News Archive

This past weekend I had the opportunity to assist in interviewing one my favourites in the dance music scene:: Ferry Corsten. Myself and my good friend DJ Ampz of Amplified Radio once again had the pleasure to sit down and chat with Ibiza’s #1 DJ of the summer. This weekend was for The Guvernment’s 9 Year Anniversary Celebration and played host to a number of fantastic DJ’s. I have previously met with Ferry before so meeting with him again was great as he is one of the most down to earth DJ’s I’ve ever spoken with. Here’s what he had to say this time around;

DJ Ampz - So, welcome back to Kool Haus…

Ferry Corsten - Thank you very much!

Ampz - It’s been not too long since you’ve been here last. You played at the Guvernment last time, a friend of mine met you down at WMC (Winter Music Conference) and she asked you, what was one of your favorite places to play and you said Toronto.

Corsten - Definetly!

Ampz - Why does Toronto rank so high on your list?

Corsten - Uh, first it’s the place itself: either the Guvernment or Kool Haus or the whole building together. It’s one of the most amazing places in Canada and North America I’d say. Ever since I started playing here, there’s kind of a welcoming feeling. Then of course there is the crowd. That combined really keeps me going. This is the only place where I end up playing 8hr sets without being scheduled for so long, so it’s just something that happens automatically. It’s the vibe, it’s the crowd altogether…

Ampz - So you’re starting at 4am, so you’re saying you’re going until noon today right? *laughs*

Corsten - Well I think they’re open until 8am, so *laughs* we’ll see what time we have to close everything.

Ampz - Now it’s the end of the season at the small spanish island of Ibiza and the past year you were awarded quite the big award: the best Trance DJ of 2005. Was this something you expected?

Corsten - No. Ibiza is a place where all the big name DJ’s are and some of them have their own nights for the entire season. I had my own night basically, but only for 4 nights. So to be awarded the best trance DJ 2005 based on 4 shows… I don’t know for me it came for a shock to be honest. It’s cool. I’m really happy. I try to, whenever I play especially on my own nights, to give it all and to make everybody who goes there, go home with a happy feeling. So to get that in return is an awesome feeling.

Ampz - Now you started a residency in North America: Avalon in LA and Crowbar in NYC, what made you chose those clubs and why?

Corsten - Um, it’s like on both sides of the states. For the music scene it’s New York where it happens. Miami, of course to a certain extent, and then on the other side, LA. I felt it was time for me, having toured America and Canada for a quite a while now, it was time for me to have a home sort of thing. They were looking for new residents, they came to the agency, and everything tied up in a perfect situation and I’m going to be there for the next 6 months now for the first weekend of every month. I have my home, they have their resident, and everyone is happy.

Ampz - Now are you familiar with Filo and Peri, the New York DJ and production team? What are your thoughts on the guys?

Corsten - I think their productions are really very good. It’s very trancy. So for the trance purists it’s perfect. It’s definetly good to see. Trance has always been seen as a European thing. So if that is a European sound, these American guys have done it quite well to create a european sound. Some of their stuff I play, not everything. But I really think their music is very good.

Ampz - Now you have some new productions on your way through your label Flashover, what do we expect to hear in the near future?

Corsten - Well at this point I’m working on a new album that is going to be called L.E.F. - Loud Electronic and Ferocious. It has a couple of collaborations. I can’t tell too much at this point. The only thing I can say is that the first single will be out between November and January is me and Duran Duran together. It’s called “Fire”. That’s what I’m working on now. We just had the first release on Flashover 2 weeks ago which is “FB. feat. Eden - Who’s Knockin’”. This is a project I sort of did with Benny Benassi and uh, it’s getting good response on the dance floor.

Ampz - Why did you start Flashover and where do you see it going along with the progression of other vinyl labels?

Corsten - Well I had my record label “Tsunami” before this and for obvious reasons of what happened last Christmas, I didn’t feel that the name Tsunami was really living up to it’s name of having a party or party music with having a record label called Tsunami. So I decided to just move onto setting up a new label and Flashover was the name that I chose for it. Tsunami is a very powerful name and has a very powerful meaning, you know it’s a big wave of course. And I wanted a name with the same powerful meaning, so Flashover is basically when a small fire turns into an inferno. It’s sort of a woosh kind of thing, so that’s why I chose Flashover for the name, and it’s basically the continuation of Tsunami.

Ampz - Now there is a lot of movement in the dance scene at the moment worldwide. Where do you see this progressing to?

Corsten - I see a lot of new guys coming up. In the trance scene there is a lot of new people, but also in the progressive-house scene, Nic Fanciulli is one of those guys. Uh, Adam Sheridan in the trance scene is an upcoming guy. It’s good to see that the new guys actually break through and it’s funny to see that in this business the first people are starting to retire, like Danny Rampling and I heard Louie Vega as well. So you see there’s this move going on. And music-wise, I think that we’ve finally reached a point where, thank God
to be honest, where we all start to mix things together. There’s not anymore, well it is to a certain extent, but it’s not anymore you play techno so “this” is techno and nothing else is allowed, or trance and nothing else is allowed, and house… It starts to crossover a little bit and uses influences of other styles. I mean I’ve played techno records with a trance break or a breaks record with a trance riff and that’s cool. The time has come to move on and blend things.

Ampz - Now you mentioned that a lot of new DJ’s are coming up. Do you think it’s easier or harder as a DJ to progress to become an established DJ in the last 5 years?

Corsten - I think it’s become harder because the whole DJ thing sort of moved on from being just a DJ to a DJ/Producer. To make it as a DJ, you need to have your productions. Or, to make it as a DJ/DJ you have to have some special skills like Eddie Halliwell for example who’e never released an album but he’s known for his scratches and all his tricks and he’s an awesome party DJ. Other than that it’s just really really hard to break through because there are so many people who want to become a DJ and there are so many producers who put out their stuff and it’s the ones who combine it that have the best chance to make it.

Ampz - Excellent. Well Timo Mass is just finishing up here and you’re about to step up and we’re looking forward to a bangin’ set.

Corsten - Thank you very much!