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 Here we are with an exclusive interview with Dutch maestro Benjamin Bates. He hasn't done many interviews before, so be prepared for some interesting facts. All you have to do is click in and find out...
As most of you will know, Benjamin has been working with Marco V ever since the beginning of their careers. His reputation catapulted itself into the highest regions during the last few years, with gigs at the biggest festivals, a lot of superb productions, and even an artist album. We at i:Vibes found now was the right time to get to now more about him...
i:Vibes: First of all, your website is something special. There’s a monkey popping up on the screen every now and then, telling us rather mysterious things like “I told him green was better” and “Read more books”. What’s the exact story behind the monkey and its expressions?
A: The monkey is something Frank (voutloos design) came up with when designing the sleeve for the album. We had been brainstorming about the exact ‘feel’ of the inlay for some time and decided it had to contain some small jokes. The monkey is one of them and so are the SpongeBob figures. I liked that monkey so much I also used it for the website. To bring it to life I added some stupid remarks that change every time you enter the site. I will be adding some new ones soon by the way...
i:Vibes: There’s a link to the “Bates Brothers” website in the Links section on your site. Did they inspire you in using ‘Bates’ in your artists name, or is that just coincidence?
A: None of the above, but let me explain;
When we were planning the release of the ‘No Angel’ single, there was a big discussion about the use of a video. From a record companies point of view, a video is a big investment that has to be recouped someway but as an artist you just want an original and beautiful ‘short movie’ to go with the music. For some strange reason I bumped into the website of an American guy called Benjamin Bates a few hours after discussing this issue. On his site, he wrote that he was very much into movies and that he was a VJ for a local band. I wrote him an email to ask if he had ever done a music video... He replied a few days later telling me he would love to try and he offered to do this for free! He started working on the project and two months later it was done, and we all loved it. It’s a shame the music channels didn’t pick it up because I think it was a true piece of art.
i:Vibes: Before you became ‘big’, what kind of work did you have? Is music all you keep yourself busy with now, or do you have a job besides it nowadays as well?
A: I never had another full-time job, I was still in school when Marco and I met :)
Music is all i’ve done for the last 8 years and I hope to be doing this for the rest of my life.
i:Vibes: The style of music you play and produce is very diverse. Groove, house, techy stuff, trance, vocal tracks, it’s all there. Which style do you prefer most, and why? Or does that just totally depend on your mood?
A: Preferring a certain style to me is like preferring a certain colour. Like you say it totally depends on (but it can also influence) your mood. Music has a lot of different shapes like all other art forms and everyone has their favourite pieces of music, but are they ever all the same style?
i:Vibes: What’s it like to work with Marco? Do you guys complement each other perfectly, or are there disagreements every now and then? Have you produced every tune together with him, or are there some things you did individually?
A: Since the day we started working together everything we’ve done is Marco and I. But this is from a producer’s point of view. When we do Marco’s music, he’s the one who decides which way to go, and vice versa. I do believe we compliment each other but that doesn’t mean we always agree. Sometimes we just have to trust each other’s opinion.
i:Vibes: Your biography says you like at least 2 productions you made. Please enlighten us!
A: My biography shouldn’t be read to seriously. I was just sick of those standard i-am-so-great-i-played-at-all-the-big-parties-and-my-music-rocks biographies that I wanted to do something different while still informing people about what i’ve done so far. I do like more than 2 of our productions, and I didn’t start playing when I was 2 years old :)
i:Vibes: The front sleeve of your album has you photographed with a Playstation controller in your hands. Do you play a lot of computergames, and if so, what’s your favourite game at the moment?
A: Yes, I do play a lot of computergames! That's why I really wanted this picture to be on the sleeve of the album. At the moment, my favourite is “World of Warcraft", the latest Blizzard game. (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com)
i:Vibes: What was the inspiration behind ‘Lost Myself When You Close Your Eyes’?
A: That’s actually part of a little poem I wrote in a love struck moment. When you’re in love, sometimes you feel like exploding inside because of the most stupid detail, in this case my girlfriend closing her eyes. The music was meant to simulate the feeling I had at that moment.
i:Vibes: A lot of your tracks include vocals and / or voices. ‘Locked Up’, ‘One By One’ and ‘Lost Myself In The Way You Close Your Eyes’ include more robotic sounding vox, while tunes like ‘Thin Time’ and ‘Whole’ contain ‘full on’ vocals with nice lyrics etcetera. Is there someone who always does the vocals in your tracks? And have you or Marco ever done any vocals / voices in tracks yourself?
A: There actually is someone who always does the vocals in my tracks: Me! :)
When we started working on my album, I decided I wanted to keep it as close to me as possible. We tried to build all tracks from a ‘song writing’ perspective, using as little sample material as possible. The vocals make the tracks a lot more personal I think.
i:Vibes: ‘Whole’ is kind of a special track in your repertoire. The vinyl release was received very well, and many people see the track as one of the best house/groove tunes of 2004. Did you expect this would happen, and are you planning on creating more tracks like this?
A: A lot of people ask questions like ‘What do you think about your tracks?’ The only thing I can tell you is that judging your own music is totally different from judging the music of others. If you have ever created something, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Just after you’ve created something new you always think it’s the best piece of music ever written. It will be #1 worldwide for years, and female models will be fighting over you hotel-room key. Then after the release, the doubt comes. When other people like it you will start liking it better too. If no one buys it or you get bad reviews you will also think less of it... That’s why i’m very happy with the reactions to ‘Whole’. :)
i:Vibes: There’s also a video of ‘Whole’, which will most probably be aired on all the music channels. What was it like making the video? Did it take long, or are you a born actor? Did you make up the ‘story’ (you walking forward while everyone else walks backwards, and saving the girl from the truck) yourself?
A: The story was made up by the director, Bob v/d Put. We shot it in 4 days, and I can tell you that walking backwards in a way that makes it look like you’re walking forward when you reverse the video is HARD! Bob must have been editing for days to get the shots where it almost seams normal, and still it looks very strange every now and then. There goes my acting career :(
The idea behind the video was to make things ‘whole’ again while I was walking by. I think it worked out great. I had a lot of emails asking about the girl I save in the end and no, she’s not my girlfriend.
i:Vibes: Your website gives us small bits of information on some of the tracks you have made. In the info on ‘1972 / Welcome To The Future’, you say you’ll explain about the title later. Can you do this now, perhaps?
A: Hehehe. Actually that was just a joke. When we finished ‘Welcome to the future’, Marco thought it would be funny to add a date in the past to the title. 1972 is right in the middle of our years of birth, that’s all!
i:Vibes: A question that always returns: what’s your view on downloading? Do you think it helps in getting publicity, or is it just plain bad? And what about legal downloads, do you think you will ever use it?
A: The Internet is the fastest and easiest way to communicate with people all over the world. I think we would be crazy NOT to download things! Music is a form of communication so I think us artists can only be happy with the way it has helped us get our music to more people than any record company could ever do. On the other hand, I also think artist should be rewarded for their time and effort so I am a big fan of legal download sites.
i:Vibes: Quite a bit of DJ’s are starting to use more and more digital enhancements while DJ’ing, an example being Ableton Live, a computer program that eases the mixing of loops etc. Will you ever us this, or will you just stick to vinyl and CD?
A: I can’t say. I think it’s great that dance artists are switching to live elements in their sets, but I would prefer going ‘all the way’ in that case. Live dance acts have a far bigger future than they realise, in my opinion.
i:Vibes: Do you think vinyl will still be here in, let’s say, 15 years? Or do you think the whole DJ market will be dominated by CD’s or some other format?
A: I hope vinyl will still be there, but I doubt it. If there will be a standard format in 15 years it will certainly not be CD. If we’re going digital anyway, I think it will be just chip cards with all the music data on it.
i:Vibes: What music did you grow up listening too? Did it affect you current style or taste in music? Please explain.
A: I grew up listening to electronic pop like New Order, Depeche Mode and the Pet Shop Boys, so I guess you could say it influenced my taste somewhat :) I have always been addicted to dark songs over electronic beats, but I am very much into rock and other pop music too.
i:Vibes: Why do you think the NL has embraced dance music so much whilst other countries like the USA have not? For example, in the NL you have large events like Sensation, TIC, etc. The equivalent to an American rock show.
A: I really think that this mainly has to do with the connection a lot of governments think there is between dance music and drug use. Where a lot of other countries are working against the party organisers, in Holland the government has a more open-minded approach.
i:Vibes: Comments on message boards and forums are usually very straight to the point. Do you read comments about your tunes on the Internet, and do you take them seriously?
A: Yes I do read those comments. I scout through the forums every now and then, but it’s important to keep in mind that these are all opinions, especially when someone criticises your work. If I were to write down what I thought about everyone’s music anonymously, I think it would hurt some feelings too :). I guess I just don’t feel that need. Positive reactions are always great to read though.
i:Vibes: A few years ago, the dance scene was dominated mostly by club nights, and not that many big festivals. Nowadays, there’s a huge amount of festivals with 5.000+ visitors around. What do you prefer: ‘intimate’ club nights, or a crowd of thousands? Please explain :).
A: I don’t really prefer either. As long as I can connect with the crowd that’s great. When I was playing Sensation White I couldn’t even see the people so that was a bit disappointing :(. On Innercity however, I could really feel the reaction of the crowd and I had one of my best nights ever. You can’t say big parties lack that connection in general, and same goes for the clubs.
i:Vibes: Marco and you have done quite a bit of bootlegs / remixes of non-EDM (Electronic Dance Music) songs, with the most recent one being Marco Vs. Bates – ‘Bang Bang’, which was even chosen as the Innercity anthem for 2004. What’s the story behind the bootlegs? Do you want to spice up the tracks by adding a new flavour to them, are they mainly done just for fun, or perhaps just as plain ‘floorfillers’?
A: The main reason for these non-EDM bootlegs is that we want to express that there’s more to life than just dance music. When we did bootlegs like ‘Clocks’ we just wanted to make a version we could play in our sets to introduce dance minded people to some other music too. It’s also great of course to have some stuff no one else plays. This makes your sets more exclusive.
i:Vibes: Talking about bootlegs.. There’s a link to the Coldplay website on your Internet hideout as well. Were you the one who first thought of doing the (unreleased) Marco V. remix for ‘Clocks’?
A: I had been a fan of them since their first release, so when I got the second album there was this one song I fell in love with straight away. I took it to the studio and Marco also liked it so much we started working on it immediately.
i:Vibes: Will there be more energetic trance productions like Out Of Grace – ‘Obscura’ and Southside Spinners – ‘Luvstruck’ in the (near) future?
A: You never know, although it’s not very likely at the moment. We’re working on Marco’s new album right now but if we have something suitable for Out of Grace it just might get a release.
i:Vibes: What can we expect from you in 2005? Can you give us any details about upcoming productions?
A: As I said, it’s Marco’s album first so I wouldn’t expect too much beside some remixes perhaps.
i:Vibes: A cliché question: are there any goals you still want to achieve?
A: Making that one song that will be #1 worldwide for years (and the female model part wouldn’t hurt :))
Some shorter questions:
i:Vibes: What is (are) your favourite track(s) ever (any genre)?
A: Depeche Mode – “Enjoy the Silence”
Carter U.S.M – “The only living boy in New Cross”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Under the bridge”
i:Vibes: Who would you like to collaborate with?
A: Beth Orton / Søren Huss
i:Vibes: Best gig(s) ever?
A: Innercity 2003
i:Vibes: Favourite drink?
A: Pear juice
i:Vibes: One track you would like to remix / make a bootleg of?
A: We would have done it if there were one...
We will do it if I think of one :)
We would hereby like to thank Benjamin for his kind cooperation during the interview. Don't forget to check out his website listed below, it's filled with fun!
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