Alex, you play all over the world and you are pushing your version of hardstyle and hardtrance everywhere. Just to give the Dutch crowd an example: you’ve played with Lady Dana, Zany, Luna and Showtek in countries like Australia, the UK and many other places, but you have yet to conquer Holland, the home of hardstyle. Why do we see so little of you over here? Do you reckon your style maybe to difficult for the Dutch territory?
That’s right im pushing my own version of what I pick up on from the hardtrance and hardstyle scene. But that can change from set to set. Sometimes I will play a lot more techno and schranz in my sets and other times I will play a lot of well known bootlegs or the most recent tunes from the big labels and producers in the global harddance scene. Essentially though, I mix all these styles together and that isn’t something the big Dutch hardstyle DJs do in their sets. Zany will play a lot of his own productions, Luna and Lady Dana will play all the new stuff from Dutch hardstyle producers….I find that I can’t just play one brand of hardstyle for the full sets that I play up and down the country in the UK. When these guys come over and play in the UK, they’re amazing and the music is top class, but because they come over only a few times a year to the UK I think this makes it more appealing and accepted by the UK crowds. For myself though, it’s important I mix up the genres and try to blur the lines of harddance. Maybe that is why im not accepted so much by the Dutch hardstyle purists but that’s cool because I try to appeal to a cross section of music lovers. I’ve played some really big events in Holland such as InQontrol, Dance Valley, Queens Day Street Parade as well as the legendary HQ at the Melkweg. This has given me some of the best DJ-ing moments of my career so far and the Dutch scene has played a huge influence on my sound since the early days, so I hope to get out here more next year.
Which producers are really doing it for you when it comes to releasing the best hardstyletracks at the moment?
I really like some of Showtek’s productions, their new album has some cool tracks on there and they have a solid sound that works well in the clubs. I’m always playing stuff from the Freaky label, Zany is a big player in the harder sounds and I’ve been bashing out his tunes for years. Also im into a lot of Gaz West’s new stuff, I was in the hotel room with him before a gig last weekend and rinsed his laptop for about twenty new tunes because I’ve not seen him in so long due to all the touring I’ve been doing. Some of his new tunes are just ridiculous, this heavy schranz remake of ‘Sweet Harmony’ he’s done is going to be getting hammered at all the festivals this year, I guarantee it! I’ve been working with an Australian hardtrance wonder kid that goes by the name of Jet Black. This new track we’ve been working on has been an essential track in my sets the past months so hopefully that will get a release after the summertime. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve been very impressed with Eskimo’s psy-trance stuff and I’ve been playing the cuts from one of his albums in my sets too. He’s fusing hardtrance and hardhouse with psy-beats and it’s fucking unreal. I mix it all up with techno and hardstyle and it’s complete carnage coming out the speakers. The Organ Donors are also the Don producers in my opinion. I’ve been lucky enough to work with them a few times and see how they operate in the studio. Although I had to nickname them the ‘Organ-Slowners’ due to the lengthy time they took on re-vocal the track we had worked on. But nevertheless, they are immense producers and their tunes rock big!
You just mentioned Gaz West (Dark By Design), how did you guys meet and how did you start working together?
Me and Gaz were rockin’ up to clubs like Gatecrasher together about ten years ago. I remember him in day glow cyber gear throwing shapes with glow sticks. I hope he doesn’t read this haha! Then I started to DJ in clubs and was on the road every weekend, mostly playing small crappy gigs and doing whatever I could to keep me behind the decks, either in a bar or at home or often in a free squat party or rave. As I started playing for Goodgreef and the whole hardhouse scene was taking off in Manchester and up north of the UK, Gaz was buried in his house making beats and learning and mastering the software and programmes. A very close mutual friend, Carl, was still in touch with both of us and when he felt Gaz’s tunes were at a good enough standard he passed me over a cd for me to listen to because me and Gaz had been out of touch for a couple of years. The CD blew me away. I wasn’t even really using CDJs that much at the time but because of Gaz’s CD I pretty much converted over night as half my set was all of Gaz West’s new tunes! So this unknown super producer had no real contacts or connections or hook ups because he had been locked away in his mini studio for two years, so I knew instantly I had to start working with him. He had a couple of tunes out through an old classic hardhouse label, Hotwaxx, but the real breakthrough was getting him involved with the Goodgreef family and me managing his music as Goodgreef label manager. Me and Gaz worked on Goodgreef albums together, billions of remixes and collaborations. We’ve played back to back sets at some huge gigs and had some amazing years together as partners in crime and all this has now added up to us being best friends both in and out of the industry.
What do you think of the Dutch hard dance scene, with its huge hardcore and hardstyle raves? How much different is it from the same scene in the UK?
Well the scene has many similarities but also many differences. The scenes are predominantly different in terms of the music; the UK scene is predominantly split up into two scenes with harddance and hardcore being the divider. So harddance covers crossover DJs like myself and Kutski, who play for big brands such as Frantic whilst representing the underground hardstyle nights like Bionic. And then the harddance scene also covers uplifting and mainstream DJs like Andy Whitby and Rob Tissera so there is quite a big variation on styles from the different DJs that this genre champions. Then the hardcore scene is all based around DJs like Darren Styles and Hixxy, whose hardcore is a lot more accessible and mainstream from the typical Dutch hardcore sound. Because of the different predominant musical styles between the two countries, we therefore see a lot of difference and key aspects such as line ups for the big raves or how the different huge events in each of the two countries are marketed. A big hardstyle line up with ten Dutch and Italian hardstyle DJs would not really work in the UK, where equally a typical Tidy Weekender line up would not work in Amsterdam. But essentially one thing that is the same is the crowds…both are very receptive and educated and love to have a wild fuckin time!
I’ve seen you play many times before, you’re not the average DJ who just mixes tracks and that’s it. You take it to another level by mixing constantly and using bits of other tracks to spice up your sets. Can we expect something like Alex Kidd Live or Alex Kidd Dex n FX anytime soon? What would you like to add to your performance?
I have spoken about this with my management and my studio partners. It’s something I would like to look into but it has to be done in the correct way for me to be interested in taking it seriously because I have to say I have seen many fake and false ‘live’ sets performed by some very well known artists and with my own eyes I can’t believe how they can try to fool a crowd like that. I mean, to me as an artist I can just laugh and think that they are pathetic but to the majority of the crowd who don’t know better, they are just being marketed and blagged and that’s certainly not the route I want to go down. I’ve seen some awesome live acts like Booka Shade and Prodigy and then I’ve seen some piss poor attempts when old timer DJs try to spice up their appeal by adding ‘Live’ to their name on a flyer. If you think getting a random unknown DJ to come and scratch over your set whilst you mix in the same old records is ‘Live’, then you are really doing no justice to the scene, are you?
I’ve looked into the potential and possibilities of using Mawdaw which is a customised component based controller unit, this has its appeal because I can then play live with loops and samples whilst still being able to retain the feel for a DJ set, which is obviously a big part of my performance. I’ve toyed with the idea of VDJ’ing, it looks interesting but I’m put off with the idea of live visual mixing taking away from the emphasis of everyone locked in a groove and vibe from the music. But then again, I know Yoda has been doing some pretty mindnumbing stuff so I’d love to get involved and do a special VCDJ set once I’ve mastered the skills.
Your new album has just been released. Masif Hard Trance Anthems 1 is your first mixcompilation for Masif, your sixth one in general. In what way is this one different from the previous five albums? Do you consider it to be your best album so far and why?
Steve Hill approached me about getting involved with the label, doing singles and remixes and compilation mixes. I thought it was a good time to do a compilation as I hadn’t mixed one for about eight or nine months, which in this scene is along time because of the sheer volume in new music that’s come out in that time. So I agreed on doing a single, a remix which both feature on the compilation mix and it kept me busy for a few months working on new fresh projects which I always enjoy. I think this mix is different from the others I’ve released because firstly and most obviously the tunage on there is brand spanking new and a lot of it is fresh out of the studio. It still has the Alex Kidd feel with my trademark cheeky intro’s and intricate fills and twists in the mix, as well as my fast style of mixing, chopping and double dropping so it’s quite an accurate portrayal of my sets in the clubs. It’s also got some quite cool and nifty EFX 1000 trickery in the mix. I’ve been mastering this little beast of DJ technology, I’ve not really seen any of the other DJs use it in the harddance scene so hopefully it will prick up a few peoples ears. I always think each of my newest albums is better than the last, because my tastes are always changing and maturing and I am always learning new tricks and skills for the mix. But either way, it’s an essential next edition of the series of compilations I’ve had out so far so get on www.djalexkidd.com for a copy immediately!
To give the people a little look inside your current sets: what’s your top 10 chart of this very moment?
Ok starting at ten, finishing at one, here it is:
10 Dark By Design – Schranz Harmony (cdr)
09 Dark By Design – Techno Bitch (cdr)
08 Southstylers – Pounding Senses 2007 (Freaky)
07 Dark Oscillators – Food For Woofers (cdr)
06 Showtek – FTS (cdr)
05 Dark By Design – Mad World (cdr)
04 Alex Kidd meets Jet Black – Chemical Society (cdr)
03 Builder – Colours Of The Harderstyle (cdr)
02 Eskimo – Unknown (cdr)
01 Razor Babes – Come On Baby (BK’s Back To 99 Mix) (Riot!)
What’s next for you, any other big stuff in the pipeline?
Well there’s a few things I want to push which is all happening in the summer. First of all is Kiddstock! One of my favourite memories of the year so far was the massive success of what is now known as Kiddfields, an imprompt six hour solo set, underground type rave outside a chalet at the last Tidy Weekender (check www.myspace.com/djalexkidddotcom for the videos!). So now we are going to be putting on a mini festival as a follow up to the legendary event. A handpicked sterling line up, a summers day in August, a secret location invite only rave that will be the best festival of the summer. Check out www.djalexkidd.com for more details as they are released.
Also I want to give a shout out to all the festivals that I am playing at this summer, starting with Coloursfest, then Escape in the Park, Slammin’s Sanctuary festival, Dance Valley, Global Gathering, Creamfields and finally Planet Love in both Northern and Southern Ireland. Pheww, all that on top of Kiddstock, three dates for Tidy in Ibiza, my debut in Finland and my return to Tunnel Club in Germany….its going to be an outrageous summer!
That’s right im pushing my own version of what I pick up on from the hardtrance and hardstyle scene. But that can change from set to set. Sometimes I will play a lot more techno and schranz in my sets and other times I will play a lot of well known bootlegs or the most recent tunes from the big labels and producers in the global harddance scene. Essentially though, I mix all these styles together and that isn’t something the big Dutch hardstyle DJs do in their sets. Zany will play a lot of his own productions, Luna and Lady Dana will play all the new stuff from Dutch hardstyle producers….I find that I can’t just play one brand of hardstyle for the full sets that I play up and down the country in the UK. When these guys come over and play in the UK, they’re amazing and the music is top class, but because they come over only a few times a year to the UK I think this makes it more appealing and accepted by the UK crowds. For myself though, it’s important I mix up the genres and try to blur the lines of harddance. Maybe that is why im not accepted so much by the Dutch hardstyle purists but that’s cool because I try to appeal to a cross section of music lovers. I’ve played some really big events in Holland such as InQontrol, Dance Valley, Queens Day Street Parade as well as the legendary HQ at the Melkweg. This has given me some of the best DJ-ing moments of my career so far and the Dutch scene has played a huge influence on my sound since the early days, so I hope to get out here more next year.
Which producers are really doing it for you when it comes to releasing the best hardstyletracks at the moment?
I really like some of Showtek’s productions, their new album has some cool tracks on there and they have a solid sound that works well in the clubs. I’m always playing stuff from the Freaky label, Zany is a big player in the harder sounds and I’ve been bashing out his tunes for years. Also im into a lot of Gaz West’s new stuff, I was in the hotel room with him before a gig last weekend and rinsed his laptop for about twenty new tunes because I’ve not seen him in so long due to all the touring I’ve been doing. Some of his new tunes are just ridiculous, this heavy schranz remake of ‘Sweet Harmony’ he’s done is going to be getting hammered at all the festivals this year, I guarantee it! I’ve been working with an Australian hardtrance wonder kid that goes by the name of Jet Black. This new track we’ve been working on has been an essential track in my sets the past months so hopefully that will get a release after the summertime. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve been very impressed with Eskimo’s psy-trance stuff and I’ve been playing the cuts from one of his albums in my sets too. He’s fusing hardtrance and hardhouse with psy-beats and it’s fucking unreal. I mix it all up with techno and hardstyle and it’s complete carnage coming out the speakers. The Organ Donors are also the Don producers in my opinion. I’ve been lucky enough to work with them a few times and see how they operate in the studio. Although I had to nickname them the ‘Organ-Slowners’ due to the lengthy time they took on re-vocal the track we had worked on. But nevertheless, they are immense producers and their tunes rock big!
You just mentioned Gaz West (Dark By Design), how did you guys meet and how did you start working together?
Me and Gaz were rockin’ up to clubs like Gatecrasher together about ten years ago. I remember him in day glow cyber gear throwing shapes with glow sticks. I hope he doesn’t read this haha! Then I started to DJ in clubs and was on the road every weekend, mostly playing small crappy gigs and doing whatever I could to keep me behind the decks, either in a bar or at home or often in a free squat party or rave. As I started playing for Goodgreef and the whole hardhouse scene was taking off in Manchester and up north of the UK, Gaz was buried in his house making beats and learning and mastering the software and programmes. A very close mutual friend, Carl, was still in touch with both of us and when he felt Gaz’s tunes were at a good enough standard he passed me over a cd for me to listen to because me and Gaz had been out of touch for a couple of years. The CD blew me away. I wasn’t even really using CDJs that much at the time but because of Gaz’s CD I pretty much converted over night as half my set was all of Gaz West’s new tunes! So this unknown super producer had no real contacts or connections or hook ups because he had been locked away in his mini studio for two years, so I knew instantly I had to start working with him. He had a couple of tunes out through an old classic hardhouse label, Hotwaxx, but the real breakthrough was getting him involved with the Goodgreef family and me managing his music as Goodgreef label manager. Me and Gaz worked on Goodgreef albums together, billions of remixes and collaborations. We’ve played back to back sets at some huge gigs and had some amazing years together as partners in crime and all this has now added up to us being best friends both in and out of the industry.
What do you think of the Dutch hard dance scene, with its huge hardcore and hardstyle raves? How much different is it from the same scene in the UK?
Well the scene has many similarities but also many differences. The scenes are predominantly different in terms of the music; the UK scene is predominantly split up into two scenes with harddance and hardcore being the divider. So harddance covers crossover DJs like myself and Kutski, who play for big brands such as Frantic whilst representing the underground hardstyle nights like Bionic. And then the harddance scene also covers uplifting and mainstream DJs like Andy Whitby and Rob Tissera so there is quite a big variation on styles from the different DJs that this genre champions. Then the hardcore scene is all based around DJs like Darren Styles and Hixxy, whose hardcore is a lot more accessible and mainstream from the typical Dutch hardcore sound. Because of the different predominant musical styles between the two countries, we therefore see a lot of difference and key aspects such as line ups for the big raves or how the different huge events in each of the two countries are marketed. A big hardstyle line up with ten Dutch and Italian hardstyle DJs would not really work in the UK, where equally a typical Tidy Weekender line up would not work in Amsterdam. But essentially one thing that is the same is the crowds…both are very receptive and educated and love to have a wild fuckin time!
I’ve seen you play many times before, you’re not the average DJ who just mixes tracks and that’s it. You take it to another level by mixing constantly and using bits of other tracks to spice up your sets. Can we expect something like Alex Kidd Live or Alex Kidd Dex n FX anytime soon? What would you like to add to your performance?
I have spoken about this with my management and my studio partners. It’s something I would like to look into but it has to be done in the correct way for me to be interested in taking it seriously because I have to say I have seen many fake and false ‘live’ sets performed by some very well known artists and with my own eyes I can’t believe how they can try to fool a crowd like that. I mean, to me as an artist I can just laugh and think that they are pathetic but to the majority of the crowd who don’t know better, they are just being marketed and blagged and that’s certainly not the route I want to go down. I’ve seen some awesome live acts like Booka Shade and Prodigy and then I’ve seen some piss poor attempts when old timer DJs try to spice up their appeal by adding ‘Live’ to their name on a flyer. If you think getting a random unknown DJ to come and scratch over your set whilst you mix in the same old records is ‘Live’, then you are really doing no justice to the scene, are you?
I’ve looked into the potential and possibilities of using Mawdaw which is a customised component based controller unit, this has its appeal because I can then play live with loops and samples whilst still being able to retain the feel for a DJ set, which is obviously a big part of my performance. I’ve toyed with the idea of VDJ’ing, it looks interesting but I’m put off with the idea of live visual mixing taking away from the emphasis of everyone locked in a groove and vibe from the music. But then again, I know Yoda has been doing some pretty mindnumbing stuff so I’d love to get involved and do a special VCDJ set once I’ve mastered the skills.
Your new album has just been released. Masif Hard Trance Anthems 1 is your first mixcompilation for Masif, your sixth one in general. In what way is this one different from the previous five albums? Do you consider it to be your best album so far and why?
Steve Hill approached me about getting involved with the label, doing singles and remixes and compilation mixes. I thought it was a good time to do a compilation as I hadn’t mixed one for about eight or nine months, which in this scene is along time because of the sheer volume in new music that’s come out in that time. So I agreed on doing a single, a remix which both feature on the compilation mix and it kept me busy for a few months working on new fresh projects which I always enjoy. I think this mix is different from the others I’ve released because firstly and most obviously the tunage on there is brand spanking new and a lot of it is fresh out of the studio. It still has the Alex Kidd feel with my trademark cheeky intro’s and intricate fills and twists in the mix, as well as my fast style of mixing, chopping and double dropping so it’s quite an accurate portrayal of my sets in the clubs. It’s also got some quite cool and nifty EFX 1000 trickery in the mix. I’ve been mastering this little beast of DJ technology, I’ve not really seen any of the other DJs use it in the harddance scene so hopefully it will prick up a few peoples ears. I always think each of my newest albums is better than the last, because my tastes are always changing and maturing and I am always learning new tricks and skills for the mix. But either way, it’s an essential next edition of the series of compilations I’ve had out so far so get on www.djalexkidd.com for a copy immediately!
To give the people a little look inside your current sets: what’s your top 10 chart of this very moment?
Ok starting at ten, finishing at one, here it is:
10 Dark By Design – Schranz Harmony (cdr)
09 Dark By Design – Techno Bitch (cdr)
08 Southstylers – Pounding Senses 2007 (Freaky)
07 Dark Oscillators – Food For Woofers (cdr)
06 Showtek – FTS (cdr)
05 Dark By Design – Mad World (cdr)
04 Alex Kidd meets Jet Black – Chemical Society (cdr)
03 Builder – Colours Of The Harderstyle (cdr)
02 Eskimo – Unknown (cdr)
01 Razor Babes – Come On Baby (BK’s Back To 99 Mix) (Riot!)
What’s next for you, any other big stuff in the pipeline?
Well there’s a few things I want to push which is all happening in the summer. First of all is Kiddstock! One of my favourite memories of the year so far was the massive success of what is now known as Kiddfields, an imprompt six hour solo set, underground type rave outside a chalet at the last Tidy Weekender (check www.myspace.com/djalexkidddotcom for the videos!). So now we are going to be putting on a mini festival as a follow up to the legendary event. A handpicked sterling line up, a summers day in August, a secret location invite only rave that will be the best festival of the summer. Check out www.djalexkidd.com for more details as they are released.
Also I want to give a shout out to all the festivals that I am playing at this summer, starting with Coloursfest, then Escape in the Park, Slammin’s Sanctuary festival, Dance Valley, Global Gathering, Creamfields and finally Planet Love in both Northern and Southern Ireland. Pheww, all that on top of Kiddstock, three dates for Tidy in Ibiza, my debut in Finland and my return to Tunnel Club in Germany….its going to be an outrageous summer!
