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Armin van Buuren - the brightest star of trance
Of the biggest three names in trance, only Arm in van Buuren still seems comfortable calling himself a trance DJ. Just don't accuse him of plagiarism...
Of the biggest three names in trance, only Arm in van Buuren still seems comfortable calling himself a trance DJ. Just don't accuse him of plagiarism...
With a law degree under his belt Armin van Buuren is clearly a clever chap. The listening figures to his weekly A State Of Trance radio show are pretty smart too -30m at the last count Like Ferry Corsten and Tiesto, It was sell-out one-man stadium shows In his native Holland, along with over a decade of sterling production under his belt, that cemented his position as a headline DJ. Tonight we find him at ZoukOut - Asia's biggest and most esteemed beach party, with 30,000 baying Singaporeans (and Malaysians, Brits...) all turning out to see him. Armin's such a fan this Is the third time he's headlined the event In the nine years it's been running.
Interviewer: Where are we and what are we doing here?
Armin van Buuren: We are on Sentosa Island in Singapore. It’s the most important day for dance music In Asia* as this is the region's biggest outdoor electronic music festival ZoukOut If s so big, it pre-sold twenty thousand tickets.
Interviewer: ZoukOut is the offshoot festival from Zouk nightclub. Why is Zouk such a landmark club?
Armin van Buuren: It’s been the Asia stop for every single DJ for over 15 years. Lincoln Cheng Is the owner and I really wish all promoters would look to him as an example. Some clubs will do well for a year .then they drop down because they take the success for granted. Lincoln constantly shuts down his club and remodels it. That shows you he's not thinking about the money first
Interviewer: How did you hear about Zouk?
Armin van Buuren: I first played there in 2002 and since then I've made a stop there every year. Zouk in Singapore has always been strong when I played there for the first time it had already been going for 15 years.
Interviewer: How would you describe the Singaporean crowd?
Armin van Buuren: Singapore's crowds are very cosmopolitan, very international. They know what's going on in Europe and America.
Interviewer: This Is the third time you've headlined —what was it like the first year?
Armin van Buuren: I was sitting here with Sven Vath - who invented trance, basically, but doesn't want to admit it — and [DMC scratch-master] DJ Cash Money. I was humbled. Technically Cash Money's a huge inspiration—you can't get away with that kind of turntablism with trance...
Interviewer: Have you ever given it a go?
Armin van Buuren: In 20041 had a period where I was playing acapellas on top of instrumental tunes, but people hated me for it.
Interviewer: Eddie Haliwell pulls it off though...
Armin van Buuren: Yeah, I love what Eddie does. Eddie makes it his signature thing. A lot of people ask me, what do I have to do to become a successful DJ7 and I say 'Don't copy people'. Find something you can entertain people with and don't copy any other DJ out there, as it won't raise the bar.
Interviewer: But there's a YouTube clip where someone lays out the case, saying your career has copied Tiesto's...
Armin van Buuren: Yeah, if s a little bit pathetic. Of course, I have a lot of respect for Tiesto, but some of the things were just overly looked for. Oakenfold invented this [adopts outstretched arms pose] so I think I may be copied Oakenfold more than Tiesto. I think we all look at each other. Some people tell me Marcus [Shultz] copies things from me. It’s OK if you copy things from people as long as you make it your own.
Interviewer: Clubbers are now wearing T-shirts with the full lyrics of your tracks on.
Have you spotted those?
Armin van Buuren: I've seen a couple and asked about them in the office. I never thought I'd reach a stage in my career where I could do that [Armin's company] Armada has grown to such a level that I don't always see everything that’s going on.
Interviewer: The themes in trance lyrics are all very samey. Could you 'sex them up' a bit?
Armin van Buuren: I don't think vocals should be the main things within trance. I think now people live off of vocals more than instrumental music, but trance is instrumental underground dance music, that’s what it is. Sometimes a vocal can spice it up a little bit, but I don't see a vocal as the main thing.
Interviewer: You're the biggest Dutchman on Twitter apparently. How?
Armin van Buuren: Am I? Ifs not a fair fight as I have a lot of international followers, and compared to the other Dutch people, fewer of their fans follow from abroad. Sometimes I think maybe it would be easier to just be big in Holland and only tour around Holland. It would be good for my jet-lag, but ifs great to play everywhere around the world and see so many great people.
Interviewer: Ibiza beckons. Will you be doing the same hook-up as last year, with Roger Sanchez?
Armin van Buuren: It looks like it Is the most successful ifs ever been. There are nights we had over four thousand people in, and I'm very proud of it. Ifs a lot harder now than ten years ago when the island was filled with people from Britain and now the Euro is really hurting Ibiza against the pound, so I really f hope that changes and the English come back next year.
Interviewer: What’s the dodgiest venue you've ever played at?
Armin van Buuren: At a gig in Tunisia on the beach there was a huge fight going on and people started throwing chairs at each other - not at me! Security guys rushed me off with screeching tyres.
Interviewer: Woah!
Armin van Buuren: One more thing I want to say about the copying Tiesto thing is that we all copy from each other. I was the first with the radio show; now everyone has a radio show, so I think its pretty useless pointing at people saying 'you copied this from that person' as we could go on and on for days about it
Interviewer: You got married this year -who DJd at your wedding?
Armin van Buuren: Ben Liebrant who is still my big inspiration. I copied him, I'll admit that! Also Maykel Piron, and my two best men—they played 90s classics.
Interviewer: You were born on the same day as Jesus. If you could have one of his skills which would it be: turning water into wine, curing lepers or walking on water?
Armin van Buuren: Curing lepers for sure. Yeah, for sure.
