Sander Kleinenberg interview: This is Mischief-
Author: Terry Goldfain
Friday, November 24, 2006
"It's the most ridiculous thing that's ever penetrated our scene.... Don't forget that the only people that vote in these things are 19 year old spotty guys. I don't think you're going to get a beautiful 23 year old woman that goes to the website to vote after having a great night out," are just a few of his choice words. When he released the single My Lexicon a few years ago, Kleinenberg seemed inevitably poised to join the ranks of the progressive house/trance greats, yet he abruptly changed course with the 'Everybody' compilation series, leaving those who had categorised him scratching their heads. Remixer, producer, DJ and label boss, Kleinenberg has won over fans and industry types alike the world over with his irreverent humour completely lacking in super-star ego. On the eve of his Australian tour, TranzFusion caught up with Sander and began by tempting fate once again, raising the topic of the recently held 'DJ Magazine Top 100 Poll'.
With the results of this year's poll having just been announced, dare I ask if there will be any such memorable quotes as we read in various interviews after last year's poll-
I've just realised that I actually haven't been asked about it in any interviews yet which I'm a bit surprised about.
Perhaps the poll might actually be losing a bit of the sensationalism so often attached to it if that's the case-
Well..um...yeah. To be honest it's not really what it once was. If you look at my colleagues and stuff it's not what it was once, I guess. It's now actually become a matter of marketing instead of who is really popular and who is not. If you look at the top 10 I think it's fairly accurate. Maybe there are 1 or 2 there who don't pull as much as others. But it is what it is. I am over it, but I was over it five years ago. I never really believed in who was the most popular DJ.
The less said about it the better then-
No, no. We can talk about it.
Before we move on then, the top of the poll is once again dominated by your fellow countrymen. Do you feel at all alienated seeing as you don't really fit in with their trance sound-
It just happens to be like that.. I do believe that I'm part of a scene that's very global and yes I'm from the Netherlands, but I don't think I belong to the big trance sound that was made popular by Tiesto and Armin Van Burren and Ferry Corsten. I never have and obviously therefore never been thought of in connection to that particular sound. I do my thing and they do theirs. I hang out with the people I admire and who I love listening to and enjoy working with. And so far that hasn't included any of the guys who you have mentioned.
Last time we spoke, you mentioned that putting together a compilation was much harder work then you thought it would be before your 'Global Underground Nubreed' release and that for you the main element was building an interesting vibe. Do you still have the same philosophy-
I still believe they're very difficult to do. I also don't make it easy on myself. It's just not a matter of looking in my box of records and putting together the tracks I'm currently playing. I always end up struggling to do something extra and something special. So I dig a little deeper when it comes to these compilations. As a matter of fact I started doing a compilation this summer and realised I just didn't have the records needed to finish a compilation. There just weren't enough records that were interesting and timeless to do one.
I read a recent interview with you in Tags