Hi dude. A brilliant star in the dance music world – we thank you. We all came to know you thanks to ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’. Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Eddie Fowlkes are up in my book from that Michigan city – what DJs from that techno heaven were you throwing your hands in the air to?
“Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May were definitely a huge influence on me, these guys shaped and definied the sound that we all listened to and created some truly monumental pieces of music. I was actually really pleased at 2008’s ADE to have Kevin Saunderson himself as our guest for our Flamingo Recordings’ party – the man tore the house down. Such a pleasure and a legend all in one go.”
Big 10 tunes you are spinning at the moment?
“There is not really a fixed top 10. I change a lot almost weekly, but if you check out my beatport chart then you can see what’s doing it for me at the moment. One of my favourite ones on there is the DJ PP track ‘Miami Vice’, that’s rarely out of my sets at the moment.”
Well, a rather superb release ‘Toolroom Knights’ on Toolroom Records, out on April 5th which features two very different sides of your style – ‘Just Trippin’ which was huge on Toolroom, here though we have your alter ego F.L.G. and some throbbing Fedde cuts on CD2. Difficult to put together?
“It’s almost like a jigsaw. You want it to be with a logical build up, but sometimes you can’t clear everything you want in there. You have a list of options and then you have to wait to see what you can and can’t use, which always seems to take ages even if it’s only a couple of days! It’s always a great feeling when the puzzle fits together though.”
So the record that placed you on on planet earth – ‘Put Your Hands Up’ what is the story behind that?
“‘The infamous Put Your Hands Up’. Yes it was the track that got me noticed, I knew it was good but I don’t think any of us had an idea just how big it was going to become. It was Number 1 in charts all around the world including the UK chart which a lot of people look at. The video was playing everywhere, I was being interviewed, my diary bookings exploded, it was a mental time. For me the track was just a way of saying give respect to where we’ve come from musically, for the guys that were behind everything that we enjoy today on the dance floor.”
What music were you listening to as a kid that got you into this club world? What artists saw you jumping around your bedroom?
“Michael Jackson, he was such a big influence when I was growing up. I don’t think we’d seen a superstar like him since Elvis, which of course I was too young – well I wasn’t even born! But his music was just so amazing, the melodies and what he did with the composition and beats, plus his dancing. To me as a young boy, he was just out of this world.”
Where you surprised at the worldwide success of ‘Put Your…’
“Yeah, like I said, it was just off the scale. The demand for the track was something that we didn’t anticipate, how could we? But I think it’s great to have a track like that, it was a big moment for my career, but I’ve been very careful not to have that be the only thing that people will remember me for. I want to build on that and move up from it and I’d like to think I’m doing a pretty good job.”
So we have been to a club where you have rocked it – we go back to yours, what sort of chill out albums do you put on?
“When you go back to mine after a night out you can choose for yourself – I’ll probably be fast asleep on the sofa!”
Good answer…
Must have been fun making that video…?
“Yes it was, in fact I love making videos full stop, it quite a refreshing change and it’s interesting to watch other people hard at work.”
What made you want to be a DJ in the first place?
“I actually started DJing at school funnily enough, taking my decks in and mixing it up, I just really got influenced by the US scene and what they were doing with sampling and beat matching and taking tracks that I already liked, and doing something completely different with them.”
What five artists, dead or alive would you invite to a dinner party at yours?
“Michael Jackson, George Clinton, James Brown to name a few, but there are many more – does it have to be only five? Maybe I could throw a BBQ and have a load of people – I’d love to just get those guys around with a couple of beers and just listen to their life stories, what influenced them, the stories behind their music, what they’d be doing now if they were involved with our scene today – I think I would probably just stay there for days soaking everything they said up.”
Best Dutch person ever?
“Our Queen”
The success of your huge anthem saw you travel the world – what has been the best club and craziest city you have ever been to?
“Probably one of the best moments for me was at the Love Parade. There were 500,000 people in front of me, behind me, all around me, I dropped my first beat and they all went mental! That’s something that stays with you for life. I mean, that’s half a million people! I think that’s two thirds of the population of Amsterdam. When you put it like that, it just makes me go WOW. As for the craziest city? That’s a pretty hard one to answer, just because I do play in so many places and there are all different vibes to them. I’m going out to Brazil in a few days to tour out there and that will be pretty crazy, I imagine.”
What is coming next from the Fedde studio after Toolroom Knights?
“I’m working on a couple of things at the moment including one track that we’ve signed to Flamingo Recordings from my online community at www.feddelegrand.com. At the moment though the Back & Forth remixes are the first out there, they’ll be out in April and there are some really exciting new takes on the track, including a Future Funk version I did which really flips the whole track on its head and takes it in a new direction. I’m very happy with it (if I do say myself).