Back from the States and raring to go for Kingsday in the Dam
Interview by Rob Chadwick
Hey dude welcome back to DMCWORLD. How has 2015 been so far?
Well the best thing so far in 2015 has been my North American tour, it was the first time for me to explore this territory. I came to the realisation that dance music, and in particular different styles of dance music, are rising really quickly in the US and Canada. It was amazing to see that my music was populair here and I had an amazing time.
Do you think you are you still learning as a producer? Are you different now than when you first started?
Yes I’m completely different. When I started I was really inexperienced, technically but also in reading the crowd. I learned a lot the past 2 years and of course still learning. I experimented with a lot, for example I did a couple of live band shows in cities like London and Paris, where I played with 6 musicians fully live. That’s a whole new thing and it’s way more complicated than just an ordinary DJ set. My goal for the future is to do this a lot more and invite a lot of different live musicians on stage.
Has it got easier or harder to produce over the years – do you have more skills and less ideas as you have done so much, or do you still struggle to get the sounds in your head down?
Well it’s definitely different. When I started I made the tracks for myself, not for any crowd. The thing is, I wanna keep my music fresh, and don’t wanna just work from a certain formula. To do that you constantly need creative and original ideas, which is a big challenge of course. But luckily I still have enough ideas because I get my inspiration from listening to a lot of different music. If I have something in my head, I’ll always manage to get it in my computer.
What kit do you use to produce and do you care about the how – analogue gear is all the rage right now…
I do care, but I think the whole analogue thing is more about nostalgia than actual sound. There’s some very professional software companies out there that have the most amazing software that can simulate certain mixers, effects and instruments. I use a laptop, soundcard and software, very basic setup, but in my opinion all you need if you have the right processor and memory. I have loads of software plugins and if I want a kind of analogue sound I’ll always get it done by using saturation, mix simulation and compression.
You have a debut album coming soon, right? Can you tell us about that?
It’ll be very diverse. That’s actually the great thing about an album, you can put some experimental stuff on there. I tried to show a lot of different sides of myself, because I wanted to prove to myself that I can do more than just one thing. I have a ballad, a slow beat track and some other stuff I usually don’t do on there. Of course there’s gonna be a lot of my normal sound on there too, which I really like. But I feel like I have to come up with something new, since a lot of producers have copied the whole ‘melodic’ house stuff (saxophones, guitar, piano etc.).
You play Kingsday Festival in Amsterdam soon – what should people expect?
A very fun set. It’s a great day and I absolutely love to play on this festival. It’s my own stage, the Bakermat Gospel Church, and I invited acts like Robin Schulz and Klingande to play along with me. I’m gonna play a lot of new stuff so it will definitely be fresh!
How do you like playing gigs in Europe vs the rest of the world – do they have different vibes?
Yes there’s a difference. I can always feel that Europe is more experienced with dance music. I play different sets here, a bit deeper and experimental sometimes. Also the reaction is different with the crowd, for example in North America they really love the drops, while in Europe people seem to appreciate the breaks a lot. I love playing in all territories equally though, and I think it’s a very positive thing they’re so different, it makes my job more exciting!
If you could own one record no other DJ was allowed to play, what would it be and why?
Haha, fun question! Definitely ‘Man With The Red Face’ by Laurent Garnier. It’s a classic and it’s been played way too much already, but still love this and would obviously love to be the only one to play this one.
What are you going to do next after this interview?
I’m actually recovering from a major jetlag after a month of touring North America, so I think I’m gonna sleep for a very long tim…and then get back in the studio to finish some last album stuff and prepare for the festival season!
Bakermat plays Kingsday Festival Amsterdam 27th April.
