While he was in Sydney today, I had the chance to chat to Armin Van Buuren ahead of his appearance at the Electronic Music Conference, and following a massive weekend of sets at the touring Stereosonic Festival. We talk about these events, look forward into the new year, reflect on his favourite new material, Australian trance music and much more…
How has Stereosonic been treating you?
Really amazing. You know I compared it to the Champions League final. I’ve gotten to play a bunch of amazing festivals this year, like Tomorrowworld, and playing Stereosonic is like playing the final. It’s like the super bowl for a DJ. This is what you do it for. It really doesn’t get bigger than this, honestly.
It’s been especially great because I had a hit record here (“This is What it Feels Like”), which went double platinum, and even though I’ve been coming to Austraila for years and years, this has made my job a little bit easier. It’s great to see it all come together. I just wish my set was longer!
How long are they giving you here?
Just about 85, 90 minutes. But I’ll be back in June for the Armin Only Insense shows, and I’ll be playing six hours minimum for those, depending on the venue restrictions.
What is it about the long sets that you enjoy so much?
For me, it’s the essence of of DJing. A lot of people know me as a Trance DJ, which is fine, but for me Trance is such a broad term. You can play anything from Deep Progressive even a little bit of Deep House all the way up to Hardstyle and everything in between. I like to take people on a journey. Surprise them, give them big and small moments, important moments. It’s a little bit like a Christmas dinner with Armin Van Buuren. A little bit of everything.
So how do you cram that dinner into a 90 minute set at Stereosonic?
Well you play the highlights. I don’t want to play 45 tracks in one hour. That seems to be a trend at the moment. But you do edit, you skip the second breakdown, that sort of thing to keep the crowds attention, which is a lot shorter at a festival than it might be at one of my own shows.
And I imagine “This is What it Feels Like” is an obligatory part of that set at the moment?
Yeah you kind of have to play it, even though I’ve heard it a million times – but it’s expected, and it’s a great festival moment. Everyone is singing along, it can be magical. But I do make sure to play some new stuff elsewhere in the set so it doesn’t get too boring or too predictable. But “This is What it Feels Like” is definitely a must.
So of the newer material, what’s exciting you at the moment?
There’s a song I’ve been working on that I’ve been testing out on the dance floor. I’m going to keep tweeking it but I’m enjoying that. I’ve also got this track called “Ping Pong” which I can’t tell you too much about yet but loving it. And I just released a new version of my latest record Intense which has two bonus tracks on it, and some re-edits. The two tracks are called “Save My Night” and “Don’t Want To Fight Love Away”. So that’s something for the fans, it’s something I play for the fans at the moment. And then there are the usual mash ups, the new outros and intros, that sort of thing.
And in addition to Stereo you’re going to be speaking at the Electronic Music Conference in Sydney this week – tomorrow in fact! What can we expect from you there?
Well I wasn’t sure at first if I was giving a keynote or not, but turns out it’s an interview so people will be asking be questions about radio, production, running a label and being a person in this industry… EDM is still a fairly new thing so there’s a lot of interest in that. I’m looking forward to it.
Stereosonic must give you a good chance to see and hear some Australian dance music and live artists, what are your thoughts on Australia’s EDM scene at the moment?
Well one guy in particular I’ve been a big supporter of is MaRLo, who is actually half dutch, half Australian (you can check out our interview of MaRLo at last year’s EMC HERE) and he’s signed to my label. And he’s now with the same management company as me, too. I think he’s extremely talented. An updated trance sound, a lot of energy. Really positive guy, really like what he’s doing.
And I’ve been working a lot with the Nervo Sisters of course, and they’ve just exploded all over the world. I did a track with them on my last album called “Turn This Love Around” which also featured Laura V. And another Australian artist Emma Hewitt featured on my last record too. So I actually work with quite a lot of Australians!
So you mentioned your label and all the artists you work with, how do you balance everything between the business side of things, the massive production of the shows and of course life on the road! I imagine you have a team around you now…
Yeah, it’s impossible to do everything yourself. So I have someone who helps me with my radio show. I still mix and present it myself, and overlook it all, but he does all the preselection and downloading and putting it all in one place, reads all the e-mails from the fans, sets up competitions and he goes to my shows. I tour with a team of five people, sound guy, AV guy, tour manager, light guy… you really want to give people and experience and you have to have the people there to help you do that, especially things like the visuals and specially timed effects like fireworks and Co2!
And something I’ve learnt over the years, too, is that when you’re successful, it’s a lot more fun to share that success with other people. It makes that much more rewarding. If you win an award by yourself that’s great, but with a team, that gives you so much more satisfaction.
So what are you up to the rest of today – will you get some time to explore the city?
Well I just went for a run around the Botanic Gardens, but I’ve actually rented a recording studio here, so I’m going to go work on some tracks after a quick shower!
You never stop do you!
Well, making music is what I do for a living… and more than anything I get a kick out of it! You never know when something beautiful is going to come out of it. Being creative is one of the reasons I live!
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The Electronic Music Conference kicks off in Sydney tomorrow morning, featuring a special interview with Van Burren. Tickets and details are available here: http://www.electronicmusicconference.com/. Stereosonic, meanwhile, featuring an anticipated set from Armin continues its jaunt around the country this weekend with two day events in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane. Tickets and details can be found at http://www.stereosonic.com.au/.
He will return to Australia for a much larger production with six hour sets in Melbourne on the 7th of June and Sydney on the 8th of June, as part of the Armin Only Intense world tour. More details can be found here: http://www.armadamusic.com/
