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| quote: | Paul Van Dyk
Posted by CampusX
It's hard to be humble when you're a superstar DJ. As with any genre of music, there are those who perform it, those who create it, and those who define it. And some do it all...
Although PAUL VAN DYK is considered an icon in dance music culture and is a revered global DJ, composer and producer, above all else, he is an artist. Paul Van Dyk is probably the biggest pure trance DJ, composer-producer in the world. He is a leader in a market that revolves heavily around him and his sets.
CampusX got the chance to chat with him at the Government Nite Club prior to his performance. Here is what he had to say…
q. How much of the year do you spend on the road?
a. I have around 110 to 120 gigs a year. Always flying back and forth around the world -- Ibiza, New York, Toronto, England, Germany -- all over.
q. How do you manage being in a relationship?
a. Well, being married I found the framework is love. The main thing you have to maintain is love. I’ve been together with my wife for 11 years now. We grew up together; she made me who I am. We don’t know it any other way. It’s normal, we travel together do everything together.
q. What do you do to prepare for an event?
a. I like to know all the music before hand. I have a very clear vision of the music I love and the music I will play. I play to the interaction of the crowd for each track.
q. Do you have any habits or rituals before you perform. Something you eat or drink?
a. Well, hmm… I sleep as much as I can before I perform; I try to be healthy and focus as much as I can.
q. How did you educate yourself in the world of DJing, composing and producing? Do you have any formal schooling?
a. In terms of the artistic side, if you are really interested in something you become interested in learning it -- you automatically learn. You make mistakes and soon it becomes a natural process. It also helps if you are little bit talented, it works out great. On the other side -- the record label owner. I learned a lot by being ripped off. I eventually started to learn what went wrong, to prevent myself and the artists on my label from getting ripped of -- a pure learning experience.
q.When did it first hit that you wanted to be a DJ and enter the music industry?
a. First time I played, very first time. I don’t know, I mean every gig is special. But the very first time I knew, this is what I wanted to do.
q. Before becoming a DJ anything else you wanted to do?
a. I always wanted to become a journalist. I wasn't allowed to, but I wanted to.
q. Would you ever go into journalism?
a. Well, I have my radio show which is kinda sorta a little journalism, music journalism in a way.
q. Being a world famous DJ seems like a dream job. You get to travel, play music and entertain crowds. Is it really that glamorous?
Not at all. Well it depends, what you imagine as glamorous?
cx) The fans, the groupies…
a. Well, I am not doing for attention or want any woman, so for me I am a total freak when it comes down to music -- that’s a great thing. I don’t think there is anything glamorous about it, just great that I have the possibility of playing my kind of music in front of other people. And the other part of glamorous lifestyle, staying in good hotels and stuff, it becomes a necessary thing because I travel a lot, and if you travel for hours and hours you get tired. And if go to a shit hole, which is really dirty, you don’t even feel like showering. You can’t do that for long, so of course you end up in a good hotel that is clean and smells good. And you want to be able to sleep, but then really that’s not glamour, it’s a necessity. The worse thing is flying for 10 hours, getting through immigration, and ending up in a shitty hotel.
q. It’s a Tuesday night and you don’t have a show to play, and nothing really to do. What would you typically do to entertain yourself?
a. Playing with my dog, my begal.
q. What is your favorite place to visit for pleasure?
a. My favorite place is actually Berlin, it’s my hometown. I know where the good places are and all my friends are there. I have friends all over, but my closest friends are there where I live. In terms of playing, everywhere is always fun. I am not just saying that to be polite, but I really enjoy myself…except one place, but I won’t mention it.
q. How do you feel about the presence of drugs in the dance music industry?
a. Well, some people take them and a lot of people don’t take them. I don’t think there are more drugs in the electronic music scene then within hip-hop and rock and roll. It’s just people seem to understand rock or hip hop music more then electronic music so they say you need the drugs to understand electronic music, which is wrong.
q. What are you currently listing to in your mp3 or cd player?
a. In my car I have the Alanis Morissette album, the new Morissey album, the demo version of the album of Vega 4, which has all new releases of my label, and number five…well I am not going to tell you number five.
q. How did you move from being a DJ into a composer-producer, what made you decide to do that?
a. Well, I would say after about six months of DJing in clubs in Berlin I had the possibility of working in the studio. I don’t know, I just automatically had a very clear idea of how I would like the music to sound like, and so this idea became more and more clear the more I worked in the studio. At one point I could not explain it in words to an engineer, so I started to learn everything myself
q. We’ve read that each song has a special meaning to you. On your latest album, what does the song Reflections mean to you?
a. This song in particular, when ever I come back to Berlin and I do the last circle before I land in Tegel airport, its just this kinda like inner joy of this is my city. This is what reflections is all about.
q. What are some of your upcoming projects and what does the future hold?
a. The last thing I have done is only going to be released in Germany. It’s about German history. It’s filled with politics and social aspects, so it’s important to understand the lyrics. So I will release it only in Germany because it won’t make sense for someone who is not German. It’s all about the past and what’s happening in the future and now…very interesting to work on. Next, it looks like a new mix CD is coming. Politics of Dancing 2 or something like this, and right now I am moving the studio, moving from one to the other, building a new studio. Once this is ready, it goes on.
q. Do you like the direction of trance music is gong?
a. You know, ever since the beginning there were always people that actually were you know, very creative artists trying to do something unique in there own way. There have also been people who did not do it with that background and it’s still that way, so there is a lot of crap out there and a lot of very good stuff out there.
q. What is your advice for aspiring DJs?
a. Getting your head around what you actually enjoy! (laughs)
q. Do you think the new technologies are changing the DJ industry?
a. I don’t think they change the most important things. You have to have and endless love for music, you have to be a freak when it comes down to music and you need the technical skills mixed with some talent with what ever setup you use. I mean FinalScratch gives me much more possibilities, but at the end of the day I still have to be able to play different records.
q. With all the Indian Music blowing up, would you ever produce a track laced with Indian beats?
a. On the album there is a song called “That’s Life” and an artist who is a tabla player, who actually lives in Singapore now but is originally from India. I played a demo version of that song and he was playing live in that club, and after the club I was like ‘hey come on, I’ll send you in the studio, lets do it again.’ We clicked and we recorded it. |
http://www.campusx.ca/article-57 thats from jan something...
someone on pvdplanet posted it...
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