You might think of Paul Van Dyk as a celebrity DJ, but he’s likely to disagree.
The EDM producer, who is back in Dubai for a February 27 appearance at Zero Gravity, Skydive Dubai, has been building a name for himself since the ‘90s and was ranked No. 1 DJ of all time by DJ Mag in 2013. But despite his mainstream success, he told tabloid! fame is all about perception.
“It was the audiences and the press that cyclically gave rise to the ‘superstar’ or the ‘celebrity’ DJ. When I started DJing, all my contemporaries and I only thought about listening to good, exciting, new music, sourcing that music and playing that music for other people to dance to,” he said. “That’s all I am interested in.”
Read more of what he had to say about sticking to his roots, thinking outside of the box and why the media doesn’t always get it right.
Last year, you were named No. 1 DJ of all time by DJ Mag, a huge responsibility! How do you feel, holding that title?
This was definitely nice to read, but I am not so much into these polls, charts and ranking systems as they are only ever going to tell part of the story. There are a lot of great guys out there and many of them have their achievements in electronic music. If one has their own style and a specific idea of his music, how can you classify all of them in one system?
When you started out in the ‘90s, you helped usher in this new era of celebrity DJs that has continued on until today. How do you feel about the industry as someone who’s watched it grow?
The DJ was the nameless person who sat in the corner; all anybody in that place was focused on or thinking about was the music. Most DJs at the time were more than happy with that. It was when DJs began making music (or producers made music and started to DJ) that whole thing began. When that music went onto the radio, club goers and the media started to become much more interested in the face behind the track. I think that some have exploited/marketed that to quite a degree, sometimes to excess, as was always going to happen, but it is what it is.
Why do you think EDM (electronic dance music) is a more apt description of your style than trance music?
It’s the most wholesale accurate. Genres are created by pioneers. Sub-genres tend to be created by music fans and the magazines. Trance is one genre of electronic music, and it was always the press and journalists who sorted me in that column.
As soon as a producer makes a track that is not purely trance and more creative — say he produces something with a break-beat drum pattern as opposed to a 4/4 one — he or she cannot be as clearly, cleanly described as ‘trance’ (or ‘house’, or ‘techno’ or whatever). I’ve been producing tracks outside the established definition of trance for well over a decade. I’m immensely proud of all these as I have always tried to bring over my idea of advanced electronic music.
What are you currently working on?
I am about to finish my new album, The Politics of Dancing 3, and the release of that will be one of my priorities this year, as well as a very exciting touring schedule.
Early Bird tickets are now available via Platinumlist.ae and cost Dh180. Tickets at the door will cost Dh250.
