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Features
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What a Privilege. An interview with Tiësto.
Reported by Matt Dahl
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Submitted 09-07-08 21:04
When Tiësto decides to take up a residency in Ibiza, you know that it’s going to be good. When that residency is at the world’s largest club ‘Privilege’ you know that you’re really in for something special. While over in Ibiza, through blind luck and the help of Ibiza-Spotlight, I managed to grab a few minutes with the world most successful DJ to have a brief chat about his new night, upcoming gigs, and the future of dance music.
So there I am, I’ve just arrived into my hotel room, bleary through lack of sleep due to my early morning flight and weighing which would be best, Bed, Bar or Pool when my phone rings. Dan from Ibiza Spotlight is on the other end and tells me that Tiësto is free for an interview later and asks if I’d be interested. Now while sleeping in the pool with a beer seemed like a really good idea, this isn’t the type of offer you turn down, so several hours later I’m in Privilege, which thanks to all the forklifts and angle grinding, resembles a building site rather than a club, to meet arguably the biggest DJ in the world. This is my first ever interview for Harderfaster, but hey you've got to start sometime, so why not start at the top?
I would like to say at this point, that due to time constraints and demand that this was a joint interview with the guys at DSI so no exclusive scoops I’m afraid.
It’s been a few years since you last held a residency here in Ibiza, why is that and what are the factors for bringing you back?
I was pretty much done with the Island a couple of years ago, I think I came here for 7 years straight and I thought the world is too big and it takes a lot of effort to be here every week, and I, you know, wanted to switch it up and the break for a couple of years was great so I could focus more on North America and the rest of Europe. Now I’ve come back here to do something different. Privilege is quite a challenge for me because it the biggest club in the world, I’ve played at Amnesia for so long, Pacha is not really an option and Space is not really an option either. With Privilege, I played here last year for the Elements of Life tour, which was really great, the place was packed and I think this club is really great when it’s packed, when it’s empty, it’s really empty but when you can fill it up it’s great, it’s a great space. So for me coming back here, I’m very approachable again for the European crowd because I haven’t been touring that much in Europe over the last couple of years.
Going on from your touring, you’ve been all over the world, selling out stadiums and other massive events such as the Olympic opening ceremony, now you’ve taken up residency here at the world’s largest club, Privilege, Does this mean it’s the end of playing at smaller, more intimate venues or do you still miss them?
Umm, No not really, it’s going to be a whole summer of smaller and more intimate venues, except for London and a couple of other venues because you can’t really go smaller there. Earlier this year I did go and do a smaller in London at the Indigo club, so the next step was to try to be the first DJ ever to play the main arena at the O2, which will be great a great opportunity. But for the rest it’ll still be pretty much intimate, I mean, Privilege is big but it’s still intimate and I’m going to be playing at a lot of cities in Europe where it’s definitely going to be intimate instead of the big production thing.
Walking through the club just now, it’s obvious that tonight is going to be a big production event, what have you got in store for us?
Well tonight, as you can see, we’re rebuilding Privilege a little bit as we’ve brought our own production and it’s going to be much different than all the other nights. It’s going to be a proper Tiësto show with all the aspects, the main part is still the music; I’m going to play a lot of new music and experiment a little bit. As tonight is my first set here so it’s going to be a solo session, I’m going to be playing 6 hours from 12:30 to 6:30 so I’m going to be putting on a bit of a show.
Obviously you’ve done so much in you’re DJ career already, where do you see your career going from here?
I think the success for me is still growing, a lot of people will say that you’ve done so much but I always find new goals. This year my challenge is playing here at Privilege instead of Amnesia, which is a lot smaller, so that’s a challenge. The O2 arena in London is another challenge. I think music wise, there’s going to be a big difference in the next couple of years because I’m going to try and develop my style a little more in the studio and also try to sort my productions out so they are a little better.
That’s interesting because with most people, I’ll ask the question ‘Where would you like the dance music scene to go in the next three years’, But as you have such a large influence, where would you like to take or where do you think you can take dance music in the next few years?
I have a whole plan (laughs), I can’t really tell you about it. I’ve made myself a really nice path, with the artists I’m going to work with and the music I’m going to produce. You’ll have to wait and see, I can’t spoil the surprise but it will definitely be a different direction.
A different direction? Can you give us an idea of the type of sound you’re going to be playing?
Well I think the DJ sets will pretty much stay the same, there will always be the trance part of Tiësto, it’s always been there and it always will be there. But like the track I did with the Cary Brothers, “Ride”, I really like that style. You know, singer/ song writers, writing together with them on new music. When you are DJing you have to improvise on the night, some nights the crowd only want to hear the old stuff, so the DJing will always be the same I think, but as a producer you can make a difference, those tracks you can bring out through your DJ set and that’s how you slowly make a change.
So when you play out, do you practice beforehand and know what you’re playing or do you just go out and purely improvise when you’re on the decks?
With these kinds of shows most of it’s improvising. The good thing about being a DJ is that you can improvise, people are here to party, and they won’t go anywhere so you can play new and different tracks. The great thing is that they (the crowd) are from all over the world; you have Germans, Irish, English, Dutch, Americans and more. When they come here they are opened minded, they’re not just here to hear the mainstream hits and classics, of course I have to play them as well but in between I can play other stuff and that’s what I like about playing here.
So then, Vinyl, CD’s or Laptop, Where do you stand?
I love vinyl but it’s just not a viable option anymore, you write a track and it can take up to 2 months to get it pressed and distributed, by which time you are already 2 months behind. With CDs you can write a track and tomorrow it’ll be released and available for people to download through places like Beatport. Laptops, no, it’s not for me. Maybe in 5 years time I’ll say something different but for now, while Pioneer continues to make their wonderful CD players, I’ll be using them.
With that, Tiësto’s PR guy had returned from retrieving the sunglasses ‘borrowed’ by the Spanish journos that had preceded us and after a couple of quick photos, our time was up.
My lasting impression I’ll take from our meeting is how friendly and personable Tiësto is, very passionate about what he was talking about and keen to chat with us just hours before the big event. The event itself? Well that’s another feature entirely, but for now I’m back off to the pool to soak up some rays.
With many thanks to Dan and the rest of the guys and gals at Ibiza Spotlight for arranging this interview with Tiesto.
Photos courtesy of Matt Dahl.
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Other Features By Matt Dahl:
Tiësto's opening party @ Privilege: Reviewed
Tiesto’s Elements Of Life: reviewed
Dropping the Bomb – A night out with Faithless
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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interview! I like the "why not start at the top" - That's SOO HarderFaster!! 
