Planet house music never sounded so good
Welcome to DMCWORLD. A brilliant summer swinging your way with some great releases, which we will come to later. Before all that though let’s go back to the beginning. What is your earliest memory of music when you were a child? Mine is watching The Eurovision Song Contest in my pyjamas!
“Thanks for having me! I believe I was 4 years old when I sang “Kisses For Me” in front of the TV, also from the Eurovision Song Contest, it was an English group. My mom even made me an outfit like they had!”
Same band for me Marcella – minus the outfit! What artists were you into growing up?
“I was one of those children lying on her belly on the floor in front of my parents stereo. I had the newspaper, which included music charts on the radio and my yellow marker to highlight all the songs I wanted to record on my cassette. With pause and record I made a ‘new music’ cassette every week. Still when I hear a song of that period, I hear it with the first word of the program’s host because I was always too late with pushing pause. “Love will save the day, love will save…’Yes, this was Whitney Houston with…’ hahahaha. Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Madonna, Duran Duran, Jodeci, New Edition, Trey Lorenz, Boyz II Men, Spandau Ballet…”
You started to DJ in 1994 at your friend’s house just for fun, what genre of dance music were you into by then?
“Before I met him I was going to bars where they would play Haddaway ‘What is Love’, me dancing with my friends on the small tables, hahaha. I had a part time job at a video rental shop back then and one night my friend DJ Alvredo, picked me up to go the ROXY – THE house club at the time in Amsterdam. The music I heard there was incredible! And over there I wasn’t the only one dancing! I fell in love with house and I started to learn mixing songs from his vinyl collection which was all deep stuff from deep-tech on Ovum to house on Strictly Rhythm and Outland Records.”
You gained a Bachelor of Economy at college – was there another career path you were considering aside of music?
“Well, actually that college thing was kind of an impulsive one. I had been working as a make up artist for a short time and a friend of mine invited me to come with him to get his books for college and I was like okay, you know what? I’ll join you. He quit after 1 year and I got my degree. Very helpful in the end, handling my own business/company I must say.”
What is the most important piece of advice your family taught you?
“To always be honest, to make sure I’m doing what I like and to keep my both feet on the ground.”
Was being a female DJ in a predominately man’s world a problem for you when you started out, I’m sure as soon as you took to the decks attitudes soon disappeared…
“I get this question a lot. When I started DJ-ing I had short hair, wore Dickies skatewear and had absolutely no boobs, hahaha. I wanted to be ‘one of the guys’ and made sure they had nothing to hate on me or saying I got gigs because I’m a woman. I almost disliked all the attention and spotlights on stage and still I hate it when there is a light on me during my whole set..it’s about the music.”
Your musical style has covered everything over the years – how would you describe your musical style today?
“When people ask me ‘what do you play?’ I always answer house. I started with house, deep house, deeptech and I still play that now; deephouse, techhouse, tribals, funky house…it has just evolved during the years and it’s quite normal to me you develop your sound along the way and try new stuff out here and there.”
We love the fact that you are from a country that is number one in the EDM music stakes, but you are steadfast in the way that you have stayed completely away from the Dutch (dirty) house or trance style. Looking at that scene from afar – what do you make of the likes of Tiesto, Chuckie and co. making millions with their music and what made you stay channeled to your beliefs…
“Trance and Dutch House just ain’t my thing. If it was, I would have followed that genre. I have respect for everyone, doing what they’re doing as long as they are being true to themselves. Tiesto played trance like forever and Chuckie introduced the Dutch house sound over here so…The fact that they or Afrojack or Laidback Luke are making millions is cool, I’m proud of them being Dutch. But there are a lot of DJ/producers from Holland that play or make other genres. People might not realize this but tech house and minimal or even garage is growing big here again. I never chose this job for the money, though I sometimes dream of my MarcellaJet, hahahaha.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
In no particular order:
Hanna- Sometimes (Karol XVII & MB Valence Remix)
Shadow Child- String Thing
Mark Fanciulli- The Tide (Joris Voorn Edit)
Unisex Inc- K.I.P. (Marcella Remix)
Marcella- OMEA (Jaimy Remix)
Caal & Lutiani- The Horn (Ron Costa Remix)
Antranig- Spank It (DJ Chus Iberican Remix)
Pieter Bote- The Oven
Cihan Mareno- Elle
Alex Vanni- Underground
You have some exciting new releases on their way. Talk us through…
1. ‘Dust’
“Dust” is a tech track with deep vibes and a nice groove, some dubby vocals, heritted from my earlier ‘full vocal tracks’ fetish. I think this will be the first to be released this summer.
2. The ‘Boys & Girls’ EP
This e.p. is more techno-ish, grabbing back to the first records I bought and without big breaks nor massive drops but just a good energy level. It’s my rawer side..
3. ‘The Sun’
This track is with warm jazzy chords and percussive rhythm. It has summer written all over it. Like the ones you used to hear on Soulfuric, Swing City or Defected. Love to try and get this on Cadenza!
Where can we find you spinning in Ibiza this Summer?
“I just came back from Ibiza, went to IMS, I played at Pacha Hotel, KM5 and Sa Punta. I’d love to go back next month to do some more..first Sonar Barcelona!”
What is it about that sets Ibiza apart from the rest of the world as the No. 1 party destination in the world?
“It’s the whole package. I’ve been coming to Ibiza for ten years now and parties at Space, Ushuaia, Pacha or DC10 are always superfun. Amazing line ups. Besides the parties, Ibiza is a wonderful island to discover; it’s 46 beaches, it’s lovely sweet villages and beautiful sunsets. Nice people. And up to some years ago we always heard THE tune of the summer over there first. Like, if your record was played in Ibiza, you certainly had a hit record. Last couple of years to me that disappeared a bit cause of the widespread genres nowadays..”
A lot of the Dutch DJs I interview in the magazine complain that many of their fellow countrymen DJs ignore their home country’s clubs and concentrate too much on earning top dollar flying around the world. Do you agree?
“No I don’t. If you have the opportunity to fly all over the world because you have that hit record or by just being an awesome DJ, you should do that! Isn’t that the whole point of being a DJ? Inspire people globally with what you do ? I made a few bucks abroad, don’t see anything wrong with that. And besides that, it allows other DJs to show what they can do in the hometown clubs, right?”
Tell us about some of the big festivals you have rocked in The Netherlands over the years – what have been some of the highlights?
“Dance Vally Mainstage was awesome, I got scared of the soundsystem back then. MC Marxman had to tell me to start, I did and I thought: What the…? I think that was my first LOUDNESS experience.
Also Mysteryland was great, people kept dancing in the rain for hours… Or Lovefields years ago, where one of my records was Moloko- ‘Forever More’, the original mix and I was just dancing and singing so hard, I almost forgot to mix the next track, hahahaha.”
How important to you is your radio show?
“To me the radio show is my little baby.. I’ve being doing it for quite some years now on several radio stations and it gives me the opportunity to play exactly what I want and to give unsigned tracks airplay. Also radio comes natural to me, it started with items I had on national radio 3FM “Marcella’s Massive Moments” and then with my own show at ID&T Radio. When that ended I thought why not make a show of my own and ‘Planet House Radio’ was born. It’s available on Mixcloud.com/marcellamusic
What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?
“Most of the time the weather is shitty over here so a late breakfast, spending time with my man and just watching some tv or movie, I like that. When he’s off to football, Sunday is a perfect studio day.”
What is the finest record you have ever played to a dancefloor?
“That’s difficult. Every dancefloor needs something else and there are a lot of good tracks to choose from. I like ‘String Thing’ from Shadow Child very much at the moment. That drop is massive! And to be modest; the first couple of times I played my own ‘Stabbing Sally’…well that gave me a good feeling too. I’m still proud of that one. Oh and Joe Smooth ‘Promised Land’, always someone crying to that track.”
Aside from dance music, what artists do you enjoy listening to?
“I’m a big fan of Foo Fighters and Dutchies Anouk and Go Back To The Zoo.”
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
“I would have given myself a bit more ‘tact’. Sometimes I’m too honest and hurt people while it’s not my intention to do so.”
It’s your birthday; what 6 famous people dead or alive do you invite for dinner and what DJs rock the after party?
– Isaac Newton; cause I loooove astronomy and it’s his birthday too (according to the Gregorian Calendar)
– Michael Jackson; singing me ‘Off the Wall’
– Kat von D; she can give me a birthday tattoo
– Will “More Cowbell” Ferrell
– Roisin Murphy
-Lisa Lampanelli; to Roast me
DJs for the afterparty; Luciano, Loco Dice, Umek, James Zabiela, Carl Cox and Underworld.”
Who is your best friend in the world?
“That must be my 15 year old dog!”
The best day of my life was…
“I have still many years to go, I hope, so I prefer the best day in my life is yet to come.”
And finally – what one piece of advice can you offer to all of the thousands of aspiring producers and DJs out there reading this who want to follow in your footsteps?
“Dare to be different, try not to hate and last but not least do this because you like music. The money will follow…”
Marcella ‘OMEA’ is out now on Fatal Music
marcella@marcella-music.com
http://www.marcella-music.com
http://www.facebook.com/marcellamusicnews
