The man behind names such as Perfect Phase, The Freak, and now the blinding trance guise of Seraque speaks to us about his presence in dance music which has lasted for the better half of the past one and a half decades.

i:Vibes: First of all, how did the name "The Freak" come about and how did you get into it all?

Freak: As my real name is "Freek" (a typical Dutch name), you can imagine that in each country outside Holland were I played, everybody was calling me "Freak". In Dutch allready as you have to pronounce this as "Phreek" which isn't easy for a lot of people to say.

i:Vibes: You met DJ Randy in the late 1980s and decided upon your ideas to start BPM Dance & Jinx, still 2 of the strongest labels in Europe. How have the 2 labels changed in the past decade or so and what are your aims in creating the labels?

Freak: Me and Randy were the original founders of BPM Dance with Jinx Records and 2-Play back in 1991. The labels changed in the past decade by getting more trancy and progressive-tribal, but we've noticed that all 9 BPM Dance labels were sounding more a like the past 3-4 years and that was the reason to fully concentrate on just 1 big label called Jinx Records and this label is being managed from London to make it stronger. I left BPM 2 years ago and sold my stocks to my partner Randy and wanted to concentrate 100% on producing my own records and DJing. My label 2-Play Records will is currently being restyled with a brand new style.

i:Vibes: And has your role within the 2 labels been the same since you started it?

Freak: I was the A&R manager from the beginning of BPM in 1991 ti'll I left the company 2 years ago and was responsible for all releases, now Randy is doing the A&R over there and what I heard from him is that he wants to concentrate on his label called Silver Premium and release his own records on this label.

i:Vibes: Going to your production side, your big break came in the mid late 90s when "Horny Horns" under the Perfect Phase guise with Mac Zimms came about. What can you say about that?

Freak: Our hit with Perfect Phase-Horny Horns opened all the doors for us back then. Horny Horns was our most successful track so far, was in the single charts all over the world, even was Top 20 single chart in the UK and due to the success of this record, Mac Zimms and I played all over the world and did DJ tours from South Africa to Canada and met so many nice people.... The thing is with hit records like that; it's a lucky one time shot as we never had the intention to make a hit record with this tune; I had a wintersport holiday in Austria before that and saw in this little Apres Ski bar over there some barkeepers dancing on the bar with those awesome airhorns and I thought; why don't I use this amazing sound in a house tune back in Holland? Back in Holland we bought 2 airhorns, sampled it and use it as a joke in a house tune. Jules was playing it all over in Ibiza that summer and took it back to Radio 1 after that and the hit was born, because if you're having a hit record in the UK after summer, everybody all over the world is looking what's happening in the UK and will follow

i:Vibes: The latest release from you is a track with DJ Precision titled "The Progress" which fits a more driving club track

Freak: Yes I did this track with Precision, a Dutch DJ who's running the BPM Dance recordstore and also a good friend of mine. We did the track together in my studio at home and released it on a sublabel of 2-Play and did OK. My latest release is "The Melody, The Sound" and was released in December last year on

Tidy Two, together with a German Flutlicht remix. Also Mac Zimms and I are doing almost every production together (still after 8 years) and we've started a new trance project called SERAQUE on Warner Music. The previous Seraque called "My Dreams / Wandering Star" was remixed by John ‘00’ Fleming and also released on Warner Special Marketing UK.
The latest Seraque is finished and will be released on Captivating Sounds (Warner ) this month.

i:Vibes: Since then you seem to have stepped down a notch slightly in terms of productions, coming up with a few productions under the Perfect Phase guise and also your "The Freak & Mac Zimms" guise. Has there been a change in focus towards DJing over the recent years?

Freak: Yes, Since my productions with Mac Zimms were getting more trancy and less groovy/disco house, my DJing also got into the same direction. Nowadays, I do play more uplifting, harder and trancy then 6 years ago.

i:Vibes: Your music within your DJing and also your productions have ranged a huge amount, covering club, uplifting trance and even to the tip of hard house/trance. How would you describe your own music to be?

Freak: I do love the different styles of the projects I'm producing for as you won't get bored of a certain sound. Although my favourite sound is the uplifting trance-hard trance with a typical Dutch groovy impact, so that it will remain original and recognizable. I am convinced that having your own sound with DJ-ing and producing for your own records as The Freak works the best way.

i:Vibes: Will there be an increased drive to push your own The Freak guise out on a solo line?

Freak: Yes for sure; that's what happened already with my own releases as "Addictive" (Jinx), "The Melody, The Sound" (Tidy Two),
"Let's get ready to Rumble" (Playmobeat) and "Things we do" (2-Play) as I do believe in getting the most success in your productions and DJ-ing to combine them both as much as possible...

i:Vibes: The highlight of recent weeks has been your mixing of the superb "Resonate 2" album, the 2nd in the series. How was it like to compile the album and how did you choose the tracklist for it?

Freak: Yes, the Resonate 2 album was my first album in the UK and I was honored to do this one for Tidy. I have to admit that I do play a little bit harder when I'm playing in the UK / Eire than in Holland, but that makes it so interesting as I can take it a level up and compiling and mixing the album was a great job to do as I do love every track on that album. I didn't want to make a typical difference between the 2 cd's in that album, both the cd's had to be with the same energy feeling and building up all the way without getting over the top.. Personally, I made a mix of the typical German style, together with the UK sound without getting bored of a certain sound by putting 5 German tracks after each other.. The tracklsting was a selection of the most played records of my box together with brand new cdr's with unreleased tracks to make sure not only having older tracks as the album was released by the end of January 2003 and I compiled it in November 2002 ....

i:Vibes: Will there be plans for further compilation / artist albums from you in the future?

Freak: Hope so, this all depends of the success of my own releases as The Freak. If there are some strong ones together with some unreleased material and finding the right record company to do this, we have a strong concept!!

i:Vibes: In terms of DJing, you've DJed in most countries around the world with a club in it, which club / event has been the most memorable for you?

Freak: The most memorable ones for me was an Ice hockey stadium in Calgary (Canada) where I played for 20.000 outstanding ravers with big screens and lasers everywhere. Also the gig at the last Gatecrasher Summer Sound System in the UK last summer was huge and impressive. I played at the Tidy area which had almost the biggest tent of all and was completely packed!!

i:Vibes: Any last words for our readers?

Freak: Hope to catch up somewhere and keep on believing on your own style / sound as only this way people will recognize you between all these good producers and DJ's !
Thanks for all the big support..
If interested, you can visit the official website of The Freak:
http://www.djthefreak.com

Thanks to Beccy & The Freak for this great interview.