DJmag catches up with the electro crowd-pleaser in Ibiza
DJmag grabbed a choice few minutes with crowd-pleasing electro producer D.O.N.S just as he stepped off the decks at Space Ibiza. We get to grips with the art of the dance music cover version, Ibiza, charities and the changing face of house music…
You have just played your first set at Space, Ibiza. How did it go?
It was a lot of fun! I played the terrace and the vibe was incredible. Space for me is the place to be when you come to Ibiza so it was a real honour being invited to perform at the club.
Is this typical of a D.O.N.S. club set?
Style wise my music sits between progressive and tech house although I have no prepared set list; I always just catch up on the vibe of the club and the crowd. That´s why I like to be in the club at least an hour before my set starts. This way I can decide spontaneously how I am going to start and in which direction I want to take it. Picking up the response from the crowd and feeling the music is the best way to fit my music accordingly. This way I am not getting frustrated at what to play; I find pre-planning a set can throw up some negative issues especially if the music/vibe before your set doesn't quite match. Instead I prefer the excitement of leaving the options wide open and working it out on the night.
You are – along with Paul Lomax – mixing the latest edition of the In Bed With Space series. Are you pleased with how the mix turned out?
Mix CDs are always a bit special. From the time you decided the track listing to finally know which tracks you can use, the mix down and the release date, months are passing and finally I feel I am releasing a kind of dated mix. That´s why I squeezed in some tracks at the last minute while, actually while I was doing the mix. I felt much better and I am happy with the final result.
You have become famous for your big room makeovers of classic tracks. How do you go about remaking a classic without discrediting the original?
Well as I only pick songs which I love my first intention is to respect the original recording and try to bring it to today's sound without slaughtering it. At the same time I want to bring it together with my typical sound and find a way to make it work. If you listen to my latest singles 'Pump Up The Jam', 'Big Fun', 'The Nighttrain' or 'You Used To Hold Me' I kept the most essential elements and vocals and just made it suitable for a more modern club sound. A real challenge was 'Somebody Else's Guy' from Jocelyn Brown. Very slow original and her voice sounded absolutely perfect the way it was recorded. So to bring it up to 125BPM without killing it was really difficult but I am really happy with the end result as I think it works now.
And how do you work differently when working on an original track rather than a remake / remix?
When doing a remix or remake you always have a foundation to start with. On one side it makes it a bit easier as you have the basic idea but on the other side it can also be a limitation for your own ideas. Working on one of my own tracks leaves all the options open which is great but it can also lead to a never ending production process, as I keep thinking I can do it better and I don't stop until I am 100% happy with the results. Time wise a remix or a remake works faster for me than one of my own productions. I am actually just working on several new tracks of my own material and the studio time spent on each is already considerably more than my recent remixes.
House seems to be going through a really strong time again. Vocals and fun are returning to the music after a minimal spell. Have you noticed this when DJing around the world? Has your sound changed?
Actually two years ago I stated in an interview that funky and vocal house will come back. I predicted it for last year though and some people mentioned that I was wrong, well I missed out on one year which is still a good prediction even though the sound changes fast. I still feel that it always depends on the clubs and events you play at and in which country you are in. I actually became much more progressive and techy in my sets, not minimal, as I felt that everything became too commercial. There´s nothing bad about commercial music or let's say the big anthems except that it is not very challenging for the DJ; instead it´s more delivering a certain quality to your audience. You can't go wrong in playing big records even though some exceptions occur and you would get killed playing two year old hit records throughout your set. I do play commercial sets, especially when I perform together 'live' with Terri B. and I enjoy it but as a DJ I prefer to play more my sound, try new things and make it work. This is why I rarely play "Big Fun" anymore even though I still love the record. It just doesn't necessarily fit the sound of my current style and set structure. If it´s a commercial club I do still play it from time to time. For me the DJ should be a purveyor of new music and not take the easy option of big track after big track, unless of course it's an anthems party.
You are an ambassador for Dance For Life. How did you come to be involved with this worthy cause?
The connection to Dance4Life came along via my management and my press agent. I was always very interested in the ethos behind Dance4Life. Music is a great way of creating unity and, although it is a bit of a cliché, music is also a powerful tool as a universal language. So the concept of support the fight against HIV/AIDS while you´re dancing and having a good time listening to great DJs is something that struck a chord with me. I have always had the desire to combine my passion for music with a way of supporting charitable causes and in Dance4Life there is the perfect solution and opportunity for me, and many others, to do this on an international level. Something I am truly proud to be a part of.
Can you tell us a little bit about the work you do for them?
Our first encounter work wise was at this year's WMC in Miami. I played at the Dance4Life event at the Living Room in Miami and started to talk to Wessel, who manages the global events for the charity. We stayed in contact and some weeks later I was asked if I´d like to be an ambassador, something I agreed to without a moment's hesitation. Since that time I have played for their events, produced an exclusive track and there are much more plans to support Dance4Life projects. We have also scheduled single releases together with my label. To kick things off I just signed Jesse Voorn, another strong supporter and ambassador of Dance4Life, and my latest single will be in cooperation with Big City Beats and Dance4Life; of which a share of the income will of course be donated back to the charity.
What else are you working on at the moment?
My new single D.O.N.S. vs. Jocelyn Brown 'Somebody Elses Guy 2009' has just been released. I did an exclusive production for Danc4Life called D.O.N.S. ft. Luke Parkin & Moira 'Breath Into Me' which will be a full single release in cooperation with Dance4Life and my own imprint Kingdom Kome. I am working on quite a few remix projects right now for the likes of Toolroom Records, Milk & Sugar, The Real McCoy. I just finished remixes for DJ Chuckie 'Aftershock', DJ Sidekick 'Deep Fear' and Marco Petralia 'Breaking All The Rules'. Besides these I have just finalised another single which is a cover version of one of the most played songs right now, 'The Earth Song' by the sadly now deceased Michael Jackson. In cooperation with Big City Beats and again Dance4Life the release will take place shortly. Terri B and I wrote a single together which is due after the summer and I am redoing my first D.O.N.S. single 'Drop The Gun' which will be pretty deep and proggy number. All these releases will lead to my first album around the end of the year beginning of next year. And if that wasn't enough to keep me busy I am also grooming a new and exciting DJ project which I will be in charge of the management and production behind them.
DJmag.com: Interview With D.O.N.S.
