Wave label - '777', 'Point 3: Fire', 'Point 3: Water' and 'Golden Section' - so RA interrupted his sequencing antics for some banter.

Your first albums are being reissued shortly on A-Wave. How has your perspective of them changed some ten years on?
Well apart from anything it's now great to own the rights for our own albums on our own label. The first album ('System 7') is still selling, it's done more than 24,000 now which proves it has longevity – the reason for getting it all out there. We think the music stands up, it has a timeless quality that people relate to. Plus it's every artist's dream to own the rights to their own recordings.

The new album's due to start in September. How's it going?
We're actually not starting until the Autumn, cos I'm involved in various production duties at the moment such as the new Rachid Taha album. So it'll be this time year roughly when it's finished.

Any collaborators involved?
We like collaborations but aren't doing as many now because our collaborators were also our teachers, and we've learnt! That said we are planning to work with my mate Alex Paterson and also Ken Ishii who I really like. When you work in dance music it's a constant state of flux so to get the best album you've got to use what's at the time. If you pre-plan it too thoroughly things don't work out as you want.

Have you ever been tempted to follow Alex and do a 'Back To Mine'? With your musical CV it could get interesting...
I've not considered it, no, but if they want to give me a ring I'll get out of bed for it!! I have quite a varied taste in terms of dance music so I'd be able to knock something good together, yeah.

You've been making music for over 30 years now. Do you still feel the same vitality for music as you did in the 60s and 70s?
Yeah, I'm still at it! It's professional but still a love, first and foremost. If I wasn't still keen to learn, keen to discover, I wouldn't still be doing it. As long as the hunger's there, you'll hear from me.

What about soundtracks? Some of your more ambient stuff can be evocative.
Can't say we've really thought about it, but let's see what comes up. We're writing about the sound that's in our head rather than working for a pre-conceived idea.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, how would you describe your live experience?
We present a powerful and spacey thing, we like to take people on a journey. We're old hands at the live techno thing, and currently we try to fit in 10-15
gigs a year. This year, we've been to Croatia, Japan and Taiwan amongst others. They're opening a Ministry of Sound in Taipei and we're playing. They really get into it over there, although having said that we were wondering what was going on with all the masks!

You're doing Glastonbury too, for the tenth year in a row.
We are indeed, so if by chance or by trance you should find yourself in the Avalon field there'll be some mighty beats coming your way. Last year the tent we were in got completely filled out, about 15,000 people. This year we're in the field with a new set and new material, so the journey continues...

What about your A-Wave label - any plans for expansion?
We're concentrating on our own stuff for now, but wouldn't rule out a sub-label for other artists. We've thought of introducing an ambient imprint, reviving the 777 series. It's great to have the two Point 3 albums back, cos that follows through from my 1979 record 'Rainbow Dome Musick', which was pretty ahead of its time.

So what's currently on your stereo?
Aku Ken, a guy from Canada - I'd describe it as tech house with loads of radio samples. He's a huge talent.