© TRANCE.NU -
01-10-2000 - WWW.TRANCE.NU
TEXT: TOMMIE, JEZPER &
MACMAN
DJ TIËSTO
Tijs
Verwest more known as DJ Tiësto played live here
in sweden sunday the thirtieth of september 2000.
And the day after he was interviewed by the
trance.nu crew.
Whats
your full name?
- Tijs Verwest
What
do you think of the audioformat MP3?
- I really like it, because specially in The
States and also here in Sweden it's been good for
my name because my CDs are hard to get here.
Well, I'm not in there for the money. I'm really
glad, actually honored, that people download my
music. That's a compliment I think.
What's
your best gig ever since you started?
- There's a lot of those but I think the first
Innercity gig means most to me, because it was
the party that made me very famous in Holland. I
had my break-thru there.
What's
your worse gig ever?
- I was booked once for club a in Holland and the
guy didn't know what I was playing, he just heard
my name. And people they didn't know me either
and they asked if I could play r'n'b music. The
place was very crowded and I started to DJ and
after half an hour it was empty.
What's
your advice to people that want to start produce
trance or DJ, where should they start?
- If you look at me it was a long wait to get
there. So start with playing music, start at the
beginning (laugh). I started like 15 years ago.
How
where you discovered?
- It took quite long time because I sent out like
100 tapes to all kinds of labels but nothing
worked. But then I played at a club for 200
people in south and a friend from my hometown was
there. He worked for Basic Beat and he heard me
play. He liked it and asked if I wanted to mix
the Forbidden Paradise serie so I started on CD3
and it became very big in Norway. So I had my
first big break-thru in Norway and people in
Holland though "why is he big in Norway and
not in Holland" and then they discovered me.
Do
people recognize you on the streets?
- In Holland they do, also in Israel. In England
they do sometimes when I'm infront of a club.
Does
it bother you when people come up to you and want
to talk about music?
- No no, music is my life so I love it.
The
best trancetune ever released, what is that?
- It's hard to say, there's so many. But with
vocals I think BT's Mercury and Solace is the
best one I ever heard, really a trancetune. A few
old ones I like is Age of love, Jam & Spoon
and Jens with Loops and things those are some
classics, really good tunes.
Whats
your favorite tune right now?
- Hard question, let me think...
Exactly
what means trance to you? There's so many
opinions what trance is.
- For me trance is when you hear music and you
forget everything around you. You forget where
you are and what you're doing, you just hear the
tunes.
Will
Gouryella release a full-length album?
- We're thinking about it because it's become so
big. But I'm also working on my own album at the
moment, it's going to be released next year in
february or march i think. I think the name's
going to be Tiësto - Solo but I'm not sure.
How
is it going with the Tiësto Solo Tour?
- It's amazing. On Friday nights Holland is dead,
most of the clubs are closed and hardly someone
goes out. So I took a very big risk to do it on
Friday Nights. But almost every gig is sold out
allready.
How
many projects do you have besides Tiësto?
- Allure, Kamaya Painters and together with Armin
van Buuren I have Alibi and Major Leauge. I have
Vimana together with Ferry Corsten and in Kamaya
Painters it's me and Benno de Goeij. And Benno de
Goeij is also the guy who made Rank 1 (together
with Piet Bervoets).
Why
do you use all these names, is it because they
all have different styles?
- Yes, and I made so many tracks and if i
released them all under Tiësto people would
think that it's too much. And it's also because I
work with other artists, if I do a track with
Armin, I can't call it Tiësto because it's
Tiësto and Armin.
We
got alot of questions about if you will play in
USA in the future?
- Hehe, It's because the MP3 is there. That's
great I'm setting up a tour for next year in
march, I'm gonna tour with BT (Brian Transeau).
Any
tour in Sweden or the nordic countries?
- I would love to come back here, because
yesterday I really had a good time (Docklands,
Stockholm, Sweden 30th of September 2000).
One
more question from the visitors of trance.nu,
will you release all your magikal remakes on one
album? - I'm not sure
because its all different companies and it's
really hard to get the rights from a major
company, they never give you the right to use the
track.
Magikal
remakes, is there some special way of remixing
them because they're very unlike the original
mixes? - I call it
magikal remakes because the word remix is so used
and I didn't want to use it and magikal because
they call me the magic man (laugh), the magician
from Holland.
Here's
one question from one of Swedens most famous
radio-DJs. He's wondering which one of the
following DJs you would like mostly to co-operate
with: Paul Oakenfold, Mauro Picotto or Judge
Jules? - Paul
Oakenfold. He's got a lot of experience and
feeling so he knows how to read the crowd.
So
you actually read the crowd and play by heart or
do you have a playlist?
- No, I just start off with some songs and try to
feel the energy in the crowd and then I test some
things. If I go too hard I try to soften it down
and if it's to soft I try to get it harder.
Did
you start out as a DJ or musicproducer?
- I started out as a DJ.
Which
song that you have made is best by your own
opinion? - It's still has
to be made I think. It can allways be better but
I really liked the first track from Gouryella,
it's really special.
Which
one of your remixes of other artists tracks are
you most satisfied with?
- I can clearly say that it's Delerium - Silence,
I really like it.
What's
the name of your first release ever?
- I think it's Allure with When She Left but I'm
not sure because it can also be Carlos -
Silmarillia that I made together with Piet
Bervoets, and he's also in Rank1 together with
Benno de Goeij. With the name Tiësto it was
Theme from Norefjell.
What
equipment did you use when you started making
your music? - I had a
sampler, a Roland DJ-70 and experimented with
sampling during my set. It was nice to start
with. And later on I started to build a studio.
How
do you do your compilation CDs? Do you do them
live on turntables or do you make them on a
computer? - I do them
live, all of my mixes are mixed in one take
because I think that's the way to really put the
feeling into it. Because if you hear like the
Global Underground CDs it sounds so technical and
you miss the feeling I think.
Did
you use a playlist for Magik 6 - Live in
Amsterdam? - Yeah, I used a
playlist because when you sell the CD you have to
have promission to record the tracks before you
use them so when I recorded it I knew which track
that was going to be next. I'm very happy with
the result because I took a really big risk
recording it live in Amsterdam.
When
was Black Hole Recordings founded?
- It was in November 1997 I think. I tried to
start my own label at Basic Beat Recordings but
they didn't want me to start my own label so
decided to start on my own. So Black Hole
recordings is my own company together with Arny
Bink.
Do
you meet up with Armin, Corsten and others or do
you just meet them in business?
- At the moment we are so busy but maybe when we
are retired. *laugh*.
Will
you play in Sweden soon again?
- I don't have a booking but I'm really up for it
because I really like it. Arrange me a good party
and I'll come.
How
are the plans for the future?
- Next year I want to conquer England, that's my
big target. It's going pretty well there and I
got a lot of bookings so I'll work hard there and
then I'm going to the tour in The States. Finish
my album, keep fresh and try to do new things to
keep the trancescene going because at the moment
there's many artists taking advantage of the
music and try to make alot of money on it.
What
do you think of Darude - Sandstorm, do you like
it or not? - Well actually
I do like the song but I don't see it as a
trancesong. It's just a commercial, it's nice to
hear when you're in a pub drinking beer.
Do
you work as a DJ on fulltime or do you have
something at the side?
- I've got alot of things. I'm DJ'ing ofcourse, I
produce records, I have my recordcompany which I
work for and I have the store so that's pretty
much.
What
do you think about the future of trance, how do
you think it will develope and spread all over
the world? - The trance is
already big all over the world, right here in
sweden the scene is fresh and still growing which
is something to be proud over because in some
countries trance is dead. Nothing new is
happening. I think in the future trance will
develope and become a little deeper and get back
to the beginning.
What
do you think about the extended use of drugs in
the tranceculture, or that the trancemusic is
related with drugs.
- It's not really true, I mean you see drugs
everywhere. If you go to a popconcert or so, it's
on all scenes but you see it more on people on
the trancescene. I think the trancemusic is the
only music you can listen to without taking
drugs. You can really feel the emotions in it.
You can get on another level without the drugs.
If you listen to techno, it so monotone so then
you really would need drugs to enjoy it. ••
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