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| Daniel Wanrooy Interview |
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I am very sure that his name has caught your attention as he is lately on the list of many well known DJ’s for his fantastic productions and remixes. The essential highlights for him was his releases as Progression and Odyssey, his support appearances with the number 1 DJ of the globe, Tiesto, all over the world. Last year, he was the lucky one that the Black Hole crew picked to mix the fantastic legendary compilation, 'In Trance We Trust Volume 14'. 2010 started with a BIG BANG for him with his highly successful single 'Pretoria', and of course, the announcement that he was voted from the trance.nu web site community, as the DJ that they want to see performing in this year’s Trance Energy festival, in Utrecht.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that we wanted so much, to have an interview with him, and I felt very happy when he agreed to do it. I believe that is very different from anything that you may have read before, so certainly worth your time.
Interview is conducted by Dimitri Kechagias “Flux BPM on the Move”
Dimitri: First of all, I would love to thank you for accepting the request to do this interview, and I believe it will be great to go back to your teenage years and let us know the kind of music you were listening back in your high school years. Under which circumstances did you discover your attraction to EDM music?
Daniel: Kalimera!
 More than welcome. I used to listen to the pop music of course, things we call now 80's and 90's. Besides that the hardcore and gabber was really popular in Holland, and yes, I also liked it back then. I also had some tapes with Trance music. The local snack bar sold these. I was pretty unknown but I looooved it! I nagged the guy each day if he had new tapes already from then... Once a while I ordered a snack as well to keep him as a friend. Back then I started producing and I tried to make the music I fell in love with. Dimitri: You are very lucky to work in a European country that sets the trends in dance music with hardcore back in the days, and with trance and even house nowadays. Do you feel that your origin and place of residence, influenced in a way your career, and Holland and opened up more possibilities for you, or doesn’t it matter for an artist, where they come from?
Daniel: hmm that’s a hard question... Of course it didn’t work against me, but I think good music will always be heard eventually, if you dare to come out with it. I am certain there are a lot of great producers out there who never released a track, because they didn't send anything to a label yet. Look at Orjan Nilsen for example, he lives in the top of Norway. Up there are more reindeer than people. But he still managed to get his name out there and play all over the world. Respect! The world became a “small” place with internet.
Dimitri: Please list for us, your Top 5 producers/DJ’s/Artists/Composers, that have influenced your current sound. Please add a comment why you believe their impact was so important for you.
Daniel : In random order.
Tiësto: This guy is an amazing person and he helped me so much in the past. It’s such a great feeling to have a superstar that believes in you. I felt like: I am the kingggg offfffff theeeeeeee wooooooooorlddddddd.
Royksopp: Great music, always different, always something new, they are a lot of inspiration to me.
Sander van Doorn: Kick ass tracks and he seems to be a really nice guy!
Michael Jackson: So great what he all did… I realized this too late when he was gone unfortunately. Normally he was just there with all great hits. He certainly was the king of pop!
Bjork: she is………… different! But in a great way.
Dimitri: With your fellow friend & producer Robin van de Wiel, you had the so successful project' Progression' and if I'm not mistaken 'Odyssee' as well. Many still consider your tracks and the albums as examples of the highest quality progressive Trance music. Can you let us know any stories that you may remember from the days of those projects. Also, if we are going to see in the future, those two projects resurrected, and fully functiona,l with brand new material? What is happening with Robin? Is he still producing EDM tracks?
Daniel: Yeah, Progression and Odyssee we did together! Thanks for the kind words! Unfortunately it didn’t work out as it did in the early days of these 2 aliases. In the beginning we were both fanatic and worked our ass of to make music and let the music hear our music. Tiësto loved it and picked it up and supported us big-time and we appeared on the In Search Of Sunrise compilations for 4 times. Tiësto took us for his support act on the “ISOS5”tour through Europe. After that things changed rapidly to be honest. Let’s say that we were not the team anymore we used to be, which resulted I did most of the work. I didn’t want it that way… or we work as a team, or not. We are still in touch through email once a while, and I really wish him all the best. I don’t think he does much in the studio nowadays.
Daniel: Yeah, I work really close with Black Hole Recordings. We built up a great relationship with Progression of course, since we work together for ages. Again in random order: I really like to play my recent track “Pretoria”, that one always works well! Furthermore I always like to play some of the Progression/Odyssee “classics”, like “Evolution” for example. Besides these 2 I always love to play “B52”, that I made with Rene Havelaar and is released on Reset, by Spinnin’ Records. People mostly like the harder stuff later on the night. It all depends on the timeslot.
Dimitri: Your latest 'In Trance We Trust' compilation, was very well received from the Trance community. Did you feel honoured when the Black Hole crew asked you to provide the mix for it? Was this a difficult process, to compile all the tracks, and then to find the right running order for them?
Daniel: Hell yes! I was in the clouds!! It has been an amazing gesture that they allowed me to do it. It’s a really well respected series. I look at it each day as I walk to the kitchen as it is in my showcase. The first thing I did when I heard I could do the compilation was write all my colleagues and friends if they wanted to produce something exclusive for it. A lot of them did, which was great! Of course I wanted some of my own work on it either, and I wanted a vocal track with Melissa Mathes. That became the openings track of the CD. And the rest of the tracks I took from the Black Hole catalogue. I thought a lot about the build up for the CD. I took it a few times while jogging in the park, so I could have a clear listen, while my head was totally empty. I never made it that far again! Haha
Dimitri: Did you have in your mind a particular target audience for this project, or did you let your imagination and creativity go free, to do what you know best?
Daniel: I think both! Can I choose for both, or is it multiple choice?
 Anyway, of course people expect the latest hot trance related tunes on it, so I tried to give them these. It’s always something special if there are exclusive tracks on it, which they don’t know yet. But Black Hole let me totally free with my choices. I found some of the tracks myself and they got signed later at Black Hole because of that. Like the Space Rockerz track, Leon Bolier’s track and Amex’ remix for example.Dimitri: The next question is about the rumours of a solo album. Are you going to come up with a Daniel Wanrooy album, and when this is planned and on which label?
Daniel: Besides full of shit I am always full of plans and I really feel like doing this in the future. But I will wait till a label asks me… They know best when they feel like the time is ripe for it. But I am up for it for sure. Your own album is something special. It’s like giving a bit of your soul away… I will keep on working hard and I am quite sure it will happen sooner or later. When I know more I will twitter it on my facebook Myspace dancebook website pages…. Or something… you will find out anyway!
Dimitri: Lately, you have releases on Black Hole, Spinnin and also High Contrast. 3 of the most internationally recognised EDM labels. Do you think that an artist should stay exclusive to a particular label, or do you like that idea of working for different labels? Also, your tracks for these 3 labels have a different sound texture. Does that make them more suitable for a particular label?
Daniel: Good question!! In my opinion it’s better working with a few good labels. At least with me it works pretty good, my music reaches more people in this way, because all labels have different supporters. I think the overall sound of the labels is the same, and they have all sub labels as well, for different styles. But of course it is always a matter of taste. I never offer a track at one of the three after it is rejected by another label. If it is “no” then it is no. In that case I will keep the track for in my sets or listen it 5000 times in the car.
Dimitri: For many remixes, and for the track Buzz, you teamed up with DJ Mark Green. How did this co-operation come about, and do you feel happy to work together on a track?
Daniel: No, I hate working with him, but he threatens me… haha. No, he is a friend for a long time. I know him from even before I started Progression with Robin. I think the first idea came up after a night with many booze, like: “heeey dude, we zzzzhould goo in zeee studio togezzer!” We work in the studio together one night a week, mostly on Tuesdays. Sometimes with a deadline coming up we pick another day as well. Besides good results we have great fun!
Dimitri: From back in the days that you started producing, till nowadays, what things have changed in your studio that you produce your music. Did you move completely to digital production or you have fun using and analogue kit? Your favourite piece of software and hardware or musical equipment and why?
Daniel: A lot of things changed. Especially after Robin and I decided to split up with Progression. I started a looooong time ago with the first tracker programs, there you were able to create sounds in 4 tracks. Not much more, but I loved to mess around with it. In 2000 or something I discovered Reason. Every Progression and Odyssee track is produced with Reason. Even the whole album is. After the album I switched to Ableton, I still work with that now. It works great to me. Over 1 year ago I bought my Virus TI2, that’s my favourite piece of hardware and I use it in almost each track, and if not she is just there to blink with her sweet lights to me. My favourite piece of software is Ableton.
Dimitri: The international popularity of the trance sound, has found many young producers trying to buy equipment and start doing their own tracks, and that can only be a good creative thing. What kind of advice you can pass on to any aspiring producers, from the time of production, untill sending the demo on a label, and attracting the attention of the A&R people, (who usually are fed up with the huge amount of tracks that they receive)?
Daniel: I would advise to listen good to other tracks that you love yourself. Don’t copy tracks, but listen what they do. In the beginning that will be a great help. And never give up! I have heard a billion times “no” in my career so far, that was pretty frustrating in the beginning. If I made a track in the past and I thought “yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah this is IT!”, and I showed it to a label, most of the times it was: “Ok track, but not for us”. That was disappointing, but a few weeks later I realized they were right after all. The next advice I can give: Be patient. Don’t start to annoy a label and ask them if they listen already after a few hours you sent it. Wait two weeks or so and send them a friendly reminder. They have more things to do.
The last advice I can give is if you send your demo via email. Be clear. Say short who you are and why you choose this label to send it to. Never send your track as attachment in the email, but upload it somewhere and send a link. Be always sure you don’t name your track “Track1.mp3” for example, but give it a good name with artist and title. Otherwise they will not find it back, and they will not answer you. But most important of course is creating good music first. Good luck!!
Dimitri: Let us know move on to your DJ career, which has slowly grown, with the highlight being that the trance.nu online community voted for you to appear on their stage in the Trance Energy event. First, tell us what you felt, when you learned the news, and then tell us any of your best experiences at past Trance Energy festivals. As a Trance lover yourself, did you visit the event every year, and why do you think it stays so popular after so many years?
Daniel: Trance.nu gave me an amazing opportunity! I know this could be a big step for me so I tried to promote it the best I could. It was overwhelming what people did for me. Facebook groups where made by people to vote for me. From all parts of the world people supported me and voted. It was awesome!! Again: Thank you!! When I heard I was in, I couldn’t tell it until it was announced on the Trance.nu site…. That was hard. It felt like shouting in the Sahara. I was cheering inside but I just couldn’t express it.
I have been to many editions. Every year it is great again! Especially watching the main stage from the VIP deck is special. I experienced goose bumps on place I didn’t know it was possible to get them there… I won’t go into details! I think it stays popular because they do something else each year, new line-up, new names, and because it is international. People come from Australia for this event!
Dimitri: You were honoured to support Tiesto, in his various performances all around the globe. Was this a fun thing to do, and what kind of knowledge did you get from this warm up for Tiesto?
Daniel: It was AMAZING! Of course I know the people come for Tiësto, we were very aware of that, but we always got amazing response. Our own tracks where pretty know already because we were on 2 of the ISOS compilations. But after the support acts I noticed people talking a lot about us on the forums, and mostly good things, which felt great. I remember in Athens, when we came in the hall, I have been told it was the old airport of Athens. We had to start at 10, but when we came in at 9.30 the hall was full already. That was strange… They promoter picked us up from the dressing room around 9.45 and told us we had to start now because the people got a little impatient. When we put on our first track, the place exploded!!!
Dimitri: It will be great if you would like to give us a comment about the Tiesto decision to start his own label, and move away from his Black Hole labels? Was this a big surprise for you, or something that expected to happen as his career grew so much on a global scale. What is your feeling about his Kaleidoscope album?
Daniel: From his side I can definitely understand he was ready for a next step in his career. It sounds insane, but he plays for years after years for full stadiums, halls, and clubs. It doesn’t seem like that, but even that can get normal I guess. He was ready for something even bigger and he tried to conquer (in a good way, don’t want the FBI to wake me in the middle of the night) the USA as a pop/trance artist. I liked some tracks of it, but it’s too poppy to me, not what I expected. I liked his older albums better to be honest.
Daniel: Haha, I am a DJ/Dietist/Producer, you know. Hmmm, tough one. It’s hard to say to be honest. I have had great parties with less sound systems and “ok” parties with amazing sound systems. It’s more important to me that the crowd is amazing and that we all have a great time. Of course there are always places you play for the honour, I think Trance Energy for example is one of them most of DJ’s would do for free.
Dimitri: One of the strong feelings about you, is that you should be in the DJ Mag TOP 100 list, and that when its out in 2010, I believe that you will get a place on this list, because you simply deserve it! I wonder, what is your honest opinion about this list, and do you think that is about DJ'ing, or production abilities, or both?
Daniel: Well thanks for that in the first place. I really hope so! I think the list became a little too important last couple years. With internet everyone is able to reach a huge amount of fans and other people, so the spam is each year insane. But, at the other hand, you have to join it of course. I will definitely go for it to become one of the 100 “lucky” ones this year.
I think it is about both abilities. A lot of people know me from my productions that voted for me last year, and others have seen me playing somewhere and remember me with while voting. But still, only 100 worldwide will be in that list… so it’s a pretty long way to go!
Dimitri: Nowadays, everybody communicates with the internet, and is part of my space, facebook or lately Dancebook. What are your thoughts about the interaction between people who share the same interests through the internet, particularly music producers, and I wonder if you have ever done a naughty meeting with a person that you met in a chat room in the web?
Daniel: Whahaha, concerning the last question, none besides you Dimitri, don’t be always that jealous!
It’s really cool to meet people with the same thoughts and the same passion! The only thing is that there is just a little too much to join lately. I rather spend my time at the music… not for updating my pages all day long  Dimitri: The final question is about your future plans and releases. Give us a small preview of your tracks that have been confirmed to get a release within 2010 and in which labels along with a small comment about them…
Daniel: I signed a new track to Black Hole Recordings, that’s a really nice uplifting Trancer, the release date is not set for this one yet. The name will be “Daniel Wanrooy – Endless Memories”.
I signed a collab with Rene Havelaar at Spinnin’ Records. We made 2 versions of that track, a dark one and a lighter trance version. Will be released in April.
Another collab with Mr. Havelaar I did is signed to High Contrast, that track is called “Moonpatrol”. This is an uplifting 99-style Trancer in a 2010 jacket. This will be released close to Trance Energy. And I might play it there
I also did a lot of remixes lately. I am currently finishing my remix for Lange Recordings. I just finished a remix for the “Thrillseekers” which will be released the end of March at Armada. And out now will be a remix I did with Mark Green for “The Crystal Method”. Which became really nice imo.
Dimitri: Many thanks for your time and please give us your message to our web site visitors.
Daniel: Thank you all for the overwhelming support and I hope to see you soon at a great party!
For any additional info:
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Interview with the highly successful DJ and artist Daniel Wanrooy
Dimitri: The last years, you have a continuous stream of very big club anthems on Black Hole recordings, that as it seems, you are also the favourite to remix many tracks also. From the tracks released so far, which are the Top 3 that you love personally, and you see your crowd reacting really warm-hearted to? Please tell us the reason why you like them.
Dimitri: As a solo DJ, you have passed through the best clubs and festivals worldwide, rocking the dance floors and making many lose weight from the intense dancing! In which country, did you have your best ever performance, because of good sound system, professional promoters, and of course good crowd. Are there any countries that you would love to perform as a DJ, and you would do even for free, just for the experience?
