Spotlight: So, Cream Ibiza 2010 is just around the corner, looking forward to it?
PVD: From my point of view it’s the best club, the best promoter, and on the best island, so it all comes together and i’m part of it so yes, I’m really looking forward to it.
You have 7 dates this year including 2 very special parties – the opening and the closing events for which you’ll be playing on the terrace. What’s going to be different about those sets?
Well it’s going to be a very different production, rather than being in the booth, it’s going to be on stage and there’s going to be a lot more going on. This will give the whole set a different feeling than being in the dark, banging main room.
And musically will it differ?
The thing is I have a very clear idea about the music that I like to play, but on the other hand it’s always down to the interaction with my audience and also down to the vibe in the room, so obviously it’s going to be somewhat different, but I could really tell you what’s going to be different because it depends on the vibe on the night.
Amnesia's Terrace
But when you say you’ve got a clear idea about what you like to play, describe that to us?
It’s kind of like a combination of those phat basslines, banging beats, big riff, just exciting, high quality electronic music and since I like a certain drive to it, it’s really energetic and very
powerful.
And trance classics too....!!??
I believe a good Ibiza classic always has great momentum at Amnesia but at the same time, the audience that comes to Cream they’re not just looking forward to the old shit, they’re looking forward to new things and Cream is one of the few occasions where you can really break a record. This is itself is something rather special.
The rest of the Cream line-up is looking strong, especially with Eric Prydz and Deadmau5. What do you make of it this year?
Cream has always featured great talent and they continue to do so. The approach to the quality that’s on offer has always stayed and it doesn’t really matter how old you are, the good quality will always win you over and this is one of the reasons why Cream is so successful.
And Deadmau5?
Well he has a very unique sound and he’s bringing that across and I’m sure he’s going to do that at Cream as well.
How do you reflect on 10 years playing for Cream?
To be really honest, the main thing that stands out compared to the other promoters on the island is that Cream has stayed with their concept of presenting the best that electronic music has to offer, and this is really unique. So, despite the crisis of 9/11 and the economical breakdown they’ve only stuck to what they are known for......high quality, electronic music, with a bang, with a drive, with a power behind it and of course, giving the people a good time.
Moving away from Cream Ibiza, what plans does PVD have in the next year or so?
This year is all about the 10 year anniversary of my record label, Vandit, so that’s something really important to me, and the other thing is that I’m working on my next artist album, which will be released towards the end of this year or start of next year. So there are lots of things in the pipeline and I’m not planning on retiring yet!
Any special 10 year celebrations?
We have a big compilation coming out, which features the majority of our most important tracks that we’ve released over the last 10 years and I’m obviously touring with that whole concept, which doesn’t mean I’m only going to play old stuff of course, but I’ll certainly throw one or two classics in. We’ll also do some special parties, like at Winter Music Conference in Miami, instead of being part of the festival, we took over Space for the whole weekend and celebrated 10 years of Vandit with everybody, which was very cool and lots of fun.
How does Vandit deal with new talent?
We listen to a lot of music and over all these years - it’s not just myself it’s the whole team - we’ve developed a way of sensing potential and I don’t mean just in a monetary way, it’s not so much that we think that person can sell a lot of records, it’s more about ‘how creative is that person’, because it’s quite easy to make one big record, but it’s really difficult to follow that with record 2, 3, 4 and 5. You need to have longevity of creative output and we’ve managed very well to define that and find it in people and these are the people we support.
Illegal file-sharing; Bad for sales or good for allowing people access to your music?
The thing is there are a lot of legal ways to access music too, so that’s not really an excuse anymore. 5 or 6 years ago it was difficult to find decent electronic music online, but if you look at Itunes or any of the big download stores, you find all the main electronic music and up-to-date as well, so there’s not really an excuse for it anymore.
On the other hand of course, because of the lack of availability over a long time, people got used to the fact that the music is there for free and I think what is really important to understand is that most of the people who make that music have to live off it. If they’re not going to be able to live off it anymore, then they’ll have to go back to their normal day job, which means the creativity in music is lost.
But is it not true that most DJs make their money from being a touring DJ though, rather than record sales?
Yes, it’s absolutely true that the income is more and more generating by touring rather than record sales. But let’s say out of 100 DJs, there may be 4 or 5 that can live off this, where as the others have to live off everything else too. For example, I can live off my DJing, but at the same time I also take on the responsibility that I have to invest a lot of that money in new artists and new talents to subsidise their releases cos I feel they have a lot of potential and they should be heard.
Ok quick fire time, what was the last vinyl record you played and when?
It was actually 3 or 4 weeks ago, in my studio and I was listening to an old record called Schudelfloss on Guerilla Records (by Dr. Atomik.)
Which artist should we look out for in 2010?
It’s got nothing to do with electronic music, but there’s this guy called Fyfe Dangerfield and it’s like classic UK Indie rock and it’s really fucking brilliant.
(Fyfe Dangerfield's most well-known song 'Get Over It' as part of the Guillemots)
