Dutch Trance DJ Ronald van Gelderen

11.07.2006

Interview with Dutch trance DJ Ronald van Gelderen ahead of Vaccine's debut event in collaboration with The Gallery

Monthly trance night Vaccine came into being in April 2005, showcasing the best in trance talent in Turnmills' Annexo bar. The event went from strength to strength, moving into T2 (Turnmills' second room) and was described by Judge Jules as a night of "brand new trance talent, administered and lovingly tended". Innovative names like Ernesto vs Bastian, Simon Patterson aka Dogzilla, Phynn, Goldenscan and Kuffdam were mixed alongside the freshest of young DJs.

Vaccine attracted the attention of the Gallery team, and after only nine months, Vaccine is to promote their very own primetime space - the T3 room at The Gallery @ Turnmills, one of the most successful regular trance nights in the UK. Their first collaborative event features a 6-hour set from Ferry Corsten in the main room, and a set from Ronald Van Gelderen, Ferry Corsten's tip for the top in 2006. Entering into producing and DJing full-time in 1999, Ronald now spins around the world. In 2003, his single 'Cold Storage' was played on Radio 1 eight weeks in a row by Judge Jules. His follow-up 'Proceed' was also a worldwide success.

Ladies, he's charming, his English is flawless, and he'll be in London on 10th February.

Evening Ronald. It’s 6 o’clock for me and 7 o’clock for you on a Friday night. Have you got a nice cold beer there?

Actually no, I’ve got a nice cup of tea. That’s so English!

Have you played at Turnmills before?

No, I’ve played lots of times in the UK — Godskitchen, Passion, The Dance Academy, but this is my debut in London so I'm really looking forward to it.

I think you’ll really enjoy it.

I’m very excited. There were plans for me to play Peach at The Camden Palace but obviously that’s over now. Turnmills has been on my list for quite some time and finally it’s happening.

Do you get interviewed often?

Quite often, it’s getting more and more lately.

What does everybody ask you, and then I’ll make sure I don’t.

Ha, well they always ask me “production-wise what do you like to use more, software or hardware” in every interview! But you can ask me whatever you want, I don’t mind. I always get asked whether I prefer DJing or producing as well, but it’s no problem. Ask me anything you want.

Ok, what do you wish you got asked, what would you like to talk about?

That’s hard. Most things people in the UK already know about me musically. Personally it’s very different. In the music industry not everybody is interested in the personal stuff. On the one hand that’s good.

One thing I think most people won’t know is that Kid Vicious was your alias.

Used to be yeah… not any more!

And then David Guetta started using it…

Well yes, that was quite a surprise. Actually there were two things — we started hearing rumours that the management of the Sex Pistols were not really happy, because all of a sudden the name got really well known in England. But the biggest problem was David Guetta started producing completely different music to me, and started using that name for bootlegs of Depeche Mode and the BeeGees. I was really surprised he was using my name, and I was even more surprised that on the album he released he was using that name for all kinds of remixes. My management were sending faxes, emails, trying to phone the guy, everything… but no answer. I finally decided I'm just going to work under my own name.

So you took a step back from the name Kid Vicious and you also didn’t get your name on ‘Urban Train’ and ‘Suburban Train’…

Yeah I just dropped the name Kid Vicious, but I was already having thoughts about dropping it. It’s a catchy name but I was always doomed to be ‘the kid’, always being someone else. When it comes to ‘Urban Train’, the original of ‘Urban Train’ was a track by me. I asked Tiësto to remix it, and it was released on Tsunami. After a couple of months he called me up and told me he wanted to put it on his album because he really liked it. It maybe would have helped my career to have my name on it, but I prefer to do things by myself. Tiësto has got a sort of producer team. That’s fine, lots of big DJs work like that, but I choose to work by myself. Don’t get me wrong, I have enormous respect for Tiësto as a DJ — it’s incredible what he did with the concerts and what he’s still doing.

For you to just let him have it is a very laidback way of doing things.

It’s not like he just ‘had’ it, of course everything was well arranged.

Oh, so you made some cash?

[pause] Ok so now we’re really getting some interesting questions! We made the track together, and so of course it was well arranged. The ‘Urban-’ and ‘Suburban Train’ story is a closed chapter for me now.

You worked in record shops when you were younger. Is it a dream job for an aspiring DJ?

For me it was at that time. We had some quite big DJs from Holland coming in — mostly techno DJs around 1990 like Michel de Hey, and Jeroen Verheij from Secret Cinema. We had the guys from the Klubheadz as well. Of course like with every job you have days when you don’t feel like it.

Do you get recognised these days?

Sometimes, it’s weird — I definitely don’t see myself as a celebrity, but in Holland I’ve been playing big events like Dance Valley which have local music television there, and MTV Holland and TMF. I also did Trans Energy last year and again this year, and sometimes when you’re walking into a gas station someone’ll say “oh hey I really like the stuff you play”. That’s really nice, but thank god it’s not like Robbie Williams gets with all the paparazzi. That’s a bit too much.

Robbie Williams gets underwear thrown at him, and women write him letters all the time. Do DJs at the level of Tiësto get that sort of attention?

I get underwear thrown at me all the time!

Really?

No of course not!

Ferry has…

Yeah he has, but that’s in a different country. I’ve had it once in the US and in countries like Asia, but you have to understand that when you bring a completely new type of music to a country where they don’t know it they go completely nuts, especially with trance. In Asia people were standing in front of me crying and pulling their own hair out. It’s weird, coming from Holland, one of the smallest countries in the world.

Who’s fun in the DJing world?

Um… Jon O’Bir from Godskitchen, he’s a really funny guy. I’ve done Passion lots of times and Jason [JFK] over there is always a laugh. Thing is, it’s nice to see people, and I can have a real laugh with Marco V and Rank 1 — they are fun guys to hang out with — but with DJs abroad it doesn’t happen so much. Even if you play at the same event you don’t even necessarily see each other.

Any new tracks and tricks up your sleeve for the event?

Definitely. I'm going to be bringing some new stuff, some experimental things that I’m working really hard on right now. Also some brand new tracks that I got from here and there. I can’t wait to play them in London! I never get really nervous for a gig, but the first time you go to a club — and I know that Turnmills has a really good name — it makes you want to show people what you can do! I’m really looking forward to it!

Original article from harderfaster.net