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Features
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| Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! | | N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood! | | Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna | | A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | 'The Maestro that is Tristan talks barn owls, Shazamming and keeping it Psychedelic ahead of his upcoming performance at the Tribal Village 4 Day Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022! | | DJ talk with Psyrenzo ahead of his debut set at Tribal Village, the Steelyard this Friday 14th January 2022! | | TENZO aka Overdrive talks freely about launching his new act which will be showcased at Tribal Village, Steelyard on 14 January 2022! | | A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London! | | Goa based party animal and artist extraordinaire Nirmal talks punk concerts, metal sculptures, flying and rippin' it up on a High Tide! | | DJ Wired talks to us about the Rise of the Hope and parties, ahead of his upcoming set at Tribal Village on 14th January 2022! |
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Nukleuz gets PHATT: Pierre Pienaar explains
Reported by Pete M
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Submitted 27-06-07 16:51
Lots of things have been said about Pierre Pienaar. His rise to being one of the hottest stars in hard dance is extraordinary. As a producer, he has remixed some of the biggest names in dance music like Lost Witness, Stu Allan, Ratty and JoBabe. But where did this young man grow up and how did he become interested in dance music, more importantly, what does it feel like to run the Green arm of Nukleuz Records? We shall find out below.
Pierre Pienaar was born in Namibia, on the African continent and began DJing at 15 years old, appearing at weddings and other events to raise money to buy some proper decks. Everybody has to start somewhere. However, this dream almost came crashing down when his equipment went up in flames. This might have made any other DJ give up, but not Pierre. Determined not to be held back, he bought himself a another pair of decks and began to learn how to mix properly. His ability grew but because he was so young, he found it hard to get gigs. Persevering, he eventually got the attention of several promoters who gave him a chance and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast forward and Pierre now heads up Nukleuz Green, the trance arm of the world-famous Media Records in London. He makes his mix album debut with Trance Sessions Solstice on the famous imprint. We will delve into his way of thinking, how he became a DJ, the infamous fire incident where half his equipment went up in flames and, as touched upon above, what its like to run Nukleuz Green.
First of all, it’s great to be interviewing you for HarderFaster. First question really is when did you realise that you wanted to be a DJ?
There wasn’t one specific incident or time that made me realise that I want to DJ. But growing up in a house where music was very prominent, I guess it was inevitable.
Ah, cool. So it was kinda a spur of the moment thing?
Yes, I guess so. I was about 15 or so and over here, there’s no clubbing or DJ culture, but spending my allowance on compilation CDs like the Euphoria Series peaked my interest to start mixing tunes.
Trance Sessions Solstice is your first mix CD for a major imprint. Were you nervous or apprehensive about choosing the tracks or did it come naturally to you?
Not at all. I knew that when working on a CD with Nukleuz exceptional quality had to come as standard, but it’s a motto that I stand by anyway so I just picked the tracks that I felt comfortable with and which represent my current sound and what also represents this year’s trance sound. Nukleuz pretty much gave me free range on the tracks I could use, which isn’t always the case on compilation CDs. It was a relatively painless procedure and was all done and decided within about 2 weeks so all the tracks on the album are still either very fresh or upfront.
On the subject of Nukleuz, you now run the Green arm of the label. How did that come about? And what can we expect from the imprint in 2007?
I had been doing quite a bit of work for Nukleuz, remixing tracks for Stu Allan, BK, Audioscape and JoBabe, and releasing Worlds Apart with them. They approached me at the tail end of last year to discuss the possibility of me heading the Nukleuz Green imprint. I’m not involved in the actual running of it much, but more on the production front, with some A&R duties and scouting out new tracks to sign. There’s a lot of quality material that we’ve picked up and I’m quite excited about it. Apart from tracks from myself, we’ve signed tracks from TFT, Michael Dow, Technikal and North Star. You should also watch out for remixes from Ian Betts and Ilogik & Paul Janes among others! The whole idea is to bring back quality and uplifting trance back to the limelight like it was in ‘99, but with updated production and fresh faces.
Going back to an incident that nearly ended your DJing career before it even really began, your equipment going up in flames, what happened there?
Before I was playing in clubs, I was doing all kinds of gigs as a mobile DJ, from weddings to birthday and whatever needed sound. I was invited to play the music for my school’s matric farewell at the Windhoek Country Club and earlier that day, there was some welding being done to their roof, something went wrong and sparks started to fly. It was about an hour before the event was meant to start and I was just doing last minute sound checks when I saw smoke coming down from the roof. I calmly unplugged my equipment just in case there were electrical surges and I didn’t want my amp and speakers to get damaged, little did I know that the roof was going to come down literally seconds after I got outside. I didn’t get back my full insurance money either, so I couldn’t repurchase all the equipment. Instead I bought a pair of decks and a mixer and started teaching myself how to mix records. And the rest is history.
So you quite literally bought the house down! That sounds really scary.
To be honest, at the time I was more worried about the people who might still be in there, but luckily no-one got hurt. It was one of those moments where I had to decide do I give up or do I push harder? I chose the latter.
And we’re glad you did. What are your plans for the rest of 2007?
I’ve got a lot of production and remix work. I’m currently doing a remix of Starchild - Redemption for Elasticman, as well as North Star - Out Of Sight on Nukleuz and some others that I can’t disclose yet. Dave Joy and myself are also talking about doing a collaboration. I’ve just done a remix for his label of Michael Tsukerman’s Are You Mad? and will be headlining with him at G.O.D. Vs 3D in Melbourne, Australia. Speaking of which, I’ll be on tour in Australia for two weeks during July and will be playing in Cape Town, South Africa on the 30th of June. I’ve got a few other international booking negotiated as we speak.
Wow. So a busy man then.
Yes, but I wouldn’t have it otherwise. Through all of this, I’m also running my own production company ReBirth Productions. Rather work now while I still have my youth!
Well, yes. Indeed. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to talk to me and to tell everyone what you’ve been up to and what’s to come. Any final words?
It was my pleasure. You can catch me on my radio show Euphoric Sessions every week. Check out http://www.euphoricsessions.com.
Trance Sessions Solstice, mixed by Nukleuz DJs and Pierre Pienaar, is out now on iTunes pre-release. Daybreak by Pierre Pienaar is out on Nukleuz Records.
Photos courtesy of Nukleuz Records and the HarderFaster Archive. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Other Features By Pete M:
Pharmacy: Phase One Trance Mission
Organ Donors: It's a Work In Progress
BK, Whitby and the tidyDJs Mash It Up!
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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Top, top man...great productions. 