A scene can be created when people are coming together. Either to shop or to hang out.
For me nightlife is like everyday life's mirror.
Of course I knew disco and dub from years before but I never heard such a radical new sound like house. It blew my mind!
Holland is very good at avant garde, probably due to the Dutch character. Good at design. Experimentation sometimes works here very well.
Amsterdam is not Holland. It is a city that attracts people from all over Holland. And lots of international tourists and party people.
In nightlife you can become a star, while in the daytime you can just be a nobody.
I was born in Belgium and moved to Amsterdam when I was 17. I am not a Calvinist Dutchman but a Catholic Belgian. I think that makes a big difference.
Even nowadays some people see me as a "vreemde eend in de bijt" [translated literally as the strange duck in the pond. In other words, an outsider].
I remember a discussion with a panel of experts, I asked a question to one of the moderators: "Why is it so difficult for a foreign DJ to play in a club in London?" And you know what the guy said? "Get better than the English."
When you hear the music of these celebrated Dutch superstar-DJs nowadays... my God, I wouldn't even feed their music to my dog. I don't consider that to be my sort of dance music.
The latest trend seems to be these DJs doing pre-recorded sets, in perfect pitch with the lights & acts on stage. Everything is centred around the action from the stage. It doesn't even demand action coming from the crowd! Passive consumerism or something. Mayhem with an overwhelming sound that isn't actually good music. More like diarrhoea.
I don't like cliques. I used to go out a lot in London with friends. And London can be very cliquey. I mean if you don't belong to one set you don't go to a particular party.
Don't forget that at the end of the 70s people were much more into wild experimentation and hedonistic adventures. There was not really a fear of sexual diseases like HIV or aids back then, all that came later.
Dance music is one of the biggest export products in the Dutch economy these days.
Sometimes I happen to be the right guy in the right spot at the right moment.
I like to move. Because that's where the action comes from.
I probably am very sensitive for energies that come together at the right moment. And that energy, I like to transform it into a party or a club. Something that becomes real.
Fun is the main thing. Because fun helps you transmit your message. You can only do that - transmit - when people are receptive.
People are receptive in the best way when they are together enjoying themselves in a club; with others who are on the same wavelength. Then the experience becomes a very creative and spiritual thing.
That has always been my biggest ambition. To bring people together. To achieve a family spirit. Because then, you can actually do anything, because people are open to what they feel is real.
If you can make something genuine, then the ground is fertile for introducing something new. And that happened a few times in my life where I could sow the seeds and see something grow out of it.
That's the main thing. People have to feel it's real. If they feel there's something commercial or some fake thing behind it, then the feeling is definitely different.
In nightlife you can do anything you want, because that is the fantasy life, the opposite of your daily life. Everything - except violence - is tolerated. And that is why it is so surrealistic in a way.
When you go to a club you can talk intimately to strangers you have never met before. And they will tell you things that will be shocking to hear. Because, on the whole, people behave honestly in this situation. At the same time they can be very false.
In your daytime life you have to be more strict.
