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Armin Interview: Transcript, mp3 Download, and Pictures
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Pictures Here
Ryne Tyme: This is Ryne Tyme of TranceSphere Radio. Its March 6th 2004, I’m here at the Wyndham Hotel, in downtown Cleveland, Ohio with Armin van Buuren, before his show at Metropolis. Armin, thank you for finding time in your busy schedule to sit down with me for this interview.
Armin van Buuren: No problem
Ryne Tyme: I think the hardest part about interviewing you is the fact that most fans know everything about you, you have a real dedicated following. So I’m going to try to focus on the future for the majority of this interview
Armin van Buuren: Okay
Ryne Tyme: You have a new album coming out, the end of this month, do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
Armin van Buuren: Well, it’s a compilation; it’s just to fill in the gaps between two albums, as I’m working on the second album which is due for February 2005. There are just a lot of good records out at the moment. And we set up Armada Recordings, you’ve probably heard about it, you probably know about it, Armada is my label, set up together with Maykel Piron, ex-head of A&R at Warner, and David Lewis my manager. And the label was so successful, the first week of sales for vinyls and stuff was so good, that we thought we could expand our horizon by doing a worldwide compilation CD. And we just, ya know, at Amsterdam last year we asked a couple partners, people we already did business with, like Ultra Records in America, and Sheer Music in South Africa, Balle in Spain, B&G in Holland, we asked them if they wanted to join in, and they immediately said yes. So we’re so enthusiastic about the idea of doing a world wide compilation thing. So actually it’s a pretty new compilation concept, because it has been done before, but not on this scale. I mean this CD will be released in over 11 countries on the same date which is a pretty big thing, it’s really exciting. I think doing a compilation is harder than doing an artist album at some points because whenever you make a compilation it’s like a photograph of your favorite records at that moment. And now I mixed the compilation a month ago, no, more than a month ago, and for me, my set is already renewed and this comp still has to come out. But I’m sure that almost half the tracks haven’t even been released yet, but you want the compilation to be perfect and I did compilations in the past, but I’m really proud of this one. The first CD is like a photograph of my sets, and the second is more like a chill, sort of progressive, mellow kind of CD. The record companies are really enthusiastic about it, pre-sales are good, people are already ordering off the Internet, it’s not even out. Actually you could already order it off the Internet before it was even mixed yet. I thought of a name on Thursday or something and that following Tuesday on Amazon you could pre-order it with the name I just thought of. It’s weird, but it’s really exciting, I’ll be touring for the CD all over the world. It’s great to do a double compilation.
Ryne Tyme: That’s coming out March 22, in the States?
Armin van Buuren: The compilation? March 23.
Ryne Tyme: Oh March 23, okay, we’ll make sure to look for that. Next up is about the productions from Armada, I mean they’ve been on fire lately. This month you have Robert Nickson – Spiral, Firewall – Kilimanjaro, and Mark Otten – Tranquility are getting released. What do you personally have coming up, as far as production releases, in the near future?
Armin van Buuren: Blue fear will be released as the last single from the album, and then the album is finished. I’ve got a project running with M.I.K.E. the Belgium producer; we did one side, its kind of a pretty hard track. So we are in the studio next week again, I think, and we’re producing the B side or A side, I don’t know. And from that point on it will be quiet because I want to focus on my second album. So no compilations, no new tracks, until 2005, I know it’s a long wait, but to help the people get over that period I am thinking about releasing the first single very soon. It is already finished but I can’t tell anything about it yet; management thinks, well, my hands are tied. I don’t know, I am really happy with the way things are going right now, I feel really free, I don’t feel the pressure I would expect you would feel at this level. I mean being voted at #3 obviously brings a certain level of stress and pressure. But I think with ASOT, my radio show, the following I have, the sets I’ve built, compilations, my album, I am pretty sure what I want in the future. And it’s not necessarily your average trance records; you can really feel a development in the market at the moment. A lot of people move away from the big break trance to the more kind of progressive, melodic kind of stuff, which is only natural and I think it is really good. So, we are really focusing on that with Armada as well at the moment; I just started a new label called Electronic Elements. We are releasing more of the left side, more progressive, deep kind of trance productions, its still trance, but the new 2004 sound.
Ryne Tyme: You said about a dead period, any chance you’ll do a DVD release like Tiesto did?
Armin van Buuren: Actually we’re shooting, we’re making stock for that right now. See if I want to do a DVD I want to do it proper, I mean what Tiesto did with Tiesto in concert, I can not just do that. He is so popular all around the world, and he deserves a lot of respect for what he’s done. A lot of people ask for an Armin in Concert and stuff, but I wasn’t feeling too sure about that.
(Waitress serving food)
Ryne Tyme: Next thing I wanted to comment on was the North American tour you have coming up in April; you’re hitting Atlanta, San Francisco, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal all in 11 days. (Actually, New York is also on this tour)
Armin van Buuren: Am I? Oh my god, they are making me work for my money.
Ryne Tyme: What do you expect to happen on this tour?
Armin van Buuren: Well, I feel like I just started to break the market really. So for me, a lot of places I will come back for a second time. I just hope, for me, the first two I did for 76 was, ya know, I was amazed that I sold out venues in Miami, in Boston, it was fantastic. The crowds that have shown up, the numbers have been really good, so I can only hope that the numbers will be the same. Apart from that, I will be promoting my new CD.
Ryne Tyme: What is your favorite track to drop right now? Like what really gets the crowd going?
Armin van Buuren: There is a lot actually. Obviously, Solid Globe – Sahara is doing really well, um, and Burned with Desire still rocks it. Yeah, I don’t know that track is a bit of a weird one, because I actually made it as a chill out tune for my album. Then Ultra Records wanted it to be a single, and I was a bit skeptical about it. Because I said, well, it’s a chill out tune, and making this a dance version, I don’t know. So I made the Rising Star mix in four hours. Right before my plane went.
Ryne Tyme: In four hours? That’s an amazing tune.
Kenneth Thomas: It is.
Armin van Buuren: By the way, all my biggest tracks are made in four hours. Really, it’s true, ask anybody else. All the biggest tracks are made in four hours.
Kenneth Thomas: Do you mind if I interject something? So do you basically do that by having a lot of elements that you work with constantly so you just kind of pick and pull the same kind of elements alter them slightly? Is that how you’re able to do, to bang out the tracks like that?
Armin van Buuren: Yeah I guess so. I mean you have days where you have, ya know, I call them sampling days. You just look for samples for the right sounds, you go from presets, alter them, stuff like that. And at the end of the day you do nothing, you just switch off the studio. You go downstairs and people as, “How was the day?” You say, “Blah blah blah, I didn’t make any music.” But actually that day is really important so you know your equipment and when you have to do something quickly you know what sounds inspired you, what presets you really liked, that’s the way to go forward.
Ryne Tyme: Incredible. You also just signed up for a residency at Air with Godskitchen right? How is that going in general, how do you enjoy your residency there
Armin van Buuren: Better than expected. Air is a bit of a funny club, its really nice, but I played there on half full nights and full nights. New year’s eve was really good and then two weeks later I had to play there again. So I was like, okay I played there New Year’s Eve and its now 16th of January and I have to play there again, and I didn’t think anyone would show up. I haven’t gotten any new records; beginning of January nobody is releasing any new records, so I didn’t know what would happen. And the 16th of January was equally good to New Year’s Eve.
Ryne Tyme: Got a big following there too? Doesn’t surprise me but, I’m surprised you still get surprised at big crowds.
Armin van Buuren: I just want to stick to what I do best, and pick a sound I believe in.
Kenneth Thomas: I think what might have happened with you particularly is there are a whole lot of other trance DJs that have been breaking into the US market for quite some time, and if I’m not mistaken you didn’t really break into some of the other US markets until just recently. People are kind of like antsy for their Armin fix. I mean the guys from Detroit, we got 30 some people that came from Detroit that drove four hours that have all seen you 2-3 times within the last four months, and they are still driving, getting hotels, paying for gas, paying for tickets, and coming, 20-30 of them.
Armin van Buuren: That is just amazing. I don’t want to think of that too long, that makes me go (moves hands to indicate a growing head). You get the superstar effect.
Kenneth Thomas: They are getting something you are giving out they are appreciating it
Armin van Buuren: The only thing I can not get used to is this superstar thing its just not …
Ryne Tyme: That “OMG Armin can I have your autograph?”
Armin van Buuren: I’m like well can I have yours in return? You should not say that, but I think I am just a regular guy, nothing special. I did my law degree, I had a bunch of friends we hang out stuff like that, and I started playing some records and all of a sudden boom your #3 in the world. I’m like, “My god what happened?” It feels like your living in this dream, like reading this boy’s book that keeps getting better and better. I get to go to the most exotic places; there is no job better. I do not want to be the president of the United States; I do not want to be a high placed chief of a big company or whatever. This is the life man, you get to see the whole word, you get to play for crowds, people love you, love what you do, okay you have a little bit of responsibility and a little bit of pressure but that’s life.
Ryne Tyme: My only question is how do you keep up with it? Godskitchen just signed you up for 50 global dates. You produce, you do a CD, you have your weekly show, you have this residency, do you sleep?
Armin van Buuren: Nope. It’s hard work. I don’t have a social life; I bring my social life on the trip. If I miss a friend I say hey will you come with me this weekend? That is kind of the downside. I have a lot of people I know all over the world, but not real friends but I don’t have times to visit them and share intimate things. I used to have a big group of friends, and I still see them and we still hang, out we’re still close but it is sometimes hard. Because I just don’t know them and we’re all sitting together and watching football or something. If I would have been home I would just sit there drink and make stupid jokes, dirty jokes, whatever. Doing stupid things, guy stuff, I don’t get to do the guy stuff anymore. It is either a or b, it is not a and b.
Ryne Tyme: You do get to go all over the world, what is your favorite venue, where do you really like to perform at
Armin van Buuren: That is a difficult question and I will tell you why and you may think it’s a political answer. Because, If I say a favorite venue then all the other venues would be offended. That is not the real reason. I mean I just played on a boat from Stockholm to Helsinki and there was about 400-500 people, small crowd but a big floor. I was playing a four hour set and the sun was coming up, this was 36 hours ago. The sun came up slowly and we were on the ocean and there was big chunks of ice because it’s so cold there. So you see this boat and I was playing on the main deck and the captain was on the floor above me so I could see from my DJ booth when I turned around I could see the sun come up with all the chunks of ice, and this big ship going through the ocean playing this really good music and I was like fucking hell, Jesus Christ, so I can not really say what is my favorite venue. I mean that was a magic moment, the Columbus booking was good, New yokr was good, Miami, everywhere I go. I just did a tour in Australia, last month, in January. I did six hour sets in every major city in Australia to promote the album as well. Every six hours there were at least 1500 people, can you imagine? 1500 people! If there is a good sound system and there is a sound system and 1500 people you don’t care about the venue, you just go.
Ryne Tyme: What country do you think has the most passionate fans? I mean you have been everywhere, is that kind of the same thing where there isn’t one above the rest?
Armin van Buuren: I think this trance thing, and if you don’t agree you have to just tell me, I think trance is something of a global thing. The websites, tranceaddict.com, trance.nu, your website, TranceSphere, whatever, it’s a global thing; if I play a bad set in Israel, people in Australia know the next day.
Ryne Tyme: Yeah, I have your set from Australia, the one in Sydney, Nova 969; it’s pretty amazing. Did you want to comment on the American scene at all? The New York scene was already established and Filo & Peri are really rejuvenating it there, Markus Schulz and the WMC down in South Beach, everything on the West Coast, have you seen a development in the American scene?
Armin van Buuren: I think a lot of the American people are really influencing in a positive way the Europeans, the big guys from Europe are coming here, and I do not mean myself, but the big guys from Europe coming here. It obviously influences the local people which is great from the scene. In Europe the scene is struggling, the dance scene is struggling in general because of the economy, downloads, whatever. But you still feel there is a huge enthusiasm for dance music, I mean my show has gotten one of the biggest rates internationally.
Ryne Tyme: It is our most popular show we get close to 1000 listeners every single week for your show, and that’s our peak, it definitely is amazing. How do you have time to do show too? I mean you do that for free, you don’t make any money whatsoever, and every week you produce a show that is amazing.
Armin van Buuren: It takes a lot of time; it takes me almost a day per week to produce the show.
Ryne Tyme: I can’t imagine that, what is new on ASOT? Your XXL shows, anything big coming up?
Armin van Buuren: I spoke to John 00 Fleming for him to do a show, and I want to do a Bonsai special, like a label special, Dj Fire, Airwave, those guys. It is just amazing I started this show almost three years ago when this idiot called me and said do you want your own radio show. I’m like my own radio show? I mean it was kind of my wish when I was very young, I had three dreams I wanted to be a producer, I wanted to be a DJ, and I wanted to be a radio DJ. And this guy calls me up and all of a sudden I was in the radio studio of ID&T and he said well, go ahead, do the show. And back then the station was not that popular they were not on the air yet, they were just on cable. So I started my show, and if you hear those first episodes there were funny as hell. All the basic errors you should not make I made, and from the show the whole community came. I mean there was not really a DJ who was doing a show weekly, I mean you had dance shows that had DJ guests and did DJ mixes. I think I was one of the first at that time to really have a weekly thing for trance which brought a huge community of people every week talking about it on the internet. And I must say, I got so frustrated and bored with it at some time around show 30-35. When I did it for half a year, when you’re at home and it is snowing outside, and you’re sitting on the couch and you’re with your friends and you’re watching TV and your like oh shit I have to go to ID&T. They are like why they are not even paying you and you are like yeah I know. And then when you get there and I logged into the chat room and there are all these people all over the world. “Hi this is so and so from Israel.” I’m like alright, who is listening from overseas, “me I am from Connecticut, me I’m from Boston,” and I’m like what the..? And it was so amazing, through the internet, and the people really built ASOT. They gave me so much input; why don’t you change this, why don’t you have more guests on the show, why blah blah blah. The people that listened to the show helped to create the show. It’s not me; I was just standing there playing the newest tunes. What the hell; here ya go, catch, and have fun. About show 50, 60, 70 the show got really popular and all of a sudden ID&T got the permit from the government in Holland to be on air on all of Holland and that changed the world. Because, I showed my loyalty to the station, to ID&T, by having a radio show very week, so I got to stay. Thursday night is Armin, we will not touch that, he is the longest running show on the station we can not touch Armin. So I had carte blanche, where everybody else on the station had the play the records that ID&T wanted and I was the only person who could play whatever he wanted. And that only encouraged me to make the show better, to see on the internet, to look during my sets; actually I was investing more times in my radio show than my DJ sets. Because on Thursday I have my radio show and Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays I used to play, I still play. So on Thursday I invest all my time in my set, play some records, and sometimes I am horribly wrong with a tune. I go to a record store, buy some records, oh it’s a good record ill play it it tonight, after hearing 30 seconds of it. And you play it on your show and your like, oh, what did I do. But my sets got better through my show, because I played the record which was horribly wrong, and I saw on the internet, oh why was he playing that terrible tune. But people forgive you for that, because if the other 7 tunes are okay, then it’s okay. So you throw that record in the bin and you don’t play it in your sets, and your sets improve as well. I didn’t see this coming, and I didn’t expect anything from this but a whole community was built around ASOT. Other DJs got weekly radio shows, obviously I don’t mind, its part of the game. But I still enjoy doing it, it’s so great, when I was very young – I am really talking a lot aren’t I? When I was very young (singing: when I was very young) I used to tape all the radio shows that were on the air, back then we had like 3 stations or something, that’s it. And they had dance hours on these stations, which was then a brand new thing, and it some of these programs were so good, I still have them now, I archived them and that was my life that show was my life. Two shows, Wave Radio and (?) Groove, two shows back then that were so important for dance music and also for other countries. Shows are still very important, those shows helped develop dance music in general. The records that were played in that show gave me so much I wanted to give something back for those shows that I enjoyed. It is the biggest honor when people say, “your show has given me so much inspiration.” That is the reason why I am doing it; I want to give something back for what I got.
Ryne Tyme: Question from the Internet was, on your XXL show, is there ever going to be a Paul Van Dyk, Dj Tiesto, or Ferry Corsten?
Armin van Buuren: Oh I had Ferry Corsten.
Ryne Tyme: Oh you did?
Armin van Buuren: Yes, so download those, those were really good shows. I approached Tiesto, I SMSd him, I asked him twice, he confirmed twice; we never got a date. So here again, here is a call for all the TranceSphere listeners, ask Tiesto himself!
Ryne Tyme: Awesome man that would be a massive show
Armin van Buuren: He just has to come through the studio and perform. It’s not up to me anymore, I asked him 3-4 times, and he hasn’t given me a date. You know what? I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. Paul Van Dyk, the chance is bigger because we have really good contact with the management; I know Markus, I know Mélange, all the guys at the office of Paul. I’m playing Paul’s records, he’s playing my records, we’re supporting each others’ labels, at gigs we talk. So with Paul the chance is bigger, but I don’t know what Tiesto is doing; he’s been getting these huge fans around him, and I cannot blame him because he’s got so much attention. He’s like a rock star, bigger than a rock star. So if you ever want Tiesto to be on my show it’s up to you, it’s not up to me; you have to ask him, you have to support him to be on ASOT.
Ryne Tyme: You and Paul Van Dyk have a show together in Canada in April, I think?
Armin van Buuren: Yeah
Ryne Tyme: It seems like there’s a really great camaraderie between you and Paul Van Dyk, DJ Tiesto, all the top DJs in the world. Aren’t you surprised there isn’t a bit more competition for the number one spot in the world? I mean you seem like a great group of friends.
Armin van Buuren: Well, some really corky magazine in Holland asked me the other day “So you want to get Tiesto off the number one in Holland?” I said like “No”. He’s like “But you want to be number one in right?” I said “Yeah.” But I don’t want Tiesto; I owe a lot of things to him. He helped me so much in my career by playing my records, by supporting me, by getting me in touch with the right people. I owe my career partly to Tiesto. So saying to him “Yeah, I’m going to get you off number one” would be really rude, and actually we are good friends, if we see each other it’s like “hey man”. I mean, I know from top ten to thirty, forty, that’s DJ fighting, but in the top ten there’s like this rule: DJs have outmost respect for each other. Just try to find a DJ who says something bad about another DJ in the top ten, it won’t happen. There’s this rule, we respect each other, and we do. It’s part of being in the top ten because you have respect for another people’s career, respect for another people’s set. You don’t just barge in the DJ booth after the other DJ is done and pull off his record and say hey here I am. You don’t do that, it’s like a golden rule. You have to have respect for another DJ. That’s what I have; Of course it’s my dream to be number one DJ in the world, but it’s a long way.
Ryne Tyme: We’ll see next year. I don’t think it’s that far away. So, you are one of the word’s best DJs, you are a world-class producer, you released an album, and you created a company with Mykal and David, Armada, you’re a trance legend: What’s next? I know you don’t think that; you probably don’t like that term at all, but you are. So what’s next?
Armin van Buuren: Music. The answer to what’s next is always music. What’s next is more music, what can I say? I really like the new vibe of producers that’s coming. I like the new sound, I like the trance-progressive sound that’s coming out now. I find it really exciting.
Ryne Tyme: You think that is the general area, I mean, trance changes all the time, even from when you started until now. You think that’s where generally trance is headed; the direction is towards more progressive sounds?
Armin van Buuren: Definitely, definitely. I mean trance, let’s face it, the rift sound of trance is dying. I still play a few of those records, but the formulaic rift sound is over. Because you know, we’ve heard that. But there are a lot of other great records out at the moment. That are on a line between progressive and trance; it’s great. What Markus Schultz is doing …
Ryne Tyme: Yeah, Schultz’s Coldharbour is all within that, promoting that sound.
Armin van Buuren: Yeah we signed him to the label. Actually I saw him yesterday, because we were doing that cruise together. And you know, we are friends; he ate at my house, and Markus is a great guy, and we had a lot of talk about music, and where it’s going. I think I can honestly say that I can still stand behind any set I’ve ever played, any track I’ve ever made, but you want to move on, you want to look to the future, and there’s a lot of good talent out there, a lot of good people making music. I mentioned Perry O’Neill, Markus Schultz, but on the boat I met Ozgür Cän; he’s one of the up and coming guys…
Ryne Tyme: Yeah he has really good productions; his set on GDJB was great…
Armin van Buuren: Yeah, yeah, he’s great. Ruzvah Delavhari is another. The borders between progressive DJs and trance DJs have to disappear I think. That’s the only problem it’s going to be interesting to see how it goes because a lot of people from trance expect you to play trance and the trance sound is over, so it is going to be interesting to see what’s going to happen.
Kenneth Thomas: I’m kind of thinking and I’ve seen it happen, I’ve seen it turning into a more –and this is a thing that I embrace - it’s more a time and place thing. Like, if it’s early in the night, you’re not playing the 140 bpm epic rifts; you know, you got to play the Coldharbour sound, a little bit early to set people up. It’s only in America that we can play on the 12-2 primetime, that is when the big sound seems to work, and tonight we are going from 8pm to 8am; we got house going early on and then build up to you and then hopefully take it down and let people chill out. What do you think about that?
Armin van Buuren: I think I play more varied than I used to. I mean, it used to be just trance, and now it’s everything. For me trance is everything from progressive to techno, everything. People ask me a lot, kind of DJ are you, what do you play? And I go; there is a time and a place for everything. That’s such a difficult question though.
Ryne Tyme: At least you’re still playing within trance, I had a rumor, and maybe you can verify this or maybe you can’t comment on it; I heard that M.I.K.E is going into R & B, and he is leaving trance.
Armin van Buuren: No, he is not leaving trance, definitely not.
Ryne Tyme: But he is pursuing a R&B project?
Armin van Buuren: He did an R&B project on the side, to keep his mind away from trance but M.I.K.E. will always produce trance, don’t worry. M.I.K.E. is signed to us as well.
Ryne Tyme: Yeah you know the rumor was started on forums and chat rooms; it was something I wanted to ask you about that…
Armin van Buuren: You can tell it from me, I am sure of that. MIKE is making stuff to broaden his mind, maybe can be R&B, R&B combined with trance, whatever, you know? MIKE is still the king. That guy has meant so much to the scene, unbelievable.
Ryne Tyme: That’s all I have as far as the interview is concerned, thank you.
Armin van Buuren: Thank you.
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